Style Over Substance

One of the most fascinating things about Michael Jackson's death is how quickly history has been revised right after he received the weaver's answer. One commentator on MSNBC commented on how Jackson broke the color barrier in popular music and how he gained a large white audience when he crossed over into the mainstream.

Interesting. That's news to me. Let's see . . . Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis, Jr., Billie Holiday, Duke Ellington . . .. Dude, how far back do you want to go? White people were listening to Louis Armstrong in the twenties.

Jackson's barrier breaking was limited at best. "Beat It" got airplay on white rock radio thanks to Eddie Van Halen's guitar solo on that single, and even Prince benefited from Jackson's achievement for awhile, but the breakthrough didn't last. Things quickly reverted to business as usual. And it's hard to imagine someone "crossing over" to the mainstream when he'd been in the mainstream since his career began. The Jackson Five performed on Ed Sullivan's show, and in the sixties, you couldn't get much more mainstream than that. If you wanted to go against the mainstream, you played on the Smothers Brothers' show. Ask Pete Seeger.

Jackson did shatter the barrier for black musicians that kept their videos from being aired on MTV, and it legitimized the channel as a pop-cultural institution, but with his emphasis on style, visual charisma, and elaborate production, Jackson made it possible for anyone with more style than musical substance to break through.

And so there was Duran Duran. And then came . . . Madonna.

Not a great legacy . . .

On the other hand, the inclusion of Jackson's videos on MTV meant that the channel had to cut some performers from its playlist. That's one thing I'm grateful to Jackson for - I never had to watch videos from obscure but awful bands like LeRoux or Red Rider ever again.

Then again, Night Ranger still managed to break through anyway.