Michael Jackson: Classic or Dud?

I happened upon Nelson George's Thriller: 40 the other night: while I certainly think a close examination of how the music is made, the context in which it occurred, should be the paramount rationale, I was struck that no mention was made of the fact that even then Jackson's megalomania was ascending; his obsession with being the biggest and the best deserves to be interrogated, in light of History in 1995, where his fixation on his near deification becomes particularly demented. You don't have to talk about his paedophilia or his efforts to erase his physical connection to his heritage to acknowledge that he was deeply disturbed.

the story that sticks out is after Thriller sets a record by selling something like 80 million copies, he tells everyone he wants Bad to sell 160 million. which apparently he was serious about! its like if the night after Wilt scored 100 points he went out and said "I'm gonna score 200 in the next one"