>But anyone who thinks Michael Jackson is not one of the 100 most
influential
>Black musicians of the twentieth century just isn't thinking very hard. If
>there's room for Ulysses Kay - and I like his music as well as the next
>person - then there's certainly room for Jackson; to leave him off the list
>would simply make it laughable.
Well, of course, you're right, and I fully admit to not thinking about it.
But, now that you've brought it up, I am thinking about it, and my hackles
are raised. OK, fine, let's put Mike in the club. In fact, let's put him in
the Top Ten. No, no: Top Three. After all, his influence alone, would,
indeed justify it. The mass-market-shackled, lowest-common-denominating
drivel that Jackson has ridden into Swiss Bank Accounts and the Beatles back
catalog is so influential that modern R&B still suffers by and for it. If
disco put the pop in funk, Mike put the pop into disco--like that needed to
happen--and almost single-handedly ruined black music. (Of course,
programmers at "urban radio" have helped immensely, but that's another
argument). Jackoff was so unbelievably successful at what he did, that
anyone even remotely related to the increasingly oxymoronic R&B field had to
adjust to it.
I've heard him compared to James Brown and the comparison is apt--if we're
talking about basic cause-and-effect. Brother James made--and
smoked--millions by laying down the funkiest, sweatiest, and most
musically-dense grooves to ever move asses--and wallets. Mike, however,
topped Brown by scraping any trace of "black" off his milquetoast, and not
only did he sell exponentially more, but his presence forced record labels,
producers, A&R reps, and any other parasite in that part of the music
industry to look for "their" Michael Jackson.
R&B? Hell, thanks to Mike, the R is much less confusing, and the B is barely
non-existent. And that's why good old Jacko should be in the Top Three. For
one guy to be able to ruin the amazing tradition of African-American music
is an achievement as noteworthy as walking on the moon.
Lance . . .
