Michael Jackson's Achievements BEFORE Thriller

[Psychoniff]

It's funny, MJ was way more successful in the 21+ years of his life than many current and past artists have EVER been. It occurred to me the other day that he achieved way more than we actually realised Before Thriller dropped. It's insane how successful he was at just 21.

Achievements even before Thriller dropped:
*7 number #1 hits(3 solo number #1s )
*First to have 4 numbers #1 hits in a row (J5)
*First to have 4 top #10 hits from one album (Off The Wall)
*Youngest to ever record number #1 song (third youngest solo number #1)
*Golden Globe winner ("Ben")
*Grammy Award winner (DSTYGE)
*Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (The Jacksons)
*Sold out concerts and breaking attendance records around the world
*Two highly grossing concert tours (The Jacksons)
*Key to several cities
*Two command performances for the Queen of England
*Family Cartoon TV series
*Family Variety Show
*Sold tens of millions of records worldwide

And many others.

 

[HIStory]

Interesting point. But yes, it's true. His career was really phenomenal and unique.

 

[barbee0715]

Maybe it's because of our ages that many people don't realize it? I grew up with him but I was part of that white mainstream American kid that Berry was trying to attract.

I know Motown somewhat lost interest bc of making movies and their careers went on the wane, even when first going to Epic. And they weren't considered a crossover act anymore.

But I was always there because of the variety show and guest appearances and especially when disco came around. I loved all of that.

I kinda think that's why the Motown performance was such a phenomenon. Most of white America watched it for nostalgia sake and still thought of Michael as the adorable kid singing Ben.

John Landis said that when they called him for Thriller. Paul McCartney wrote Girlfriend as a Jackson 5 song still thinking of them as kids. The brothers and he achieved all sorts of great things during that time but it wasn't registering.

It's almost like there are 2 Michaels: The mega global superstar took everybody by surprise that night when actually he was growing and developing and getting stronger and better and greater all along. .