Michael Jackson Was No Beethoven
No more revealing metaphor can exist for the distortion of mass culture than the media-induced frenzy over the demise of Michael Jackson. One would think there is no Global Economic Crisis, or unending wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not to mention dangerous nuclear proliferation in North Korea and Iran, which could spark a world war. No, as far as the mass media of the planet, and especially corporate media in the United States are concerned, the death of the pop music icon, Michael Jackson, was an unheralded business opportunity. Though the dead freak-show that was Michael Jackson is being proclaimed as the "King of Pop" by sycophants and marketers, this spectacle has nothing to do with high art and musical culture.
The late Mr. Jackson was no doubt a talented musical artist. But no more so than many others who are active in the music industry. His good fortune was to have had the marketing machine that created the Michael Jackson "brand," in effect the commoditization of this tormented and unbalanced soul. However, even setting aside the peculiarities and accusations involving Michael Jackson, he was no Beethoven or Mozart. Neither would I rank him in the realm of Tchaikovsky or Dvorak. He in no way can even be remotely compared to the giants of music of the classical period. Even within the realm of 20th century music, Michael Jackson pales before the sheer genius of Duke Ellington, Count Basie or the torrential musical perfection embodied by a Frank Sinatra. Yet, based on the media frenzy, one would think he rivalled Ludwig van Beethoven as a seminal figure in musical historiography.
What we are witnessing is the fabrication of a celebrity legend, which will in effect become the new, post-death Michael Jackson brand. Necrophilia is an inseparable element of this rebranding process, witnessed by the ghoulish non-stop worldwide television coverage of the shrouded corpse of Michael Jackson being airlifted to the Los Angeles county morgue. However, this was merely the prelude to the global media circus that infused the public memorial for the deceased entertainer. His remains secured in a golden casket, celebrity upon celebrity heaped praise upon Jackson as though he was the most pivotal human being of the age.
There was a discordant Stalinist character to this contrived hero-worshipping of a man once indicted on a charge of child molestation. Here was the new cult of personality, whereby a flawed human being becomes the most perfect and consequential of mortals. We have seen and criticized this behaviour in North Korea, where the dictator, Kim Jong-Il, is proclaimed by state propaganda as an infallible genius worthy of mass adulation. How then is this media-manufactured hero worship of Michael Jackson any different?
At best, the media frenzy over the mortification of Michael Jackson is a severe distraction from the real and critical problems confronting the human race in the first decade of the twenty-first century. At worst, the obsequious tributes to this bizarre life now ended are a dark manifestation of a civilization anticipating its own implosive ending.
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Color, taste and beauty... it's all in the eyes oof the beholder.. the only thing I learned from your article sir, is that you preferBeethoven to Michael jackson. Whatever rocks your boat.. Beat it... Beat it....
wow. cynical much? you don't sound like a very happy person to me.
Pf. Well that's a lot of loaded language. You're talking like you know nothing of MJ. I don't think you can compare MJ to Beethoven musically, and say that one was better than the other because they're so hugely different. And both are incredibly popular and *representative of their time* which is how I personally like to grade music retrospectively. His album Bad had a record setting 5 #1 hits, Thriller had 4... No other albums have come close to that. Longstanding popularity people. Some people don't like the Beatles, some don't like Sinatra, and some don't like Beethoven. That doesn't mean that any of them were unimportant.
Not to mention his versatility and what he did for the world of *dance* and music videos. You see his style copied in choreography everywhere, and before him there weren't music videos that really brought any story and entertainment. He's set a record for most charities donated to by a pop star- 39. He brought all those singers together to record "We Are the World" which raised over $63 million for famine relief in Africa. Why are these overlooked when people are remembering him?
(to be continued..)
To Michael Jackson's credit, musically he knew who he was. He didn't pretend to be anything but himself.
