Michael Jackson was buried on Thursday, 70 days after his untimely and, at the moment, suspicious death. I have to say that I still find it hard to believe that he is gone. It took me a long time to come up with an adequate blog posting for this one, hence my absence from the blogsphere for so many months. Because there is so much to say about The Gloved One, I’ve decided to post a part one, a part two and a part three.
First I’ll start off by saying that I would never consider myself a rabid MJ fan. I’ve never attended any of his concerts. I’ve never fainted and screamed upon the mere mention of his name. I never owned any sparkly gloves or black loafers or the notorious zipper-red-leather-Beat It jacket (my parents would have never allowed me to walk out of the house looking like a bedazzled member of Napoleon Army, and a Jheri curl was definitely out of the question). I didn’t tape all of his television appearances (I will admit to attempting the Moonwalk at recess at elementary school with unsuccessful results). However, I am an admirer of Michael Jackson’s creative genius and impact on pop culture. Many over the past couple of months have pontificated on whether or not Michael Jackson was one of the best. I’m not quite sure where the argument is coming from because the facts are clear: Michael Jackson’s impact on popular music was probably the greatest of any entertainer who ever set foot on a stage. Case closed. Here are the reasons why:
Sheer musical ability: After scouring You Tube and watching countless videos of a young Michael Jackson singing Who’s Loving You, Never Can Say Goodbye, ABC, etc., it is easy to see that Michael was musically gifted. He sang each song with ease and soul- something that cannot be taught. Technically speaking Jackson was in that category of vocalist that many aspire to, but very few actually reach. He had a beautifully controlled vibrato, a pitch perfect falsetto and a roof-blasting, powerhouse mid-range. He also had the ability to control and change his vocal tone to suit the emotion of each song- switching from a soaring ballad to a searing dance track effortlessly- whilst always maintaining his own distinctive vocal phrasing and styling.
In later years when Michael began writing his own music people started to realize that he wasn’t just a voice- he obviously was a prolific songwriter. Few people realize that Jackson could not actually read music. He would write his songs by recording the vocals and then beatboxing the rhythm on a tape recorder. After that, he would sit down in a studio and add keyboard (playing by ear) and drum tracks to the demo. Many of his musicians said that they would have difficulty reproducing the rhythm tracks that he had beatboxed because they were so complex and intricate! Generally, the artists that Michael Jackson has been compared to, such as Elvis Presley, never wrote a note of music in their life, which is why I find it so puzzling that people would count Elvis as a better all-round entertainer. In fact, Michael co-produced and wrote half the songs on the iconic Thriller album all at the tender age of 23, and for Off the Wall at 19! The mere fact that many of Michael’s songs are classics today is a testament to Michael’s gift for understanding his audience and his brilliance as pop songwriter.
First I’ll start off by saying that I would never consider myself a rabid MJ fan. I’ve never attended any of his concerts. I’ve never fainted and screamed upon the mere mention of his name. I never owned any sparkly gloves or black loafers or the notorious zipper-red-leather-Beat It jacket (my parents would have never allowed me to walk out of the house looking like a bedazzled member of Napoleon Army, and a Jheri curl was definitely out of the question). I didn’t tape all of his television appearances (I will admit to attempting the Moonwalk at recess at elementary school with unsuccessful results). However, I am an admirer of Michael Jackson’s creative genius and impact on pop culture. Many over the past couple of months have pontificated on whether or not Michael Jackson was one of the best. I’m not quite sure where the argument is coming from because the facts are clear: Michael Jackson’s impact on popular music was probably the greatest of any entertainer who ever set foot on a stage. Case closed. Here are the reasons why:
Sheer musical ability: After scouring You Tube and watching countless videos of a young Michael Jackson singing Who’s Loving You, Never Can Say Goodbye, ABC, etc., it is easy to see that Michael was musically gifted. He sang each song with ease and soul- something that cannot be taught. Technically speaking Jackson was in that category of vocalist that many aspire to, but very few actually reach. He had a beautifully controlled vibrato, a pitch perfect falsetto and a roof-blasting, powerhouse mid-range. He also had the ability to control and change his vocal tone to suit the emotion of each song- switching from a soaring ballad to a searing dance track effortlessly- whilst always maintaining his own distinctive vocal phrasing and styling.
