Michael Jackson

Starting out as the youngest star of the Jackson 5 in the late 1960s, Michael Jackson spent his childhood years cutting his teeth on Motown soul before breaking away to craft one of the most dominant solo careers in pop history. Though he sits firmly outside the rock world, rock fans with open ears have long recognized what made Jackson genuinely extraordinary — a relentless perfectionism and an instinct for production that rivals any studio obsessive the rock world has produced. He worked alongside Quincy Jones to build a sound that borrowed liberally from funk, R&B, and yes, rock itself, famously enlisting Eddie Van Halen to shred on the Beat It guitar solo, a moment that blurred genre lines in the best possible way. Off the Wall, Thriller, and Bad form a trilogy that holds up as pure craft regardless of genre loyalties. Thriller alone sold over 66 million copies and remains the best-selling album of all time. His influence on stagecraft, music video as art form, and sheer sonic ambition touched virtually every corner of modern music. Love him or not, dismissing Michael Jackson is something only the musically narrow-minded would attempt.