For a man who fought so assiduously to manage the drip-feed of information about his life, it seems we had a surprisingly good handle on Michael Jackson’s physical and mental capabilities.

Ever since his 50-show run at the 02 Arena was cut to a mere handful (with more to follow next year), talk of Jackson’s comeback revolved less around what it would comprise, more of whether or not it would happen at all.

The physical evidence was overwhelming. In the last five years, Jackson had barely sung in public. An appearance in London at the World Music Awards in 2006 was touted as the beginning of his Lazarus-like reemergence. in fact, he only sang the first four lines of We Are The World before being met with a chorus of disappointed boos.

Nevertheless, Jackson’s fans kept the faith with an evangelical zeal that merely served to underscore his iconic status. With no new material forthcoming, he was an article of faith. You didn’t just like his music. You believed in him – an attitude intensified by the personal tribulations that, increasingly, served to put distance between him and his musical legacy.

Perhaps the most tragic aspect of Michael Jackson’s creative life was that the musical legacy pretty much peaked with the release of two albums, both made over 25 years ago. Off The Wall, released in 1979, was a startling update on the child star who ten years previously had sung I Want You Back with such preternatural anguish.

This Jackson was every inch the confident alpha male that his younger incarnation had yet to become. Off The Wall, Rock With You and Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough saw Jackson reconfigure the disco zeitgeist in his image, in the process announcing to the world that the child-star from Indiana had grown up. It took several years before we were to realise it was a red herring. By the time he released Thriller – the album which ended up in a whopping 53 million homes – he was the biggest pop star on the planet.

To pop fans of a certain age, the sight of Jackson in the video to the record’s title track Thriller – replete in full prosthetics – was undeniably unsettling. His followers couldn’t possibly have imagined how many more terrifying faces Jackson would go on to wear. He probably didn’t, either. Neither could they have imagined that they would grow up whilst their idol jammed his developmental gearstick into reverse. Indeed, for most adolescents, males didn’t come more alpha than the Michael Jackson of this period.

Whether by accident or design, Thriller’s songs were utterly aspirational. If Michael hadn’t seduced a girl in his life, it didn’t detract from the sentiment of say The Lady In My Life or Human Nature because neither – in all probability – had most of the people who dropped the needle on them whilst getting ready to go out on a Friday night.

Besides, this was the Michael Jackson of Billie Jean and Beat It – songs that also sealed his status as a young pop god. It’s a testament to the measure of his fans’ faith and the impression he made on the world at this time that half of Jackson’s lifetime elapsed in the interim – with only the occasional inspired single (Black Or White, Smooth Criminal) to suggest that he was still a contender.

Jarvis Cocker’s stage invasion at the 1996 Brits, as Jackson attempted to sing Heal The World seemed to crystalise a shift in perception towards Jackson – more so for his punitive reaction to Cocker’s display. Perhaps this was the point at which what had become was in danger of usurping what he used to be.

His passing will no doubt change all of that. Before he insisted on calling himself the King of Pop, he really was the King of Pop – albeit for a brief time. If you’re too young too remember, listen to anything on Off The Wall or Thriller.

Whatever else we think we know about Michael Jackson, that’s enough to feel profoundly sad about his passing.

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