Since the death of Michael Jackson we have seen yet another glaring, blaring example of the so-called news media’s malfeasance, if not outright malpractice. Now, going on a week later, there is still no end to this crass exploitation in sight.
Jackson was not assassinated nor did he heroically battle a terminal disease, he did not die in the defense of others or while on a grand mission. He was not a scientist, inventor, world leader, or religious figure. He was not a soldier, he was not a teacher.
He was an entertainer, and a very, very well paid one at that. This story in no way justifies the amount of time, ink, and tape that has been invested in it.
We’ve read and have been bombarded by stories of Michael’s “sad” childhood, his “tough” early days, his overbearing, taskmaster of a father, etc.
Most people in my generation had parents who lived through a lot tougher childhoods than Michael Jackson but they never saw the reward of worldwide adoration, of living in mansions, of having the best of everything which money can buy. They just lived their lives as best they could and then they died, for the most part perfectly unnoticed, at least by the wider world.
I have been a paid musician since I was in my mid teens. I have been a radio deejay and spent over 10 years as a club DeeJay. Michael Jackson was a talented guy, there is no doubt about it. While not necessarily a heavy weight composer, he was a writer of solid, pop songs. While not actually a musician he was certainly a dynamic performer and, to his generation, he is an important figure. I consider his collaboration with Quincy Jones, an LP called “Off The Wall” one of my personal top 20 albums, based on both production and performance.
However, in the light of dawn, the claims of the standing and consequence of Michael Jackson are significantly exaggerated. He may be an icon for the 80’s but I doubt that his influence will go much beyond that of other extraordinary performers who have gone before. In other words, the media and his most vocal fans are portraying Michael Jackson as something a great deal more than he was.
He was most certainly not the catalyst for world-wide cultural revolution that Elvis Presley was, and later the Beatles, and it is doubtful that future generations will perform Jackson’s songs as neo-classical works such as we are seeing four decades later with the melodies of Lennon and McCartney.
Hundreds of thousands of young people in the 50’s combed their hair like Elvis, turned up their collars, put on their blue suede shoes, picked up on his lingo and even some of his mannerisms. He affected generations of musicians and song writers. After all, Elvis didn’t have to dub himself “The King.”
Later, for good or for bad, because of the Beatles a generation grew their hair long, listened closely to the lyrics of the songs, and changed their points of view about war, race, recreational drug use, sex, the government, and the press.
Clothing styles, like the relationship between teenagers and their parents, changed forever. The quality of “pop” songs changed from pure tribal dance music to a widely accessible form of expression.
Because of the standards of quality that they set advancements in recording technology and new and exciting venues to reproduce and broadcast music came into being. Techniques that are taken for granted in the recording profession today, something as “simple” as multi-tracking, for example, are directly attributable to the influence of the Beatles.
Honestly, except for a very minuscule faction, Jackson’s persona did not instigate young people to dress like him, to wear their hair like him, to listen to his lyrics for revelations. Even at the height of his fame I don’t remember anyone walking around in sequined socks or wearing a single sequined glove, except at Halloween. Ironically, when Jackson started regularly sporting military style uniforms the press described them as “Sgt. Pepper,” costumes, and it is noted with interest that Jackson himself ended up buying a large portion of the Beatles’ song catalog.
His musical style did not directly affect the way future songs would be written or recorded. As a solo artist he arrived on the coattails of disco and never quite caught on to hip-hop.
Although I have not purchased any of his musical products since my DeeJay days and do not personally listen to his music on any sort of regular basis, I wished him no ill will and I am sorry that the last few years were apparently unhappy ones for him and, yes, I’m sorry that he is dead in the same general way that I’m sorry Ferah Faucett passed away, comparatively unnoticed, on the same day as Jackson.
The reaction was sadly predictable and, of course, completely over the top. Every network and cable outlet fell all over themselves to provide coverage for this “major” media event. The long-suffering CBS Evening News with Katie Couric devoted their entire program to hashing and rehashing speculations, half-truths, and old video clips the day after the news broke.
Let’s take a closer look at this and try to make sense of CBS’s rationale. Katie’s ratings are the lowest in the industry, at least among the so-called major news outlets. Although she is not the most popular, she is still tuned in on an average evening by millions of people.
(Remember, we’re told that network news in general strikes an “older” demographic. People under 40 get the news from other sources.)
Just out of the blue, let’s say 5.18 million people turn in to CBS Evening News. Does anyone believe that even half of that number knows or care who Michael Jackson is, let alone calls themselves “fans” of Michael Jackson? I doubt it.
Right or wrong, it might be arguable that of those who know who Michael Jackson was, as many revile him as an unrepentant, unpunished pedophile as those who call themselves “fans.”
Be that as it may, let’s say that 2 million are fans. Of that number how many want an entire newscast devoted to the “news” about his death? Excluding the rabid, die-hards, being a fan doesn’t necessarily mean that one wants hour upon hour of continuous, generally tasteless yammer, a great part of the chatter being nothing more than the thinnest type of speculation.
By their glaring omission the casual viewer of CBS might have been lead to believe that the wars in Iran and Afghanistan were over. The riots and unrest had subsided in Iraq. Central and South America were free of drug lords and corruption. Africa was no long starving and engaged in tribal warfare. The ONLY news was the death of Michael Jackson. No other story was brought up in the entire broadcast.
Of course the irony is that there was no real news on that first day; just the fact that he was dead was really about all that was known for sure.
Still, on and on they railed, live camera crews, heartfelt testimonials, etc. ad nauseum. One CNN “news woman,” while fawningly waxing poetic about Jackson’s numerous talents, mentioned what a “great businessman” Michael was.
Only minutes before we had been told that he’d died 24 MILLION dollars in debt. Hardly a bona-fide J.P. Morgan or even Donald-Comb-Over-Trump.
As we saw in the case of Anna Nicole Smith, herself an extremely minor character in the American tableau until the media went on and on, creating a “story” that actually very few viewers were particularly interested in, till the general public becomes so sick of it that many televisions were simply shut off in disgust.
I was with a large group of people the day after the Jackson death, and midway into the CBS Nightly Michael Jackson Report, the cry went up, unanimously I might add, “Turn that damned thing off!”
And I did.
At least three American soldiers died in action on the same day that Michael Jackson died. If you did not hear their names then the media has failed you. Tell them so.