I'm not up on or interested in pop music or culture. I've heard a lot more Beethoven than Michael Jackson. However, I take exception to your scathing repudiation of those who take Michael Jackson seriously as a musician and an activist. Artists don't usually lead normal lives and by definition are abnormal, having transcended the banalities of normalcy.
I can understand your disappointment in 21st century culture. I share it. But criticizing an artist and belittling his contribution because it doesn't match your desires is unfair and undignified. In my crash course in Michael Jackson history this week, watching his memorial, watching some of his music videos and interviews, I've noticed what a dignified and compassionate human being he was. And he was undoubtedly an artist.
One more thing. MJ was humble, and would never have considered comparing himself with those past giants. We are also of better stuff than our ancestors, because we celebrate our geniuses and pay them well in their lifetimes. We are not crazy. We are good.
Think about all the geniuses like Mozart in particular and van Gogh who died penniless, only to be appreciated long after their deaths and people trading their pieces for obscene amounts of money, which their creators could not even imagine.
Not to directly comment on your piece but reflection on some details.
Mozart did not set out to compose classical music. He was a pop musician of his time. Nowadays call his music classical music. People dressed in the fashionably for the period to concerts. We wear anachronistic suits to performances of his music. There is something necrophilic in the cult of classical music with the undertaker outfits. We make serious academic study of his music. In his day, he would have laughed at the notion.
Only time will tell what music is timeless. Recording technology is new, so musicians no longer have to put every note on paper. Noone knows how Mozart wanted his music to sound but we shall always know what Michael Jackson sounds like. I long gave up on the conceit that classical music is superior and let my heart and sensibilities decide. For now "Dont stop til you get enough" is my favorite MJ song, because it simply makes me happy and for me, anyway, has stood the test of reasonable time- 30 years. I will not fall into the trap of saying some musician is the greatest. I just enjoy what appeals to me, as gifts.
That is music, but as a dancer, showman and innovator, that is another matter altogether. He is undoubtedly a giant and thorough student of past masters–Gene Kelly, Fred Astaire, James Brown etc. Wedding his music to all these attributes takes everything up another notch.
And you are no Bill Shakespeare.
this is a bore.. as you wrote Mj is NOT high ART..so?? since when did ever say he was??
he's the KING OF POP.. I think that's pretty clear,no? so why even bring up Beethoven into it.
by the way-- this same comment was alluded to Lennon_McCartney songs in the 60's.. in that instance they were debunked for not being Mozart..
talk about Paul McCartney and compare him with Beethoven ,more apropos as MAC now composes serious music!
MJJ may have had an ego but he wasn't pretentious.
Actually ask them what they mean by "high art". That is just the simple minded attempt to paint dead culture as more important than living and contemporary culture. But who buys Beethoven's music? And how do we know how his music, which was his improvisation, is supposed to be played? Who knows?
It is just like the author using Duke Ellington and Count Basie to denigrate MJ. Just so's you know, sexyrexy, America did not acknowledge the work and genius of these two gentlemen while they were alive and hardly acknowledges them now. How many American homes will the music of Tchaikovsky and Dvorak be found? Why compare artists of a way different time?
Michael Jackson fans are of the here and now. My guess is that his non-fans are not listening to Beethoven, they are listening to what they like and what they like is what they will spend their money on. My guess is that even is most of them ever heard MJ's music, they would clap on the wrong beat.
I actually adore Beethoven !! ah. there's nothing like the second movement of his 7th Symphony-- SUBLIME! to t hink he was already deaf when he composed it-- he was 'hearing his soul'..
if anyone should make any kind of these statements.. I say.. FRANZ LISZT.. Ken Russell had good reason to have done Lisztomania.. HE WAS/IS THE FIRST REAL ROCK STAR !!~! He was looked on such a Romantic figure-- scandals followed him..usually with women.
But when it came to Mozart & even until Beethoven?? they were considered 'servants'-- they needed benefactors who they composed for. and were entertainment . granted, all that changed during the time of Beethoven.. he broke ground during his lifetime. "
Well said.