In later years when Michael began writing his own music people started to realize that he wasn’t just a voice- he obviously was a prolific songwriter. Few people realize that Jackson could not actually read music. He would write his songs by recording the vocals and then beatboxing the rhythm on a tape recorder. After that, he would sit down in a studio and add keyboard (playing by ear) and drum tracks to the demo. Many of his musicians said that they would have difficulty reproducing the rhythm tracks that he had beatboxed because they were so complex and intricate! Generally, the artists that Michael Jackson has been compared to, such as Elvis Presley, never wrote a note of music in their life, which is why I find it so puzzling that people would count Elvis as a better all-round entertainer. In fact, Michael co-produced and wrote half the songs on the iconic Thriller album all at the tender age of 23, and for Off the Wall at 19! The mere fact that many of Michael’s songs are classics today is a testament to Michael’s gift for understanding his audience and his brilliance as pop songwriter.
A Master-class Dancer: Nobody moved like Michael. Nobody. Believe me, many, including myself, have tried and failed. Fred Astaire himself called Michael Jackson after his epic performance on the Motown 25 special in 1983 and told him that he was “one hell of a mover”. Michael popularized so many dance moves (the Robot, Pop ‘n’ Lock, the Moonwalk, The Spin, the famous Smooth Criminal ‘Lean’, etc.) while making them all seem effortless (of course they weren’t). He made dancing an almost mandatory component for pop music performance. Prior to Michael I’m not sure there was anyone who danced and sang whilst performing a pop song. All of this is evident in Michael’s legendary performances (i.e. the aforementioned Motown 25 special, 1988 Grammy Awards, 1993 Superbowl half-time show, 1995 MTV Awards) because you as a viewer always knew that he was giving 150% all the time. He took risks and dared to be different. Excuse my schmaltziness, but his dancing almost made you believe in.... ‘magic’.
A Marketing/Business Mastermind: Very few people realize how brilliant Michael Jackson was at marketing. He understood that in order to stand out he had to be more than just talented- he had to be different. Most artists nowadays hire people to create images for them. Jackson himself was known for being deft at crafting his unique image. Thinking back, his propensity for sequined socks and military jackets, aviator sunglasses, poor-boy pants and black penny loafers was definitely odd, but he obviously knew something we didn't- he had everybody copying his look all over the world. He parlayed his image into endorsements for Pepsi, LA Gear, Disney, Toyota (Japan), etc. In addition to this, he realized that the music video was a tool to be used to generate record sales. Jackson crafted each music video he made into a miniature film. Let’s all be honest- does anyone remember what music videos looked like before Billie Jean? It was truly pathetic. Most music videos had the artist(s) woodenly standing on a stage with strobe lights behind them. The Billie Jean and the Thriller videos were and still are the templates on which music videos are based. His marketing prowess also played a hand in propelling MTV into prominence. It was widely known that MTV, prior to 1983, was not in the business of the playing music videos of urban (i.e. Black) artists. Michael forced their hand in changing that unwritten rule with the fresh and innovative Billie Jean video. The rest is history!
In addition to the music video, Michael Jackson changed the way the consumer viewed albums. In 1982 the record industry was going through its worst slump in history. There was a major recession and record sales were low as production costs were getting higher. Most artists pinned their album's hopes on 3, maybe 4 songs (out of a 9-10 track album) cracking the Billboard Top 40. The majority of the recording artists at the time were elated to sell 500,000 copies of an album. Many consumers would purchase singles rather than the entire album, unless they were hardcore fans of a particular artist. Michael Jackson broke the rules when he created Thriller around the concept of an album of 100% hits. No fillers- just pure pop hits. The result: seven out of the 9 tracks on Thriller became blockbuster Top 10 hits. Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones' brilliant song writing and understanding of what people wanted hear compelled millions of people to buy an entire album- and love it!
Michael Jackson's best stroke of brilliance was his purchasing of music copyrights. Jackson owns the most lucrative catalogue of songs in the music industry, Sony/ATV Music Publishing . He purchased the rights to 250 of The Beatles songs, in addition to the publishing rights for many of the recordings of Little Richard, Sharkira, Beck, Eminem, Akon, The Everly Brothers and Hank Williams, just to mention a few! This music catalogue generates over $80 million dollars a year. His own lawyer said that with the Sony/ATV catalogue in addition to owning the rights to his own songs, Michael Jackson's net worth is over $1.5 billion dollars and growing!
If you are still not convinced, consider the following:
- Michael Jackson has sold over 750 million albums worldwide over the span of his career.
- He has won 13 Grammy awards as a solo artist.
- He has performed for over 15 million people worldwide
- His Thriller album still holds the record for the best-selling album of all time
- He was the only entertainer who was able to write, dance, sing and choreograph with equal excellence
Michael Jackson- not Elvis, not Sinatra- was truly the greatest entertainer who ever lived. I rest my case.
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