Michael Jackson. What a genius, what a voice, what a career. I am not particularly fond of pop music (of the Boyband-girlband variety) but this man is something else. He has been an inspiration in composition, voice, performance, and sheer creativity. And he turns 50 today. A tribute is due.
From the time of the famous Jackson 5, who were the biggest names in Motown in their early teens, Michael was something special. I remember the first time I saw his video when he was about 8 years old: in complete control of the stage, and more importantly, of his voice, and the crowd as well. Such energy, and the voice too powerful to ignore. A voice that overpowers the wonderful accompanying instruments and voices of his brothers. He was the star, clearly.
Quincy Jones and ‘Off the Wall’ happened, followed by ‘Thriller‘. My oh my. What an album. Multi-platinum, multi million selling, multi-Grammy winning and whatnot. Every song is a fricking lesson in song arrangement, voice modulation, instrumentation, bass lines and clarity. And then the ‘Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever‘ TV special happened where he first performed his Moonwalk. And the rest was not just history; it was Michael fever everywhere. And then, to follow it up with Bad, Dangerous and HIStory. How much great music one has to have within himself to come up with albums like that.
I have a lot of personal favorites: Lyrics arrangement and Van Halen’s guitar in Beat it; the rhythm pattern in Jam (the first English song I ever heard); powerful chorus in the live version of The Way You Make Me Feel; beatboxing in Stranger in Moscow; Liberian Girl, Invincible, Bad, Billie Jean, Earth Song, They don’t really care about us; and I’m not even talking about any of the videos. Just the bleddy songs. Unbelieveable!
Almost all his songs are genius material; hence no point listing all of them. He is a true legend, in the sense that he has been the material of public paranoia many times over; has been inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (twice); 13 Grammy awards, 13 number one singles, 750 million albums sold worldwide; the Moonwalk, the Crotch Grab all becoming parts of the repertoire of many budding dancers world over.
Sheer Musical Genius.
But there’s one thing I would like to say to Michael.
Stop whatever the fuck you are doing. Sleeping with children, dangling your baby from your balcony, painting your face, drafting skin from your ass onto your chin; Stop all that for fuck’s sake.
And get back to making your music. That’s your only emancipation. That’ll save you from yourself.
[Pic courtesy: Yahoo.]
Update: And he dies before he hits 51. What a shame! What a loss to music! How I wished he would re-discover himself. He was almost on his way back to stardom, with his new tour. And then, history loses the true superstar. Sigh. I am really pissed at fate for once. He deserved another chance.