Michael Jackson

By Rolling Stone RS contributor Jon Dolan writes about Bad, Jackson’s last truly great album, and Alan Light examines the making of Thriller, the biggest album of all time. Rob Sheffield contributes a guide to Jackson’s videos and the 25 moments that defined his career. Michael also includes tributes fro...

By Rolling Stone • Adam Lambert on His New Album • Courtney Love Explores Greed on New Album • Lady Gaga Reveals “Bad Romance” Video • Top 200 Chart to Include Jackson, Beatles • Michael Jackson Funeral Cost $1 Million • Them Crooked Vultures Stream New Album • Jackson Doctor Speaks About Star’s Drug Use

By Daniel Kreps See photos from Michael Jackson’s funeral. Related Stories: Katherine Jackson Hires New Lawyer for Battle Over Estate Michael Jackson Finally Laid to Rest at Private Ceremony in L.A. Jackson Family Challenges 2002 Will, Denies Abuse Accusations

By Daniel Kreps Last Week’s Heroes: Like This Is It’s box office receipts, the soundtrack to the Michael Jackson concert rehearsal film saw its first week sales drop by 48 percent, but the King of Pop still remains on pace to once again hit platinum status by Christmas. The week’s biggest fall was reserved...

By Barry Walters Any detachment disappeared during an encore of Devo’s grinding early single “Be Stiff” and satiric Reagan-era anthem “Beautiful World.” During this last track, Mark wore his baby-faced Booji Boy mask and sang the entire song in that character’s Mickey Mouse-like squeak. “This was the f...

By Daniel Kreps The reunited Pavement will headline 2010’s Sasquatch! Music Festival at Quincy, Washington’s The Gorge on Memorial Day weekend, May 29-31. As of now, this will be the Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain band’s first reunion show in the U.S. after playing gigs in Australia and the U.K. The entire Sasqu...

By Daniel Kreps The Big News: The King of Pop resumed his spot at the top of the charts this week. The soundtrack to Michael Jackson’s concert rehearsal documentary This Is It sold 373,000 copies to cruise to Number One on the Billboard Top 200. Jackson albums like Number Ones and Thriller have frequently hi...

By Daniel Kreps Related Stories: • Jackson’s “This Is It” DVD Pushed to 2010, Doc Dominates Theaters • Michael Jackson’s Final Dreams Come to Life as “This Is It” Film Premieres • Michael Jackson Is “Genius” In “This Is It” Tweets Elizabeth Taylor

By Daniel Kreps reported from an advance screening in New York that “This Is It is proof that Jackson did still have it: the magical voice, the gravity-defying moves (most of them), the clear-headed artistic vision of one of the greatest artists of our time.” Audiences were packed with fans paying tribut...

By Christopher R. Weingarten and Caryn Ganz But the songs — which adhere fairly closely to their original studio versions and video choreography — are crisp. “Human Nature” opens with a chilling a cappella; Jackson is a bad guy running from gangsters like Humphrey Bogart in an elaborately filmed segment to accompany “Smooth Crimi...

By Daniel Kreps Michael Jackson’s This Is It will begin its two-week theatrical run tonight as special advance engagements screen in select cities around the world (the film opens wide tomorrow). After Rolling Stone saw a few scenes from the film last week, we called the footage “impressive” and said Ja...

By Rolling Stone Gauntly thin and in bedazzled costumery, he hits all the notes, nails all the dance moves. He pops, locks, spins, does the worm, breaks out a penguin dance and even shows off some new moves. The dancers and musicians all working around him seem awestruck (their most frequent comments are “I a...

By Daniel Kreps The fight over control of Michael Jackson’s assets is continuing in the courts. Though Jackson named two executors in his 2002 will (see it here) — lawyer John Branca and music executive John McClain — the singer’s mother, Katherine, has continued to argue that the family should be more in...

By Rolling Stone This week in New Reviews, we have a pair of remix collections: Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite and Phoenix’s Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix (Remix Collection). The Neptunes, Stargate, Dallas Austin and Salaam Remi all contribute re-imaginings of selections from the Jackson 5 and Ben era to...

