@staywild23
Pointless to let the Estate derail my day. Onwards and upwards!
This will be a random jumble of comments.
1 - Michael as a sex symbol - can't help you with that one. I think you need to talk to an actual fan. That's not me. I never paid attention to this sort of thing. He got a lot of negative press and he was definitely regarded as uncool. A lot of people were unconvinced by the Bad image. Some people thought he was trying too hard. I liked it although I don't think he looks comfortable in the album photo. I was disappointed that they didn't use the black lace photo. I think that would have been an amazing album cover, especially if they had used it as a black&white image rather than colour.
2 - you having thoughts about Michael at work and wanting to explore stuff straightaway. I'm having a sort of similar experience. Whenever I read stuff I always seem to link it immediately to Michael. It could be anything, a book review, an interview with a politician, an article about pilgrimage, anything at all and I can usually find something in it that makes me think about Michael. I can't bring any examples to mind right now although I do have a folder, lol. I don't mean I actively look for connections, I mean, I'm chugging along, reading the piece and then something I've just read reminds me of Michael in some way or seems relevant to some part of his life or story. It's weird.
3 - J5/Jacksons - I'm not really exploring the albums. I can already feel my enthusiasm waning, tbh. I'm so bonded with his adult solo career. I'm definitely open to all phases of his career and I did like J5 back in the day. It was all about Michael, though. He was such a good dancer even back then. He was so cool. He just had such good rhythm and an ability to go beyond the choreography. And already, at such a young age, miles ahead of the brothers. The Jacksons were quite disco / R&B which is not me so they didn't get much attention from me. Only Can You Feel It. Same with OTW, too much disco and R&B. Good album, just not to my taste. And, as you say, Michael at that point is very much still finding himself, very much in the process of creating himself. He hasn't quite got there yet so he's not getting too much attention from me. I bought a bunch of J5 albums a couple of weeks ago cos I wanted True Love Can Be Beautiful and was quite curious to see what else was on there. But, so far, I don't think they're going to become essential listening. Michael is brilliant but the songs are quite simple, the backing vocals from the brothers are fine but nothing special, imo. I don't think these songs are going to be part of my DNA. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to listen to them, though. If you haven't listened to True Love Can Be Beautiful I would recommend it. Michael's performance is astonishing even by his standards.
Actually, I'm saying I'm bonded to Michael's adult solo career. Well, kind of. I didn't buy any of his records when he was alive. When he died I bought all the CD's - except for History, no idea what that was about - but then didn't play many tracks. With BOTDF I only played the Scream remix so didn't hear Morphine or Is It Scary. Weird, huh? With Dangerous I only played Jam so didn't get to hear Keep The Faith. I had Number Ones on heavy rotation but the only album I played properly was Invincible. Few years down the line I got rid of all the CD's and then last year (or was it the year before?) bought them all again, this time with History. And just straightaway, automatically started playing all the songs (so why did I not do that first time around? Answer came there none!). So my relationship with Michael has gone on for a long time and yet, weirdly, is also really new. I can't even remember if I bought the CD's 2020 or 2021 but it feels as if I've had these songs in my DNA my whole life. The bond feels deep and irrevocable, deep like you could go on an archaeological dig and not get to the end of it. It genuinely feels like there has never been a time when these songs did not mean the world to me even though I know that's not the case.
Tool have been around since the 1990's but I only got into them a few years ago. Fontaines DC are fairly new, they have only just put out their third album. So when I listen to those bands it feels different to when I play my bands from the 70's or '80's. But with Michael's stuff it just always feels like I was into these songs since forever. Which makes no sense. Except it does.
I seem to have gone off on a tangent. Better stop.
and singing are not cramping his dancing, but still I get the appeal of live vocals. 
Predictably, Michael's sexiness in every performance on the Bad tour brings me to my knees. I don't even know who I am sometimes after I watch him!
