Michael Jackson's Stratospheric Talent

by Taylor Marsh

The stunning interview on CNN featuring Jackson spokesperson Brian Oxman reveals where this story is headed. But as important as it is to tell the whole story of Michael Jackson's full life, I'm drawn forever to the Quincy Jones portion.

"I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news... To this day, the music we created together on Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad is played in every corner of the world and the reason for that is because he had it all...talent, grace, professionalism and dedication. He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt upon the world forever." - Quincy Jones

Mortal Michael was a never-ending tabloid story. But it's simply not where this story will stay. Just look at the video above, emailed to me by a friend, compliments of the "Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center, Cebu, Philippines" as the YouTube page describes it.

It takes an extraordinary artist to suck the broadband out of the Internet upon your passing, which is exactly what was reported happening yesterday after the news began to travel.

You didn't have to be a fan of Michael's music or his incredible gifts to understand that this powerhouse talent was a force unto itself. Something we were witnessing that we hadn't seen before.

Just watch him. At his best he defied the triple threat bar, something I know a little bit about.

Jackson's death also stands well apart from McMahon, Fawcett (who really had serious courage to take herself where she did) and most other celebrity deaths we've seen simply because his talent was a force beyond what had been seen that also spanned many generations, with fans around the world greater than the US. It's a real mistake to lump him in with others.

Jackson was in the spotlight longer than Elvis and Lennon.

As someone who spent almost 25 years, from the time I could walk as a performer, getting to Broadway, this man's talent was a stratospheric force; even if you weren't a fan that was easily seen. Having witnessed my share of "normal" and "ordinary" child performers, also having been one of them on the mere mortal scale, that life in itself makes for a weird start for anyone. But when you catapult Jackson to where he went before he was in double digits, well, you don't need anything else to send you down strange lane. Couple that with the fact that he was the bread winner when he was still a kid, well, just take a look at Judy Garland, another over the top talent.

We'll all have to walk through the analysis, the coroner's report, and the often ghoulish dissection of Michael Jackson's life over the next weeks. The good, the bad and the very ugly.

However, the backdrop of it all will be his music, but especially his videos and the voyage Michael Jackson took the pop world on through his direction, though Quincy Jones was instrumental. Jackson changed MTV forever, breaking through all barriers through the sheer force of his raw nuclear gifts.

So, turn off the analysis. Skip the obituaries focusing on all that went wrong, and there was plenty of that, too, with stories already pointing to an Elvis like death from drugs. Instead, just listen to the music. Better yet, watch him.

Michael Jackson was simply in a category all his own.

Taylor Marsh reports from Washington, D.C., with podcasts, "TM-DC".

Follow Taylor Marsh on Twitter: www.twitter.com/taylormarsh

Comments

[SethBLiNK]

It's all well and good to say "just listen to the music" but there was more to the man than just his music, some of it good, some of it not good. Some choose to ignore that, and some do not. I'm not sure that either approach has a monopoly on being the right way.

How about if everybody remembers him how they choose to remember him and everybody learn from his life and death whatever they find there to learn from. His was too complex a life for anybody to just say "listen to the music and leave it at that" and too much of his life reflects on who we are as a society for it to even be desirable to just hear the music and tune everything else out.

[sexyrexy]

exactly..

as I wrote on the flyleaf of the rare Nijinsky book I gave him in 1988.. (now,I'm so glad I did it as I loved that book. i WAS TOLD HE LOVED THE BOOK)

when the time comes to write the history books.. in the 20th century-- only 3 of them will define it..

NIJINSKY, ASTAIRE.. & HIM.. MICHAEL JACKSON..

[Bulbul]

'Pop goes the KING" , as another author says......
Now the gossips, exploitation, greed, vultures are just passing by, to make themselves relevant.....
But, the music of Michael Jackson remains...forever ....

[GrainneKathleen]

Thanks for your post. My husband is amazed at the amount of dancing I have been doing at home as I have been listening all day to MJ tunes. What an amazing talent. I would like to one day understand him better, but till then, there are the tunes and the videos. And the incredible amount of charity work he did.

[Broughton]

Thank you for your post. I was so shocked, I glued myself to the news and that was a really bad mistake.

[PresidentRobertBooth]

***Turn off the analysis. Skip the obituaries focusing on all that went wrong. Instead, just listen to the music. Better yet, watch him***

Excellent advice.

That's what I've done.

I don't care about plastic surgery, accusations, etc...

Just the music, and the music videos.

[larstein]

I have a feeling that Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson's collaboration will go down as one of the greatest achievements in Pop music history, equal to that of George Martin and the Beatles, or Frank Sinatra and Nelson Riddle.

As a musician who knows a little about the mental concentration and technical mastery required to deliver the type of flawless performances that made Thriller one of the greatest records of all time, I consider Jackson's achievement nearly supreme. He did what the Beatles and Elvis could not do, make a perfect album that combines great performance with great songwriting and that, above all, makes you want to move, to dance in a way no other music does, even now. Listen to Thriller again, it's timeless.

[MC1701B]

"He did what the Beatles...could not do..."

1. No album is perfect.

2. There was a Beatle on it.

Unbelievable.

[larstein]

Hard Days Night and Revolver were as close to perfect as the Beatles could get. Of the four elements of perfection - great lyrics, songs, production and above all, rhythm - the Beatles had three. They were not a dance band, they were a song band, and one of the greatest of all time. But the production values have dated with the passing of 4 track analog recording, and while their lyrics and melodies remain timeless, the rhythm, the drumming, and the style of music it was didn't exactly make you move the way say Wilson Pickett did. Pop music had to learn from Motown, Quincy Jones, James Brown and Memphis how to move, and it really didn't learn to groove until the late '70s. That's why the Beatles and Elvis couldn't do it as well. The tech wasn't as developed.

There are a number of perfect albums, but it's very rare.

[Michael Hanna-Fein]

I fully comprehend the intense interest in the passing of Michael Jackson. He was a man of enormous talent and influence, yet also a very sad human being. As someone who grew up in show biz, I have seen the devastating effects being pushed into this business can do the children involved. So often they are utilized in order to fulfill the now dead dreams of their parents. While I know that children will always be needed in the performing arts, it is urgent that these children be handled with expert and loving care, rather than used as ego salving and money making mechanical robots. Michael's horrendous upbringing, I fear, condemned him to the life's problems he endured and his ultimate untimely demise.

I applaud Paul Petersen, formerly of the Donna Reed show, in his youth, for taking the needs of the former children, and current show biz kiddies to heart, and offering through his work, a deeper understanding of their needs and care.