All true artists in the world from all countries and all genres are influenced by Michael Jackson. There were music videos before Michael Jackson, and there were music videos after Michael Jackson. He brought such a huge change in the marketing and positioning of the music video.
When I was a teenager, I used to watch the 'Making Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'' video and try to follow the steps and do the 'Thriller' moves in my bedroom. That was the most incredible dance sequence.
Watching Michael Jackson was like taking a history lesson and a lesson on the future at the same time. If that weren’t enough, Michael then went and single-handedly revolutionized music videos. It’s amazing that today, some twenty-five years later, everyone who makes a pop music video still feels obligated to include a 'group dance' sequence like the one Michael pioneered in 'Beat It'. That’s how influential and ahead of the times he was.
I've got so many dance heroes, and it's such a cliche, but how can I not say Michael Jackson? Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, Paula Abdul - they are the people I remember when I was a little girl, watching their videos and trying to learn all the choreography.
My whole world changed when Michael Jackson brought out the Bad album when I was about eight or nine. He took over my whole life and from then on I wanted to be Michael Jackson. I watched his videos for hours and learned how to dance like him. I would push back the chairs in the room and learn his dance moves. I even taught myself to moonwalk.
I used to stand in front of the mirror in my bedroom. I shared a bedroom - like a lot of people in my era, in my neighborhood - with my two brothers and an uncle. And I'd stand there in front of the mirror over the dresser and I would practice: meek young men grow up in libraries, believing it their duty to accept the views of Cicero, Bacon and Baba.
Oh, Michael Jackson is Michael Jackson. And no matter if he sold 40 million records off of one record and sold 15 off his last or whatever the counts may be, Michael Jackson will be Michael Jackson.
He revolutionized music videos. Before Michael Jackson, MTV refused to play African-American artists.
When I was a kid, I remember seeing Michael Jackson. I thought he was an alien. You don't grow up to be like Michael Jackson. I'm not saying I'm Michael Jackson, but Mercury Prizes are for aliens, basically. So I was very chuffed that I got nominated, and then I won.
I've loved Michael Jackson, his music, his music videos.
You know how you either grow up in a Michael Jackson house or a Prince house? For me it was Michael Jackson. I could never decide whether I wanted to be Michael Jackson or marry him.
When I was a kid, all I knew about Michael Jackson was that he was crazy. He had a monkey named Bubbles and some kind of oxygen chamber, and he used to be black, but he made himself white, and he was nuts. That was Michael Jackson in full. Wacko Jacko.
There was a time Michael Jackson couldn't get his video on MTV because he was considered to be 'urban.' The Michael Jackson. So I literally have to be the Michael Jackson of apparel in order to break down the doors for everyone who will come after I'm gone, after I'm dead.
On `Earth Song' I was the military guy that would come out of a tank that was used during the show. It was unbelievable; somehow I'd become a Michael Jackson fan that got to dance with Michael Jackson! I spent a lot of time wondering, "what the hell did I do right to deserve this?"
Michael Jackson was my musical God. He made me believe that all things are possible, and through real and positive music. He can live forever! I love Michael Jackson. God Bless him.
It's like, I don't think you understand, Michael Jackson's bedroom is two stories and it has, like, three bathrooms and this and that. So, when I slept in his bedroom, yes, but you understand the whole scenario.