Michael Jackson’s Journey: Pop to Pain

He invented pop as we knew it.

First, as the boy-child singer of the Jackson 5, soaring in the fast songs and piercing in the ballads. If he'd never done anything beyond that, he still would be mourned and remembered today. But then he became the megastar of Off the Wall and Thriller, expanding disco, Motown, rock excess and Hollywood glitz into a new style of pop, making music that was universal on a level nobody imagined possible. His voice had that sad, lonely, vulnerable twitch, just as his songs felt haunted by something otherworldly and beautiful. Anyone could hear how weird and wounded he was, yet he turned his private agonies into intensely emotional, exuberant music. Given the circumstances of his childhood, it's no surprise Michael Jackson was tortured; the surprise is that he was able to turn his torture into music that made the whole world dance.

We examine this remarkable life and legacy in a special commemorative issue — from the Jackson 5's first recording session in Detroit in 1968 to his tragic slide in recent years. Here now, a look back at pivotal moments in Jackson's career and portions of our special issue:

from The Bubblegum Soul Machine

The Jackson 5 began recording their debut album in Detroit in the summer of 1968. At the time, the Motown machine was pumping out hits like bumpers at the Ford plant, with nonstop smashes from the Miracles, the Supremes, the Temptations, the Four Tops and Stevie Wonder. The year the brothers signed to Motown, the label had nine Number One hits — including Marvin Gaye's scorching "I Heard It Through the Grapevine," which became the biggest-selling single in Motown history up to that time.

AVAILABLE NOW"I was hanging around the studio in Detroit," Gaye remembered in a 1983 interview, "and heard this sound coming out of the rooms. Someone was singing 'Who's Lovin' You.' I looked inside and saw five kids harmonizing into one mike. The littlest was so short he was standing on a milk crate. He was the one singing lead. Couldn't believe it. Crazy Bobby Taylor was in there producing. 'Hey, Marvin,' said Bobby, who loved to aggravate me, 'meet Michael Jackson. He'll be topping you in about a week.' "

"I saw the J5 as a straight-up soul group," says Taylor. "That's what I knew and loved — and that's what they knew and loved. Mike went to bed with James Brown and Jackie Wilson records under his pillow. The rest of the brothers idolized Smokey and Marvin. The Jackson brothers, like their old man, were products of the great tradition. It was in my blood — and theirs — to cherish that tradition while taking it to the next level. It was my job to feed Mike's soul." ...

— David Ritz

Excerpted from "The Bubblegum Soul Machine," featured in our special commemorative Michael Jackson issue, available now

NEXT: On the road with the Jackson 5 in 1971

ESSENTIAL MICHAEL JACKSON COVERAGE