This article is about a real-life person. Information in this article is about real-life people, companies, and objects, which do not relate to the in-universe Sonic series.

Michael Joseph Jackson was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, producer, and actor who had done work for the Sonic the Hedgehog series.

History[]

Often referred to as the "King of Pop", Jackson has made a huge contribution to music, and had become a worldwide icon. His 1982 album, Thriller, is the best selling album of all time.

Before working on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Jackson had teamed up with Sega in 1989 to create a game titled Michael Jackson's Moonwalker, inspired by the musical anthology film of the same name. Jackson has also appeared in the Space Channel 5 series, appearing as one of the series' main supporting characters, Space Michael.

After many of years of rumors and speculation surrounding Jackson's involvement with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it was confirmed in 2009 by Brad Buxer (a composer of the game and close friend of Jackson), that Jackson did in fact work on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3. He mentioned they worked together for the game's credits theme that was the basis for Stranger in Moscow.^[1]

It is unknown what other tracks Jackson officially worked on that are present in the final game, but based on the tracks that include vocal sound effects, and were also removed or replaced in Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic & Knuckles Collection, and Sonic Origins, are most likely the ones he was involved with.

Credits[]

Songs composed[]

• Sonic the Hedgehog 3
  • "Staff Roll" (w/ Brad Buxer)
  • Knuckles' theme (unconfirmed)
  • Mini-boss theme (unconfirmed)
  • Carnival Night Zone Act 1 & 2
  • Launch Base Zone Act 1 & 2 (unconfirmed)

In other media[]

Books and comics[]

Archie Comics[]

Main article: Off Panel

Michael Jackson is briefly referenced in the Sonic the Hedgehog comic series and its spin-offs published by Archie Comics.

In an Off Panel gag, Sonic was fighting Metal Knuckles while Dr. Eggman was observing with his Off Panel fourth wall breaking powers. Feeling eccentric, he creates the golden Brass Knuckles. Seeing the obvious pun, Sonic wasn't amused and walked out of the fight. Brass Knuckles remained fabulous, moonwalking with Jackson's hat.^[2]

Trivia[]

"Brass Knuckles" is an obvious reference to the weapons of that name, commonly used by criminals. Dr. Eggman must have thought he was being a "smooth criminal" with that pun.

The Adventures of SONIC the Hedgehog[]

Michael Jackson made a cameo in the The Adventures of SONIC the Hedgehog manga published in Shogaku Yonensei.

This section requires an expansion.

Trivia[]

• Naoto Ohshima, the creator of Sonic the Hedgehog, stated in an interview that Sonic's shoes were inspired by the cover of Jackson's 1987 album, Bad.^[3]
• Carnival Night Zone's music is well-known for having similarities with Michael Jackson's "Jam," and in fact shares several samples used and composed by Michael. The most notable sample is that the player can hear the word "Jam" from "Jam" in Carnival Night Zone's music.
• For a long time, IceCap Zone's music was thought to have been inspired by Michael Jackson's "Who Is It" from the album Dangerous with similar chord progressions to "Smooth Criminal" from Bad. However, it was discovered that the music was not composed by Michael Jackson, but was actually connected to the previously unreleased song "Hard Times" by The Jetzons, the former band of Brad Buxer who had worked on the music for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and for Michael Jackson.^{[citation needed]}

See also[]

• Michael (disambiguation)

References[]