The King of Pop died six years ago today, but in his wake,
left fans a career of incredible live moments
Six years ago today, Michael Jackson died — but the
trailblazing musical performances live on through the wonder
of video sharing sites.
In his career, Jackson earned 13 Grammys, 26 American
Music Awards and sold an estimated 400 million records
worldwide. But his on-stage performances were just as lauded
as his in-studio ones.
In remembrance of the King of Pop,we compiled six
iconic song and dance routines from the ultimate song and
dance man.
The first video inspired a generation of fans to try to
Moonwalk, but nobody quite did it like Jackson.
The crowd at the 25 anniversary of Motown show went
crazy for the second or two that Jackson broke out his
signature move for the first time.
Re-witness the original Moonwalk in this iconic performance
of "Billie Jean":
Jackson could captivate a crowd simply by standing there. No
performer has ever wasted more time doing nothing during a
Super Bowl halftime show, and still put it was considered one
of the greatest performances of all-time.
Once more, it was "Billie Jean" that really got the California
crowd excited, but the impressive set list also included "Black
or White" and "We are the World." It was certainly the
highlight of the game for Buffalo Bills fans.
Perhaps the King of Pop occasionally overdid it a little with
the theatrics (and the pants), but the fans ate it up anyway.
His catalog and performances spoke for themselves.
To date, nearly 22 million people have watched the following
video — a Munich performance of "Smooth Criminal" from
Jackson's History World Tour — on YouTube. The clip features
the incredibly angled forward-lean move that Jackson made
famous (and would make a lot of amateur impersonators fall
flat on their faces).
Slash of Guns N' Roses joined Jackson onstage for this
memorable MTV performance. It included lots of steam, lots
of wind and lots of hits. Jackson also pulled out all of his
best moves for the memorable set.
A winded Jackson took to the microphone to address the
crowd in the middle of the following clip.
"Some of us like to play it safe and take each day as it
comes," Jackson opined, before he performed "Dangerous." He
concluded, "Some of us like to take that crazy walk on the
wild side. So, for those of us that like living dangerously, this
one's for you."