Is now the time to overrate his influence?
You are definitely underestimating his influence. Whole generations of musicians got clearly influenced by his music. He started musical genres and evolved with them, with which he was able to make many successful albums for years and years. He was a true musical genius and a very good (aggressive) businessman. He might have been crazy, but that's what fame and success tends to do to people.
Compare that to all those one-day flies of today in the pop music world and you'll see how he has been immensely important.
When it comes to music, there are a big bunch of artists that I like to listen to far more and far more often, but his music has always been of remarkable quality. You might not like pop music altogether, but sorry for saying this, but claiming his influence wasn't huge is really just quite ignorant.
Its not that music would not have evolved without him...
He was responsible for a renewed boost in the booming of the music industry. So I would disagree with you there. If Michael Jackson wouldn't have been successful, someone else would have instead. But we're not living in a parallel dimension without Michael Jackson, lol. :p
John Lennon, Freddie Mercury, Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson... something tells me he easily belongs among the best and most influential artists ever.