By Rolling Stone The Material Girl made her twelfth appearance on the cover of Rolling Stone as Madonna looked back at her historic career. We celebrated Madonna with her most Iconic Moments, took a tour of her RS covers and reminisced with photos from her Sticky & Sweet Tour. “I think Lady Gaga is great…...

By Daniel Kreps The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty will reportedly begin airing in December. As Rolling Stone previously reported, the show was originally supposed to be a one-off special about the Jackson brothers attempting to reunite for a concert, but producers began taping more episodes following t...

By J. Edward Keyes The Band: Memory Tapes The Buzz: Ex-member of overlooked Philly punks Hail Social, Dave Hawk writes eerie, mysterious pop songs long on atmosphere and mood. This is no hipper-than-thou niche act: Hawk was recently contacted about remixing a Michael Jackson song for a posthumous collec...

By Daniel Kreps POP or ROCK MUSIC Favorite Male Artist Eminem Michael Jackson T.I. Favorite Album Lady Gaga – Fame Michael Jackson – Number Ones Taylor Swift – Fearless Favorite Album Beyoncé – I Am… Sasha Fierce Black Eyed Peas – The E.N.D. Michael Jackson – Number Ones

Artist: Michael Jackson Album: Michael Jackson: The Remix Suite Review: This collection of Michael Jackson retreads from the Motown era seems to walk the line between shameless cash grab and worthy tribute. Generally, the best cuts here stay close to the spirit of the originals: Of the t...

By Daniel Kreps Look back at Michael Jackson’s life in photos. • New Michael Jackson Song, “This Is It,” Premieres Online • New Michael Jackson Soundtrack Single “This Is It” Out October 12th • Video of Michael Jackson Singing “Human Nature” From “This Is It” Film Revealed

By Daniel Kreps • Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” vs. Third Eye Blind – “Semi-Charmed Life” • Jay-Z – “Izzo (H.O.V.A.)” vs. Jackson 5 – “I Want You Back” • Jay-Z – “Excuse Me Miss” vs. Rick James – “Give It To Me” • Rihanna – “Disturbia” vs. The Trammps – “Disco Inferno”

By Daniel Kreps Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty • New Michael Jackson Soundtrack Single “This Is It” Out October 12th • Michael Jackson Left Hard Drives of New Songs, ’80s Recordings • Video of Michael Jackson Singing “Human Nature” From “This Is It” Film Revealed

By Daniel Kreps Michael Jackson fans react to the star’s death: photos. • Michael Jackson’s Death Officially Ruled Homicide • Warrant Reveals Jackson Likely Died After Dose of Propofol; Coroner Declares Death Homicide • Michael Jackson Investigation’s Lone Focus Turns to Dr. Murray

By Daniel Kreps Over on Billboard’s Top Catalog Chart, where the Fab Four and the King of Pop continue to battle it out, Michael Jackson reclaimed his top spot as Number Ones surpassed Abbey Road, which was the chart’s top seller for two consecutive weeks. The Beatles’ remasters take up 13 of the top 16 spot...

By Rolling Stone Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kiss, the Stooges, LL Cool J, Genesis and ABBA were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. LL told RS the nod was one of the happiest moments of his career, and we looked at photos of all the nominees. Michael Jackson documentary This Is It revealed advance screenin...

By Daniel Kreps The publishers of The Official Michael Jackson Opus, an enormous multi-platform biography dedicated to the King of Pop, appeared yesterday on the Today show to showcase the project’s large scope and the groundbreaking technology that helped Kraken Opus secure Michael’s approval in...

By Daniel Kreps According to MTV, the concert will allow Brown to promote “Transformer,” the first single off his upcoming album Graffiti. The Swizz Beatz-produced track, which also features a guest spot from Lil Wayne, is expected out soon. Brown was also (incorrectly) named among the performers at Je...

