Jackson 5 years on: Reflections on the man in the mirror

Michael Jackson died five years ago today. We might be afforded, for the first time, a glimpse of his legacy beyond the many jarring details of his personal life. We know that his father sat with a belt in his hands during Jackson 5 rehearsals, waiting to punish the slightest mistake. We know about the various marriages and allegations of child sexual abuse. We know about the man’s fading skin color and ultimately fatal relationship with prescription drugs. But, at least for now, we’re not talking about a man — we’re talking about Michael Jackson.

Decades before his birth, you could hear Michael Jackson coming in the reverberations of the floorboards in Harlem’s Apollo Theater. The loose-limbed spins of Cab Calloway or the leaping splits of the Nicholas Brothers in the 1930s were some of the first flights of this particular fancy. James Brown made it soar — an engine that never seemed to overheat, he originateddance moves with the same apparent ease that he invented funk. By this time, a young Michael Jackson was watching in the wings, studying. His own group, The Jackson 5, won their first major talent show in 1967 by covering Brown’s “I Got You (I Feel Good).”

By the late 1960s, the Jackson 5 had signed to Motown and were tearing up the charts. They were a tightly choreographed outfit, but even a young Michael Jackson sang with the improvisational authority of any soul or gospel great. It was becoming increasingly clear that this artist could not be contained. By 1979, Michael had embarked on a solo career, releasing the Quincy Jones-produced masterpiece, “Off The Wall.” The album sold more than 20 million copies.

The follow-up, 1982’s “Thriller,” became the greatest-selling album of all time. The title track’s video brought MTV squarely into the mainstream and is the only music video chosen for inclusion in the National Film Registry.

By this time, Michael Jackson had no competition. He invented moves like The Moonwalk and settled on his own kind of percussive vocal style that owed little to his predecessors. He negotiated unprecedented royalty rates and made music videos that defined the genre. And, despite working with some of the best songwriters in the business, Jackson was a gifted composer and arranger. Listen to his a cappella demo of “Beat It” to understand that even this man, with little musical training, had everything he needed in his own head.

Michael Jackson’s singular talent was matched only by his ambition. He did, at least to date, what no other artist could, or conceivably would want to do. There are career milestones he set which may very well never be topped, and a challenge he issued which will continue to be answered long after we’re gone, as well — to be the best you can possibly be at being exactly who you are.