I believe Contemporary History does not include only political/economical developments, but also artistic/cultural ones ones. The first intrinsically determine the latter and vice-versa.
Today, I would like to write about one of my favourite singers. Some say that the word megastar has been invented for him and he represents the true essence of an artist internationally recognized and appreciated as well as hated. I wonder though to be a universally known artist means also to be exposed to more adversity and criticism than “normally”? Maybe.
If you were still wondering who I am speaking about, the person is Michael Jackson. He was born on 29th August 1958 in the small town of Gary, Indiana, USA. After a rough childhood, he and his brothers called “The Jackson 5” and later, “The Jacksons” have become the first African American family of music and that their lives changed forever.
The two bedroom house in Gary became a mansion California, no more hand-me-downs, no more fears concerning the financial matters of the 11 member family. Yet, according to him, the price was very high: he had no childhood as most of his time was spent indoors singing, practicing and touring the world. On the flip side, MJ saw at a very young age places which the majority of people never get to travel to in their life: Japan, Australia etc
However, his musical artistry reached its high point in the late 70s – early 80s. That is the precious time when he went on to become the Michael Jackson we all (hopefully) know today. Time and again, MJ was disappointed by the music industry’s double standards for African American artists as his first major solo album “Off the Wall” won only a Grammy for Best Male R’n’B Vocal Performance for “Don’t Stop ’Til You Get Enough”. Jackson was upset with the labeling of his music and for losing in the category of the Record of the Year.
Therefore, he simply decided that this could not happen ever again – his music would never again be automatically labelled as only Rhythm and Blues and he would outsell everything up until that point and afterwards. Easy to decide, hard to make it come true, but not for him. Probably unbeknownst of himself, his next album “Thriller” (1982) would indeed sell more than every artist before him did. As of now, it is speculated that it passed the threshold of 100- million worldwide.
The Thriller album and subsequent videos would greatly increase his prestige and visibility at an international level. The videos became iconic and set the bar for whatever came after him. Therefore, an African – American became the highest embodiment of music and talent who divided the music into what was before and after him. People compared him to Elvis Presley and The Beatles, yet he and his brothers as The Jackson 5 broke the Beatles’ records when he was just a child. Thus, there was more to him than this, he was unique, different, people could not pinpoint him, could not explain him. And his lyrics kept the same enigma:
“’Cause this is thriller!
Thriller night!
And no one’s gonna save you
From the beast about to strike”
Yet, I do believe that his art is sometimes underestimated unfortunately. While having his highs and lows, his transformation and emergence as a megastar has made his body of work become somewhat boring or common place. However, nothing could be further from the truth. His music is rich, layered, aggressive, alarming, challenging, daring, socially aware, sexual, haunting and extremely “dance-able”. It goes into your limbs and unbeknownst to yourself, you start hopping and bopping before going into a full moonwalk or some popping and locking .. or maybe not if you have two left feet. But you got my point.
Jackson’s music and dance have globally altered and challenged racism and and have thrown to the side the preconceived notions of what a person of African American descent can do or be or sing. Billie Jean was the first video of an African American artist to be featured on MTV, the same channel which started as a very white rock channel. Nowadays, whenever 29th August comes around, they happily claim that “M is for Michael”, but in the beginning, they refused completely to play any of his songs (or Prince’s) and did so up to the point where they were threatened that CBS would not allow airplay of any of their artists, that they gave in.
Of course, with such a breakthrough career, his personal life took a toll and he became (understandably up to some point) a reclusive, eccentric to the public. However, when assessing his art, his persona should not really come into play.
Should you like to read more about my opinion of MJ as well as Prince, please go to here and here
Thank you for reading up until here!
Thank you,
Cezara
Also, never forget that “in complete darkness we are all the same, it is only our knowledge and wisdom that separates us, don’t let your eyes deceive you.” (Janet Jackson)
My Contemporary History 