Michael Jackson is dead.

[kandrathe]

Michael Jackson's career hardly begins with his solo work. The Jackson 5 material is almost another 10 albums and over 20 singles.

Do you think the Jackson 5 was all due to Micheal? Other than a few pop songs that Micheal sang, I don't recall much of their work having any lasting effect on the music world. If that counts, then consider Ringo Starr's group plus solo career.

I don't know by what standard 20-ish albums in a career constitutes "meager." That seems well beyond what most artists or groups manage in a lifetime. It's more than Paul Simon. More than Bruce Springsteen or Pink Floyd, Aerosmith or the Grateful Dead. How many albums exactly does someone have to make before they're "serious"?

My observation is that "serious" means an album every 12 to 18 months, spanning over at least 20 years. There are many (maybe too many) flash in the pan groups/artists who maybe have a profound influence, but that doesn't mean they lived up to their potential. The groups you mentioned, and many more would have a bigger influence if they wrote more, or performed more, or both.

What I'm saying is that Micheal rested upon his fame, and got distracted with his demons and wasn't very serious about writing and performing. He just wasn't very effective or influential for the past 20 years. In fact, he was more interesting as an oddity than he was as an artist.