Carolyn Steber 
One of the most beautiful songs on the biggest-selling album in history was never meant for Michael Jackson. It was never meant for anybody. It was written by a keyboard player trying to comfort his little girl after a bad day at school, recorded as a rough demo, and it only reached Quincy Jones because … Read more
In 2001, Michael Jackson decided he wanted the world to meet the real him. Not the tabloid version, not the stage version, but the man. So he commissioned a fly-on-the-wall documentary crew and let them follow him around, unscripted, for months. Hours of it were shot. Then the project was shelved, the tapes were locked … Read more
Picture the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man, the Avengers, Black Panther, twenty-odd years of the biggest film franchise on the planet. Now picture all of it owned by Michael Jackson. It very nearly happened. In the 1990s, the King of Pop made a genuine attempt to buy Marvel Comics outright, and his reason had … Read more
Elvis Presley died on August 16, 1977. Almost half a century has passed. Most of the people who saw him sing live are now in their seventies and eighties. And yet on Saturday night, August 15, 2026, thousands of people stood shoulder to shoulder on a stretch of road in Memphis, holding candles in the … Read more
He died on August 16, 1977, at the age of 42. He had been famous for barely twenty-one years. In that time he became the best-selling solo artist in the history of recorded music, changed what a live concert could be, and left behind a house that people still fly across oceans to stand outside. … Read more
Every August, Graceland fills up with people who loved Elvis Presley from a distance. But scattered through the schedule are a handful of people who knew him up close — the bodyguards, the tour managers, the co-stars, the girlfriend. Elvis Week 2026 ran from August 8 to 16 and marked 49 years since he died. … Read more
In 1983, the two biggest voices in popular music sat down together in a home studio in Encino, California, and started making an album. Michael Jackson had just released Thriller. Freddie Mercury was fronting Queen at the height of their powers. They liked each other enormously; they had been to each other’s shows, and they … Read more
In 1982, the phone rang at Eddie Van Halen’s house. He was the biggest rock guitarist on the planet at the time, and the voice on the other end said it belonged to Quincy Jones, who was producing an album for Michael Jackson and wanted him to play a guitar solo on it. Van Halen … Read more
Everybody who has ever seen the video for “Smooth Criminal” remembers the same moment. Michael Jackson and his dancers, all in white suits and fedoras, lean forward at an impossible angle and stay there. No wires visible. No support. Just a row of men tipped forward at nearly 45 degrees, hanging in space. It is … Read more
Everybody has heard it. It’s in books, documentaries, and newspaper headlines to this day: “Elvis the Pelvis.” It’s the phrase that made the young Elvis Presley sound both dangerous and slightly ridiculous, and it followed him from his first hit right through to his death. There’s just one problem with using it. Elvis loathed it … Read more
A free account saves every quiz score, tracks your daily streak, and remembers where you left off. Quizzes stay free and open either way.