Artistic Decisions in Michael Jackson's Career That Are Questionable

If only he retired from music in 1989 and focused more on producing films, producing music artists, acting, writing books, creating art, actually following through with business and charity ideas.

I don't know if it was his insecurities or his ego that stopped him from pursuing more of his talent. In reflection, he gave us so much but he had godly amounts of talent he do not share.
 
One thing I dislike is that they cut out the second verse for MITM on Moonwalker. It feels so incomplete without it and that keeps it from
being my absolute favorite MITM performance.
 
If only he retired from music in 1989 and focused more on producing films, producing music artists, acting, writing books, creating art, actually following through with business and charity ideas.

I don't know if it was his insecurities or his ego that stopped him from pursuing more of his talent. In reflection, he gave us so much but he had godly amounts of talent he do not share.

This is a selfish view admittedly, but I would have felt cheated had Michael retired in 1989 and pursued movies. He was just about to hit his artistic peak and if I'm honest I doubt Mike would have ever made the lasting mark in film that he made with music and live performance

I'm glad he stuck it out and became the greatest
artist in the history of music and the best live performer in history
 
I Also don't think that's what he wanted. I believe he wanted to make music. I mean, if he wanted to retire in 1989 he would have done so?
 
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I'm glad he stuck it out and became the greatest
artist in the history of music and the best live performer in history

Those opinions are mainly based on things he did before 1989 in all fairness.

If we imagine pre 1989 Michael Jackson didn't exist and imagine an individual who released Dangerous, History (2nd disk), BOTDF and Invincible and did DWT, HWT and the other shows he would probably be regarded as a great performer and musician but certainly not "the greatest". They might even say that the debut album Dangerous was great but that he only really produced one great album.

I love Michael as much as anyone else but I honestly think taking the post-1989 career on its own wouldn't be make him an all time great
 
They might even say that the debut album Dangerous was great but that he only really produced one great album.
If this was the case, then he would probably just be considered as just another New Jack Swing singer. They generally didn't get the mainstream press other than maybe Bobby Brown. And that is likely because Bobby married Whitney Houston. Not about Bobby's music per se. When music magazines like Rolling Stone talk today about that era, it's generally not about New Jack Swing. They praise Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden, Green Day and maybe NWA, Tupac, & OutKast. Today Mike would likely be an act on a I Love The 90s tour with Kid N Play, Boyz II Men, Vanilla Ice, & TLC.
 
Hmm that guitar riff from Black or White sounded almost it came straight from the album, like David Williams and Jennifer Batten pretended playing that during Dangerous Tour and History Tour except for the Wembley concert in 92 broadcast in the MTV Video Music Awards. I wonder why all the rest of the concerts couldn't sound like the Wembley concert.
 
Where does the information about his so-called desire to retire from music in 1989 come from?

Michael Jackson did not want to retire from music at that time, actually in 1989/early 1990 he continued recording new music for future releases (such as, these brand new songs for his ‘Decade’ album).

Also, his longtime friend David Geffen confirmed in 1989 that the singer wanted to continue making and releasing new music, along with some new film projects.

His then-manager Frank Dileo also stated in 1989 that Michael Jackson would do a live show every so often.

There were press reports though in 1989 that his BAD Tour was his last tour, but even if he stopped touring in 1989 this does not mean retirement from music.
 
Where does the information about his so-called desire to retire from music in 1989 come from?

No one said he had desire to retire in 1989, people are just saying they wish he had/he should have retired back then
 
When I said that Michael should have retired in 1989 I was actually being facetious; but most have taken it literally!

Based on my observations it seems that most criticism from fans come after 1989. Pre-Dangerous is regarded as the holy grail and anything subsequent is under valued unfortunately. The media do a similar thing when covering Michaels body of work. Post Bad is rarely covered and his subsequent endeavours are ignored and unfairly compared with the Thriller Album. Personally speaking I prefer MichaelÂ’s work post Bad as I think heÂ’s more authentic and his music and dance is more refined. He took greater risks and his output was reflective of his personal views and values. He was no longer just making standard pop music but statement pieces that are still prevalent today! Yes the Victory and Bad tour were great for live vocals; but Michael was bigger than just a voice.

