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Michael Jackson's 'Dangerous' and the Reinvention of Pop

Nirvana and company may have killed off '80s rock. But if pop was dead, its "king" Michael Jackson had successfully created alternatives.

                                      
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Nirvana and company may have killed off '80s rock. But if pop was dead, its "king" Michael Jackson had successfully created alternatives.

The main question with Singles is this: does Phil Collins really deserve all the critical revilement he's gotten for decades?

Deemed As polar opposites by the media, part of what made the Prince v Jackson rivalry so compelling was their similarities.

Something as fresh and lively as Michael Jackson's Journey from Motown to Off the Wall results in a rare enhancement of what you already have come to know and love.

Steve Knopper’s highly readable biography MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson lays out a credible case for Jackson to be considered along those lofty lines, and not simply as a supreme entertainer.

Ivy Walker's self-titled debut album is moved by a sense of nostalgia that never really recalls a specific time and place.

As the Bay Area Rapid Transit escalator carried me upward, toward the first annual Bay Area Book Festival (6th and 7th, June), I repeated my new mantra. I would buy no books.

Yes, this is another Queen compilation, but it's not hard to make a good case for Forever.

An invaluable look into the lives of our most adored musicians, written with wit, humility, and vibrancy by one of our most revered music journalists.

American Hustle is not only about the awkwardly intricate and emblematic fictions designated "Abscam", but also about the stories the scammers tell themselves.

Having no footage of the 1993 Moscow concert, part of the Dangerous tour, to speak of, Trubnikoff can hardly concern himself with conveying quite what it was like to attend the show.

Through the act of collective mourning, we elevate dead celebrities to near-divinity. The need is both a primitive and a decidedly American one: to define ourselves by something other than an alienating individualism.

Keep on with the force, don’t stop. Don’t stop until you get enough of the 104th most acclaimed album of all time. Michael Jackson returns to the Great List with his 1979 breakthrough.

They wanna be start’n somethin’ for sure -- but is it a dub record or a wedding dance?

Definitively answering the age-old question of "Who's bad?"

Gen X’ers may still want their MTV, but the version they loved is as distant a memory as Valley Girl speak, parachute pants, and leg warmers. Wake up and smell the VEVO.

Pianist Vijay Iyer gave us jazz masterpieces in 2009, 2010, and 2011. Looks like this will be his year yet again.

The David Lee Roth-fronted Van Halen returns after a 28-year absence. Who else has made fans wait that long? Quite a few, it turns out.

Shockaholic switches on and off with the distant past and more recent present, ultimately drawing conclusions about what it means to be born into celebrity and the seeming inescapability of one’s public persona.

Pop music makers like Rihanna, Justin Bieber and Katy Perry may get the kiss off from critics, but really, what's the harm in getting your pop groove on to their style of music?

Enter for your chance to win a copy of Michael Jackson: The Life of an Icon on Blu-ray along with a Blu-ray disc home theater system (prize pack valued at $375)!

Continuing our look at the year’s most notable events in the world of music, here’s what happened in December 2010.

With over 140 trillion copies sold, it’s no surprise that Michael Jackson’s 1982 album Thriller would wind up on Acclaimed Music’s Big List. Counterbalance’s Eric Klinger and Jason Mendelsohn would just as soon not be startin’ somethin’, but here we are.

Predictions on who will win what in the biggest categories, based on industry hype and a little guessing about the academy’s voters.

June 2010, the subject of our latest look at the year’s biggest events in music, was a month of successful releases and summer concerts.

The Moonwalker's short films are brought together here in a single collection. Are you still down with Michael? Are you down? Are you bad?!

Marrying hip hop elements to high-energy compositions and carefully-crafted productions, new jack swing was the cutting edge of R&B music in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Michael Jackson's posthumous 2010 album Michael, the first in nine years, reminds us that the best of Michael has already been released.

Take Whitney Houston's "Saving All My Love For You", a steamy tale of a mistress longing for romantic bliss with a married man, and imagine how it might play out with a multi-perspective delivery.

Analyzing the phenomenon of the inevitable spike in album sales and interest of an artist after they die.

Sex Therapy isn't sexy, but it's mildly enjoyable and isn't as embarrassing as it could have been.

Overblown set pieces, fiery performances, and category wins that no one saw coming -- yes, this year, the Grammy Awards decided to be interesting.

Pop Heroism, Two Songs at a Time