Originally posted by gary-karl at 2005-12-2 02:55 PM:
Prince is the godfather of pop "The Godfather of Pop"
By John Aizlewood, Pop Critic
Evening Standard
7th November, 2003
This has not been an especially satisfying year for Michael Jackson. The same could be said of every year since 1992, when the first pictures of his seemingly melting nose appeared, a prelude to a horrific, Gothic decline that has left the self-anointed King of Rock, Pop and Soul branded as a freak. Jackson is becoming the post-modern equivalent of John Merrick (the Victorian Elephant Man whose remains Jackson bizarrely attempted to purchase), with a sideline in monkeys and, possibly minors.
His transformation into a circus object, tragic as it is, distorts the uncomfortable reality that he has also produced a body of work that has changed, and continues to change, the face of popular music. That we judge the man and not the work is a sorry indictment of our celebrity-fixated culture.
A week on Monday, Michael Jackson will release Number Ones, a collection of 17 international chart-toppers, plus a new single recorded with R Kelly, who is facing child-pornography charges. From Don't Stop Till You Get Enough (79) to Break of Dawn 22 years later, the majesty of Number Ones is (like The Beatles' best work) undermined only by its familiarality. Collectively, it shows just how adroitly Jackson constructed the template for much of today's music.
Pop music is currently a living, breathing hydra. In one corner, the cerebral musings of Coldplay and Radiohead and the parody of The Darkness hold sway. In another is rap, dance and new R'n'B. In 2003, dance music and new R'n'B owe everything to Michael Jackson.
Thriller (1982), which went on to sell almost 60 million copies, more than any record before or since, made Jackson culturally significant. It broke new ground, showing that black artists could sell mountains of records to white markets; its legacy today is hardcore rap's popularity among white music fans. Sensationally at the time, Jackson enlisted heavy-metal guitar hero Eddie Van Halen to play a lambent solo on Beat It. Today, Elton John can duet with Mary J Blige and it is scarcely deemed worthy of comment. Jackson introduced the notion that dance music could sell albums and deserved to be taken as seriously as rock. While retaining its coherence, Thriller embraced soft rock, hard funk, gloopy ballads and unashamed pop. Oh, and Jackson changed the face of pop video with the 14-minute film that accompanied the title track, along with his West Side Story pastiche of Beat It. Furthermore, he wrote and co-produced the bulk of his material, proving that he was no mere conduit for others. These remarkable breakthroughs would have been enough to secure Jackson a place in history, but it is his influence that is inescapable. His sound is everywhere.
With tracks such as Billie Jean, Smooth Criminal, Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel, Jackson established a new kind of music. He developed and popularised the clipped bass sound, the pulsating rhythm track, and the yelping ("Owwww!") vocals, although he occasionally diverted into ballads. In Jackson's later work, as showcased on Number Ones by You Rock My World and Blood on the Dancefloor, melody was a secondary consideration; the beat, the rhythm and the feel were everything.
Thriller mermeated Western culture. A generation grew up watching Jackson's videos on MTV, hearing his songs on the radio and, being too young for clubs, dancing to his music at school discos. When kids came to make music themselves, Jackson was ingrained in them.
Little wonder, then, that his formula, with surprisingly little embelishment, underpins records that sell millions, although fewer millions than Thriller. New R'n'B, be it by Janet Jackson, Beyoncé, Mary J Blige, Boyz II Men or R Kelly himself, could not have happened without Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad. Even Shania Twain learnt how to leave a niche market behind - in her case, country - and seduce the mainstream by watching Jackson retain his black audience while adding a whole new white one.
Jackson is also there in the records of Britney Spears, particularly the forthcoming In The Zone. Spears' handlers have pushed her in that direction as she attempts, simultaneously, to shed her lightweight past and counter falling sales. Those with whom she is in direct competition with have already taken this road. On the stage of Wembley Arena this week, Christina Aguilera lauded her current album, Stripped, as an exercise in self-assertion. Perhaps not surprisingly, she failed to mention how much it borrowed from the much-derided Invincible, an album that would have been eulogised had it been by any artist other than Michael Jackson.
Similarly, Justin Timberlake's staggeringly popular Justified is essentially a collection of Thriller-style dancefloor riffs augmented by yelping vocals and occasional forays into ballads. Both Aguilera and Timberlake embarked on world tours this year - indeed, they co-headlined in the United States. Both shows plumped for a lavish succession of set-pieces. Both were excellent in their own way. Both were highly derivative of Michael Jackson's spectaculars.
Scandalously, only one major artist - Spears, of all people, in a speech at last year's MTV Music Video Awards - has stepped forward to acknowledge the debt she and her peers owe to Jackson. Sadly, when Spears said she regarded Michael Jackson as "the artist of the millennium", he mistakenly that he had been nominated for that non-existent award. To the horror of everyone present at New York's Radio City Music Hall, he shuffled towards the stage. In the confusion, a defining moment in popular culture evaporated and Spears' comments were forgotten. It's time to remember them again. |
[复制链接]
狗仔卡
发表于 2005-10-3 22:30:13
显身卡
发表于 2005-12-2 15:56:32
发表于 2005-12-3 13:28:42
发表于 2005-12-3 13:29:59