Michael Jackson: The Essential Moments

"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)" 1979

Dancing his way out of the constrictions of Motown, seizing his first shot at creative control, MJ leads his brothers to the promised land. The lyrics introduce his spiritual yearning ("I need to do just something to get closer to your soul"), while the groove really does shake your body down to the ground. Goodbye, yellow-brick road; hello, future of pop.

"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" 1979

Make a list of the top 10 "Ooooh!" screams in history, and this hit has at least six of them. MJ introduces the world to his grown bad self, rocking harder than anything on rock radio, yet sleek and debonair enough to make the rest of the Top 40 sound like hot air. Who else could get away with that murmured spoken-word introduction? Who else could wear white socks with a tux and still look cool?

"Rock With You" 1979

Believe it or not, there was a time when using the word "rock" in a disco tune was scandalous. But Michael's mirror-ball glimmer was so seductive that the whole music world just crossed over to him, as he stretched the word "girl" into a six-syllable psalm. His androgyny was irresistible: He was the girliest boy in the world, yet the most lavished with girl love, and he wasn't the least bit embarrassed about it.

"Heartbreak Hotel" 1980

An R&B smash for the jacksons, this was too dark for the radio but huge in the clubs. Michael swore it wasn't an intentional Elvis reference, though the record company got nervous and gave it the moronic new title "This Place Hotel." (That's one of the few moments in his career for which nobody has ever claimed the credit.) But Elvis would have appreciated how it mixes up old-time religion, a taste of sex and a lot of fear.

"Billie Jean" 1983

Six minutes of cosmic funk dementia, an instant Number One despite being one of the strangest and most disturbingly personal songs ever to grace the radio. Quincy Jones tried to talk him out of putting it on the album, but party people still quake to the bass line of Louis "Thunder Thumbs" Johnson.

From our special commemorative Michael Jackson issue, available now

ESSENTIAL MICHAEL JACKSON COVERAGE