Jackson never got much credit for being a pioneer, but his melding of rock and R&B preceded the meeting of Run-D.M.C. and Aerosmith by four years. Besides featuring one of the best guitar solos in pop history (provided free of charge by Eddie Van Halen, in a move his accountant no doubt regrets) it's the best example of Jackson's ability to bridge moods and genres. It's tense and spooky, it rocks, and yet you can't help but to dance to it. It's Jackson's best.
2. "Man in the Mirror"
Jackson's catalog is so deep that people tend to overlook this simple midtempo ballad from Bad. But beyond offering a fleeting glimpse of autobiography ("I'm starting with the man in the mirror/ I'm asking him to change his ways"), it's one of Jackson's most powerful vocals and accessible social statements, not to mention the best-ever use of a gospel choir in a pop song.
3. "I Want You Back"
Even with everything we know about Jackson as an adult, only a person with the hardest of hearts could hear the chord progression of the Jackson 5's greatest song and not get up and dance. The effortlessness with which Jackson fuses the influence of Sly Stone and James Brown with his own innocent yelping is part of the appeal, but the whole song flies by with a whimsy and sweetness that was Jackson's calling card well into his mid-20s.
4. "Billie Jean"
Based on a real-life incident in which a woman accused Jackson of fathering her twins ("She says I am the one/ But the kid is not my son") the song almost didn't make it onto Thriller because Quincy Jones hated its signature part: the bass line. Thumping and fraught, it feels like the soundtrack to a late-night walk through a bad neighborhood. It successfully makes Jackson sound dangerous, which is no small feat. Amazingly, the video was also one of the first by a black artist ever played on MTV.
5. "Never Can Say Goodbye"
At 12, Michael's voice is noticeably deeper than on earlier Jackson 5 songs — and deeper than on a lot of his later solo stuff too. In the verse, he ramps up the emotion gradually, easing his way up the scale until he bursts into the chorus, hitting all the high notes with astounding clarity.
6. "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"
This was the first song Jackson had full creative control over as a singer and songwriter, and it proved he was more than just a sweet kid. (His mother, a Jehovah's Witness, was reportedly shocked at the sexual entendre in the title.) "Don't Stop" came out squarely at the end of the disco era, and yet it's so filled with energy and instruments — trumpet, flugelhorn, electric piano — that it doesn't sound the least bit dated. No self-respecting wedding DJ goes anywhere without it.
7. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'"
It's hard to write a better album opener than this one from Thriller, which not only kicks up the energy but lays out Jackson's ambitious musical agenda — from the disco beat to the rock timbre of the vocals to the closing refrain of "mama-se, mama-sa, mama-coo-sa," cribbed from "Soul Makossa," a hit by Cameroonian saxophonist Manu Dibango.
8. "We Are the World"
Parts of this benefit single have aged poorly — specifically, the Quincy Jones fanfare that opens the thing and the Cyndi Lauper shrieking-dolphin interlude. But the song itself, written by Jackson and Lionel Richie, is a wonder, flexible enough to accommodate the vocal styles of everyone from Kenny Rogers to Bob Dylan. And at the 2:40 mark, when Jackson sings the bridge in a classic "'scuse me, genius coming through" moment, he proves that his style tops them all.
9. "I'll Be There"
After three upbeat songs, this Berry Gordy–co-written ballad was the Jackson 5's first serious track, and it turned out to be its most successful. Michael and Jermaine share the lead vocals, but it's Michael who has the memorable lines, opening with, "You and I must make a pact" — he sounds almost too young to know what the word pact might mean — and the ad-libbed ender, "Just look over your shoulders, honey," a reference to the Four Tops' "Reach Out, I'll Be There."
10. "Ben"
This song about a rat, from the 1972 film of the same name, was originally offered to Donny Osmond. That tells you all you need to know about the quality of the composition. The vocal is another story. In classic style, Jackson, 14 at the time of its release, invests just enough to make you believe that he and Ben have "both found what we were looking for," but his restraint is just as powerful. Every note is clean and understated, giving "Ben" a dignity far above its station.
