I'm paraphrasing from 'High Fidelity' there but it is a good question and one worthy of further investigation. The artist in question in the original quote is actually Stevie Wonder but there are numerous other recording artists and groups to which this question could equally be applied. But the top of that list is surely reserved for only one person; the self acclaimed 'King of Pop' Michael Jackson.
Where do you start? Well I'm going to start with ten pin bowling..... You see Michael Jackson, for me, is inexplicably linked with ten pin bowling. Not monkeys, fun fairs, money or scandal but a harmless game involving wooden skittles and on overly large ball. As soon as I started to play 'Bad' I was reminded of a wet Monday in 1987 when some friends, myself and my dad went to Sunderland to go ten pin bowling. "Huh, where's the link dude?" Well it happened to be the same day that the 'Bad' album was released and we made a quick stop at HMV to buy it. A tenuous but persistent link.
These two albums really demonstrate the dilemma; 'Off The Wall' from his earlier solo career and 'Bad' from the start of the decline. One is a superlative disco pop album and the other is.... well patchy at best. By the time 'Bad' came along each and every single release had become a media frenzy - usually because it came with an overly long music video with Hollywood blockbuster production values. Shame the same couldn't be said about the script. Following 'Bad' the albums became slicker, more produced but with a definite sense of decreasing returns for the listener.
But let's not dwell on the negatives. 'Off The Wall' and to a lesser extent its successor 'Thriller' are true pop classics. Not entirely my cup of tea but I can appreciate the artistry that has gone into them. Not since The Beatles has the role of producer and songwriter gelled together so well. 70s disco-pop may not be your thing but I defy anyone not to smile when 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough' blasts out of the speakers.
So back to my original question. Should we forgive Michael Jackson's latter-day sins? That's not really for me to say - but it's a difficult question to answer. Maybe it should be put another way? Should the question really be this: is the pop genre a worse or better place for the music that he created? Now that is way easier to answer.............
These two albums really demonstrate the dilemma; 'Off The Wall' from his earlier solo career and 'Bad' from the start of the decline. One is a superlative disco pop album and the other is.... well patchy at best. By the time 'Bad' came along each and every single release had become a media frenzy - usually because it came with an overly long music video with Hollywood blockbuster production values. Shame the same couldn't be said about the script. Following 'Bad' the albums became slicker, more produced but with a definite sense of decreasing returns for the listener.
But let's not dwell on the negatives. 'Off The Wall' and to a lesser extent its successor 'Thriller' are true pop classics. Not entirely my cup of tea but I can appreciate the artistry that has gone into them. Not since The Beatles has the role of producer and songwriter gelled together so well. 70s disco-pop may not be your thing but I defy anyone not to smile when 'Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough' blasts out of the speakers.
So back to my original question. Should we forgive Michael Jackson's latter-day sins? That's not really for me to say - but it's a difficult question to answer. Maybe it should be put another way? Should the question really be this: is the pop genre a worse or better place for the music that he created? Now that is way easier to answer.............
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