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What Was MJ's Peak?

Eric said:
I don't know if I would call Thriller MJ's peak, but there is no doubt in my mind that selling 100 million or however many copies of that album is MJ's single greatest accomplishment. It kind of gets looked over because it happened so early in his career, but it's such an amazing number and something no one will ever top.
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I think it would be fair to say the Thriller album is Michael's single greatest accomplishment, which has gone on to sell an estimated 102 million or so albums. It's Michael's biggest and arguablely greatest accomplishment because not only do the songs on the album inovative and still sound fresh, but Michael changed to way music was viewed and he broke down racial barries such as MTV not playing videos by black artists. Though Michael was the first artist to make videos with a structured story, great video sets (but Michael was the first to use special effects only used in movies) etc (as David Bowie had already made the amazing Ashes to Ashes video in 1980 that's on par with Michael's Thriller era videos, Adam Ant was already making brilliant videos, and Michael in The Jacksons with Can You Feel It) but Michael was the first artist to specifically target the MTV audience and more than anything the first artist to actually dance in music videos is what really made the difference. But after the release of Thriller major music labels wanted more than two singles released from an album, with music videos and artists like Madonna, Justin Timberlake, Britney Spears and many more dancing in videos etc.
 
Eric said:
I don't know if I would call Thriller MJ's peak, but there is no doubt in my mind that selling 100 million or however many copies of that album is MJ's single greatest accomplishment. It kind of gets looked over because it happened so early in his career, but it's such an amazing number and something no one will ever top.
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i agree im not saying its not great o anything i mean its mind boggling. but to say that was his peak i just dont agree with. that shot him up the scale on the road to his peak.
 
he's at his peak now, cus everybody is suing him. they're out to get him. they want to aim all the controversies at him. it's old as dirt. the greatest targets of lawsuits are the most successful people. this follows the same pattern. he's at his peak now, because of another good saying. success breeds many fathers...failure is an orphan. it's quite simple. if he wasn't at the top of his game, he wouldn't be the world record setting target of financial attack.

i am so tired of this shit. it's just revealing a lot of failures as people. sue -happy people.
 
hmm.. so he's talented that different aspects of his talent showed more at different times... if that makes sense... so for me it's hard to set a timeframe.
 
when i said thriller was his peak i didn't mean it was his best album(bad and otw are better). what i meant was that it was his most successful in terms of achievement. which is true like it or not.
 
tbron said:
when i said thriller was his peak i didn't mean it was his best album(bad and otw are better). what i meant was that it was his most successful in terms of achievement. which is true like it or not.
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more like an opinion.
 
tbron said:
when i said thriller was his peak i didn't mean it was his best album(bad and otw are better). what i meant was that it was his most successful in terms of achievement. which is true like it or not.
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Interesting, as Off The Wall and Bad are my favorite Michael Jackson album, and I consider them better than Thriller even though like you I see it as commericially and culturally Michael's biggest achievement. In fact most major artists albums that are commericially and culturally there biggest achievements are actually their best in most cases. But nothing takes away the fact that the Thriller album deserves all the credit it gets. I became a fan when the Thriller album was released, and it's the album that at the young age of 11yrs old made me take music seriously. It's my 3rd favorite Michael Jackson album, but it's also to most important album I ever bought because that album changed a large part of my life that made me a huge Michael Jackson fan and made me look as music as art not just mere entertainment. As the Thriller album is a true work of art.
 
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benscarr said:
Interesting, as Off The Wall and Bad are my favorite Michael Jackson album, and I consider them better than Thriller even though like you I see it as commericially and culturally Michael's biggest achievement. In fact most major artists albums that are commericially and culturally there biggest achievements are actually their best in most cases. But nothing takes away the fact that the Thriller album deserves all the credit it gets. I became a fan when the Thriller album was released, and it's the album that at the young age of 11yrs old made me take music seriously. It's my 3rd favorite Michael Jackson album, but it's also to most important album I ever bought because that album changed a large part of my life that made me a huge Michael Jackson fan and made me look as music as art not just mere entertainment. As the Thriller album is a true work of art.
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may i ask why bad and otw are your favorites?
 
