Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson lived in the spotlight and on the charts in a way that no artist before ever did . . . and no artist after ever will. With his first No. 1 hit at the age of 11, a solo career that produced the best-selling album of all time, and relentless reinvention, Michael was always one moonwalking step ahead of the times. No introduction to Jackson's musical legacy would be complete without a meaty wedge from his signature album — from the mirror-ball disco cool of "Billie Jean" to the sweat-drenched grit of "Beat It", Thriller hit the pop world like a cosmic, 42-minute, all-illuminating meteor shower, yielding seven Top 10 hits and cementing his status as pop's heavyweight champ. And the album's techno-funky title track wasn't merely a dance-floor favourite; it also spawned the video that put MTV on the must-see list of every teen in the '80s. In Next Steps, Michael proves his mastery of both the tender ballad and the supercharged rock-out.

The sum of Michael's genius sprang not only from his ambition and talent, but also from his versatility and keen understanding of pop's evolution. Early on in his solo career (which began in 1971 with "Got to Be There"), Michael showed he knew exactly how to reign in the energy with "Ben", a gorgeous ballad that gave his fans their first peek at a childlike vulnerability that would be part of his identity for the rest of his life. Fast-forward to 2008, when the good-natured back-and-forth of "The Girl Is Mine" gets a beat-injected remix in the company of will.i.am (Jackson had teamed up with another megastar legend, Paul McCartney, on the 1982 original). In between those tracks, 1988's "Dirty Diana", featuring Billy Idol's former guitarist Steve Stevens, proved he knew how to lace his pop with pure, molten rock. In Deep Cuts, Michael proves to be as brilliant an interpreter of others' music as he was an innovator of his own.

Because so much of Michael Jackson's music is, well, Michael Jackson's music, it's easy to overlook that he was masterful at interpreting — and reinterpreting — the musical visions of others. He injects Lennon & McCartney's psychedelicized stream of '60s consciousness, "Come Together", with a megawatt shot of speaker-shuddering beats and nail-studded-leather-tough guitar riffs, and with Floetry's "Butterflies" (2001) he stays very close to the original (and actually borrows the rhythm track wholesale) while saturating his cover with that unmistakable Michael-ness. When it came to reinventing his own material, Michael was always fearless in ringing the changes — check out "History (Tony Moran's HIStory Lesson)" from 1997's Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix, which whips up eight full minutes of stormin', club-crunchin' house.

Blessed with a talent that knew virtually no bounds, Michael Jackson lived nearly his entire lifetime in the spotlight, first as a member of the Jackson 5 and later as the creator of the best-selling album of all time, defining the word superstar for generations to come. It was no idle boast that he claimed the crown as King of Pop, because he always had the musical goods to back it up. From the pre-teen rocket launch of his early career (channelled into his funkified second solo single, "Rockin' Robin") past the game-changing groove of "Billie Jean", to the soulful sweetness of "You Are Not Alone", Jackson lived at the top of the charts for four decades, a hit-making machine unparalleled in pop history. They say that the light that shines twice as bright burns half as long, and in the wake of Michael's passing away, we can always take comfort in the undeniable fact that the music he left behind will continue to shine . . . forever.