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Melinda C. Staley
English 101-18
Dr. D. Witherspoon
5 November 2014
Michael Jacksons Influence on the World
No other artist is as globally recognizable as Michael Jackson. Performing since the age
of five, Jackson captivated and moved audiences from around the world until his death at the age
of fifty. He entertained via music, movies, and dance. Michael Jackson is the most influential
artist of all times; he impacted our culture through his dancing, his style, and impacted music for
his era and the generations that succeeded him.
There has never been an artist who could take the world by storm through dancing the
way Michael Jackson did. The way he could suavely glide across the stage, captured the
attention of countless people around the world. However, on March 25, 1983 at Motown 25th
anniversary special, Michael Jackson effortlessly floated backwards onstage, starting a global
phenomenon called The Moonwalk. One source says the moonwalk only lasted two
seconds (Greene, Thirty Years Ago: Michael Jackson First Moonwalked) yet, after that
performance, people across the world tried in vain to walk backwards but no one can, or ever
was, able to do it was as much grace and perfection as Michael Jackson. The Moonwalk has been
closely associated with Michael Jackson, despite him not being the creator of the dance. The
sharp spinning and crotch grabbing Michael Jackson did in nearly every video and music
performance has influenced many artists of today. Chris Brown, Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars
and even Justin Bieber have been seen mimicking Michael Jacksons style of dancing at one

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point in time or another. Many of them have openly stated that they were influenced by the late
and great Michael Jackson.
If you think Michael Jackson only impacted others with his dancing, then guess again!
Michael Jackson was known for his quirky sense of fashion, in thick white socks and penny
loafers tohis red leather jacket, MJ knew no style limits (Oliver, Theres a Reason
Michael Jacksons Called The King of Style). It was never a surprise to see Michael Jackson
in cropped pants with loafers, revealing bright and glittering socks. In the 1980s, it wasnt
uncommon to see Michael Jackson in a military jacket that had been bedazzled to shine brightly.
Artists such as Beyonc, Britney Spears, and Rihanna have been seen wearing military jackets
closely resembling those Michael Jackson wore over thirty years ago. Usher Raymond was also
influenced by Michael Jacksons fashion. He performed in an opened white button down shirt
over a white V-neck shirt, an attire Michael Jackson commonly stripped down to during a
performance. Bruno Mars has adopted the cropped pants with black loafers and white socks that
Michael Jackson sported years prior. Michael Jacksons bold sense of fashion made him a
fashion icon and his influence is still prominent day, yet his most memorable trademark will
forever be his one sequined glove. His solitary bright glove has been recognizable for many
decades and will continue to be for generations to come.
Michael Jackson opened doors for many generations that succeeded him. His influence in
music was the most significant in his career. Through his music, Michael Jackson broke racial
barriers and genre barriers. He was the first African- American to appear on MTV and his music
video Thriller was MTVs most successful and lucrative video of its time. During a period where
racial issues were prominent, Michael Jackson had fans of many races, color, and backgrounds
and had the record sales as evidence. He was one of the first to see music videos as an important

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tool for music and used many videos to tell stories for songs such as Thriller, Smooth Criminal,
Bad, Black & White, and Remember the Time. Because of his use of videos to partner with his
music, music videos have become an important part of the music industry today. Michael
Jackson was also one of the first artists to collaborate with artists of different musical genres.
Though he was generally a pop artist, Michael Jackson made pop/rock songs such as Beat It,
R&B/soul songs such as You Are Not Alone, and pop/gospel songs such as Will You Be There
and Keep the Faith. Due to his courage to collaborate with artists of different genres, he paved
the way for other artists to do the same; for example, he influenced Hip- Hop rappers, Run DMC
to collaborate with rock group Areosmith. His innovated musical ideas have impacted music for
his era and this era.
Michael Jackson was a groundbreaking artist who was ahead of his time in many ways.
His creative ideas for music videos and the passion that flowed through his dancing influenced
other artist to express themselves in many different ways instead of primarily musical. Credit can
be given to Michael Jackson for changing the way music videos were perceived and showcased
how music of different genres could not only be great, but be a way to connect people of
different backgrounds. Many of todays biggest stars, such as Madonna, Beyonc, and Kanye
West were influenced in some way by Michael Jackson. If it wasnt for his fearlessly to push the
boundaries, the creativeness that we were blessed to have a taste of would not have influenced
and impacted the world today.

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Work Cited
Greene, Andy. "Thirty Years Ago: Michael Jackson First Moonwalked." Rolling Stone. Rolling
Stone, 25 Mar. 2014. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.
Oliver, Dana. "There's A Reason Michael Jackson's Called The 'King Of Style'" The Huffington
Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 29 Aug. 2013. Web. 01 Nov. 2014.

COMMENTS:
I wrote multiple side notes on this essay. However, this essay still demonstrates a great
deal of improvement, and it is one of the best in my classes this semester.
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