Reading some of the member comments, it seems that some are sidetracked by the issues of musical quality comparisons or the public influence of his character.
I read the column, and two issues come to mind--
1) No celebrity is deserving of this blanket media blitz. This show business funeral is produced on a hype to rival coverage of the world olympics. How many more of these hero-worship funerals (24-hour coverage via big screen) will each of us have to experience in the U.S.?
And,
2) The real point is that these media soap operas block out the serious issues: the matter of many millions of Americans suffering from the loss of jobs and income and dropping into poverty at a rapid rate. Hollywood and corrupt politicians need to step aside if they're not willing to help on serious matters affecting our country.
Not a Mozart, but surely a Sinatra -- if you count in his dancing. The division between great art and pop art is more pronounced today than ever. As to his lifestyle, check out Beethoven's!
no beethoven? (pt 2)
sinatra (and sammy) would have been proud. elvis would have smiled seeing a pelvis unleashed. we know (copyrights aside) that at least 1 beatle tacitly approved, & one could argue, rode the coattail of jackson.
i was never a fan. i like a couple songs. but he was never "bad", and as pointed out elsewhere, he never would have found himself in bed with billie jean. but the stuff he did - marketing or hype aside - WAS real. even if much of what he surrounded himself with or made of himself was outside what most consider real.
i was a punk kid in '77 when elvis died. i said "It's about time." within a few years i came to appreciate his genius. it took a few more to appreciate sinatra. had lennon's death happened recently, the scene would have been bigger than jackson's. maybe not. it's interesting that ringo celebrated his 69th birthday on the same day as the jackson memorial. ringo made it out of the circus alive. i wonder what will happen when ringo, paul, leave the planet. will filger complain about ringo's drumming ("he was no krupa!") or paul's refusing to let his hair go grey?
these Artists (not just musicians) - sinatra, elvis, the beatles, jackson - made significant impact in popular music. it's called pop because it's popular, it's easy to sing along to, to empathize with. it's easy as 1,2, 3, A, B, C, do, re, me, you and
no beethoven? (pt 1)
you could say the same about sinatra, elvis, the beatles. but the fact is, in contemporary pop music, like him or not, jackson follows in the paths of those same singers.
sinatra carved a path from big band to his own ring-a-ding thing. elvis (note we are now only using one name) was called "The King" before his death. i was never a fan of that "king of pop" moniker, but in fact it seems to have been true, whether i liked it or not. elvis went from country bumpkin who, like those who followed, also borrowed from their predecessors.
the beatles were even bigger than elvis and sinatra, in part because of the combo of pop singers and what became the definition of a rock band (though they were not the first), and the media exposure at the time: i saw them on ed sullivan when i was five years old.
jackson's songs, whether they've sold more than the beatles, in my opinion, will never be as memorable in total as the fab-four. but that is not the issue in regards to the memorial. what matters here is how many people he reached. in an era when twitter - 140 characters - has been used to undermine the suppression of information coming out of iran, it is no wonder that a total global response to a person - an artist in his own right - who DID manage to cross boundaries of every sort.
MJ's fans are not beatle fans and vice versa, pretty much. If you think that MJ tunes are not so memorable, that speaks to what you value. It does not speak for the fans of Jackson's music and dance. You remember what is important to you. Not one of the Beatles could sing or dance in the same league with MJ. Not in their best moments. And they don't span the gap in generations at all.
So cease the attempt at relativism.
Comparing Michael to Beethoven? When Michael was 5, I was 11 and what joy we had growing up with that. I believe my lifetime study of music caused me to gag from this comment. Beethoven, Mozart, , now that you can compare. Why don't these people just admit that they are angry because Michael was a brilliant Young black Thing ("You Young Thing") and just move along. God! Or just try to moonwalk yourself on somewhere else!
Finally! A voice of reason amid the insanity of the masses. I thought I might be the only person who felt this way. It's a relief to know that there are others who see through all the B.S. Thank You!
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