blamebrampton | With due respect to ...

With due respect to ...

... those of you who are mourning him, I am probably going to bite the next person who tells me that Michael Jackson was a revolutionary figure in the fight for equality by African Americans. I hasten to add that this has so far been three in real life and double the number of media foik: my flist has been a bastion of sanity.

Aesthetic irony aside, it belittles genuine revolutionary figures. And I am not even talking about political giants like Dr King; there were many entertainers who walked a far more difficult path earlier and with more grace and charity, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Paul Robeson, Josephine Baker, Sammy Davis Jnr and Nina Simone.

I'm all for people loving the heroes they choose, but I would love a bit of perspective at times like these. And perhaps a little sense of history.

Flistees who are just missing the singing and dancing, I apologise for intruding on your sad day.

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Yes! He was very exploited throughout his life, which is tragic. There should be a Social Services for celebrities ...

He was good at what he did, but yes, what he did was pop music. Rosa Parks didn't get this sort of coverage, though at least she was able to die of old age and with dignity ...

I think he was deeply fucked over by those around him, but yes, he bought into it all ...

river's shocked me too because it was before the media age that we're in now where we know EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF EVERY SKELETON IN THEIR CLOSET. no one really knew that he partied as hard as he did, so to hear that he overdosed was just unbelievable. now a days, if someone like say, lindsay lohan died of an overdose (despite once having a cute, squeaky-clean tween image), would we really be shocked? especially knowing her past and (most-likely) present exploits? probably not.

what? they don't socialize with white folks? :P

I'm more surprised that she and Amy Winehouse are still alive ... His drug use was known back then (though I was working in mags, so perhaps it was only known among journos), but overdoses were things that happened at home when there was no one around to help. Not in crowded spaces where someone should have been able to perform CPR ... it seemed crazy ...

And yeah, not knowing everything about people would be better for us, and them!

The Kennedys are there, but they're both off in the guest bedrooms. The rest of the white folks are quietly playing the assembled hordes, because who would intrude on that show?

That is perfect!

Yes. I would just like Nobel Prize winners to expect the level of coverage a pop star receives when they die unexpectedly. Is that too much to ask?

V Strange. Musically, I am all for people calling him important, because he was.

Was he? I did not know that!

And yeah, I think I am feeling old and crochetty and that very few pop stars are remotely heroic these days, while there are other people, and popular culture figures of the past, who were.

I'll just trot off and play some Robeson albums ...

I suppose that at least he wasn't a Scientologist, for which I applaud him.

Yes, those poor kids. He was their main parent, I wonder what they will do now and how they will be funded given the state of debt people are reporting.

Not to mention etta james, louis armstrong, and mahaliajackson. The only things he revolutionized were plastic surgery and fleeing prosecution.

Ooh yes, they were splendid! I have a bad habit of thinking only of my great musical loves (Sammy and Ella were the earliest American artists I adored, and I will never move on from them.)

I would just like Nobel Prize winners to expect the level of coverage a pop star receives when they die unexpectedly. Is that too much to ask?

I had that EXACT thought yesterday in my kitchen. I wondered why people mourn the loss of entertainers they never met, but not even know the name of the person who developed a revolutionary medical technique or drug treatment that probably saved someone in their family.

and truly, I believe that art and entertainment are important, but the pedastal it gets put on? ummm....
*pouts*

One of the things I do like about Australia is that in the time I have lived here, three revolutionary and radical surgeons have died: one heart surgeon, one opthamologist and one brain surgeon. All received front-page coverage. This is a start ...

huh. really? i haven't seen posts like that [yet] and it's a bit surprising b/c i've never seen him as being revolutionary in terms of racial equality.

i DO think he was revolutionary in the field of pop music and dance though, and i'm mourning his loss for that. he was the first celebrity/musician i ever became a fan of, and i have tons of memories associated with his work from my primary, secondary and even post-secondary days. hell, some of my earliest memories [from when i was 3 or so] are associated with his music :/

No, not posts, LJ people are being the sanest people. Mainstream news media, including the Washington Post, and some people at my publishing house, the ninnies.

