“I promise you in 50, 75, 100 years, what will be remembered is the music,” Jones said on the red carpet at the Beverly Hills Hotel for a party in his honor a few years back. “It’s no accident that almost three decades later, no matter where I go in the world, in every club and karaoke bar, like clockwork, you hear ‘Billie Jean,’ ‘Beat It,’ ‘Wanna Be Starting Something,’ ‘Rock With You’ and ‘Thriller.’ ”
The man known as “Q” forgot to add “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” “Off the Wall,” “Smooth Criminal,” etc., but we get the point. The singular force of nature in music died two years ago today, not far from where Jones spoke lovingly of his former collaborator and close friend who fundamentally altered music and pop culture.
It is the undying music and visual masterpieces MJ created that explains why the Thriller jacket is expected to go for as much as $400,000 at auction this weekend, with a starting bid of $100,000. Last year, an album of previously unreleased music, Michael, sold three million copies worldwide. Due to legal woes and wild spending sprees, Jackson was nearly half a billion dollars in debt when he died from an overdose of Propofol at age 50. But experts estimate that Jackson’s now-thriving estate could earn “in the range of a billion dollars over the course of the next several decades,” CBS reports.
When you listen to Jackson’s iconic music, it is virtually impossible to remain in the same state. His music is intoxicating, invigorating and makes people want to move and mimic his immortal dance steps. Much of his music is also timeless, influencing a generation of musicians who were not even alive when Thriller hijacked the charts and broke as many barriers as it did records. For a man who seemed to always be helplessly immersed in deep personal pain — actress Jane Fonda called him “one of the walking wounded” before Jackson made Off the Wall — he, nevertheless, created joyful music for tens of millions of music fans worldwide.
It wasn’t just that MJ was a magical singer, great songwriter, breathtaking dancer and a trendsetting musical genius. Those were the byproduct of something deeper than that, Jones says.
“Michael Jackson was a different kind of entertainer. A man-child in many ways, he was beyond professional and dedicated. Evoking Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr. and James Brown all at once, he’d work for hours, perfecting every kick, gesture and movement so that they came together precisely the way they were intended to,” Jones wrote as a tribute to MJ right after he passed.
“In 1978, Sidney Lumet pulled me kicking and screaming into doing the music for The Wiz, and, in hindsight, I’m so glad he did. As the scarecrow, Michael dove into the filming of The Wiz with everything that he had, not only learning his lines but those of everyone in the cast.”
Jones had never seen that level of dedication before, and he had been in the business more than 30 years by then. That’s when he knew he had to work with this fresh-faced, shy and innocent kid with the large eyes that glowed with wonder and intense worldly curiosity. And the rest, they say, is history.
–terry shropshire
