I urge you to read it.
And here are my thoughts on the whole thing.
When was the last time you listened to a Michael Jackson record? When was the last time you put his songs on your iPod and gave it a spin? Besides evoking memories of "the gloved one" dancing, just what does Jackson's music evoke? Memories of Michael Jackson. That's it. That's the point. His music served as a soundtrack to his show. When he tried for poignancy he either came up shallow and pathetic (Leave me Alone, man in the Mirror) or cloying (We Are the World, a vastly inferior entry designed to usurp the power of Do They Know It's Christmas).
Jackson's biggest success existed in a time of callous branding: Jordache Jeans, E.T., Star Wars. After Bad was released to less than stellar sales (ridiculous expections, by the by) the gleam was off the rose. The buckle-bedecked Jackson, the video by Scorcese, all of this was designed to sell sell sell!
Jackson WAS the King of Pop. Because he labeled himself that. His people declared him the King of Pop. It stuck. Because in an era filled with noise how do you cut through?
Look at who talks of being inspired by MJ? Britney Spears. NSync. Justin Timberlake. A world of glitzy, showbiz, lip-synced dancerinas who see music as product to be pushed.
Hard to blame Michael. After all, his people put a single on a box of Alpha-Bits cereal back in '71. He was a cartoon shortly thereafter. Life, to him, was about how to sell the brand.
But no one really gives a crap about the music.
And they give Jackson all this credit which I have trouble understanding.
SOMEONE choreographed his movements.
SOMEONE produced his songs.
SOMEONE wrote them (his skills were largely suspect).
He was a product of talent surrounding talent.
This is not someone to be deified.
Especially weird, to me, is the african american community. They hold him up as savior, when he did everything he could to strip himself of identifying with them.
Vitiligo? Sure. I don't buy it, but okay. But, why not use dark makeup to cover it? Why bleach your skin?
Why go out of your way to alter your looks to remove all semblance of African heritage?
His "children", which are not biologically his and the details of which are also suspect, are white. The women he married are white.
Where, besides making black music, is his relationship to black culture?
He is being heralded as the first black artists on MTV. Yes. Because Walter Yetnikoff of CBS forced MTV into that position. Michael had nothing to do with it.
Want more proof of his callous, callow, branding? Read Howard Stern's Miss America book. Wherein he talks about being asked by Jackson's people to interview Jackson in a predetermined, pre-choreographed set piece that would have Stern complicit in staging a "We Love Michael" love fest. Howard refused but the interview with Jackson is described as hideously monstrous.
I think we should all be sad that such a tormented soul existed in the world that he did. We should be glad that his soul is finally at rest.
But, more than raising him up in adulation, we should look on his life as a cautionary tale. A warning to abusive parents. A warning to Stage Parents. A warning to slaves of Plastic Surgery.
Learn something from Michael Jackson. This way his death won't be in vain.
But, as far as an "artist" who contributed to the tapestry of art?
He's almost useless.
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