By Christopher R. Weingarten Pioneering turntablist Roc Raida passed away on Saturday, September 19. Details are slim, but a source tells AllHipHop.com that reports of injuries suffered from a car accident or a karate class are inaccurate. Roc Raida was a founding member of the New York DJ crew X-Ecutioners, whose pyr...

By Rolling Stone Elusive Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke did a surprise DJ set on Tuesday night at Los Angeles’s Roosevelt Hotel, much to the delight of Tweeters, LA Weekly reports. If the tweets are to be believed, he spun Daft Punk and Major Lazer among other danceable treats. Kanye West is leading the nomin...

By Rolling Stone Rock Daily was up at 3 a.m. on a workday trying to score tickets to Michael Jackson’s This Is It! concerts at London’s O2 Arena. The run wound up ballooning to 50 booked shows. All the gigs, more than one million tickets, sold out in record time, and that’s when the controversy started. Also, Ameri...

By Daniel Kreps • Report: Artists Marking Up Own Concert Tickets to Profit Off Secondary Market • Michael Jackson’s “This Is It!” Tour Balloons to 50-Show Run Stretching Into 2010 • Michael Jackson Adds 20 Concerts to London Run as Scramble for Tickets Begins

By Daniel Kreps Why the gap between shows? Rock Daily has several explanations (and theories). First, the O2 already had some shows lined up in July — including a July 11th Ne-Yo gig (a Ne-Yo appearance during one of MJ’s shows wouldn’t be out of the question, or vice-versa). A full-scale stage show is exhau...

By Rolling Stone When Michael Jackson appeared at a press conference to announce his return to the stage — a run of concerts at London’s O2 Arena that begin in July — we all celebrated that the King of Pop was back. Some commenters, pessimistic about their chances in the ticket lottery, were willing to pay a hi...

By Daniel Kreps Michael Jackson comeback rumors pop up monthly like clockwork, but the buzz on today’s stories on possible MJ concerts is a bit louder than usual. Billboard is reporting that Jackson may appear at a news conference at London’s O2 Arena on Thursday, March 5th, to announce a run of shows ther...

By Daniel Kreps Photo: Michael Ochs Archive/Getty Images As Rolling Stone announced earlier today, legendary rap trio Run-DMC will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on April 4th, becoming the second hip-hop act to receive the honor (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five entered the Hall...

By Pete Maiden “The first record I remember playing loads of times was Thriller, by Michael Jackson. And, I don’t think it’s really influenced me that much. It’s just a brilliant record. Obviously, Michael Jackson means different things these days but it’s, you know, for me still it’s a brilliant record. N...

 - Jun 10, 2008 Earlier this year, Rolling Stone named Chris Brown the “Best New Michael Jackson”, so it made sense that Brown told us a story about the King of Pop when he ...

By Daniel Kreps Related Stories: New Music Report: “Michael Jackson: 25th Anniversary of Thriller”The “Thriller” Remixes: Kanye, Akon, Will.i.am and Fergie Try to Top the Chipmunks’ “Beat It”Michael Jackson Is “Smelly”: Ten Things We Learned From the “Ebony” Cover Story Twenty-five years and two mo...

By Daniel Kreps The five much-ballyhooed remixes from Michael Jackson’s twenty-fifth anniversary edition of Thriller have hit the Web. First up, there’s Will.i.am/Fergie’s take on “Beat It,” which is pretty solid, if only because it reminds us of the Alvin & The Chipmunks version of the song. Alvin a...

Yesterday we reported that Bo Diddley had been hospitalized following a stroke. Now it appears that the legendary guitarist’s condition is much improved. Though the singer’s speech is impaired, doctors believe he will be able to perform again in the future. “We’re going to get a guitar for...

By Rolling Stone Michael Stipe talks about how he feels about The Beatles: listen] Michael Stipe admitting the lyrics on the first two albums were “nonsense”: listen] On being chosen as Rolling Stone’s Album of the Year in 1983, over Michael Jackson’s Thriller: listen]