Michael Jackson’s music has been dissected song by song many times before, but a new three-book series is taking another look at the King of Pop’s recorded work, from the Jackson 5’s Motown beginnings through his solo career.
There is certainly no shortage of books examining Michael Jackson’s music.
Over the years, fans have been able to choose from countless biographies, album-by-album analyses, recording-session guides and song-by-song explorations of his catalogue. And now, another three-book series is joining that ever-growing library.
Titled King Of Pop: The Definitive Song-by-Song History of Michael Jackson, the series is written by London-based music historian and editor Raphael A. Stone and is divided into three volumes covering different periods of Michael’s recording career.
The concept is straightforward: take the songs one at a time and explore not only the recordings themselves, but also the stories behind them, the performances that helped make them famous and their wider cultural context.
But rather than attempting to squeeze Michael’s entire career into one enormous volume, Stone has divided the story into three distinct eras.
Book One: The Motown Years
King Of Pop: Book One: The Motown Years begins with the Jackson 5’s debut for Motown in 1969 and follows the group through its increasingly complicated relationship with the label and eventual departure in 1975.
The book is described as a track-by-track history covering the songs recorded during the Motown period, looking at the stories behind the music and the performances that helped establish the Jackson 5 as one of the most important young groups of their era.
For Michael Jackson fans, this period represents the beginning of an extraordinary recording history, from a young Michael emerging as the group’s remarkable lead vocalist to the increasingly sophisticated work produced during the group’s Motown years.
The book also places the music within the wider culture surrounding it, examining not simply what was recorded but the environment in which those recordings were created and received.
Book Two: The Jacksons Years
The second volume, King Of Pop: Book Two: The Jacksons Years, picks up where the first book leaves off.
Following the Jackson 5’s departure from Motown, the Jacksons began a new chapter with Epic Records in 1976.
Book Two covers the period from that Epic debut through to what Stone describes as the group’s “quiet, valedictory close” in 1989.
That gives the volume a particularly interesting span of Michael’s career.
It covers the transformation from The Jacksons’ early Epic material through the period when Michael’s own solo career was becoming increasingly dominant, while the group continued to produce its own albums and performances.
Once again, the book takes a track-by-track approach, examining the songs alongside the performances, stories and cultural circumstances surrounding them.
Book Three: The Solo Years
The final volume moves into Michael Jackson’s solo career.
King Of Pop: Book Three: The Solo Years begins with Off the Wall and continues through Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory, Blood on the Dance Floor and Invincible, before looking at the legacy of Michael’s recorded work.
It is, naturally, the largest and most familiar part of Michael’s musical story, covering the period in which he became one of the biggest recording artists in music history.
Rather than treating the albums simply as isolated releases, Stone’s approach is to examine the individual songs and connect them to their wider cultural, personal and musical context.
For fans who already know the catalogue inside out, that could be where the appeal lies: discovering whether another researcher can bring a new perspective to songs that have been discussed countless times before.
Another Perspective on a Familiar Catalogue
There is an unavoidable question whenever another book about Michael Jackson’s music appears:
What can another song-by-song book tell us that hasn’t already been told?
It is a fair question.
Michael’s catalogue has been examined extensively, and many of his individual songs have already generated decades of discussion, analysis and behind-the-scenes stories.
However, music history is rarely completely finished.
Different researchers bring different sources, interpretations and areas of interest to the same recordings. A song can also be viewed differently when placed alongside the cultural and personal circumstances surrounding its creation.
Stone says his approach draws inspiration from Ian MacDonald’s Revolution in the Head, the acclaimed track-by-track examination of The Beatles’ recorded work.
His stated aim is to connect every song an artist recorded with its wider cultural, political and personal context, while maintaining what he describes as a critical voice alongside his perspective as a lifelong fan.
Meet Raphael A. Stone
Raphael A. Stone is a music historian and editor based in London.
According to his author biography, Stone specialises in creating track-by-track companions to iconic discographies. His work combines extensive research with what he describes as a personal critical perspective, with the aim of making detailed music history accessible to readers.
Stone lives in London with his wife and three children.
Three Books, One Catalogue
The King Of Pop series therefore offers another opportunity to revisit Michael Jackson’s recorded history, this time divided into three clearly defined periods:
Book One — The Motown Years
The Jackson 5 from 1969 to 1975.
Book Two — The Jacksons Years
The Jacksons from their 1976 Epic debut through 1989.
Book Three — The Solo Years
Michael Jackson’s solo catalogue from Off the Wall through Invincible and beyond.
For collectors, researchers and fans who enjoy going deep into Michael’s music, another interpretation of the catalogue may be worth exploring, even if, as lifelong fans will know, there are already quite a few books sitting on the shelf attempting to do exactly the same thing.
Sometimes, though, the fun is seeing what someone else discovers when they listen to the songs all over again.
