that's the entire crux of the problem when it comes to genuine acceptance,
why is it that artists have to seek crossover appeal anyway, why was the recording industry set up like that to begin with
why couldn't it just have been set up where you don't have to worry about crossing over to where if a person likes what you doing, they like what you're doing
because race is a factor unfortunately....the connotation of the word says it all.."crossing over".....it may not be dictated by the audience the artist is geared on crossing over to, but causes more problems in the long run rather than allowing an artist who possess immense talent to achieve based purely on their merit....
the decline in those record sales by all the aforementioned artists in the 80s, it was all systematic it was not a coincidence, for it was a byproduct of what was already being shaped a generation earlier in the 60s
because what started off as this
turns into this
compare who we see in the audience of both clips.....
balance was lost out......this dynamic occurred with Lionel, Whitney on a similar scale and Prince on a smaller scale when the late 80s arrived....
that's not by accident.....the root of the criticisms these artists faced are based on a system that pulls these artists away from their beginning support and dont' allow them to function properly where people can support them w/out the divisions that arise...
appealing to all races is not the problem...never was...when MJ acheived what he did with Thriller, it was the most amazing thing I've ever seen in the field of music and entertainment.......if a person has that type of talent to do that, it's awesome..that' not the issue
it's "how" it happens that becomes the problem, because as soon as these artists reached their apex commercially, they were pulled away from their original audience to where balance is lost out on.....
if we look at stories today about Michael or Whitney, specials about them, or anything in references to them, the original audience, the black audience rarely if ever gets acknowledged or mentioned
Here's a perfect example, E hollywood did a special on Whitney Houston earlier this year and a participant on the special said that Whitney Houston's first major hit was "How Will I Know", which was a pop hit......but the truth was that Whitney had two major hits before in "You Give Good Love" and "Saving All My Love For You", which received initial support from R&B radio, and this is why the special never acknowledged it....it's small moments like that which leads to what happened to her 4 years later at the Soul Train Awards...there's always a cause that leads to these effects...
that's what led to these backlashes from the onset
and Michael Jackson himself tried to share this w/the world during his period of rebellion in releasing the History Album, the lyrics in the songs Scream, They Don't Really Care About Us, and Stranger in Moscow highlight the plight
if the industry would let these artists, all artists function properly without feeling the need to focus on one area of support, to where they can exist freely, 1.) we would get better music as we did years ago...2.) these artists careers wouldn't be cut short....3.) any criticisms that would exist would mainly be centered around what they are doing professionally rather than being the subject of criticism and tabloid fodder....
there is no way that Michael Jackson should have only existed for 50 years in this world