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Jackson was influenced by musicians including James Brown, Little Richard, Jackie Wilson, Diana Ross, Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr., Gene Kelly, and David Ruffin. Jackson’s vocal technique was influenced by Diana Ross; his use of the oooh interjection from a young age was something Ross had used on many of her songs with the Supremes. 

Vocal style

Jackson sang from childhood, and over time his voice and vocal style changed. Between 1971 and 1975, his voice descended from boy soprano to lyric tenor. He was known for his vocal range. With the arrival of Off the Wall in the late 1970s, Jackson’s abilities as a vocalist were well regarded; Rolling Stone compared his vocals to the “breathless, dreamy stutter” of Stevie Wonder, and wrote that “Jackson’s feathery-timbred tenor is extraordinarily beautiful. It slides smoothly into a startling falsetto that’s used very daringly.” By the time of 1982’s Thriller, Rolling Stone wrote that Jackson was singing in a “fully adult voice” that was “tinged by sadness”.

Musicianship

Jackson had no formal music training and could not read or write music notation. He is credited for playing guitar, keyboard, and drums, but was not proficient in them. When composing, he recorded ideas by beatboxing and imitating instruments vocally. Describing the process, he said: “I’ll just sing the bass part into the tape recorder. I’ll take that bass lick and put the chords of the melody over the bass lick and that’s what inspires the melody.” The engineer Robert Hoffman recalled that after Jackson came in with a song he had written overnight, Jackson sang every note of every chord to a guitar player. Hoffman also remembered Jackson singing string arrangements part by part into a cassette recorder. 

Dance

Jackson danced from a young age as part of the Jackson 5, and incorporated dance extensively in his performances and music videos. According to Sanjoy Roy of The Guardian, Jackson would “flick and retract his limbs like switchblades, or snap out of a tornado spin into a perfectly poised toe-stand”.The moonwalk, taught to him by Jeffrey Daniel, was Jackson’s signature dance move and one of the most famous of the 20th century. Jackson is credited for coining the name “moonwalk”; the move was previously known as the “backslide”. His other moves included the robot, crotch grab, and the “anti-gravity” lean of the “Smooth Criminal” video. 

Themes and genres

Jackson explored genres including pop, soul, rhythm and blues, funk, rock, disco, post-disco, dance-pop and new jack swing. Steve Huey of AllMusic wrote that Thriller refined the strengths of Off the Wall; the dance and rock tracks were more aggressive, while the pop tunes and ballads were softer and more soulful. Its tracks included the ballads “The Lady in My Life”, “Human Nature”, and “The Girl Is Mine”, the funk pieces “Billie Jean” and “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin'”, and the disco set “Baby Be Mine” and “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”.

 

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