Still fabulous at 50: Pop icons Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson
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Big year: Madonna and Michael Jackson both celebrate the big 5-0, along with Prince.




Enlarge By Alex Brandon, AP

Prince in February 2007





Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
Over the past 25 years, they have received Grammys, platinum records, critical accolades and fat royalty checks. This summer, they got invitations to join AARP.
Prince turned 50 on June 7, Madonna hits that milestone Saturday, and Michael Jackson follows suit Aug. 29.

Madge is still causing a commotion. His Purple Highness kept the funk-soul party going after 1999. And nobody's sure the dormant Gloved One wants to be starting something.


FABULOUS AT 50: Prince, Madonna and Michael Jackson turn the big 5-0
MICHAEL JACKSON: From Jackson 5 to uncertain future
MADONNA: Still firmly in control
PRINCE: May set the survival standard
OTHER CELEBS: Look at who else just hit a half-century

All three exploded in the early '80s as ambitious trailblazers who sang, danced, wrote songs and transformed the music video from a promotional spot into a creative and provocative art form. Their careers, though beset by controversy and setbacks, proved lucrative and durable as they reached beyond music into film, fashion and publishing, deploying a canny sense for marketing, self-promotion and branding.


They were cultural thunderbolts. The harmonic convergence of Jackson, Madonna and Prince made a profound and widespread impression. MTV celebrated its ratings trifecta, moral watchdogs recoiled at the unholy trinity, media gawked at the three-ring circus, and pop fans reveled in a rare triple whammy of tantalizing talent.


Their songs remain potent supplements in the musical diet.

"A reality of pop culture now is the disposability of talent," says Janice Min, Us Weekly editor in chief. "That they have permeated several generations is incredible. Any 20-year-old in a car is going to sing along with 1999, Let's Go Crazy, Beat It or Borderline. These songs are at gyms, parties, weddings. And it's not the Macarena.

"All three are such larger-than-life figures that they've become otherworldly," she says. "It's not like Pete Wentz or Gym Class Heroes. They're still enigmatic and inaccessible and on pedestals, which is the essence of iconic status. Madonna, her whole life, has been called the flavor of the month. It's been a really long month."

Variations in star power, sales patterns and stylistic ploys don't change the fact that "all three defined the '80s and a good part of the '90s," says Joe Levy, editor in chief of Blender. "Their greatest work revolved around crossing boundaries and uniting audiences. They made music for white and black, gay and straight, male and female, and blurred the lines in their personal identities. They set the tone for music in the '80s to the extent that Bruce Springsteen had a hip-hop producer, Arthur Baker, remix his singles."

And don't misconstrue their fashion-forward, video-geared pop confections as transitory diversions.

Madonna and Jackson in particular "had titanic impact roughly equivalent to that of The Beatles and Bob Dylan," Levy says. "They set the model for what people afterward aspired to do culturally, musically and even artistically. Young performers today work in their shadow."

Though the three shared similar ambitions and success, one notable orbit wobbled off course.

"No pop star has a more rabid fan base than Jackson, but he has so many strikes against him, scandalwise," says Doug Brod, editor of Spin. "So many people distrust him, don't like him and don't want to hear his music. He made the biggest cultural impact with Thriller and Bad, but the wacky behavior and allegations overtook him. He lost focus."

And yet Jackson may stand tallest in history "because, much like Elvis, he went the craziest, and that's a story that gets remembered," Levy says. "We don't know how much the ghost of Elvis would haunt us if his end had not been so ugly and spectacular.

"The ghost of Michael haunts us while he still walks among us."

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Yahoo! Buzz Digg Newsvine Reddit FacebookWhat's this?Posted 10h 39m ago
Updated 9h 35m ago E-mail | Save

Give that shit a rest.

There's a lot of great music because of these guys...I'm happy to share the planet with all talents and trades.

Tame said:

Agreed...I love all three!