It depends on the country. In Germany he had his first number one single in 1995 with ES, so this was his peak there. But I say his peak is now, because of the trouble the media makes him for so many years now, because they constantly ignore his art and he still is successful like no other
 
:)With every yr. he is on Peak.yeah if anybody here wanna calculate anybody's popularity by media/television then yeah Mike is on last position of popularity.I think with this type of media trash about Mike,he is still far better than any other Artist.Somebody said about Longetivity of career,yeah many other artists have longetivity in their careers but their careers doesnt include that kind of success.
But yeah he must be on peak during 1992 cuz this was time time when Michael crossed over to so many other countries and he was top on his game.At that time media didnt have anything to challenge his position as no.1 Artist and a biggest Role Model.But after 1993 lots of things have changed but it doesnt meant he is not on top of his game just cuz he doesnt show up anywhere now.He never even gave his complete financial documents to Forbes thats why we never saw his name in forbes list.Even Forbes excecutives can't give us exact answer if asked about MJ's wealth,one executive said he is worth over 3 billion $ atleast and other said he is just worth 200-300 million $.So peak is something which none of Artist can have all the times,but yeah his peak has lasted more than anyone and its gonna last for all time.
:cheers:
 
tbron said:
may i ask why bad and otw are your favorites?
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To me both Bad and Off The Wall fully represent Michael Jackson as an artist, and give a feel of Michael's energy as a live artist on tour.

Off The Wall is my favorite, as it's Michael at his most carefree. It was made in 1979, and the 1970's is my favorite era of music and it's his most dance based album. I love the unique fusion of pop and jazz on the Off The Wall album, and the way the albums songs have a link that gives the album a story.

Some fans say the production of the Bad album is dated because of the synth used on it. Admittedly 2 or 3 songs do sound dated, but I still think Bad sounds fresh. I love the aggression and streamlined feel of the Bad, and the synth sound on it as I love synth music (especially electronic). Also Bad is in many ways the most Michael Jackson of Michael's albums as he wrote/ composed and co-produced all but 2 songs on Bad.

One of the reasons Thriller (my 3rd favorite MJ album) is seen as a more iconic album than all of MJ's albums aside from sales and influence etc. Is that the album contains a certain magaical feel all of his other albums don't. And just as Off The Wall is Michael's most danceable album, which has a lot to do with it being a 1970's disco era, Thriller was released in the era of magical fantasy films like Indian Jones, ET and Blade Runner. And Michael Jackson and the Thriller album fit that magical early 1980's era perfectly. All great albums fit the eras they were released in, even when they are way ahead of their time.

Dr.Feelgood said:
It depends on the country. In Germany he had his first number one single in 1995 with ES, so this was his peak there. But I say his peak is now, because of the trouble the media makes him for so many years now, because they constantly ignore his art and he still is successful like no other
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Wow, Michael's first German No.1 single was in 1995. It's not so much it was Earth Song as it was No.1 in the UK for 6 weeks (MJ's longest run a No.1 in the UK, which was another peak), but the fact it was 1995 quite way in to Michael's career.
 
Thriller but the bad years were awsome. If i was asked if you could relive a time in your life one more time it would be then.
 
billyjean1 said:
Thriller but the bad years were awsome. If i was asked if you could relive a time in your life one more time it would be then.
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I missed to much of the Bad era at the time to appreciate it, I do remember thinkin "who the $%£$ is that and how does he do that!!" when I saw Smooth Criminal for the 1st time, Dangerous era totally blew me away, the sheer excitment of a new amazing video every three months, those were the days :punk::punk::punk:
 
billyjean1 said:
Thriller but the bad years were awsome. If i was asked if you could relive a time in your life one more time it would be then.
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But from a fan perspective it would be the Bad era, because that was the best and most execiting time to be a Michael Jackson fan. An amazing album, with many classic hit singles, great music videos and the Bad Tour the greatest tour of all time, the first tour I'd ever attended. The media said the Bad album would flop and it didn't, and the hype of the Bad Tour in the media was surpasses by Michael and even the media said Michael was the greatest live artist of all time. The Bad era, not Thriller made Michael the King of Pop, as the Thriller era was just seen by many people as a one off and it wasn't as Michael more than confirmed his status as the greatest during the Bad era. Michael not only surpassed the media's expectations but also those of fans, and I was in a daze awe struck after attending the Bad concerts. Michael's was at his peak then, and no other artist had or will ever hit the peak Michael had during the Bad era as a live artist during that era.

