single-phile: The latest singles, dissected and discussed
When Michael Jackson passed away last week, I think many of us felt like he'd been taken too soon, his life cut short just as he seemed to be poised on the verge of some kind of comeback (although the stress of that may have been a contributing factor in his untimely demise). A lot of that feeling probably had to do with his age: he was only 50, but even that relatively young age seems shocking since Michael often seemed to exist in a state of (largely self-perpetuated) boyhood for us, a Peter Pan figure we prefer to remember as a chubby-cheeked child star or a charismatic teen/young adult. But an important part of Jackson's legacy is his rather prolific professional life -- a career that extended over at least three decades and was often a touchstone for what was (or would soon be) going on in popular culture and music. In honor of the late, great King of Pop, this week's single-phile takes a look at some of his greatest hits, their relationship to the pop cultural climate at the time and their influence on the pop music that was to come.
1972: "Rockin' Robin." The teenaged Jackson's second solo single for Motown continued developing the bubblegum pop the Jackson 5
helped to create. But it also incorporated funk gestures, subtly
candy-coated to make them more palatable to mainstream audiences.
Finally, by covering Bobby Day's 1958 hit, Jackson also anticipated the 1950s revival that would soon take over '70s pop culture.
1979: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." The first single from Off the Wall, the album that arguably inaugurated him as the King of Pop, and his second No. 1, this whirling, vibrant tune introduced the world to Jackson's compelling falsetto. It also artfully incorporated exuberant disco flourishes, reuniting that much-contested genre with its soul, funk and dance roots, while mainstreaming disco's sexuality with the song's subtly suggestive lyrics.
1982: "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." These first two singles off Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time, are arguably Jackson's most beloved and most successful songs. If that weren't impressive enough, they also did a number on the longstanding racial divisions in pop music, bringing together pop, soul, rock and dance music -- and their seemingly disparate audiences: "Beat It," with its Eddie Van Halen guest spot, bridged the rock/metal and dance pop worlds. And "Billie Jean" broke down MTV's "color barrier," helping to transform it from a predominantly white, rock-oriented network into the multi-genre tastemaker it was through most of the '80s and early '90s.
1988: "Dirty Diana." The last No. 1 hit from Bad, an album that sometimes uncomfortably bridged the old Michael (the jaunty, candy-coated "The Way You Make Me Feel") with the Michael that was to be (the adult-contemporary and anxious confessional of "Man in the Mirror"). "Dirty Diana" at once gestures toward the aggressive pop-rock that made Michael king and the guitar-driven turn pop music was taking at the end of the '80s and beginning of the '90s.
1991: "Black or White." This song (from 1991's Dangerous) encapsulates the paradox(es) that was Michael Jackson in the 1990s: undeniably catchy beats in a framework that bordered on cliché, socially minded lyrics that hit way too close to home with their references to topics (like race, bodies and sexuality) that were obviously becoming uncomfortable issues for Jackson at this point -- and then there's that awkwardly rapped bridge, a nod to the changing mood of a pop music landscape that Jackson was not really king of any longer.
1995: "You Are Not Alone." With HIStory, the first album after his 1993 child sexual abuse controversy, Jackson set out to remind us of his legacy. At the same time, the album's new songs, like the treacly "You Are Not Alone" (his last No. 1 hit), voiced his fear (down to the trembling vibrato and the video's cameo by Lisa Marie Presley) and moved him toward the safer, less threatening, less sexually ambiguous terrain of adult contemporary. ("Scream," his aggressive, gender-bending duet with Janet, seemed to do the opposite, on the other hand.)
1979: "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." The first single from Off the Wall, the album that arguably inaugurated him as the King of Pop, and his second No. 1, this whirling, vibrant tune introduced the world to Jackson's compelling falsetto. It also artfully incorporated exuberant disco flourishes, reuniting that much-contested genre with its soul, funk and dance roots, while mainstreaming disco's sexuality with the song's subtly suggestive lyrics.
1982: "Billie Jean" and "Beat It." These first two singles off Thriller, the biggest-selling album of all time, are arguably Jackson's most beloved and most successful songs. If that weren't impressive enough, they also did a number on the longstanding racial divisions in pop music, bringing together pop, soul, rock and dance music -- and their seemingly disparate audiences: "Beat It," with its Eddie Van Halen guest spot, bridged the rock/metal and dance pop worlds. And "Billie Jean" broke down MTV's "color barrier," helping to transform it from a predominantly white, rock-oriented network into the multi-genre tastemaker it was through most of the '80s and early '90s.
