Michael Jackson

You know, that black kid from The Jackson 5 who grew up, went solo, slowly started turning white, and eventually became Peter Pan and and an alleged child molester. Other than all that weirdness, though, Michael Jackson is one of the best performers (no one much can beat his dancing) and -- at his best -- had some of the best radio songs around. The King of Pop, baby.

Information: Michael Jackson
Suggested first purchase/album: Thriller
Suggested best of: The Essential Michael Jackson

Off the Wall (1979)

Thriller (1982) -- The album of the 1980s. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" is pretty irresistible (especially the breakdown), "The Girl Is Mine" is a fun duet with that other superstar (Paul McCartney), "Thriller" is a great Halloween track (part of the greatness of this album is that it seems like a serious novelty record) featuring one of the more famous music videos ever made (a seven-year-old's dream), "Beat It" is -- you know -- "Beat It" (same goes for "Billy Jean"), and "Human Nature" and "Pretty Young Thing" round out the album nicely. Only two songs left, the only ones that didn't become top ten hits. Holy cow. This feels like a greatest hits album. (Get whatever version you want; just know that none of the bonus tracks included on the re-releases are worth crap, especially the covers by Fergie and company.)