Remembering Michael Jackson: The Greatest of All Time.

Do you Remember The Time when Michael Jackson basically caused the entire world to listen to the same album at the same time?  When Thriller became the best-selling album of all time?  When everyone wanted to be The Gloved One?  I do.  I was in elementary school at the time, and I used to wear a single shimmering glove to school on occasion.  At the time, this was a really cool thing to do even though it sounds ridiculous today.  Anyone who had the jacket Michael Jackson wore in the "Beat It" video was automatically cool. 

Simply put, Michael Jackson is the greatest musical artist of all time.  Nobody had his impact.  Nobody achieved his level of stardom either before or since.  He has been inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame twice - once with the Jackson 5, and again on his own.  No solo artist has sold more records, and the only artist who MJ imitated in performance style was James Brown.

Some of my friends have argued that The Beatles were more influential, or that Prince had as great an impact.  Nonsense.  Michael Jackson was known throughout the world.  Go to Nigeria or Zambia or Hungary or Laos or Nepal, and people who have never heard of The Beatles or Prince know exactly who Michael Jackson is.  The only other musician on that level is Elvis. 

As far as influence goes, people who say The Beatles, Prince etc. are more influential are probably overlooking two things: 1) Michael's work with the Jackson 5, and  2) his influence on those who followed him. 

The Jackson 5 served as the blueprint for every modern pop and sould trio, quartet, quintet and sextet that followed.  While the Jacksons were likely vaguely influenced by early pop acts like The Temptations and the O'Jay's, they broke a ton of new ground both musically and in image.  To put it simply, the Jackson 5 were the first famous boy band.  Without the Jackson 5, the following acts would never have existed:

• Menudo (think about how long they were around and how many albums they sold)
• New Edition
• New Kids On The Block
• N'Sync
• Backstreet Boys
• Hanson
• ...etc,etc, etc
  

Without Michael Jackson the solo artist, none of these acts exist in their present form:

• Justin Timberlake
• Mariah Carey
• Usher
• Ne-yo
• Rhianna
• R. Kelly
• Britney Spears
• ...etc, etc, etc
  

Let's not forget the fact that Jackson almost singlehandedly ushered in the music video era, legitimized the video medium as an art form, and shattered musical segregation barriers like no other artist had before.  And the fact that his death almost broke the Internet.

What really amazed me about Michael is that he could do a 2+-hour concert, singing and dancing with equal vigor and AT THE SAME FREAKING TIME, and not have either activity suffer.  Performers dream of possessing that level of talent and energy.  How could he sing so well while dancing and sweating like that?  How could he do it for such long periods?  How could he remember the lyrics and execute the choreographed dance moves simultaneously?  How did he do it all without majorly screwing up?  As a musician myself, it boggles the mind. 

In his later life, MJ sadly became a caricature.  In my mind, he was always a victim who never stood a chance.  He was forced to be an entertainer from the time he was about 5 years old.  Before he was 10, he was playing frat parties and strip clubs.  His father was abusive, and his family completely dysfunctional.  He never seemed to develop beyond the emotional level of a 10-year-old.  In my mind, every controversial thing he did can be explained by the preceding sentence.  Give a 10-year-old complete independence, worldwide fame, no privacy and almost unlimited resources to do whatever he/she wants, and in my mind you have Michael Jackson's life explained.  In spite of this, he was one of the world greatest philanthropists.

I sensed a decent amount of regret in the tone of the remembrances of Michael Jackson after he suddenly died at the age of 50 on Thursday.  It seemed like the regret of a populace that suddenly realized they had spent a whole lot of time and energy hating and picking apart an artist instead of appreciating the genius of his work.  Wherever MJ is now, a small part of him might be relieved that the public and media don't have him to kick around anymore.  And we are now beginning to acknowledge that was the best ever at what he did.  

links: digg this    del.icio.us    technorati    reddit