Unlike what seems to be 95% of the people I know, I’m not a huge Michael Jackson fan. Love the Jackson 5 stuff, love Off the Wall, like Thriller a lot…and them I’m pretty much good. It’s interesting because the MJ stuff that I like, I really, really like, and it has the instrumental brilliance and lyrical depth and dexterity I crave in music (the most underrated part of Mike’s game was that he was a fantastic songwriter).
On one hand, there’s no explanation for why I’m not crying in the streets like other people.
Then it hit me. Michael Jackson has never seemed human to me.
Off the Wall was released in 1979, and it established him as a star. I was born the year after. Then Thriller, which made Mike into a megastar, came out in ’82. He’s been on megastar status ever since, more an entity than anything else. He was his own brand, and he was larger than life.
Humans are not larger than life.
I just never saw anything in Michael Jackson I could personally relate to. Maybe part of it was growing up in red, black and green schools that didn’t have much good to say about Mike and all the ridiculous incarnations of a process that he wore. But with the totally excessive videos and promotional campaigns, Mike did so much to get into my world that he kinda kept himself out.
The music is great. It’s technically perfect. Mike’s amazingly emotive as a vocalist, and the songs were usually pretty good. But it was always sounded perfectly aware of the fact that Michael Jackson was the biggest star on Earth.
And when I listen to music, I want humanity. It can be good, and it can be bad, but it must be human. Music is the most perfect medium ever created for expressing a range of emotion. Each instrument can speak to a certain part. The lyrics and melody can be linked by irony, and their combination can be an ironic juxtaposition with the music. There’s no way in the world to express so much in such a short period of time and in a way that endures like music does. It’s taught me mch about myself, given an interesting peek into the worlds of others, and brought me closer to people I’d probably have a hard time talking to otherwise.
But we’ve got music.
I adore the Jackson 5 catalog. It’s amazing how deep the emotional resonance of that music is, considering that Michael Jackson was being asked to convey adult emotions as a 13 year-old. Hell, the J5’s first album had a friggin’ Funkadelic cover on it (a kinda weird cut at that)! That Isaac Hayes and David Ruffin could cover J5 songs and STILL not nail all the emotion tells you how cold Mike was. If David Ruffin could do nothing else, he could sell emotion. That’s the reason you know his name…and Mike may have been colder than he ever was when he was a teenager.
I can relate to that music, and Mike’s voice speaks to me in a way that makes me sing with him.
The solo catalog is different. And it’s interesting because the folks that are calling out from work are doing so, largely, because of some combination of Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. That’s what has them so enraptured.
No wonder I don’t feel it the way they do. I’d rather listen to the Jackson 5, in most cases.
What I don’t have from Michael Jackson is one of those songs that just speaks to me. There are plenty that entertain me, but none that hit me in that place that gets me to run a song on repeat for an afternoon. At every turn, I couldn’t bring the music closer to me. At every turn, I was perfectly aware — and reminded — of the fact that I was listening to Michael Jackson.
That was the biggest thing out there, so I get why so many people are so distraught today. However, I don’t need big from my artists. I need human, and I never felt that from Michael Jackson.
Now, those of you that know me could probably ask how human I think Prince is. Very, in fact. Weird as hell, but very human. That dude is off on some other shit, but so are many people I know.
I don’t know ANYONE like Michael Jackson. And that’s saying a lot, considering I hang out with you degenerates and reprobates.
But it hit me when I was on the way in to work. I heard “Wanna Be Startin Something” on the TJMS, and it just jumped out of the speakers. Mindblowing stuff, and I was rockin’ right with it. Then they went to commercial, and I flipped it up to Van Morrison’s “Saint Dominic’s Preview” on the iPod.
Which song is better? Probably Mike’s. But I’d rather listen to Van, because there’s a quality in this voice that I can relate to. Forget stardom and how big anyone was. That’s never been why music has captivated me. It keeps my heart and mind going constantly because I can relate on so many levels. Even if I don’t hear my life, I hear someone else’s and can take something from it. It’s why, in spite of my lack of any discernible musical talent (save for the occasional freestyle on the air), I love songs like I wrote them myself.
I don’t care much about star power, and I really don’t care about dancing from my singers. Impressed by it, but I can do without. I can do without pyrotechnics and jet packs, too. Just not my bag.
