Ten years after Michael Jackson’s death, the King of Pop’s legacy and influence on popular culture remains as strong as ever. As the eighth of ten children born to working class parents in Gary, Indiana, Michael and his talented siblings morphed from starry-eyed hopefuls with big dreams to some of the biggest names in entertainment – with Michael becoming arguably the greatest entertainer, and perhaps most misunderstood, to have ever lived.
In honor of the King of Pop’s 61st birthday, here are five ways Michael Jackson changed the world.
1. Philanthropy. While Michael Jackson’s personal life, speculation about his plastic surgery and eccentric nature were all tabloid fodder for much of his life (and continues to be so to this day), his immense charity work fails to get the same level of exposure. Just how charitable was Michael Jackson? In 2000, the Guinness Book of World Records cited him as the most charitable pop star on the planet. He gave over $300 million to charity over the course of his lifetime and in his downtime Michael also visited orphanages, children’s burn units and once helped a four-year-old Hungarian boy get a life-saving liver transplant. Even in death, MJ continues to give back. His will dictates that 20 percent of his large estate be donated to a slew of charities. In June, it was reported that he has also helped nearly 300 college students achieve higher education at HBCUs.
2. Vitiligo Awareness. In the late 1980s, Michael Jackson’s skin started to get lighter. By the time the album Dangerous came out in 1991, his complexion was considerably different from the Thriller and Off The Wall eras. Some tabloids claimed he was bleaching his skin and didn’t want to be black. Jackson stressed nothing could be farther from the truth. In 1993, Jackson explained he had a condition – vitiligo – which eliminates the pigmentation in a person’s skin and causes large white blotches to appear. (The condition was confirmed in his 2009 autopsy.) He first used dark make-up to cover the white patches, but when that became too much, he used a doctor prescribed cream as a treatment for the condition to remove the dark patches from his skin. Before MJ’s admission, many people had no idea what vitiligo was.
3. Dance Moves. Since he started performing at five-years-old, Michael Jackson wowed audiences with his dizzying and sometimes gravity defying dance moves. He put the moonwalk on the map when he slid backwards across the stage for the first time on May 16, 1983 for a TV performance of “Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever.” The performance was electric and will go down in history as one of the most iconic. But did you know Michael is also considered the first person to do the robot on national TV? A popular street dance at the time, Michael first performed the robot to “Dancing Machine” in 1974 and the dance later exploded in popularity. His most jaw dropping move is the 45-degree lean from “Smooth Criminal”, which Jackson first pulled off using cables and later a special pair of patented shoes that would hook into the stage. MJ’s signature kick, crotch grabs and toe stand continue to inspire millions of dancers and entertainers around the world.
4. Heal the World. Michael didn’t just make bops about groupies and unrequited love. Some of his most memorable hits are ones with a message like “We Are The World” – a charity song written by MJ and Lionel Richie – that raised more than $100 million for Africa relief in the 1980s and “Earth Song” which urges people to take care of the planet, stop pollution and end wars. A recurring theme in many of Michael’s songs was about making the world a better place, a message we seem to need more than ever now.
5. Breaking Down Racial Barriers. MJ’s video for “Billie Jean” was the first by a black artist to get heavy rotation on MTV. Before the video premiered in 1983, MTV was predominantly playing videos by white artists. Some accused the then fledgling network of being racist; MTV denied this and said there weren’t enough black artists making videos that fit their “rock” programming. Enter “Billie Jean”. Groundbreaking and revolutionary at the time, the video was played constantly on MTV. It paved the way for other black artists to get mainstream airplay on the network. This exposure helped Michael Jackson become a worldwide icon who was embraced by all ethnicities and is still loved across the globe to this day.
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