Join the Discussion on Santana's Invincible appearance: "Sounds like it'll be another case of Carlos selling his soul to pop, like Supernatural." MRTCRAZYFO

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Elsewhere on the Web • Beat It tab • Black or White tab • Man in the Mirror tab • Smooth Criminal tab

Whether or not you're a fan of the self-proclaimed "King of Pop", you can't dismiss Michael Jackson's ability to do things right. Even on his earliest recordings, Jackson's albums featured the best musicians money could buy. Although the album credits on even his most current releases still read like a who's who of top session musicians, Jackson's philosophy of choosing guitarists to work with has changed post-Thriller. More specifically, Jackson's approach is: identify the most popular guitarists on the face of the planet, and hire them to play on your record.

Jackson's 1979 release Off the Wall (compare prices), featuring studio pro guitarists like Larry Carlton and Phil Upchurch, was the album which introduced Jackson to the world as a solo artist. That album marked the last recording Jackson would make with more obscure musicians. By the time Jackson released the landmark Thriller (compare prices) in 1982, his star-seeking approach to choosing guitarists was firmly in place. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen, a musician who had turned the rock world on it's collective ear, appeared on the recording, contributing a stunning solo on the song "Beat It".

It was a full five years before Jackson, a perfectionist in the extreme, managed to release his next album, 1987's Bad (compare prices). Amidst the usual cast of studio musicians (including veteran Eric Gale) was guitarist Billy Idol's guitarist Steve Stevens. Thanks to Stevens' work on Idol's 1986 success Whiplash Smile, the guitarist could be found on the cover of almost every guitar magazine that year. Listen for Stevens' contributions to the Jackson hit "Smooth Criminal".

True to form, it was another five years before Jackson released his next album, 1992's Dangerous (compare prices). For this release, Jackson decided on Guns n' Roses guitarist Slash (a move that left a lot of GNR fans scratching their heads). You can hear Slash wailing on "Black or White" and "Give it to Me".

The almost decade long stretch between Jackson's 1992 release, and 2001's Invincible (compare prices) has been well-documented, and needs no further analysis here. On a musical level, Jackson struggled in the studio for much of that time, trying to find a sound that would push him back to the forefront of the pop music world. While all indications are that Invincible may have failed in this regard, it does feature some nice contributions from Carlos Santana, who adds a guitar and whistle solo to the latin-tinged "Whatever Happens".

Will Invincible be Jackson's last attempt to live up to his self-appointed status as the "King of Pop"? If his recent rate of musical output is any indication, Jackson will be verging on his 50th birthday before we see another release. Whatever that album may contain, we can be sure of one thing... the most popular guitarists around will make their appearances.

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