The Infinite Dial

Amidst the many Michael Jackson-related conversations of recent weeks, it was suggested to me that Jackson's '80s superstardom was as much a reflection on Michael as a phenomenal performer and media personality as the records themselves, some of which just seemed ordinary now. And I'll give you that for a few of them. If "Human Nature" had been by, say, James Ingram, it would be as long gone from the radio as, well, "Baby Come To Me" or most of the other MOR R&B ballads of that era. Similarly, if "She's Trouble" had made the cut for "Thriller," as hoped, it might still be on Jammin' Oldies stations today. Instead, it's an obscure MJ sound-alike, the kickoff single from the second album by Musical Youth ("Pass The Dutchie"), a band that you probably never knew had a second album.

But in many other instances, the magic was in the music. The Jackson 5 are widely acknowledged as the last triumph of the Motown studio machine and Jackson's later production mentors are Quincy Jones and Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff. These are guys who had many serendipitous moments, but never did anything by accident. But what exactly is special about the songs? For that, we turned to our musicologist friends at Pandora. Here's how they characterize the songs that played on our Michael Jackson Radio station. And certain formulas definitely emerge.

* "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough": "Disco influences, flat out funky grooves, subtle use of vocal harmony, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping."

* "The Way You Make Me Feel": "Heavy melodic ornamentation, call and answer vocal harmony (antiphony), repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, busy horn section."

*"Rock With You," a song that we were told "exemplifies the style of Michael Jackson": "Disco grooves, subtle use of vocal harmony, mild rhythmic syncopation, call and answer vocal harmonies, mixed acoustic and electric instrumentation."

* "Dirty Diana": "Pop-rock qualities, mild rhythmic syncopation, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, demanding instrumental part wrting."

* "ABC" by the Jackson 5: "Classic soul qualities, flat out funky grooves, call and answer vocal harmony, acoustic rhyth piano, intricate melodic phrasing."

* "Wanna Be Starting Something": Pop-rock qualities, electronica influences, R&B influences, gospel influences, disco influences."

* "Torture" by the Jacksons, which got heavy airplay during the Jacksonmania of 1984, but wasn't an enduring hit: "Repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, intricate melodic phrasing, clear focus on recording studio production, synthetic sonority."

*"Thriller": "Disco influences, flat out funky grooves, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, demanding instrumental part writing."

* "Bad": "Heavy melodic ornamentation, call and answer vocal harmony, repetitive melodic phrasing, extensive vamping, clear focus on recording studio production."

You would think, by the way, that as a thinly veiled rewrite of "Thriller" that the "Bad" description would be almost the same, but it only shares two elements (repetitive melodic phrasing and that darn vamping) that also characterize a lot of the songs.

What you see here is a mix of studio precision ("demanding instrumental part writing," "clear focus on recording studio production"), songwriter calculation ("repetitive melodic phrasing") and holdover elements from the classic soul era that was fading as the J5's star rose. That "vamping" that the musicologists find in so many MJ/J5 hits was one of Michael's many tributes to James Brown, who so effectively and repeatedly riffed on certain elements that it's no surprise that one of his biggest records is called "Doin' It To Death." But Jackson codified that sound for the pop audience that knew only a few of Brown's many R&B hits.

One can in no way say that Jackson's success was all about the music, any more than the end of his hit streak was just because he wasn't doing his best work anymore. But the music was certainly the calling card. It was the phenomenal radio success of "Billie Jean" that forced MTV to show that video where the sidewalk lights up. The moonwalking of the Motown 25th anniversary special was just rocket fuel at that point.