Jackin' MJ

As the Hurricane of Michael Jackson's career and life coverage gets downgraded to a tropical storm of murder and intrigue, I have been able to make out a few reoccurring motifs; Michael as child sensation, Michael as the international icon of the 80s, Michael as the Misunderstood troubled kid trapped in a man's body and, of course, Michael as the scary, plastic, monkey-owning, bone-collecting, crazy golden age movie starlet-befriending, child molesting (alleged) white woman who for some reason had attracted the attention of the tabloids. The other thing that caught my attention was the truck load of famous people saying how much they loved him and how much he influenced their work as artists. As I gazed upon all these young stars I realized that although I consider myself a huge MJ fan, I actually hate all of these so-called musical decedents of the King of Pop lending their sympathies on any show that would have them. When Brian McKnight starts waxing poetic on some TRL live knock off about how much of MJ was in his music, that was the final straw. Brian Mc Knight!? That guy is pre-9/11 for God's sake! Even the now dead Michael Jackson released something more recent than anything Brian ‘Then I Start Back at One' McKnight has made that was relevant.

It may be the fact that the various TV shows, in a grab for ratings, wanted to pick the most recognisable faces and let them repeat the refrain of solace. ‘Remember the guy from New Kids on the Block? The guy with the obvious chin-job? Well, he is all broken up about Michael - his idol and influence - and he'll tell us about it after this...' Yet as I started to think of the obvious beneficiaries of Michael Jackson's trailblazing I cringed at the awful truth. Like all enormously popular artists, MJ's influence is a net cast far and wide. And like most truly great artists - truly unique and brilliant geniuses - his net of influence holds mostly carp.

The good influencing the bad is not a new phenomenon. Actually it is quite ubiquitous. Whenever we see a brilliant band, singer, trend by an artist, or artistic movement by a group of artists that is ground-breaking or special in any way an explosion of influence flies off in all directions. Like Aids, influence does not discriminate who it affects. And so because 90% of everything is crap it stands to reason 90% of everyone influenced by MJ would be crap as well. The Beatles created one of the most novel and profound musical statements of the 20^th century by developing the first concept album. Now because of them a hell fire or shitty concept albums litter the bargain bins at Wal-Mart and shelves or college hipsters alike. Everyone from Green Day to The Who to even Styx tried their hands at it. Even one of the worst bands in the world, Rush, owes its pompous preachy ‘21:12' album concept to the Beatles. For another example in the same general era, each member of Led Zeppelin could probably be considered the best in the world: No one sang. played guitar, bass or drums like they did. But the perfection and the sometimes over-bloated compositions inadvertently saw the unfortunate arrival or prog-rock and heavy metal. I have a bigger problem with prog-rock than heavy metal but none are my cup o' tea. Led's brilliance influenced such megalomaniacs as Kiss and Carlos Santana. Even the humble contender for worst band ever, Rush, owe their 10 minute solos, their 13 tempo changes per song and inhuman perfectionist musicianship to Led Zeppelin. MJ never had a chance to retire so now, with the official end of MJ's career, we can see the terrible 90% influenced by him more clearly.

I see generally two classes of successful people influenced by MJ musically: The posers, and the unsung true-blues. Britney Spears, Chris Brown, N'SYNC (actually having to type that out with cap locks made me a little sad), J-Lo and the rest of their ilk have taken MJ's unique flare for combining musical and visual stimulation together for compelling entertainment and reduced it to dress-up dance numbers. They, along with business execs, simplified MJ's gargantuan success to a formula, put in different variables and sell it back to the audience as new. The posers are basically poor substitutes that mimic pop renditions and mime all their videos after ‘Thriller'. With budgets dwarfing that of videos like ‘Thriller' these people have decided to play school sluts, marionettes, and ‘real' people (ie. ‘From tha block'). Their music is catchy but so is an ad jingle, both belying no substance. But most importantly, like an ad jingle, I get the pestering feeling while listening to most standard, generic pop songs that someone is trying to sell me something.

Actual talented emulators like Usher and John Mayer are also disappointing. Although I like some of Usher's songs and John Mayer can play guitar with the best of them, I have no urge to buy anything they offer. I must confess that even though I am a fan of Justin Timberlake I have none of his albums. I am content enough to listen to his singles on the radio or in clubs. Now many will say that all these people each have sold millions of albums and are very successful and adored by their fans. Some say JT is going to be this generations MJ. But my argument is not whether he is or isn't. I'm merely asking why we need another MJ. Why can't Justin Timberlake and Usher and everyone else stop trying to be MJ: The Sequel. Good artists don't try to copy their idols. They use what they learned from the idols to create something new.

There are those who say Michael Jackson influenced them when he clearly didn't or they just confused the idea of listening to MJ in the 80s with being influenced by him. I'm sorry but just because they were either friends with MJ or just listened to him does not mean Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant were influenced in any way by him. That's right, Magic Johnson and Kobe Bryant shared their memories of Michael and it came up that Magic was deeply influenced By Michael. I just don't buy the story that Magic Johnson thought of Michael even once while he was on the court. Kobe looked visibly strained trying to explain why he was there on the stage at MJ`s memorial. Maybe he thought it was the other MJ. Many in the rap game would say Michael influenced them and while in business terms - what MJ did for black entertainers - they may have a good point I see very little of MJ in, say, Jay-Z or Nas regardless of the samples they took from his catalogue.

This leaves us with the unsung true blues. What must be understood about Michael`s music is that it was because of the vast genre busting style that he was able to reach so many. JT and Usher sell millions, but to a demographic. I would feel awkward buying an Usher album. But even in his creepiest moments there was never any trepidation in buying an MJ album. And anyone could listen. Quincy said that ‘Thriller' sold big to 70 year-old ladies and 5 year-old kids in every single country in every single continent in the world. He was truly universal in both his appeal and hid influence. So maybe, his influence should not be looked for in just the obvious places. It's not just within the genre he perfected, Pop, that you will find the echoes of MJ. Bands like TV on the Radio, Animal Collective, LCD Soundsystem, Gnarls Barkley to name a few, owe much to him as well. They don't have the choreographed dance number in their videos but they share Jackson's envelope pushing mentality towards music. And they share a joy of entertaining rather than a ‘bottom line'-watching business act.

Now many of the people I have derided previously do indeed have these qualities as well. And not all of them are pure cookie cutter manufactured entities. Some are genuine and want to entertain. In fact, I think I have danced gleefully to everyone I mentioned (except of course NSYNC). But the posers' styles are so obviously taken from MJ wholesale that we are left with the most unpleasant feeling that we have seen this before, only better. Musically MJ was unmatched. MJ was a genius. He was unique. The posers are trying hard to make us forget that.