Electricfying, Streamlined, physically imposing, high voltage, genius, magically, inspiring, Intense, power and hot summer nights are just some of the words that come to mind when I think of the Bad era and seeing Michael live at Wembley Stadium aged 16yrs old in 1988, and seeing Michael at the Mayfair Hotel.

There difference between the Bad and Thriller eras are, during the Thriller many people who had never bought a Michael Jackson album bought one (or two ie vinyl and cassette), and a large number of those people would never by a Michael Jackson album again, just as many people who bought Prince's Purple Rain, or David Bowie's Let's Dance album (both released during the Thriller era) would never buy an album by them again (and the same will happen to Amy Winehouse after her Back To Black album), as those albums songs struck a cord with almost everyone. And the difference with the Bad album and era, is that it wasn't a 50/50 split between fans and casual music fan, but the majority of people who bought the Bad album and went to the Bad Tour were fans, who'd being waiting for the follow up to Thriller and a tour which is why the Bad era was more real and intense then the Thriller era. After the Bad era, Michael's career hit an even not as it in reality especially during the Dangerous era it didn't it a new peak or dip even though the singles from the Dangerous album were less successful than previous MJ albums, and the media started to become more vile towards Michael as he's was still the biggest pop star on the planet after 10yrs. The media hated that, especally at the time in the early 1990's when Prince and Madonna were selling less albums and Michael was still selling 29.5 million albums of Dangerous.
 
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michaelsson said:
and im gonna give u a reality check. it aint over till its over,there4 no1 knows what his peak will be until he decides 2sit down sumwhere. of course there were donwfalls as every1 faces them,but no1 has topped him, so until then 1958-present
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Jesus has topped Mike. Sorry but it's true. Several artists have sold 30mil albums with one release. But only one man can walk on water.

Walking on water >>>> selling 30mil :coffee:
 
Realistically there's no method to determine a peak because there is more than one way to define a "peak."

Commercial peak - Thriller (no secret)
Critical Acclaim peak - Bad
Popularity - btw Thriller and Dangerous
Awards - Thriller

So the "peaks" are pretty spread out. If you were to factor everything it would probably be Bad. Sold impressively, assaulted the Billboard charts, the album received favorable reviews, plenty of awards, the videos, the songs, everything about it says peak. Not to mention it was his fashion peak as well:punk:. Thriller would seem logical, but what puts Bad over the top is the sold out tour that followed the album. Dangerous lacks the chart performance Bad had, and Thriller lacks the tour.
 
What about an peak in terms of Michael's songwriting skills? Would HIStory probably be the peak so far as his songs on the second disc were so autobiographical & better at conveying his feelings? I mean Billie Jean is a dance song. Maybe a song like Stranger in Moscow better conveys the mood of the song, for example.
 
I think songwriting would fall under the critical acclaim category. All of the science that goes into making an album (writing, vocals, arrangement, etc) to the finished product would be critical acclaim, imo.
 
pamarella said:
To be truthful, it all depends on the area of " Achievements" that you are talking about?. When it comes to having the most Records at #1, Michael is not the record holder, Mirah Carey is. Thriller is the #1 selling album of all time, but there are some who disputes this because during Thriller's release, records were counted by what was shipped to record stores, not by how much was actually sold. With Sound Scan and some of the other tracking systems that are in place, you get a more accurate count because the counts are being taken as the barcodes on the album/cd are being scanned at the Registers at the point of sales. Michael is not the artist with the total most records sold.

And there are a few people who have just as much of a longevity in their music careers as Michael, you just don't follow their careers. There were many before him. And not everyone cares about Michael's music. So let's be realistic here.
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geez, I think we are talking about his accomplishments or the good things he's done...
 
