Still the king?

Michael Jackson is again in the spotlight with the release today of "Thriller 25", a remastered version of his legendary album (the all-time best seller in the record history), with new versions of his hits featuring duets wiht today's artists, to celebrate the 25th anniversary of its original release.

"Rock With You" (video directed by Bruce Gowers, from the album "Off The Wall", 1980)

"Off The Wall" is for a lot of people Michael's first solo album, it is however not really the case. From 1972 to 1975, Motown released 4 albums. OK, not so many hits were remembered from that era, except maybe the very beautiful "One Day in Your Life". This album is great and certainly reveals MJ's potential with his first huge successes like "Don't Stop Till You Get Enough", "She's Out Of My Life" or "Rock With You".

"Thriller" (video directed by John Landis, from the album "Thriller", 1982)

"Thriller" is the record-breaking album that needs no introduction whatsoever. It's a total must-have! The figures make me dizzy, I'll only say that out of the 9 tracks on the ablum, 7 were released as singles!

"Smooth Criminal" (video directed by Colin Chilvers, from the album "Bad", 1987)

The much anticipated next Quincy Jones / Michael Jackson collaboration is "Bad." Very successful, even if it doesn't reach the sales of the previous opus. For me, "Bad" presents one of the finest Jackson ballads like "Liberian Girl", "Man In The Mirror" or "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".

"Remember The Time" (video directed by John Singleton, from the album "Dangerous", 1991)

The very dense and complete "Dangerous" is a New Jack Swing masterpiece. Michael Jackson distinguishes himself with a weird way of life and his expression may be disturbing to some extent. Jackson becomes bigger than life with HUGE hits, top-notch collaboration, Hollywood-style videos and a gigantic tour.

"Stranger In Moscow" (video directed by Nicholas Brandt, from the album "HIStory", 1995)

"HIStory" is the start of a slow down in sales. Jackson's doing too much in megalomania. The album stills holds some perfect gems such as "Scream", "Stranger In Moscow", "Earth Song", "HIStory", certain songs however are only fillers, as far as I'm concerned.

"Blood On The Dance Floor" (video directed by Michael Jackson & Vincent Paterson, from the album "Blood On The Dancefloor", 1997)

Most people probably already forgot this remix album and... we can't blame them. Only one thing is to be remembered (and it's worth it), the title-song. One of my favorite 1990s Jackson song.

"Cry" (video directed by Nicholas Brandt, from the album "Invicible", 2001)

"Invicible" was a failed comeback. The album is neatly produced and enables Jackson to explore new ways. I might blame the poor choice in the singles for the reason of the declining sales. To this day, I think the limited editions with colored artwork are still available pretty much everywhere...