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Telling the Story Your Way: Revisiting Michael Jackson's Legacy

FNews takes a closer look at Michael Jackson’s work and influence after he passed away on June 25.

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By Matt Griffin

With Michael Jackson, we’re not talking about sustained artistic excellence. Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982) were great albums, sure. Call them classics, you’ll get no argument here. But beyond that, the legacy – at least the artistic one – is pretty thin. His four first solo albums, all with Motown Records in the early 70s, were passable – they were a good extension of what he did with the Jackson 5, which, in itself, was a very, very good R&B career. “I Want You Back”, even after decades of weddings and montages, stands tall as one of the truly unimpeachable Motown singles. Even the two monoliths of his career were far from perfect – Vincent Price and Paul McCartney guest spots, front-loaded, overstuffed – typical pop conceits, but significant remember nonetheless. And, let’s face it, even at his most lyrically interesting (“Billie Jean”, without a doubt), Jackson had very little to offer. These two albums, though, were not revelatory for their cohesiveness or flawlessness, but for their synthesis: in the case of Off the Wall, of disco with R&B and soul, and with Thriller, adding rock to the mix. To this day, few albums can touch Jackson’s success in this area.

In the 27 years after Thriller, Michael Jackson only released four more albums, two of which were pretty good (1985’s Bad and 1991’s Dangerous), and two of which were downright terrible (1995’s HIStory and 2001’s Invincible). The latter two provide strange insight into the strange artist’s phyche (perhaps moreso than at any other time in his career), but more on that later.

It’s tempting to give credit to Jackson’s golden age to producer Quincy Jones, who, indeed, was integral in the success of Off the Wall and Thriller, particularly since Jackson himself only wrote a handful of the songs on the two records, but it’s important to remember that Jackson was a prodigious talent, raised (abusively and irresponsibly, yes) to be a perfectionist, a consummate professional and entertainer, and surely he was at this point. His performances were magnificent, both recorded and live, vocal and physical. It’s easy to forget the thrill and remember the legend – his bombastic Superbowl performance has not aged well: all fireworks, trap doors, and prerecorded musicians, it simply paved the way for years of increasingly absurd and vapid follow-up acts.

But his performance at the Motown 25 Ceremony has only increased in power over the years, due largely because of its simplicity. Jackson, solo on stage, accompanied only by a microphone stand. No musicians, nothing to rely on except his voice and his dance moves, each increasingly elaborate, each eliciting larger screams from the audience, until, for the first time, the Moonwalk. Looking at it for the first time must be like watching Reservoir Dogs and waiting for The Ear scene, or Silence of the Lambs and the Chianti line. So legendary, yet, in reality, almost blink-and-you-missed-it quick. Still, though, it has the power to take your breath away. If King-of-Pop-ness could be distilled into a single second, surely that would be it.

Again, Jackson was a prodigious talent as a child, but of course rarely does that translate into artistic greatness. We should all be thankful, then, that at least Jackson aged well enough to deliver on his promise, however briefly. The real tragedy began, perhaps, in the wake of Thriller’s unprecedented success. A prodigy must always be chasing something (take Tiger Woods – who had a childhood which was in many ways similar to Jackson’s – and his lifelong quest to topple Jack Nicklaus’ career Major Championship total of 18), and, after that album, there was nothing to chase but his own success. With reported sales from 50 to over 100 million, there was absolutely no way he was going to get bigger, and it seems in his mind the only route to better was directly through bigger. Hence the fascinating and almost always misguided late career choices made by the King of Pop. Again, the Superbowl performance, the Macauly Culkin video, the Marlon Brando-cameo in 2001’s “You Rock My World” video, the massive statues which accompanied the release of HIStory in 1995… Particularly the aformentioned “You Rock My World”, a video, and song, so utterly lifeless and absolutely glossy that it may well not exist. Musically, at this point, Jackson had seemingly given up on writing hooks altogether, relying primarily on his iconic vocal inflections to signify that it was track by him. This isn’t necessarily a bad thought, but the accompanying music doesn’t have nearly the propulsion to sustain interest for its duration. The video, like the Superbown performance, was indeed influential, but, similarly, for all the wrong reasons – like Michael Bay compressed, it looks and feels fabulously expensive, has a string of stars and megastars (Michael Madsen, Chris Tucker, Marlon Brando, and Jackson himself), but is devoid of any motivation, emotion, or meaning.