And yes, pop music wise he was an important influence, public policy influence wise, not so much.

I was always more of a Joy Division girl ...

heh i was too young when joy division became popular and i somehow missed that bus even after growing up.

speaking of which, i should really read femme's h/d fic..

I feel a bit shabby repeating what everyone else has already said, but why would anyone call him a revolutionary figure in the fight for equality by African Americans? I think considering the lengths he went to in order to eliminate every visible trace of his racial background from his outer appearance he was SO, so far away from being such a figure!

He was, however, an amazing musician, great performer and a perfectionist when it came to his work. I will absolutely miss him and I'm very sad that he's gone.

My reaction to this post trends the lines of: LOL WOT?

Revolutionary singer/dancer = yes.

Er...let's not talk about the rest of him shall we? Yes? Yes. *nods*

How are you then? Other than baffled? xD

Thank you for being the one person I met today (so to speak) who is of like mind.

...but he tried to make himself as white as possible! IDGI :|

I know you will say, "But pir8, this is popular culture, my dear," but I don't think you can have a proper handle on him, not, um, having lived in the U.S. I suppose it's similar to those people who grew up with the Beatles. Sure, they were enornous here, but they inspired a social revolution in Britain that catapulted Britian out of the doldrums still hanging over the sod from WWII. A positive social movement doesn't have it's roots in the ballot box.

Michael Jackson. Okay, I think he was probably a pedofile, or at least a weirdophile. I know people who are in the position to know (like in law enforcement) who say that his behavior with children was at the very least improper. But that's not what we're talking about here. We are talking about his effect on American culture. He was more than an act. And this is from someone who thought he could sing and dance, but I did not adore him and I never bought one of his albums.

Having said that, he was THE musician who set the stage for black artists becoming crossover artists. Becoming, not black artists appealing to whites, but just plain, you know, artists. He actually symbolized for the music industry, what I think I certainly wish were the case in terms of gay rights. That they are just fucking rights and aren't labeled "gay" rights. That people who want to get married should just get married and their gender is immaterial. I wish.

Michael Jackson did it for the music industry, even though he wasn't an activist or a Paul Robeson or a Rosa Parks. He was a black kid who could sing and dance and he parlayed that into being an artist who appealed to audiences across the board. Without Michael Jackson, I think that rap would have remained a ghetto phenomenon. You wouldn't have had artists like Kayne West, Mariah Carey or Jennifer Hudson or a myriad of other singers who are now just singers.

I think you could honestly say that he broke down more barriers in terms of racial stereotypes (despite the fact he was extremely strange) in the music business than anyone else. Up until MTV, the music industry was still balkanized into it's little corners. Michael blew that all up. He OWNED MTV, and in the process he said quite distinctly, "I'm a singer." Not "I'm a black singer." And there is, obviously, a huge distinction.

The fact that he was clearly humiliated by his own racial identity is immaterial. His ability to cross that racial divide was something that no other artist had succesfullly managed. MTV had a lot to do with it, and, also, he was pretty talented.

I think that art can be pretty powerful. I'm not advocating nominating him for a Nobel Peace Prize posthumously, but I am saying that from outside the U.S., it is possible not to understanding the pivotal role he played in the music industry in the U.S. No, he wasn't an activist. He was just a singer. But that doesn't mean that what he accomplished wasn't powerful.

So now you have lots of middle and uppermiddle class white kids listening to rap (I have one!) and while I personally abhor rap and many of the themes that define rap anger me, I also understand that it's--for the most part--black artists reaching out and speaking to listeners (a lot of them white) about their struggles, their anger, and their powerlessness. And I don't think that that would have been possible without Michael Jackson.

Thank you so much for writing this. As you know from my post, I couldn't agree with you more. And maybe we can curse him a little when having to listen to that rap. *g*

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