1988: "Dirty Diana." The last No. 1 hit from Bad, an album that sometimes uncomfortably bridged the old Michael (the jaunty, candy-coated "The Way You Make Me Feel") with the Michael that was to be (the adult-contemporary and anxious confessional of "Man in the Mirror"). "Dirty Diana" at once gestures toward the aggressive pop-rock that made Michael king and the guitar-driven turn pop music was taking at the end of the '80s and beginning of the '90s.
1991: "Black or White." This song (from 1991's Dangerous) encapsulates the paradox(es) that was Michael Jackson in the 1990s: undeniably catchy beats in a framework that bordered on cliché, socially minded lyrics that hit way too close to home with their references to topics (like race, bodies and sexuality) that were obviously becoming uncomfortable issues for Jackson at this point -- and then there's that awkwardly rapped bridge, a nod to the changing mood of a pop music landscape that Jackson was not really king of any longer.
1995: "You Are Not Alone." With HIStory, the first album after his 1993 child sexual abuse controversy, Jackson set out to remind us of his legacy. At the same time, the album's new songs, like the treacly "You Are Not Alone" (his last No. 1 hit), voiced his fear (down to the trembling vibrato and the video's cameo by Lisa Marie Presley) and moved him toward the safer, less threatening, less sexually ambiguous terrain of adult contemporary. ("Scream," his aggressive, gender-bending duet with Janet, seemed to do the opposite, on the other hand.)
- Portions of Album Content Provided by All Music Guide © 2008 All Media Guide, LLC.
I AM SO DISTRAUGHT OVER MICHAEL'S DEATH...I STILL CANT BELIEVE THIS IS TRUE...MICHAEL IS THE MOST COMPASSIONATE, LOVING, CARING HUMANITARIAN I'VE EVER KNOWN......I SAW M.J. IN CONCERT IN HOUSTON, TX. AFTER THE MOLESTATION CHARGES AROSE, AND I FELT FROM THE BEGINNING THAT MICHAEL WAS SET UP BY THIS FAMILY, AND ALL THEY WANTED TO DO WAS COLLECT MONETARY GAIN FROM MICHAEL....SHAME ON THOSE PEOPLE.
AS FOR JOE JACKSON, I THINK HE IS A PIECE OF NOTHING,
TREATING HIS CHILDREN THIS WAY.....AS MONETARY GAIN,,,SOMETHING HE COULDN'T DO HIMSELF.
MY HEART GOES OUT TO MICHAEL, AND I FEEL HIS FAMILY AND EXPECIALLY HIS DAD IS RESPONSIBLE FOR HIS UNTIMELY DEATH. MICHAEL WILL BE ALWAYS A PART OF MY HEART.....I WOULD BE FORTUNATE TO MARRY A MAN OF HIS STATURE.
I have enjoyed the Michael Jackson Memorial today. However, upon watching/listening [afterward] to all the comments AND ENTERTAINERS that took part, I was deeply disapointed that the part that JOHN MAYER played/contributed was not even mentioned!!!!!
And he poured his heart/body into the guitar solo as he performed one of Michael's fav songs.
Oh well, JOHN, you did GOOD and I appreciate your great talent, from writing/composing to entertaining us with your music [and everything in between, right from your heart.
Guess it takes talent to recognize it.
Love u, PegLou
I feel that Michael's accusers should come forward and let the world know that they did not speak truths about Michael Jackson. I know that they must feel awful that their parents put them up to this and in the end aided in slowly killing "The Greatest Entertainer who ever lived"- MJ.
i envy u and every one who saw m. j. seeing him as a dream which could not be filfuled and now after the death of this sensitive and great man i pray for him every day may Allah mercy him and bless his soul. Amen
My husband brought home the CD This Is It... I cried.
I just watched This Is It at the theater..... and cried!
Yep, gone to soon - but thankfully left us with so much to remember him by. :(
HEY - Rachel Devitt, what does this mean? ---> single-phile: The latest singles, dissected and discussed
You should think about what you post on the internet.
I don't appreciate this at all!