The 10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson

My 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson span a real range of emotion, from the really pulsating to the really haunting. These 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson include some that I never heard during tributes to him on the day of his death June 25, 2009. Here they are, in order of their release as singles, according to The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, my ten greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson. I'm not going to dwell on his troubled personal life in this article, for his music is what has redeeming value and what will last until the end of time! I know people will disagree with my list, but again, these are my personal preferences!

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 1: Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough, from the 1979 album Off The Wall

I loved this fast-paced and pulsating tune the first time I ever heard it in 1979. To me, it's as perfectly-paced a song out there and really cuts through to the soul. The transition from its really quick pace to the slower and short instrumental in the middle doesn't affect it negatively, because when it transitions back to the fast pace, it's really rapturous! This song co-shares my all-time favorite songs of Michael Jackson spot with another 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs selection further down the list.

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 2: Rock With You, from the 1979 album Off The Wall

This is one of the smoothest R&B tunes about romancing ever made. While the pace of this song is fast, it's still ingeniously romantic-sounding and really captures that essence of being attracted to someone. And the instrumental in the middle of the song is pleasantly "sidetracking" to my ears!

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 3: She's Out Of My Life, from the 1979 album Off The Wall

I remember the first time I heard this (sometime in the middle of 1980), it made me cry, I believe. Michael Jackson knows how to bring out so many emotions via his singing, and this title says it all, as he croons so sadly and with such yearning in his singing voice. Yet it's music like this that can bring out the catharsis that's needed to eventually go on and find someone new.

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 4: Beat It, from the 1982 album Thriller

By the time his great album Thriller came out, MTV was on hand to help make it and the pop rock icon legends. The toughness and grittiness of Beat It along with its music video about two gangs confronting each other used to have me on edge when I watched the ending, when I saw how they settled their differences: by "dance fighting". Maybe this is how rival gangs should act, instead of gunning each other down...take a cue from the Forever King of Pop!

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 5: Wanna Be Startin' Somethin', from the 1982 album Thriller

I love this rapturous tune because there have been times when my anger at a person has been controlled as I think about this song that puts a smile on my face. The beat, like the above Beat It, is gritty and tough, but it's got that ability to make me feel chilled out due in part to Jackson's sassiness and playfulness in the way he sings it; and thus, it's one of my 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson!

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 6: Human Nature, from the 1982 album Thriller

This co-shares the spot for my favorite Michael Jackson song of all time, along with Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough. This song has a real haunting quality to it, not the creepy kind, but a more heart-felt type that just stops me in my tracks when I hear it. It's really one of those rare songs that has a flowing perfection to it.

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 7: Say Say Say (Duet with Paul McCartney from McCartney's 1983 album Pipes of Peace)

Once again, it was the power of MTV that helped make this one of my 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson, for the storyline about a traveling road show was really fun to watch, yet the sincerity and urgency in this tune is really memorable for me, too. Those of you youngsters who never had the good fortune to come of age during the beginning years of MTV really missed out!

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 8: Thriller, from the 1982 album Thriller

The music video production for this song was incredible and I never tired of watching it on MTV as a teenager. It created mental pictures for me whenever I heard the song without seeing the video. As a horror movie fan myself, I found it fascinating that they would take a big block of air time to show a production that was of short feature film length about Michael Jackson and his date's adventure after seeing a horror movie. The voice of Vincent Price helped to add to Thriller's funny-creepiness.

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 9: I Just Can't Stop Loving You, from the 1987 album Bad

Not only could Michael Jackson put out the lively dancing tunes, but as with She's Out Of My Life, he pierces music listeners right through their hearts, including mine, with another song that makes me think of loss, though this one is easier to get teary-eyed over since he's much more cutting in his crooning and shows more heart-felt desperation.

10 Greatest Classic Rock and Pop Songs of Michael Jackson Selection Number 10: Man In The Mirror, from the 1987 album Bad

I think this is as appropriate a song to end with for my 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson, because his message via this song is sung so straight-forward and contains a great moral: That we individually are responsible for making the world a better place, so if there's something that's on your heart (your convictions) that you sense needs doing, then do it! Don't just listen to great music, take heed from its redeeming messages, too!

Printed sources for this article about the 10 greatest classic rock and pop songs of Michael Jackson:

Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, 8^th Edition (2004)

Joel Whitburn, Joel Whitburn's Top Pop Albums: 1955-1996 (1996)