Up in Flames

A 25-year-old Jackson was filming a Pepsi commercial in Los Angeles on Jan. 27, 1984, when a pyrotechnic display exploded behind him, burning his glossy Jheri curls as he sang "Billie Jean" in front of 3,000 fans. Jackson covered his head with a coat to put the fire out and was later hospitalized with second-degree burns on his scalp. In 2004, VH1 aired a Jackson biopic called Man in the Mirror, which included a fictionalized re-enactment of the incident (video above).

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