Sometimes I think we take Michael for granted, but I often think thatÂ’s a product of being super fans. We have a tendency to over analyse and have heightened exceptions. WeÂ’ve almost become immune to his magic as weÂ’re been submerged in it for so long..
 
No one said he had desire to retire in 1989, people are just saying they wish he had/he should have retired back then
For me it was just a fantasy scenario based off another comment. I don't actually wish that he had. But if he had I think his legacy would have been insane. However, I'm very happy that he did and wish he was still alive and working now
 
Based on my observations it seems that most criticism from fans come after 1989.

That is not true.

His post-1989 canon of work is regarded by his fans as better than his pre-1989 one.

The ‘Dangerous’ album and even many new songs on the ‘HIStory’ album get a lot of praise from his fans.

Even many of his outtakes from 1989 onwards (such as, ‘In The Back’, ‘Blue Gangsta’, ‘We've Had Enough’, ‘Men In Black’, ‘Monkey Business’, ‘Xscape’, ‘Shout’, etc) are viewed by his fans as better than his pre-1989 outtakes.

It is also actually ironic that the ‘Thriller’ album (which is also the most successful album of all time) gets rather ignored by his own fans.
 
Where does the information about his so-called desire to retire from music in 1989 come from?

Whether or not he actually wanted to retire from music, we can't know for sure. He did however state after the last Bad Tour show that it was his last concert. According to this report he wanted to focus more on making movies:

[video=youtube;El0tF3vYWL4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0tF3vYWL4[/video]
 
The problem with his movie idea is nobody wanted to cast him. The problem for him was he was Michael Jackson. He was a real life superhero, so it was so difficult to make him play someone else.
 
Whether or not he actually wanted to retire from music, we can't know for sure. He did however state after the last Bad Tour show that it was his last concert. According to this report he wanted to focus more on making movies:

[video=youtube;El0tF3vYWL4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0tF3vYWL4[/video]

I think he was alluding to touring not quiting music all together but we cannot know for sure.
 
I think he was alluding to touring not quiting music all together but we cannot know for sure.

Yeah I always thought MJ meant he was done with touring, not making music as well.

I think he always wanted to do music, even if he dipped into film with movie soundtracks
 
Lets be honest, Michael would have never had the success he did as a music artist, if he was an actor. ItÂ’s a good thing that Michael didnÂ’t retire in 1989 from music. Michael wasnÂ’t a good enough actor to thrive in Hollywood, expect for maybe some certain roles. The media would have had a field day taking the absolute piss out of Michael, if he was an actor. The media were cruel to Michael in the last 20 years of his life. They would have been even more cruel if he was an actor. IÂ’m glad that Michael stuck to music, because that is what he excelled in.
 
It would have been really interesting if he played in the MidKnight action-adventure film in the early ‘90s.

The film’s theme suited him: it centres on a shy young man who turns into a dancing knight at 12 a.m. (at midnight).

Actually, Michael Jackson himself came up with that film’s theme.

Many people thought at the time that Michael Jackson was really suitable for that role, also because of the dancing abilities that this role entailed.

He should have taken that leading role because the whole MidKnight project would then have become something very big (also, MidKnight video game, MidKnight comic book, etc) which would have benefited his artistic career in general, just like his Moonwalker project few years earlier.

But he eventually turned down that role and the whole MidKnight project fell through.
 
Whether or not he actually wanted to retire from music, we can't know for sure. He did however state after the last Bad Tour show that it was his last concert. According to this report he wanted to focus more on making movies:

[video=youtube;El0tF3vYWL4]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=El0tF3vYWL4[/video]

We can know for sure because there is no evidence to suggest that he wanted to retire from music in 1989 (on the contrary, there were plans to continue creating and releasing new music).

Some fans took that video and turned it into that he wanted to retire from music at that time.
 
I still til this day haven't watched Edward scissorhands because I always felt that it was something very mj about his look & the emotion he gave. I never knew until a couple of years later that mj was actually considered for the role & basically based him from him. I spot mj references like the back of my hand

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