To sorta piggyback off of Karen's post about Michael Jackson passing away and almost taking the whole darned INTERNET with him:
I was at the Free Library of Philly today and got to see firsthand (thanks to furtive glances at peoples' screens) just HOW MANY computer users were digging into some Michael Jackson clips. At one point in the day, I walked past 20 or so computer screens and no less than half the users were looking at YouTubes of Michael's first moonwalk (go watch it if you haven't lately...it is STUNNING), or some deep cuts from Off the Wall, or something MJ-related.
Point is, the guy had problems, especially recently. No doubt we will find some next-level crazy stuff he'd been involved in for the past 10 years that will make plastic surgery, Bubbles the chimp and the Hyperbaric chamber he used to sleep in look like reading the evening paper.
He could sing, he could dance, when I was in 3rd grade, my friends and I literally wanted to be HIM when we grew up. This isn't like Elvis and this isn't like Kurt Cobain either. Everybody knows a song by Michael Jackson, it don't matter if you're black or white. He was the ultimate entertainer for the first half of my life, and I won't forget it.
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I actually DO think that he's more like Elvis than any other musician, black or white or any other race, creed, color, et al. I mean think about it. He basically died of his own excess, much like Elvis did. Instead of dying bloated, overweight and drug-addled, his excesses were property, plastic surgery and a grip on reality that (to put it lightly) wasn't that tight. It's hard to really blame anyone here. His Peter Pan complex clearly came from the childhood that he was denied by his overbearing, demanding, abusive father. He'd been a star since he was a pre-teen and performing since he was 5 or 6. It's hard to imagine the toll that could take on someone without the proper care and guidance. Furthermore, like Elvis at one point, he became the biggest musical star in the world and probably the world's biggest star period circa '82-'84. I was in 3rd and 4th grade during the height of Thriller-mania and I also witnessed the leather jackets, single gloves, moonwalk attempts, et al. by other members of my generation. I was too young to really get his impact at the time (I didn't get until music until I was 13 or so and at that point was too concerned with sports and cartoons), but I knew he was huge.
ReplyDeleteSo anyway what both MJ and Elvis have in common, other than musical innovation and talent, stardom and excess, is the fact that neither of them were ever called on their own BS. I was at a friend's wedding yesterday (note: this friend works in the music industry) and sitting at our table were other friends of his from the industry. One of them said that as a society, we tend to put our artistic genuises on a pedestal and not call them out when they do something wrong. I agree with this completely, especially if you look at all of the media coverage that famous actors, musicians, et al. tend to get. Another person at the table said that as time goes on, the Elvis comparisons will only increase. Of course the flipside of that is that there are many other great musicians who aren't nearly as recognized as they should be (ex. Sky Saxon of The Seeds, who passed away on the same day as MJ and Farrah Fawcett).
Anyway, I could go on about this all day, but I think I'm already a bit sick of all the attention, hype, et al. though I like Off the Wall, Thriller and the Jackson 5 stuff as much as the next guy.
Oh and I thought the hyperbaric chamber thing was just a rumor, though I could be wrong about that.
P.S. Sorry for the super-long comment. My favorite tribute to him so far: The one-gloved bike ride in Portland, OR.
ReplyDeleteMatt, I love your super-long comments! Don't apologize.
ReplyDeleteYou are right...his death is similar to the King's, but how many black people do you know who would put "Hound Dog" on the jukebox? MJ came from a Motown musical pedigree and was for everybody...so big that even if you hated music and had your head buried underground, you'd still know one of his songs.
About calling him on his bullshit...you're right. Sad to say, its the nature of celebrity, and the fact that he was groomed from an early age to entertain. I honestly think that it warped his mind. And there's the fact that he's done nothing artistically strong or worth mentioning in the past 10 years, at least.
I think you are right about the hyperbaric chamber. As for Elvis dying drug-addled, lets wait for the other shoe to drop for Michael. I would be really surprised if drugs didn't play a role in his death at age 50.
In regard to your second paragraph, I bet I could find some older black folks who still like to listen to Big Mama Thornton's version of "Hound Dog" (she recorded it about a year before Elvis did). :-) Don't get me started on folks who think he "stole" black folks' music, though. "Hound Dog" was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, 2 Jews from LA.
ReplyDeleteRight on regarding your next few paragraphs, though I would say that he hadn't done anything decent since Bad and that was 22 years ago! Some folks I know like Dangerous, but I thought the singles from it were painful. "Black and White" is OK but that's about it.
Also, I think that Elvis was far more influential as a cultural icon than as a singer/musician. How many artists actually SOUND like him? Glenn Danzig? Maybe some rockabilly/psychobilly singers? Compare that to The Beatles, whose musical footprints are on so much popular (and unpopular) music (obviously).
ReplyDeleteI also have this same theory about Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd. Syd Barrett-era Floyd, though far less known to the mainstream, is far, far more influential (and better, too, IMO).