MJsPYT1 said:
geez, I think we are talking about his accomplishments or the good things he's done...
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:yes:do you get the drift? there is one thing to be 'realistic'. then there is the other thing, to slant in the negative direction. where all the positive things are questioned, but apparently there is no question about the things that are deemed negative.
 
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KB50MJ said:
Right. To be exact. It would have lasted between May 16th 1983 (Motown: 25 aired)- August 17th 1993 (the day the news broke of the allegations)
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I agree on that one.
 
benscarr said:
To me both Bad and Off The Wall fully represent Michael Jackson as an artist, and give a feel of Michael's energy as a live artist on tour.

Off The Wall is my favorite, as it's Michael at his most carefree. It was made in 1979, and the 1970's is my favorite era of music and it's his most dance based album. I love the unique fusion of pop and jazz on the Off The Wall album, and the way the albums songs have a link that gives the album a story.

Some fans say the production of the Bad album is dated because of the synth used on it. Admittedly 2 or 3 songs do sound dated, but I still think Bad sounds fresh. I love the aggression and streamlined feel of the Bad, and the synth sound on it as I love synth music (especially electronic). Also Bad is in many ways the most Michael Jackson of Michael's albums as he wrote/ composed and co-produced all but 2 songs on Bad.

One of the reasons Thriller (my 3rd favorite MJ album) is seen as a more iconic album than all of MJ's albums aside from sales and influence etc. Is that the album contains a certain magaical feel all of his other albums don't. And just as Off The Wall is Michael's most danceable album, which has a lot to do with it being a 1970's disco era, Thriller was released in the era of magical fantasy films like Indian Jones, ET and Blade Runner. And Michael Jackson and the Thriller album fit that magical early 1980's era perfectly. All great albums fit the eras they were released in, even when they are way ahead of their time.



Wow, Michael's first German No.1 single was in 1995. It's not so much it was Earth Song as it was No.1 in the UK for 6 weeks (MJ's longest run a No.1 in the UK, which was another peak), but the fact it was 1995 quite way in to Michael's career.
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i see.
 
Well for the U.S. it had to be Thriller in which he was a U.S. star to the world. Then came BAD in which he was a world star from the U.S. It then came to Dangerous in which he was the brightest star in the world.
 
Lonely1814 said:
Realistically there's no method to determine a peak because there is more than one way to define a "peak."

Commercial peak - Thriller (no secret)
Critical Acclaim peak - Bad
Popularity - btw Thriller and Dangerous
Awards - Thriller

So the "peaks" are pretty spread out. If you were to factor everything it would probably be Bad. Sold impressively, assaulted the Billboard charts, the album received favorable reviews, plenty of awards, the videos, the songs, everything about it says peak. Not to mention it was his fashion peak as well:punk:. Thriller would seem logical, but what puts Bad over the top is the sold out tour that followed the album. Dangerous lacks the chart performance Bad had, and Thriller lacks the tour.
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In terms of popularity, Thriller is Michael's most popular album with the general public and Dangerous with fans (though not my favorite, it's No.5 for me). With critics Off The Wall is the most popular album (and my favorite Michael Jackson album).
 
During the thriller era every house you went passed had that album blasting out i remember the day it came out i rushed out first thing in the morning to buy it.

Those were the good times thank god i was abe to be around. There will never be a time like that again too much has happend in michaels life. look whats happening now mike announces a tour employees sue.
 
Lonely1814 said:
I think songwriting would fall under the critical acclaim category. All of the science that goes into making an album (writing, vocals, arrangement, etc) to the finished product would be critical acclaim, imo.
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The science of an album and critical acclaim are two different things.

The peak of Michael's recording skills so far has to be HIStory for me, no question.
 
Pompous Git said:
The science of an album and critical acclaim are two different things.

The peak of Michael's recording skills so far has to be HIStory for me, no question.
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I kind of agree with your view that Michael's recording skills were at their peak on HIStory. I do think that if Michael wrote/ composed and produced every song on that album it would have been his greatest album, from an creative/artistic point of view because his skills seemed on fire with a huge amount of daring and confidence.
 
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