Looking back, though, it seems the 1995 video for “Scream” is the real secret treasure of late-career Jackson. It is a musical and visual precursor to “You Rock My World”, so, on the one hand, not all that interesting. But on the other, what meaning remains is as strange as Jackson’s life at that point – he and his sister, Janet, are bored and angry on a glossy, futuristic spaceship, completely removed from Earthly contact. Janet is hypersexualized, and Michael is androgynous, asexual, almost neutered. They play games, break things, and, appropriately, scream. It’s probably a stretch to call it a cry for help, but it’s certainly a thinly-veiled metaphor for what Jackson’s real life had become – and, perhaps more tellingly, always had been.

But I keep rewatching that Motown 25 video. Wow. I want to be careful, though. I don’t want to mythologize it. The practice of mythologizing these performances and histories of our artists is dangerous – keep calling someone the King of Pop and eventually he’ll build a Kingdom. No, it’s a great performance, a powerful performance, but it was, in its own way, modest. And that iwhat I want to take away from revisiting Jackson’s legacy. Jackson was real talent, a rare talent, but never a King.

4 Responses to Telling the Story Your Way: Revisiting Michael Jackson's Legacy

  1. Man, you just got me sitting and watching MJ videos for half an hour… I have work to do!

  2. Taryn Malone says:

    Regardless of the controversy surrounding his personal life, Michael Jackson is musically unequaled and irreplaceable.

    One of my fondest childhood memories is of listening to the Thriller album in my mother’s car. I became transfixed on Michael Jackson’s photo on the album’s
    insert–he was my first crush!

    Sometimes Mom would let me borrow the cassette tape and dance to it in my bedroom–I would keep a close eye on the floor when “Thriller” came on in case any monsters
    would thrust their hands out from under my bed!

    Thank you, Michael, for all your phenomenal contributions to music.

    There will never be another Michael Jackson!

  3. Cait Stephens says:

    In defense of Michael Jackson, Matt- I disagree. I know your Canadian and all, but this is America. Our country’s leaders are not a monarch, but elected. All our rulers are elected, and nowhere more democratically, than our kings. To be King is to rule a kingdom, and this he did, the Kingdom of pop music. He was King of the recording industry, a feat that is becoming increasingly difficult to dominate. The knowledge of how to rule the land was handed down from his father. Michael Jackson’s empire could not have existed without the sales of his albums, which we bought. In fact, when the public stopped buying them his empire crumbled and sold piece by piece. In 1995, Michael Jackson was sold his rights to the Beatles to Sony. The fact that Jackson ever owned the Beatles is a fantastic demonstration of his power and reign over pop music. Paul McCartney’s musical influence helped shape music more than Jackson but he was outbid for his own song’s use, simply because Jackson paid a higher price. In 2006, Michael Jackson was forced to auction off Neverland Ranch. He then pulled a move the world has not seen since Rames II, he came after our sons.

    I love how you linked “Scream” to the angry childhood of the Jackson’s. They are not the most organized and professional, together people to rule such a large part of America, culture. But what kind of culture would we have if the bookkeepers were king in our eyes? This is what makes Jackson an ideal candidate. He is a celebrity, the more self destructive and crazy, the more they we love him, or more importantly, publicize him.

    He is a great talent- and a wonderful performer. I am ever in awe of his contributions, and edge, as far back as age 5. He was a legendary performer, the only one I love of the pop music genre.

    It is rumored that Jackson will be buried in the ruble of his empire, the remnants of Neverland Ranch in California.

    The king has died, the white glove raised, and the crown must be handed down.

  4. Cait Stephens says:

    Also- Matt, if you haven’t seen the 1995 performance of MTV movie award- it might just change your mind about the late Michael Jackson.

    Him and Slash break it down.

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