The whole Michael Jackson thing

There was a radio debate about Michael Jackson on yesterday. Everyone was saying what a great artist he was but what a "troubled" person he was in his private life.

I've got no idea what he was really like. He seemed pretty odd...but that's not the worst thing in the world. He did dangle a child over a balcony. That was dumb. He did seem to like the company of children but we'll never know whether he could actually be labelled a paedophile.

So let's stick with what we know. His music. I am old enough to remember the excitement and buzz in 1982 when Thriller came out and the video was shown in its entirety on the telly.

Off the wall, the previous album, was also pretty good.

1987's Bad, while not actually bad, was no more than okay.

After that, unmitigated garbage.

So, two and a half albums that you'd want to listen to.

One of them is the biggest-selling album of all time, so his contribution is not to be sniffed at.

But was he really such a good singer and such a good dancer? To my ears, his singing was competent but punctuated by needless whoos every other line. His dancing seemed to be a well-choreographed routine that he basically repeated endlessly whilst grabbing his crotch in an unappealing fashion.

There is not a single Michael Jackson vocal performance that is as good as, for example, Prince's singing on If I Was Your Girlfriend. Come to think of it, Prince was a much better dancer than Michael Jackson. He was free and loose and unshackled in a way that Jacko never was.

And now that I think about it, Prince was a better musician and a better songwriter...biggest-selling album ever notwithstanding.

From 1983 to 1988 Prince released Purple Rain, Around the world in a day, Parade, Sign o' the Times, Lovesexy.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. That's about as good a five-album body of work as you can possibly get. Up there with the first four or five Roxy Music albums.

And I've always wondered about those devoted fans of Michael Jackson. Maybe the media highlighted the slightly loopy ones when he died but frankly anyone who follows ANYONE with that kind of blinkered fervour is worrying.

Anyhoo, just a thought. I'm not a Jacko hater as such, and I'm not questioning his impact on the world, but sometimes a little perspective can be a good thing.