Michael Jackson’s death

One greets the death of singer Michael Jackson at the age of 50 with genuine sadness, but without extraordinary surprise. Given the entire set of circumstances, it was not clear how his saga might end happily.

Those who enjoyed his music and dancing, and also perhaps felt sympathy for his obvious personal traumas, will respond with spontaneous emotion. The opposite must be said about the reactions of entertainment industry moguls and the media...

It is not doing recording industry executives, a notoriously predatory breed, any particular injustice to suppose that Jackson’s death was immediately looked upon in certain circles as a golden opportunity to improve this year’s tumbling compact disc sales...

As for the mass media, at the time of Jackson’s 2005 trial in California on charges of child molestation, the various news outlets highlighted each salacious detail and speculated in the most lurid fashion about his private life....

One of the most repugnant offenders in all such cases, Rupert Murdoch’s Sun in Britain, for example, pontificated Friday: “He fought off his accusers, but his health was broken and his fortune destroyed. Let us remember today the Michael Jackson the world loved: The child star of the Jackson Five whose talent, charisma and charm captivated the world..."

Such was the corrupt, hypocritical environment in which Jackson operated and that effectively destroyed him. It would seem imprudent to separate his death, whatever its immediate physiological cause proves to be, from the immense strains in his life...

Coming from a difficult family background, as we noted in 2003, “Jackson was swept up by the American entertainment industry’s bone-crushing machinery — and not, given his psychic vulnerabilities, at the most propitious moment.

...The album “Thriller” went on to sell an astonishing 109 million copies, making it the bestselling such compilation of all time.

To the entertainment and media world such stratospheric success signifies both money and blood. On the one hand, of course... sales... and all the rest generate huge profits for the conglomerates which exploit and feed off the genuine talent of individuals such as Jackson and many, many others.

Years of effort, vocal or compositional skill, conscientiousness, generosity, humanity, whatever the performer brings to his or her music, is valuable to the industry only in so far as it brings in money.

On the other hand, celebrity itself plays an important and unhealthy role in the US. In a country where only the most constricted official debate takes place over vital issues (between right-wing and other, even more right-wing conceptions) and political life is almost entirely scripted, a voyeuristic fascination with the lives of the wealthy and famous helps fill some of the void and also diverts the attention of the population from its real needs and interests.

At the same time, however, popular frustration and discontent do not disappear. The general public’s attitude, nourished by the media, toward “celebrities” often veers between uncritical admiration and resentment.

The tabloids, talk shows and “entertainment news programs” manipulate these sentiments for their own purposes. The unfortunate athlete, pop star or movie performer who falls from grace may find him or herself demonized in a truly monstrous manner.

For someone like Jackson, gifted but also psychologically deeply troubled, to be violently jerked around — adored one day, ridiculed and despised the next — must have been particularly distressing. This is a man who, according to his own words, lived for his performances on the stage and for the adulation of anonymous masses of people.

Now, the giant media and entertainment machinery will try and extract what value it can from Jackson’s death, while keeping its eyes open for its next victim.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jun2009/jack-j27.shtml

I think everyone is relieved that Michael Jackson can't possibly get any worse. For years it's like we were all watching him shrivel into an even more pathetic shell, now that he is gone it's ok to listen to the music again. It's a relief to be able to focus on the good things: the music, breaking the color barrier, etc

he went to black entertainer award shows because that was part of his job, and he would do anything for publicity.

But, Stevie Wonder did a whole lot to break the color barrier - far more than Jacko, who spent so much of his life trying to turn into a middle-aged white woman.........................

for many MJ was the only "black music" they listened to. Depends on who you ask.

like Huey Lewis and the News, Rick Springfield, Sheena Easton, ABBA - no color to it at all. He even pronounced himself "The King Of Pop."

Black music, for me, anyway, is something completely different......................

Are we stuck in one genre? Is it just R&B? Black artists have performed through EVERY genre of music including country?

Well, for starters, there were the Motown groups, and then there are the blues, out of the Delta and beyond, and, lately, hip-hop and rap, and yes, there have always been crossover artists of different colors, but saying that MJ "broke the color barrier" is just not accurate.

