Late pop star Michael Jackson had a fairly close relationship with Sega, lending his image to Space Channel 5 and Michael Jacksonâs Moonwalker. Jackson was also rumored to have contributed to Sonic the Hedgehog 3, a rumor now confirmed.
According to an interview in the French magazine Black & Whiteâthe âofficial magazine of Michael JacksonââJacksonâs composer and musical director Brad Buxer says Michael was responsible for some of Sonic 3âs compositions. The themes that appear in Sonic 3 and some of Jacksonâs own songs are not a coincidence.
http://lastchance.cc/163160/michael-jacksons-music-hidden-in-sonic-3%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
âAnd if he is not credited for composing the music, itâs because he was not happy with the result sound coming out of the console,â Buxer said. âAt the time, game consoles did not allow an optimal sound reproduction, and Michael found it frustrating. He did not want to be associated with a product that devalued his musicâŠâ
That translation of the interview comes from a poster on the VGMdb forums, who weâll credit for helping to finally(?) put an end to this mystery.
Update: Ken Horowitz from Sega-16.comâwhose exhaustive research on claims that Jackson contributed to Sonic 3 can be (and should be) read hereâdisputes that Buxerâs statements about Michael Jacksonâs musical efforts in the Genesis game do not yet constitute proof of anything. Horowitz also contends that Buxerâs claim contradicts statements of some Sega employees.
In other words, our long national nightmare of not knowing whether or not Michael Jackson worked on Sonic 3 without a shadow of a doubt is not yet behind us.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Michael Jackson: So it was true. [VGMdb via Original Sound Version]
