after him has come absolutely no one

Michael Jackson: The Man in the Mirror - by David Gates | Newsweek.com:

He was the king of pop—a term apparently originated by his friend Elizabeth Taylor—and he's the last we're ever likely to have.

Before Michael Jackson came Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles;

After him has come absolutely no one, however brilliant or however popular, who couldn't be ignored by vast segments of an ever-more-fragmented audience.

Not Kurt Cobain, not Puffy, not Mariah Carey, not Céline Dion, not Beyoncé, not Radiohead—not even Madonna, his closest competitor.

This was the black kid from Gary, Ind., who ended up marrying Elvis's daughter, setting up Neverland in place of Graceland, and buying the Beatles' song catalog—bold acts of appropriation and mastery, if not outright aggression. (Of course, Elvis and the Beatles had come out of obscurity, too, but that was a long, long time ago...) He made trademarks of the very emblems of his remoteness: his moonwalk and robot dances and his jeweled glove—noli me tangere "don't touch me," the words spoken by Jesus to Mary Magdalene after his resurrection, according to John 20:17.


Before Michael Jackson
came Frank Sinatra & Bing Crosby?, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles;
after him has come absolutely no one,
however brilliant or however popular,
who couldn't be ignored right by vast segments of an ever-more-fragmented audience. right right well said.

Not Kurt Cobain right that's who comes to mind as I tried to think, who since? and Eddie Vedder. both front men to ~grunge groups (Nirvana, Pearl Jam), not Puffy, not Mariah Carey saw that she is pretty high on top selling records & tht ok she's someone who came on the scene after I was tuned in (not, like MJackson & Madonna, who were IT when I got there), not Céline Dion, not Beyoncé, not Radiohead—not even Madonna, his closest competitor she's up there, right? but she's not as fascinating is she? he's got the changed appearance ~ race, gender; the Jackson 5 childhood & Peter Pan adulthood ~ innocence; and oh the dancing! like no one else, innit.

A more masterly entertainer never took the stage. In 1988, the New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff called him "a virtuoso . . . who uses movement for its own sake. Yes, Michael Jackson is an avant-garde dancer, and his dances could be called abstract. Like Merce Cunningham, he shows us that movement has a value of its own." Better yet, Astaire himself once called Jackson to offer his compliments. As a singer, Jackson was too much of a chameleon—from the tenderness of "I'll Be There" to the rawness of "The Way You Make Me Feel" to the silken sorrow of "She's Out of My Life"—to stamp every song with his distinct personality hmm I don't know ~ seems distinct to me, as Sinatra did, or Ray Charles, or Hank Williams. But these are demigods—Jackson was merely a giant huh. in singing? Hank Williams, Ray Charles, Frank Sinatra are in a higher league?. (And how'd you like their dancing?)

-