Michael Jackson Discoveries

So you've rattled your bones to "Thriller" and moonwalked so many times to "Billie Jean" that you ought to qualify for honorary NASA membership. Now you're looking to learn what lies beyond the biggest Michael Jackson blockbusters, and we've decided to start with "Smile", a track that began life as the instrumental theme for the Charlie Chaplin movie Modern Times in 1936, and has been covered by everyone from Eric Clapton to Steven Tyler . . . but Michael's treatment really showcases the way he can connect directly to a song's emotional core. Discover the secret history of Michael in motion, from first flush of genius to masterpieces in the making, in Next Steps.

Sometimes the most important moments in history happen when nobody's looking. For instance, the Jackson 5's 1974 single "Dancing Machine" might not have scaled "ABC"-like heights, but it certainly confirmed their transition from what Motown initially marketed as "bubblegum soul" kids to foot-stomping, bass-popping, funk-flexing young men. Two years before that, Michael was making his first moves outside the family fold, and the 13-year-old's precociously passion-packed version of Bill Withers' "Ain't No Sunshine" spoke volumes when it opened up his first solo album. In Deep Cuts, get schooled in Jackson 5 jams even without reciting your ABCs.

If you want to really sink your teeth into the deepest, juiciest Michael Jackson discoveries, you've got to go back to his wonder years in the Jackson 5. The family band's very first single was "Big Boy" (on Steeltown Records, January 1967), the master tapes for which were rediscovered in 1994 — the track makes a powerful case for Michael as the most soulful eight-year-old ever to let his lungs loose on record. Other secret treasures are hiding in plain sight: even if you spent a lifetime with your ears superglued to your radio, you'll know that the hand-clapping, finger-snapping passion plea "Baby Be Mine" was one of only three tracks from Thriller not released as a single here in the UK.

When you're dealing with probably the single most recognisable name — and voice — on Earth, it's easy to get the idea that you've already heard everything there is to hear. It's also easy to be very wrong about that, but don't break out in a sweat and get your glove all wet. We're here to help. We've followed every phase of M.J.'s journey — Michael's boy-genius-of-soul salad days with the Jackson 5, the group's coming-of-age evolution into the Jacksons, and, of course, the solo superstardom that catapulted Gary, Indiana's favourite son permanently into the planet's collective pop consciousness. And from each step on the trail, we've stacked up a titanic tower of under-the-radar cuts, bonus-track rarities, and demos`— all, somehow, shining just as brightly as the King of Pop's crown jewels.