Musical comeback is possible, say industry experts

WHILE the verdict means Michael Jackson will be free to try to rebuild his blighted musical career, his legal victory came at a terrible price to his image.

Prosecutors branded him a deviant who used his playland as the ultimate pervert's lair, plying boys with booze and porn. Prosecution witnesses described other bizarre behaviour by Jackson: they said he licked his accuser's head, simulated a sex act with a mannequin, and kept dolls in bondage outfits on his desk.

Defence lawyers described Jackson as a humanitarian who wanted to protect kids and give them the life he never had while growing up as a child star.

Jackson's Thriller album from 1982 is one of the best-selling albums of all time, but his dominance of pop music eroded around the time molestation allegations began to arise in the 1990s.

His career and finances have been severely damaged and whether he chooses to make a comeback will now be the subject of much debate.

His popularity has nosedived and record sales are understood to have plummeted since he was charged with child molestation.

Even before the allegations, Jackson's musical career had taken a back seat to his increasingly bizarre behaviour from extensive plastic surgery to holding his infant son over a balcony. And his career was seriously damaged by the 1993 child molestation accusation.

That case went away when Jackson paid a multi-million-dollar settlement while maintaining his innocence, and no criminal charges were filed. Since then, Jackson has released just two albums that have sold about 2 million copies each great numbers for most artists, but considered a flop given Jackson's previous stellar sales.

"He can have success," said Antonio Reid, chairman and chief executive of Island Def Jam.

"I would say that he has to just make great music and concentrate on nothing else but making great music and making great live performances."

Jack Isquith, head of label relations at AOL Music said: "He has declined in terms of his record sales and his musical standing... there's no question Michael has been perceived on the wane. (But) if Michael Jackson were to play the Apollo and it was monumentally brilliant... I think that would really register a lot of focus on Michael as a musical figure."