I did this thread years earlier, but enough time has passed that I can do it again and get new responses. Lets say that the Pepsi commercial incident is more serious and leads to Michael dying soon after. What would be the effects on the music and entertainment industry? This comes after Thriller so MJ already has a legacy, but what other artist could overtake Michael in mainstream popularity? Would the tv/movie industry adopt stricter safety measures (including an earlier adoption of CGI pyrotechnics)?
WI: Michael Jackson dies in 1984?
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I don't think Anyone could fully replace MJ, or no one could have gotten to the same level MJ has...seriously only Jackson was able to screw himself for his own personal and mental issues(people forgot before the sexual allegations, MJ lost a lot of popularity because his mishandling of vitiligo...that was product his own insecurities=
Janet had a solid career in OTL but would be an icon in TTL. She'd be the natural heir to Michael.
We lose "Bad" and "Beat It". Someone else does "Man In the Mirror" in one form or another.
We lose "Bad" and "Beat It". Someone else does "Man In the Mirror" in one form or another.
Couldn't he ask whoever is managing MJ's estate? Or does he prefer to ask the person's permission directly?
Does Thriller sells more, or less copies ITTL? is it still the best-selling album of all time?
He likely could however it might be butterflied away if Weird Al Yankovic views it as somewhat inappropriate to ask for.
I think he would not do Eat It out of respect of MJ..
as for who becomes the King of Pop Prince is my guess.
Weird Al Yankovic. Massive comedian and pop culture symbol in his own right whose initial fame was driven to heights through parody music of popular music of the times. One of the biggest was with his collaborations with Michael Jackson, whom respected Weird Al enough to even lend him the same sets he had used for his own music videos for Weird Al's parodies. He has been such a lasting symbol through the decades that it is basically seen as a rite of passage to know you've "made it" when Weird Al parodies your music.
He's also acted in more recent times, and also helped write a satirical biopic loosely based on himself with young "Weird Al" being played by Daniel Radcliffe.
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A nobody outside the anglo speaking sphere,I Google him and yeah never heard of him (he was also the watermelon guy in freakazoid). So yeah nothing of value is lost.
With the due respect, Prince when popular,was never MJ at all
I really cant think of any male artist who could have become the big name of 80s music. Maybe Springsteen, who did have a dance-pop crossover with Dancing in the Dark, but he was already an established star (so was MJ, but the Jackson 5 MJ was way different musically than the MJ of the 80s).
The technology just wasn’t there at the time for fully using cgi explosions even now they still prefer to use real ones just because of how much better it looks especially as it relates to the actors being better able to act around something real. I think the most likely change is the expansion of some safety regulations particularly around Hollywood and in California when it comes to the use of pyrotechnics.
One other area I think would be kind of interesting is the inevitable lawsuit and public reaction toward Pepsi that might come about. In our timeline, Pepsi and Jackson settled out of court for 1.5 million dollars that Jackson promptly donated to the Brotman Medical Center. I could imagine that in this world there is likely a much bigger settlement (maybe around 3-5 million) with Pepsi possibly motivating Pepsi to fight it out in court but more likely they want to save face in the public eye and as such they would work out a deal behind closed doors with Jackson's family. I think this could be an early blow to Pepsi in the public eye as there would be some lingering public resentment of them thought it does depend on how they handle it and in my opinion they would instantly go into maximum damage control mode to try and fix this PR nightmare before it starts.