Last Music Superstar?

I was reading a post on Asylum about who was the greatest American Musical Icon: Elvis, Sinatra or Michael Jackson. To me it is no contest, Jackson wins hands down. Sinatra was undoubtedly an icon both a movie and music star. Elvis was the voice of a generation and is, I believe, still the best selling musical artist of all time. But Jackson had more international and generational appeal than either, and could surpass Elvis’ music sales at some point.

To channel Malcolm Gladwell a number of factors contributed to Michael Jackson’s success. Obviously genetics come first, he is from a musically talented family and was a naturally gifted dancer. He was pushed into a musical career by an abusive father and the fresh faced exuberant music the Jackson 5 produced fit right in with the end of the Motown era and birth of the Dicso era. By the time Michael went solo MTV was just emerging.

Michael Jackson was the perfect fit for what music videos were all about in the 80s, and that is what truly propelled him to superstardom. His music was catchy, danceable and inoffensive and his dancing worked very well on the small screen. Viewers of his videos were able to see his talents and videos were an easy medium to be viewed all around the world. He was a fashion trendsetter and controversial enough (crotch grabbing) that he was appealing to the young, but his music was still engageable by the parents at the time. He was appealing to people across the world in a manner never before seen.

As his fame peaked and the behind the scenes information came out (for a summary there are a great series of articles from Vanity Fair by Maureen Orth) many became disillusioned with Michael Jackson. But it also opened the door for the troubled genius argument. He was a savant and abused and so never grew up (he lived in Neverland afterall) and that was used as a mitigation for his actions. Regardless of your stance on that it was clear that even as his musical career had dwindled he still served as a source of fascination for many.

Which raises the question of whether anyone will ever achieve a similar level of stardom. We no longer have those single points of access to new music like we did before: mainstream radio and MTV. The music video is pretty much dead as a major music distribution medium. The record companies don’t wield the power they used to in terms of manufacturing and maintaining stars. Musical fame is achievable in a more organic way through the internet (Lily Allen maybe being the chief example, also Danger Mouse’s Grey Album) but harder to sustain. iTunes and bittorrent have changed how people obtain music. There are an ever increasing number of musical genres with devoted followings, making crossover success that much more difficult. With the increase in access to musical production software the process of production has been demystified and more people are making music on their own.

So while I don’t think it is impossible, the odds are against us seeing another Michael Jackson anytime soon, for better or for worse. He had a unique set of gifts which coalesced at the proper time. To me, that is the most interesting aspect of his legacy.

After the jump, some great homages to thriller

Thriller a capella, solo

Filippino prison Thriller

Bollywood Thriller

Wedding Reception Thriller

Subway Thriller