But those things are a dominant part of the legacy of MJ’s solo career. If you loved the music, chances are you were into the total package. And seeing how so much of the MJ discussion is about the Thriller era, I’m inclined to believe it was about the jacket, the glove, and everything else. It was about the magnitude.
And magnitude just doesn’t do it for me. Wanted a bit more of the human Michael Jackson.
Oddly enough, I bet he did, too.
20 thoughts on “Why you like Mike more than I do”
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Can we mourn today and wait awhile to dissect his talent and career?
Umm, this is Bo’s blog and he’s entitled to express his feelings here if nowhere else. To behave as if there is one emotion to be had today where Michael Jackson is concerned is absurd.
That said, because Michael’s career spanned different generations, there will be various memories of him. I imagine there are many teenagers that don’t even recall when Michael was a bonafide celebrity and not freak show.
Further, because Michael didn’t experience true maturation as a person, he couldn’t achieve it as an artist. As Bo speaks of, the soulful lyrics he sang as a child were presented to him to perform. Perhaps he was acting and this is how he began to hone his skills as an entertainer. As he got older and probably never got to experience the emotions in the songs he sang, the discordance probably was tough. He didn’t have a regular life so in many ways, he wasn’t human, he was a commodity.
As music is art, the appreciation lies in the eyes of the beholder. It’s nice to read an honest, but not harsh, reflection in the midst of the rose-colored remembrances that are almost too late as Jackson won’t get to hear them.
dissent is encouraged and appreciated
Now I understand where you are coming from.
Mike never seemed human to you because you weren’t born (geez I feel old) or old enough to remember when he “was” human – if we use your definition of human, above.
Those of us who literally grew up with Michael relate to him differently. No matter how many Disney rides he put in his yard, he was still “our” Michael, the Michael I listened to on my close n play record player when I was 4.
P.S. How did your RBG school differentiate between Mike’s perm and Prince’s? Esp. since Prince has worn one pretty much from the jump – “For You” album notwithstanding?
I was born in ’71 so my perspective on Mike is obviously very different from yours. I always felt the Off The Wall album way more than the work from his mega-star period. At the time OTW came out, Mike hadn’t been boosted into the stratosphere yet. To the mainstream, even with all of the success of the J5, he was still considered a soul singer, not a pop star. That album resonates with me because it feels the most human and grounded of his work, to me. Although I have MJ joints that I love from throughout his career, I definitely became more of a Prince fan. Not sure if this is coherent. Just how I’m feeling today. I can’t believe he’s dead.
mike took it to the next level by getting an actual jheri curl. that was just going too damn far, i guess.
Jheri curl, Optimum, its all chemicals Bo.
I was shocked, but I wasn’t among the many people who shut down Twitter. Elementary and junior high school, I liked Micheal Jackson. When “Bad” came out when I was in high school, I was in the process of checking out other forms of music, so I thought “Bad” was so-so. I would have to say I’m more of a Prince fan as well.
Since I only know of two or three Jackson 5 songs offhand, I guess I’ll try to check out some more songs from those years.
MJ was talented, but he was only as good as his production team. His most popular albums, Thriller and OTW were Quincy Jones productions. The liner notes read lke a who’s who of all of the best studio musicians of the day. Dangerous, which is one of his under appreciated albums, was a Teddy Riley joint. It was hit and miss, just like Teddy.
With Prince, I always knew that I was getting pure unadulterated Prince, straight, no chaser.
That is why I have more appreciation for Prince as an artist.
Michael Jackson was a gifted HUMAN BEING. And if you are HUMAN you would feel the sadness from the lose of this talented man.
After watching your commentary on the Biography special (today), I decided to check you out and so here I am! As was Stephanie E., I was also born in 1971, so Mike was my very first ‘boyfriend’ when I was about 4 yrs. old (lol). Prior to the OTW album, those of us who are 70’s babies were able to see him as a person who could DANCE and sing his butt off. I would suggest that anyone who has not listened to the following albums: The Jacksons, Goin’ Places, Triumph, and Destiny….put them in your rotation, listen while you’re cleaning or on a long car ride and you will see why some of us shed some tears, and have been immensely saddened by this loss. Honestly, I didn’t buy another MJ album after Thriller until Invincible (then The Jacksons greatest hits and History).
