the first time he did the impossible was with the Jackson 5 success.
i agree with SoWhat, that success made him a legendary kid act.

then when he did "off the wall," it was an kid star morphing into
an adult star, which never happens. that was the second time he
did the impossible.

he was definitely a star because of off the wall.
but i think the legend of michael jackson as we know it today
was born on motown 25, when the kid star who had somehow morphed into an adult star did a reunion with his brothers, and did a medley of their old hits...

only to watch his bothers leave the stage so that he could perform a NEW song on a motown reunion special,
that somehow was more trans formative than the adult songs that
had made him an adult start to begin with.



the legend of MJ came from the fact that
it was impossible to do what he did with the jackson 5,
it was impossible for the kid star to be an adult star,

and now.. he did the impossible a third time, in a way that
topped off the wall.

symbolically enough, he got a standing ovation from the
legends in the audience... so it was a symbolic coronation
of the once and future king of pop.

and really, that entire special was the curtain call for
r&b/ soul as we knew it, before the hip hop movement that was
brewing at the time took over everything. but that's another post entirely.


>
>
>Actually, Off The Wall already did that...
>
>Motown 25 helped do something entirely different....
>
>It made MJ the biggest recording artist on the planet....