2009/7/7 frantheman <[email protected]> > > Behind all the weirdness (perhaps even perversion) and > the disgusting commercial hype surrounding his death, that was what > Michael Jackson was at his best. There have been other similar > artistic wonders throughout history - Caravaggio comes to mind.
Did you just compare Michael Jackson to Caravaggio? :) Whilst I think there is much artistic merit in music, I think it is almost always missing from the mainstream. Michael Jackson produced a lot of popular PRODUCT, but very little art. He also understood, for a time, how to market that product as good as anyone. This was made remarkably easier by the team of people around him. The album 'Thriller', whilst a good album, initially looked to have only been a minor hit for him. The first single, 'The Girl Is Mine', did okay, but didn't set the world on fire. However, over the next three years Jackson marketed the hell out of that album. He bled it dry, releasing nine songs from it. And of course, that $500,000 video (which he did not choreograph, by the way) was a stroke of marketing genius. To call Michael Jackson an artist deeply devalues the word. I don't just say that because I am a music snob (I freely admit I am and that it is a factor here). I think the roles of the musician and artist are almost always in a state of conflict; such is the nature of a creative person peddling commodities (CDs, etc) and being subjected to commercial pressure. However, I think the continuing decline of the music industry's business model -- coupled with the reduced cost of home recording -- is a great thing for the "art" in music to take a more prominent role. Ian --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
