MJ: The Genius of Michael Jackson

As a teenager, I was a huge Michael Jackson fan. Not quite on the level of a camping outside his hotel type fan, but I absolutely devoured his music, his dance moves, his music videos and the liner notes and credits of all of his albums and bought numerous editions of his singles because of a different radio edit or remix. I thought he could do no wrong and defended him whenever I had to.

Despite my fandom, this was actually the first biography I'd ever read about him. So while I have nothing to compare it to, it felt even handed to me and thankfully wasn't the tabloidy nonsense I'd always steered clear of. Still, as other reviews have pointed out, with the title it has I expected a more thorough look at the musical side of the man. Even as the author does focus on his private life too, it's a little strange that there is zero mention of 1997's remix album Blood On The Dance Floor, particularly the track ‘Morphine' (an autobiographical song about painkiller addiction) There are also some minor (but glaring to a fan) errors. The author confuses Childhood with Little Susie, and the music video for Remember The Time with In The Closet, to name just two. Who's to say there aren't other minor errors elsewhere in some of the other details too?

By the time Unbreakable came out, I'd sadly grown out of the fandom. While I recognized him to be one of the world's greatest ever entertainers, I also realised that he was a highly flawed individual. This book did a good job of reminding me of both. I didn't pay Jackson much attention after 2001, and so it was a little disheartening to read of the painful, drug addled, divaesque and frankly somewhat pathetic existence he led for the last 8 years of his life, and of all the vultures and enablers he surrounded himself with.