Michael Jackson will always be remembered as the King of Pop, but the famed singer certainly led an interesting life. While the music he produced and performed is instantly recognizable, behind the scenes, MJ constantly dealt with legal and medical issues.

Here, we take a look at some facts about Michael Jackson that you may not have known.

1. Michael spent $47.5 million dollars to essentially buy the Beatles catalog, and Paul McCartney resented him for it.

While the fact that Michael Jackson owned a majority of the Beatles catalog is common knowledge, it’s interesting to note that former Beatle Paul McCartney actually introduced Jackson to the business aspect of music publishing. In the early 80’s, Jackson was staying with the McCartney’s and, at the dinner table, Sir Paul whipped out a giant book of songs that he owned. Jackson excitedly flipped through the pages, and, only a few years later, Jackson finalized the purchase of the entire Lennon/McCartney catalog, owned by ATV Music Company.

When McCartney complained, Jackson said, “If he didn’t want to invest $47.5 million in his own songs, then he shouldn’t come crying to me now.” Yikes.

Jackson eventually merged ATV Music with Sony, selling the songs at a huge profit while retaining the publishing rights to his own music. According to Ivan Thornton, a financial adviser that worked with Jackson and his family, “His business mind was fascinating… There was no formal education there, but his natural knack is off the charts.”

2. MJ actually had a skin disease called vitiligo, which caused his skin to change color over the years.

In 1993, Michael Jackson gave a 90-minute interview with talk show superstar Oprah Winfrey. At the time, the media portrayed Jackson as “Wacko Jacko,” claiming that the singer had bought the bones of an Elephant Man, bleached his skin, and slept in a hyperbaric (high-pressure) oxygen chamber. In the interview, Jackson denied all rumors, and admitted that his changing skin pigment was the result of vitiligo.

While some people retained the belief that Jackson bleached his skin, an autopsy confirmed that he did indeed suffer from the rare genetic disease.

3. Jackson actually encouraged outrageous rumors about himself at first, until the media coined the nickname “Wacko Jacko.”

Believing that he would gain popularity from the bizarre press, Jackson actually encouraged false stories about himself, including the hyperbaric oxygen chamber rumor. As the stories spread throughout the media, Jackson would never deny them.

Of course, with such a terrible plan, things naturally got out of hand, as the media outlets started making up stories about “Wacko Jacko.” He commented to his biographer:

Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars? Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, “I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,” people would say, “Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a single word that comes out of his mouth.”

Jackson would later go on Oprah to deny the rumors, but still brandished a tarnished personal reputation throughout his life.

4. But, he definitely had a chimpanzee named Bubbles.

To be fair, who wouldn’t buy a chimpanzee if they were massively wealthy?

5. “Billie Jean” was the first video with frequent coverage on MTV with a black person, but it almost didn’t air at all.

Perhaps one of the best known songs of all-time, Jackson’s “Billie Jean” was also quite groundbreaking when it was first released in 1982. At the time, MTV executives thought that black music wasn’t “rock” enough, and shied away from the genre. The station launched in 1981, but, upon the debut of “Billie Jean,” went from obscurity to mainstream.

Behind the scenes, Jackson’s manager had to threaten MTV to play the “Billie Jean” video, saying “I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and fucking tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.” The station aired “Billie Jean,” prompting an additional 10 million sales of the album Thriller.

Here’s the video, just because, well, it’s “Billie Jean.”

6. He appeared, uncredited, in an early Simpsons episode.

Fans of The Simpsons undoubtedly know this fact already, but Michael Jackson leant his voice to an early episode of The Simpsons, in 1991. The first episode of the show’s third season (they’re currently on season number 25, for anyone keeping track), called “Stark Raving Dad,” featured Homer Simpson being committed to a mental institution after accidentally wearing a pink shirt to work. There, he meets Leon Kompowsky, who, despite being a white… err… yellow man, walks, talks, and sings like the great Michael Jackson.

Only, the voice of Kompowsky is credited to one “John Jay Smith.” Jackson was under contractual obligations, and was not allowed to sing on the show. Instead, he voiced the dialogue and composed the song “Happy Birthday Lisa” for the show. Check it below:

The appearance was very hush-hush, and Simpsons creator Matt Groening didn’t reveal that it was actually Jackson until a number of years later.

7. He built a 50-ft tall robot for a failed comeback in 2005.

By 2005, Michael Jackson had fallen considerably from his earlier hayday. The singer aimed to make his comeback with a series of performances in Las Vegas, and, well, he was going to do it big. So big, in fact, he had someone design a 50 ft. tall robot to promote the shows. The robot would literally wander the Nevada desert near the airport, serving as a behemoth advertisement for the shows.

Unfortunately the shows were never funded, as Jackson was recently acquitted of child molestation charges, and nobody wanted to back him. He tried scaling down the project, and planned to use smaller versions of the robots for a MJ-themed hotel and casino, but this fell through as well. At least they built the statue….

8. He’s the only pop/rock musician to be inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame.

Throughout his incredible career, Jackson was credited with inventing such dance moves as the “moonwalk” and the “robot,” and is generally considered one of the greatest dancers ever. His fluidity is unparalleled, and, as such, he was inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame in 2010. To date, he is the only pop/rock performer to be inducted.

In the documentary “Living with Michael Jackson,” MJ gives journalist Martin Bashir a private lesson on how to moonwalk. Enjoy:

9. He has the only music video in the National Film Registry.

When Congress established the National Film Registry in 1988, their mission was to preserve and celebrate “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films” in America. 26 years later, the Registry has over 625 titles on its list, including classics like Casablanca, The Godfather, and any other classic imaginable. The only music video on the list? Thriller.

The 14-minute video features zombies, monsters, a voice-over from Vincent Price, and, of course, MJ’s ineffable dance moves.

10. With the release of XScape, Michael is the only person to have a top 10 song on the Billboard Top 100 in five different decades.

Earlier this year, the song “Love Never Felt So Good,” the leading single from the post-humous XScape album, hit number nine on the charts. The song was released as a solo version, and as a duet with Justin Timberlake. Check it out:

With a career that started as a member of the Jackson 5 in 1964, Michael Jackson has successfully embodied pop music for fifty years – even after his untimely death in 2009. For this he will always be celebrated, which is of course why Live for Live Music can’t wait for our Michael Jackson vs Stevie Wonder concert, featuring Adam Deitch (Break Science/Lettuce), Eric Bloom (Lettuce/Shady Horns/Pretty Lights), Adam “Shmeeans” Smirnoff (Lettuce), Cory Henry (Snarky Puppy) on August 13th at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are still available here.