The music world suffered a seismic shock on June 25, 2009. The day Michael Jackson died in Los Angeles at 50. Twitter crashed. Google briefly mistook the surge in searches for a cyberattack. Wikipedia recorded nearly a million visits to his page within an hour, among the highest in its history. Overall, web traffic jumped by 11 per cent.
For a final moment, ‘MJ’ did what he always had — bring together people across age, race, and geography. From global capitals to Kerala, front pages carried his story.
Now, with the biopic ‘Michael’ in theatres, that enigmatic presence returns in a different form. Directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring his nephew Jaafar Jackson, the film traces Michael’s journey from the ‘Jackson 5’ years to his rise as a global icon.
Early responses have been mixed, with some critics railing that the portrayal glosses over blemishes — including allegations of child abuse — that marred his image. Others, meanwhile, note that the film focuses only on the first 30 years of his life, and a second part is expected to follow.
The debates around the film, however, have not discouraged audiences. Reels are trending across social media, and theatres are turning into concert-like spaces, with people singing along to the music he created over the years.
For many, it is about revisiting the music, the persona, and the scale of what made him the ‘King of Pop’. Despite controversies raging on, what continues to hold that audience pull is the question of what set him apart. It’s a question we explore through the imprint he left on those who heard him, studied him, and carried parts of him forward.
Singer and musician George ‘Cool’ Peter recalls first listening to Jackson in the late 1980s. “An uncle gave me two cassettes — ‘Thriller’ and Phil Collins’s ‘No Jacket Required’. I played them endlessly,” he says.
“At that time, I had been into Kraftwerk, Simon & Garfunkel, ABBA, the Carpenters, and even Mozart and Beethoven. But something about Michael Jackson felt different. It wasn’t just the songs. Perhaps the backstory, and the thinking behind the tracks.”
A former frontman of the 13AD band, George remembers being fascinated by the detailing. “The vocal arrangements, the layering, the call-and-response patterns — harmonies behaved like instruments,” he gushes.
“Each album felt like a sonic kaleidoscope. He could move across pop, funk, rock, soul, and R&B within a single record, yet it all felt cohesive. Even the basslines had intent.”
That sense of intent, he says, is why Jackson continues to connect with people. “As his biopic releases, I think not just of the legend, but of the quiet influence he has had on musicians like me. Michael, you never knew me, but I knew you through your music.”
It was not just the music — MJ’s dance left an equally strong imprint. The moves he introduced, especially the ‘moonwalk’ and the ‘robot’, became trends among youngsters and children, and continue to hold that appeal even today.
Babu Footlooser's, a pioneer of breakdance in the state and founder of Footloose Crew, remembers the frenzy of the 1980s. “We used to hunt for his posters in tabloids. People grew their hair, wore hats, tried to look like him…. That influence has still not faded.”
He believes what made MJ a global icon was his ability to sing and dance simultaneously. “People often reduce him to breakdance, but he brought together disco steps, footwork, tap, and more,” he says, with a tinge of childlike excitement.
“I was drawn to his moonwalk, the gliding, the rapid spins… all done with incredible finesse. I even tried to recreate his costumes at a time when readymade versions were not available. Almost every prominent dance master in Kerala was influenced by him.”
Jackson entered music at the age of 11 with his brothers and broke through racial barriers that defined the industry at the time. By the early 1970s, he had begun his solo career, and by the end of the decade, he was already a dominant force in pop.
His influence also touched individual lives in surprising ways, reaching people far beyond the stage and screen.
Actor-dancer Sibi Kuttappan — better known as Sibi ‘Jackson’ — first encountered him through a casual remark while he worked at a watch shop. “A child once told me I looked like Michael Jackson. I had not really followed him before that. Then I started collecting his cassettes and CDs,” he says.
That curiosity turned into a career, performing tributes across Kerala. It eventually led to the lead role in the film ‘Moonwalk’.
“I would sit with CDs and watch his videos repeatedly, trying to learn every move,” says Sibi. “There were nights I listened to his songs non-stop. I must have heard Billie Jean thousands of times. It took me a while to realise the scale of what he was.”
Accolades MJ received only reinforce that scale — multiple Grammy Awards, American Music Awards, and a long list of record-breaking achievements, including being one of highest-earning artists even after his death.
Actor, composer and DJ Sekhar Menon traces his MJ memory to mixtapes from childhood. “Every time you hear his music, it feels fresh. Even now,” he says.
“With most songs, you get used to them after a while. With MJ, there’s always something — a vocal layer or a rhythm — that keeps revealing itself.”
He also points to MJ’s technical brilliance. “Today, we have so much technology to do different things — we can isolate vocals and listen to every detail,” Sekhar explains.
“But back then, what MJ did felt like magic. Even now, when you break it down, it still feels unreal. It almost makes you wonder about the musical genius in him.”
While naming ‘Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough’ and ‘Thriller’ among his favourites, Sekhar highlights that many of hits carried social messages on subjects like racism, poverty and environmental degradation without sounding rhetorical or activist-like. “They were delivered heart-to-heart through music quite beautifully,” he says.
Rapper and singer Thirumali picks ‘Stranger in Moscow’ as his fave for its restrained, melodic depth. “Whether it’s pop, hip-hop, or Black music, a lot of what we hear today can be traced back to him,” he says.
“It’s hard to think of an artist who has not been influenced by Michael Jackson. Every generation knows him. And he reached that scale at a time when the internet was not even part of the equation,” he sums it up.
Sujit G Ponoth, who runs JD’s Jukebox with a collection of over 6,000 vinyl records in Kochi, sees that legacy play out in real time. “Michael Jackson records never stay on the shelf,” he says.
“People come from various corners asking specifically for his music. If not available, they don’t pick an alternative. They just leave.”
Clearly, the MJ sway remains constant. And maybe that is the simplest way to understand it: his music didn’t belong to a time. Time kept dancing up to it.