In 1979, twenty-one year old Jackson released his first solo album, Off the Wall. To Jackson ’s disappointment, the album received only one Grammy nomination. A few years later in 1982, Jackson made up for it when he took home eight Grammy’s for his next solo effort and the best-selling album of all time, Thriller. The album’s release coincided with, and has been credited in launching the birth of MTV and the music video. A combination of talent and timing turned Thriller into a pop culture juggernaut, selling over 50 million copies and spawning world-wide Michael-mania and mass-merchandising. Following the success of Thriller, a number of stories about Jackson began to appear in the tabloids, some of which he is rumored to have planted himself to enhance his enigmatic image. Among the most memorable are that he purchased the Elephant Man’s bones; that he slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber; and that he and sister, La Toya Jackson, were the same person.