Well Bomani, I was intrigued to find out more about you after watching A&E’s “Remembering Michael Jackson” and listening to your insights regarding him. Then I read this blog and saw what you had to say in regards to Michael not being human to you and your comments about Prince. While I was on the Thriller “bandwagon” along with everybody else, I do appreciate his older stuff with his brothers. I was born in ’69, so I grew up on that stuff. However, I became a die hard Prince fan since his first album, and I believe it’s exactly for the reasons you and someone else on here stated, he is human to me. He does give it to you straight, no chaser. I can relate to Prince a whole lot more than I ever could with Michael Jackson, so I wasn’t cryin in the streets either. Now if something happens to Prince, I’m on the next thing smokin to Minney to Paisley Park. LOL Prince is a TRUE musician and that sets him apart from MJ.
I have an appreciation for MJ and his showmanship and marketing and branding and it’s a shame his life story is so tragic. He did bring millions of people joy and left some great songs behind. It’s evident the stresses of this life was way too much, so I pray his soul is at peace now.
Oh! And I live in Kentucky so I will be checkin u out on KY sports radio.
So lucky Bomani is here and not in ATL ,or hot assed Tx. (I know this is the choir)
Born in 1965, across from the Sylvers house.That music bubblegum soul was hip hop made by older musicians for younger. Bo is expressing himself generationally, yet he is inclusive of the bubbly pop as the brilliance.
(unlike MJ,#23 ) v. LaBron(dangerous,who’s bad…)
I thought and then there was one ..Prince.THEE ONE;props however to Michael for pulling moves from other than only J.B.Otherwise,musicianship!
on the wild side MJ was out of Prince’s league.Really.
Gotta tell you the Frank Delio/Joe pesce story
and unamed A&R woman…too much?
I saw you on the E! special on Michael Jackson today. Just wanted to say keep up the good work and continue to represent!
Interesting stuff. I thought you were gonna get all “I’m too cool to be an MJ fan like all you peons” on us, but your analysis was inclusive and gracious, and very telling.
Music is subjective, but also interactive. We put pieces of ourselves and our experiences -and our preconceived notions and judgments- into the give-and-take of listening, a sort of soul-spirit-sound interplay… Would your personal connection to the music and ideas about his humanity be changed if you’d known Mike, I wonder? (i’ve been wondering that about myself lately)
It’s too easy to think of michael jackson as something other than human. the man did not seem to age, with his voice and dancing ability staying pretty much the same since he was in his early 20s, and people are gonna believe that they want about the change in his skin and facial structure. although mj did give us glimpses with some of his interviews like the oprah one and some of his songs like Childhood. i guess he just wasn’t trained like some other artists to express his own pain through song as much as he was just to dazzle us with his talent.
I’m not the biggest MJ fan in the world. I grew up listening to a strict rotation of gospel music until the age of 13. And I wasn’t born until ’83…so I’m vaguely familiar with the “Post-Thriller” Era of MJ’s career. But I think that all those people who were passing out at his concerts and all were caught up in the showmanship, not the strictly music. He was iconic, his shows were elaborate, his dancing phenomenal until about age 43/45. (It was still great, but MJ couldn’t avoid the effects of time on his body.)
I think that his lack of a real childhood is what hindered him from the capacity to really develop those emotions and experiences. We talk about child actors “growing up” on TV. Jackson lived his entire damn life in front of a camera. Never had a break. It’s about as close to the “Truman Show” as you can get. You can’t develop that “human” aspect when every aspect of your life is being run through a PR firm.
Michael was the product of an industrial machine. Talented, yes, I take nothing from him. But he lived a manufactured life. He lived in the Matrix…
Do you regret your blistering salon review of MJ’s Invincible CD? I believe you said that MJ was washed up and hadn’t released a good album in 20 years (guess you didn’t like Dangerous or History). When I saw you on the MJ Story, I was impressed with your statements on MJ. Was so thankful that you had more sense than that dreaded Toure. But I now am thinking twice about that. MJ’s music was fun. It may not have touched your heart, but I bet kept your head noddin and your foot tappin. I didn’t buy History but came back to Jackson with Invincible. I actually liked the CD, although it was a bit uneven. It reminded me of a more mature sound–ones expressed in Off the Wall and Dangerous. Didn’t the CD sales figures do better than most at the time? (The bar was set so very high, and if it weren’t maybe the criticism wouldn’t have been so extreme.) I just was a bit caught off guard at the harshness of your criticism.
Also–what is the history behind the term King of Pop? Why did you use the term “self-appointed”? Wouldn’t it be more like “self-promoted,” being that someone else supposedly coined the term?