Filed under: Commentary | Tags: Genius, George Perle, Michael Jackson, Music, Pavarotti
Michael Jackson’s early death at the age of 50 is certainly a loss to the entertainment world. There is no doubt of his impact on the financial aspect of music and the business of music. His recordings and his concerts set monetary records that will be difficult for any pop singer to duplicate. He made a great deal of money and he spent a great deal of money, particularly on packaging himself. Most pop singers have “people” who package them and tell them what to wear, how to act, what kind of a car to drive, and how to behave like a star; Michael Jackson had a talent to do all of this himself. His packaging was brilliant and has certainly helped attract the young people that were his fans. Certainly he had older fans, those that had been influenced by him when they were young.
But did he really deserve a four page spread in the Denver Post, followed the next day, by a two-page spread, and that followed by a major article almost every day for a week? If serious music received the same coverage, perhaps it would generate the same income.
As years pass, how will Jackson’s contribution to our society be measured? The songs that he sang will not last more than five or ten years, and his shuffling moonwalk will be lucky to last that long. Because he sold an enormous amount of records and CDs, how accurate is it to say that what he did is art? And when did the arts begin to take such a back seat in our society? Why wasn’t there a four-page spread when Luciano Pavarotti died? Or when the composer, George Perle died? Did anyone see any notice last year in June that the very fine American pianist, Leonard Pennario, died of Parkinson’s disease? I do seem to remember that when the pianist Vladimir Horowitz died, there was an article in the newspaper but there was no four-page spread. The same is true when Igor Stravinsky died. Is it possible for any of you who reads this article and who is not a musician, to tell me what year are Stravinsky died (1971)? I do remember when Sergei Prokofiev died in 1953. There was a headline in the local newspaper in Indiana where I grew up. But what has happened in the intervening years?
We have become a society where all things are increasingly mass-produced and simplified. If we choose, we don’t have to cook our meals anymore, all we have to do is drive up to a window and a person hands the meal to us. If something wears out, we throw it away. There is no effort expended in learning how to fix anything. Everything else is packaged, edited, and ready to throw away. We have become a society where everyone wants to be entertained rather than edified. Pop music is temporary and true artists seldom, if ever, perpetuate a temporary expression. It seems that in today’s society, anything that is permanent rather than temporary creates fear or self-doubt, i.e., clapping at the wrong moment in the concert or not understanding a book. One thing that makes entertainment so safe is that it does not change those who are being entertained. Art has the power to change people and to make them think; many people find that threatening. And of course, there are those who do not appreciate good music, art, or dance because that takes time.
Temporary entertainment also has a way of making people diffident. Witness Susan Boyle. Everyone who heard her sing seemed to agree that she had a good voice, but many who saw her agreed that she needed to be repackaged so that she “looked like a star.” Because she did not fit the mold of Hollywood glamour, many seemed to become insecure. For them it was not comfortable watching Susan Boyle as she sang in spite of the fact that they liked the sound of her voice. One could almost hear them asking themselves, “How could anyone have a voice like that and not look like Britney Spears?”
Art is honest. True art is never packaged. The powers in the entertainment world can take any individual, and with clever electronic manipulation, can make them into a star. That can even happen at live performances. It is similar to a baseball player on steroids. It is not honest. As Pablo Picasso said, “Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot; others transform a yellow spot into the sun.”
In some instances, art is destroyed by the supposed need for haste and ease. After all, who has time to read Bleak House by Dickens or Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night? According to news reports, there are a couple of grad students on the East Coast who are condensing some of Shakespeare’s plays and at least one book by Charles Dickens into twitter format, promising in the process, to not go beyond five tweets. That is certainly packaging, not to mention destruction. Where is the uproar?
As stated above, Michael Jackson certainly had a talent for packaging himself. And, he did have talent singing. But I strongly disagree with those individuals around the world who have proclaimed Michael Jackson a genius. Talent hits a target that few individuals can hit; genius (Bach, Haydn, Beethoven, Mozart, Mendelssohn) hits a target no one else can see.
4 Comments so far
Leave a comment
In general, I agree. Too much and overwhelming adulation/media coverage.
Comment by Ben July 30, 2009 @ 9:45 pmDo we have to go to YourHub to see your earlier reviews or will they be archived here?
Bravo Professor McNeil! I too am mystified at the press this late pop star has received. But then, the public has a morbid fascination with celebrity, particularly deaths and scandals. Undoubtedly the media is more intrusive today than in Beethoven’s time, printing sordid details to sell sensational stories. Sadly, I dare say that Jackson’s fans have probably never heard of the artists you mention in your article; to their detriment.
Comment by Patricia July 30, 2009 @ 10:00 pmFantastic article! It should be published, on first page, off all serious newspapers arond the world! Robin is one of those rare reviewers in our nowadays society capable and brave enough to approach themes like he did in the above brilliant and lucid article. I highly congratulate professor Robin McNeill for his profound analysis of our society and its dangerous future.
Comment by Claudio Ribeiro August 1, 2009 @ 8:19 am| Michael Jackson is truly the King of Pop. i am a die hard fan of him and we are going to miss him now that he is gone.
Comment by Anxiety Disorder Health October 16, 2009 @ 10:02 pm