Michael Jackson today stands as a cultural icon, and as such he has always skirted the edge of precisely the sort of scandal that has recently overtaken him, evoking in his audience a number of unanswered questions related to his sexuality, his character, his personality, and his "reality" as a human being off-stage. Indeed, these are precisely the reasons why Jackson remains a significant cultural icon, for if the questions were simply answered, the mystique and appeal would disappear. At the same time, the image Jackson projects lends instant credibility to the sort of charges of sexual misconduct brought a couple of years ago regarding possible child molestation on Jackson's part. The subsequent legal settlement did little to dispel questions about the singer and his behavior, and his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley only became another occasion for speculation about the sincerity of his behavior. Jackson seems to have cultivated an aura of eccentricity, something in which he could indulge given his vast earnings from his recordings and related business enterprises. At the same time, Jackson has succeeded and has separated himself from other current cultural icons by means of his music, and his music both reflects his interests and concerns and at the same time highlights what is probably a deliberate conflict between the image created of him as an asexual child and the aggressive sexuality projected in his music and videos.
Michael's musical ability was noted early, but it remains a largely untrained talent. As a child he was imitative and could repeat sounds and movements made by other performers seen on television or elsewhere (Taraborrelli, 1991, 13). His musical ability remains largely intuitive, and he cannot read music. He writes a song in his head, sings it and records it, and then hires musicians to put it on paper:
He is an incredibly musical person, however. The notes Michael comes up with--and they way he ...