Michael Jackson

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer, and actor. He is called the King of Pop, his contributions to music and dance, along with his publicised personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades.

Michael Jackson recorded and released a cover version of "Rockin' Robin" in 1972, which was taken from his gold-certified solo album titled Got to Be There. It was the biggest hit from the album, hitting no. 1 on the Cash Box singles chart and peaking at no. 2 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts.

Rockin Robin - 1971

The video to rockin robin was a basic video promoting the song. It had limited sophistication and lip synching.

The recorded and released cover version of "Rockin' Robin" in 1972. Which Michael Jackson recorded was taken from his gold-certified solo album Got to Be There. It was the biggest hit that reached number one on album and Cash Box singles chart. The Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts.

It reached number one on both the pop and R&B singles charts. On Billboard rock with you was the fourth biggest single of 1980’s. It is also considered one of the last hits of the disco era.

The beginning of the music video is taken in a wide long shot of Michael dancing, with his black silhouette and the dark turquoise background. It then moves to a medium close up shot of  Michael. 


The second shot becomes a medium long shot as it shows the whole of Michael Jackson in normal colour. He is dancing to the beat while the blue and green colours float around him. This gives an affect of him dancing on a cloud. 


Two Michael Jacksons appear with synchronised dancing which carries on with the theme of the music. Which is a late night groove and strobe lighting. 







Billie Jean is a recognisable song due to its funk disco beat. The lyrics of the song and the visuals in the music video link. As Michael Jackson sings about a girl who claims her child is his son, which links to the music video as there is a man who seems to be trying to catch him for something. Although Michael Jackson always disappears before the man can catch him. Throughout the music video Michael Jackson is dancing around the streets even though he is being followed, this can be seen as him entertaining the fact that he wont get caught. 





Beat it is a mixture of rock and pop. The video has more of a rock vibe, due to it being set in the dark and the choice of leather jackets and jeans. The gangs in the music video are fighting each other, but Michael uses his music and dancing to create peace between them. This is a mixture of performance and narrative which is stereotypically found in a pop music video, the mixture of both of the genres are being shown. This shows how Michael Jackson's music isn't only for entertainment but also to help solve issues. 


 Thriller is considered the most influential music video of all time by the Library of Congress. The music video to thriller was a cultural stepping stone as it introduced really detailed choreography, costumes and dialogue to the music video industry. As thriller is a long music video which is 14 minutes long like a film, that also has a short version which is under 5 minutes long.  The whole music video costed $500,000 to make, which his record company did want to pay. Even though Jackson offered to pay it himself, Landis saw how passionate he was about turning into a monster and paid for him. The music video also won the Best Performance Video, Best Choreography, and Viewers Choice at the first MTV Video Music Awards in 1984.


The famous graveyard dance in thriller started to trend in pop music videos, which influenced Alice Cooper who created a movie for his show welcome to my nightmare tour. The production was based on the whole horror theme of thriller.


After the thriller music video, Michael Jackson was a known pop star, this means that audiences were all excited for the release of bad. The video of bad was a major event, which was first shown on BBC.  It was said that bad made Jackson look more edgy in the bad-era. This song and music video was commercially successful. Charting the top ten in eleven countries and stayed at number one on the Netherlands European charts. 



Black or white costed $4,000,000 to make which is $6,925,000 in today's currency. The music video was really expensive but inventive. This song was made to address the allegations of Jackson being strange and having race issues with his skin, the song is sending out a really serious message. 

The song begins with a fast tempo which catches the listeners attention, with the electric guitars and bass as well as the drums and keyboard. Then the vocals come in which really holds the listeners attention. Michael Jackson addresses the main problem between the issue of ethnicity which is racism. Michael Jackson puts emphasis that everyone has their own opinion on what equality is, in his opinion everyone is right. He is tired of the racism, it shouldn't matter if you're black or white. He won't let anyone comments on racism affect him.