CNB
Proud Member
Just an interesting insight into the politics of the music industry and how it reflects the racial segregation of white america. This article is just perfect and a must read for any fan of Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Prince, Duke Ellington, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, James Brown, etc.
Fascinating truly beyond words.
Only comment I'll make that you can take to the bank is that everyday of my life, since I was 10 years old Michael Jackson has been with me. When my sister and I were homeless for a few nights at the ages of 10 and 14, we had an old cassette player with us, with Michael Jackson songs we taped from the radio here in Australia (remember when you pressed record + play to tape from the radio?) and we would listen to him. He inspired us, when anyone died, when I graduated university with a High distinction average, when I walked back home from my first date with my one and only girlfriend, all those times in my life, God and Michael Jackson were with me. I'll be telling my kids one day, with hand on heart, he's the only true magic I've ever seen with my eyes.
The fact that billions *yes damn it, billions* of people thought the same, and some vocal white minority assholes have used their media exposure to break him down makes me furious. Michael deserves his credit, the greatest entertainer in history and the greatest musician. Untouchable.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...stood-power-of-michael-jacksons-music/252751/
It shouldn't be much of a strain to hear the racial undertones in such an assertion. Historically, this dismissal of black artists (and black styles) as somehow lacking substance, depth and import is as old as America. It was the lie that constituted minstrelsy. It was a common criticism of spirituals (in relation to traditional hymns), of jazz in the '20s and '30s, of R&B in the '50s and '60s, of funk and disco in the '70s, and of hip-hop in the '80s and '90s (and still today). The cultural gatekeepers not only failed to initially recognize the legitimacy of these new musical styles and forms, they also tended to overlook or reduce the achievements of the African-American men and women who pioneered them. The King of Jazz, for white critics, wasn't Louis Armstrong, it was Paul Whiteman; the King of Swing wasn't Duke Ellington, it was Benny Goodman; the King of Rock wasn't Chuck Berry or Little Richard, it was Elvis Presley....
Given this history of white coronation, it is worth considering why the media took such issue with referring to Michael Jackson as the King of Pop. Certainly his achievements merited such a title. Yet up until his death in 2009, many journalists insisted on referring to him as the "self-proclaimed King of Pop." Indeed, in 2003, Rolling Stone went so far as to ridiculously re-assign the title to Justin Timberlake. (To keep with the historical pattern, just last year the magazine devised a formula that coronated Eminem--over Run DMC, Public Enemy, Tupac, Jay-Z, or Kanye West--as the King of Hip Hop)...
Books on Elvis Presley alone outnumber titles on Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson combined...
It seemed the only way Michael Jackson could get covered was if he was presented as a freak, a curiosity, a spectacle. Even reviews of his albums, post-Thriller, focused on the sensational and were overwhelmingly condescending, when not outright hostile.
Fascinating truly beyond words.
Only comment I'll make that you can take to the bank is that everyday of my life, since I was 10 years old Michael Jackson has been with me. When my sister and I were homeless for a few nights at the ages of 10 and 14, we had an old cassette player with us, with Michael Jackson songs we taped from the radio here in Australia (remember when you pressed record + play to tape from the radio?) and we would listen to him. He inspired us, when anyone died, when I graduated university with a High distinction average, when I walked back home from my first date with my one and only girlfriend, all those times in my life, God and Michael Jackson were with me. I'll be telling my kids one day, with hand on heart, he's the only true magic I've ever seen with my eyes.
The fact that billions *yes damn it, billions* of people thought the same, and some vocal white minority assholes have used their media exposure to break him down makes me furious. Michael deserves his credit, the greatest entertainer in history and the greatest musician. Untouchable.
http://www.theatlantic.com/entertai...stood-power-of-michael-jacksons-music/252751/
It shouldn't be much of a strain to hear the racial undertones in such an assertion. Historically, this dismissal of black artists (and black styles) as somehow lacking substance, depth and import is as old as America. It was the lie that constituted minstrelsy. It was a common criticism of spirituals (in relation to traditional hymns), of jazz in the '20s and '30s, of R&B in the '50s and '60s, of funk and disco in the '70s, and of hip-hop in the '80s and '90s (and still today). The cultural gatekeepers not only failed to initially recognize the legitimacy of these new musical styles and forms, they also tended to overlook or reduce the achievements of the African-American men and women who pioneered them. The King of Jazz, for white critics, wasn't Louis Armstrong, it was Paul Whiteman; the King of Swing wasn't Duke Ellington, it was Benny Goodman; the King of Rock wasn't Chuck Berry or Little Richard, it was Elvis Presley....
Given this history of white coronation, it is worth considering why the media took such issue with referring to Michael Jackson as the King of Pop. Certainly his achievements merited such a title. Yet up until his death in 2009, many journalists insisted on referring to him as the "self-proclaimed King of Pop." Indeed, in 2003, Rolling Stone went so far as to ridiculously re-assign the title to Justin Timberlake. (To keep with the historical pattern, just last year the magazine devised a formula that coronated Eminem--over Run DMC, Public Enemy, Tupac, Jay-Z, or Kanye West--as the King of Hip Hop)...
Books on Elvis Presley alone outnumber titles on Chuck Berry, Aretha Franklin, James Brown, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, and Michael Jackson combined...
It seemed the only way Michael Jackson could get covered was if he was presented as a freak, a curiosity, a spectacle. Even reviews of his albums, post-Thriller, focused on the sensational and were overwhelmingly condescending, when not outright hostile.