If Michael Jackson had made rock songs

This is one of those thoughts that shows up and then refuses to leave.

Ayron Jones sounds the way Michael Jackson might have sounded if he had made rock songs.
Not pop with a rock edge.
Real rock. Loud guitars. No shine.

Ayron Jones isn’t very well known, which is strange, because he should be. He’s from Seattle. He grew up around blues and rock, and you can hear that straight away. His voice isn’t smooth or careful. It sounds lived in.

What keeps pulling me in is how he uses his voice.
It sits high and it moves a lot.
He slides between notes instead of landing cleanly on them. Sometimes it sounds fragile, sometimes sharp. Often both at the same time. It never feels planned. And then there’s the way some words come out. Almost spat. Pushed forward. Said with anger or frustration.

That’s where the Michael Jackson comparison really clicks for me. MJ did that too, especially in Give In to Me. Words tightened in his mouth. Consonants sharpened. The voice wasn’t trying to sound pretty. It sounded like something had to get out. With Slash on guitar, that tension is right there on the surface. Ayron Jones does the same thing in his own way. Different music, same instinct. The feeling hits first. The voice follows.

If Michael Jackson had grown up with blues records and loud guitars instead of Motown rules and pop polish, I can imagine his voice ending up somewhere close to this.

I’m going to share Take Me Away.
Listen to it next to Give In to Me.
It’s not the same sound. But that moment where the words are almost thrown out in anger? That’s where they meet.

And once you hear it, you don’t really unhear it. Or at least I couldn’t. This is the way I listen to music. I don’t know. Maybe you can hear it too.