24 Interesting Facts about Michael Jackson

After Michael Jackson's hair was accidentally set on fire during the shooting of a Pepsi commercial in 1983, he chose not to sue but instead asked Pepsi to fund the creation of a burn center.

2. Jordan Chandler sternly denied the allegations that Michael Jackson abused him until after he was administered sodium amytal [a drug known to enable false memories to be implanted] by his dentist father who had first made the allegations before his son did.

3. Michael Jackson tried to hang out casually at a club and people watch but was surprised when he heard the DJ play remixes of his songs and said “Wow, I didn’t know that they still played my music” in 2008.

4. Bubbles the Chimp (who once was famously Michael Jackson's pet) is alive and well, living in a Florida sanctuary for retired apes and he hates cameras these days.

5. MJ's autopsy report confirms that he was bald and wore wigs to conceal it.

While planning his comeback in Las Vegas in 2007, Michael Jackson wanted to build a 50-foot tall robot replica of himself that would roam the desert under the flight paths of incoming planes, shooting lasers out of its eyes in order to get the attention of the tourists flying into the city.

7. Michael Jackson composed songs despite not playing any instruments. He would build each element of a track with his voice, so pitch perfect that studio musicians could match chords to his singing.

8. Michael Jackson wanted to do a Harry Potter musical but J.K. Rowling said no.

9. Michael Jackson and Freddie Mercury collaborated with each other in the 80s, but Mercury broke it off because Jackson kept bringing in his pet llama to the recording studio.

10. Michael Jackson admired Eminem as an artist but was disappointed when the rapper made fun of him in "Just Lose It" and said that "I've never attacked a fellow artist. Great artists don't do that".

Michael Jackson used to 'relentlessly' prank call Russell Crowe.

12. Not only is Thriller by Michael Jackson the highest selling album of all time at 110 million worldwide, its total sales are greater than the number two (Dark Side of the Moon) and three (Back in Black) albums on the same list combined.

13. Despite rumors and debate Michael Jackson actually did voice mental patient Leon Kompowksi in The Simpsons. He is credited under a pseudonym.

14. Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney and Phil Collins are the only musicians to have sold over 100 million albums as a solo artist and member of a group.

15. Michael Jackson cast 80 members of the Los Angeles' Crips and Bloods for the music video "Beat It" in hopes to foster peace between them.

Michael Jackson had a meeting at the WTC on 9/11 but, he overslept.

17. Michael Jackson, though he did not receive credit, wrote: "Do The Bartman" after calling the producers of "The Simpsons" and offering to write Bart a number-one single.

18. Michael Jackson campaigned for the lead in the 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory' remake, even recording an entire soundtrack free of charge for the film. When Tim Burton refused to cast him, Jackson declared 'If I can't have the part, they're not getting the soundtrack'.

19. Michael Jackson tried to buy Marvel Comics in the early 1990's so that he could play Spider-Man in his own produced movie.

20. Michael Jackson worked on the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, but quit either because of his child molestation scandal that was going on, or that he was disappointed with the sound of the Sega Genesis. Some samples of his songs still remain in the game, though.

Workers at Google believed the site was under a DDoS attack due to the extreme volume of people searching for Michael Jackson on the day of his death.

22. Michael Jackson pursued the role of the Riddler in Batman Forever before the part was given to Jim Carrey.

23. Michael Jackson admitted to Daryl Hall of Hall & Oats that he lifted the bass line of "Billie Jean" from the Hall & Oats song "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)." Hall then replied that he himself had lifted the bass line from another song and that it was "something we all do."

24. Michael Jackson did actually star in the Simpsons episode "Stark Raving Dad" but didn't actually sing any of the songs due to contractual reasons with Sony.