Just my opinion. James Cotton is a friend of mine, so I'm a bit biased on that "blues" category ...............

I'm saying that in the 80's Mtv was king and MJ was the main draw. No one owned the 80's like he did, no one, Madonna is a close second. Every new album and video was an event.

Watch it and see the guys who backed up Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Martha and the Vandellas and even Diana Ross and the Supremes. That was real music.

I've never even heard of it, but I'm gonna look for it.

I'm old enough to remember the Philadelphia girl groups, Phil Spector's products, who made such amazing music, and groups like the Temptations, Etta James, Jackie Wilson, Dinah Washington, Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles, the Platters, Jerry Butler, Dinah Washington, Billy Holiday, Ella Fitzgerald, oh, man, I could go on and on.

Then, suddenly, there was Motown - the Supremes, Little Stevie Wonder, Mary Wells, the Four Tops, and, yep, the Jackson Five.

Whenever our local PBS station does a fundraiser, and they show the groups from the fifties and sixties, or just the Doo Wop groups, I sit and watch with tears running down my face.

THAT was a time, musically. Amazing.

Thanks for the info on The Funk Brothers.................

It's an incredible movie. http://www.standingintheshadowsofmotown.com/

I've heard several times that he broke the color barrier on MTV. SO WHAT? The Buggles were the first video played on MTV? Should we idolize them? Actually I liked them more than MJ.

Pop music existed long before MTV. All this talk of Jackson "breaking the color barrier" mainly shows the ignorance of the reporters.

You young whippersnappers may not remember a time in history known as the 60s when you heard your music on the radio and the airwaves were integrated. The concept of niche marketing had not yet been perfected and local radio stations (and they all were local back then) played whatever they felt like and thought would help sell commercials. In a given 30 minutes you could hear the latest Beatles single followed by something from James Brown and then that piano number by Horst Whatshisname followed by some bubblegum and then some Supremes.

And I have to ask: did MTV really have a color barrier? Or did they just play what videos they happened to get? To my archaic way of thinking a color barrier implies an actual prohibition.

mtv debuted nationwide aug. 1981.

one of the original vj's on mtv, jj jackson, was black.



The issue wasn't that there were *no* black videos; the issue was quantity & type.

"off the wall" came out in '79, "thriller" in nov. '82.

I came back to the states for a visit after being overseas for a couple of years in '83. It was my first exposure to MTV, & it was very much "the new thing" then.

You couldn't turn to mtv without seeing "thriller" within 10 minutes.

Some other videos i remember seeing then were culture club (black band member) & lionel richie.

there were videos by black artists on mtv, but if you look at the top 40 81-82, you'll see what determined the initial rotations.

besides which, it was *cable,* it was new, & artists didn't initially *make* videos for their singles like they do now. the first video, supposedly, that got play was "hey mickey," which charted in late 82, & the quality is like some high school video today.

In the last fourteen years, he put out two albums, and they didn't do well.

He'd lost it, which is what happens to junkies.

The music we love is old music, written and performed before he got so damn lost............................................

Because they didn't sell 10 million copies? Sorry but black radio adored his last albums.

maybe black radio loved it, but no one bought it.

I'm not even sure that he had a current recording contract when he died...............

I would hate to have you around during a bad time to bring in more bad news. Have a great night.

those facts are pesky things, aren't they?

Difference? None. Dead is dead.

Sleep well...............

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_best-selling_albums_worldwide

invincible, the lowest seller, still sold over 10 million copies to date.

Madonna is the only person that I can think of.

Say what you will, but he was still a tragic person with a tragic life. You have to wonder why he hated himself so much. With MJ I'm going to say that the good outweighed the bad. At least he reached billions with good music and generally a good message. Personal shit aside, at least, he has that. Dick Cheney can't say that, what good does he have to balance the bad? He was just fucking evil, at least Jackson entertained.

Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, Frank Sinatra?

He was, yes, a tragic, damaged person. From what I've read of his early life, his father was a real monster, and his mother the perfect enabler. Jacko caught the brunt of it, probably because his father wanted his little cash cow to shape up and do as he said.

If the choice is between Cheney and Jacko, as to who llives - ha!

No contest.................

but he is out of the game

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8k1JU3zQRv8