You Cannot Be Serious!

Okay, so it was a boring Sunday afternoon today, and when the U.S. Open was rained out, we were forced to channel surf. At one point, we stumbled across VH1's "Greatest Artists" show. Full disclosure: we never take these "Rankings" shows very seriously, and neither should you. There is no real way to "rank" the importance of artists, albums, songs, etc., and even if all the critics could agree, then everyone in the general public still has their own varied opinions, and they're entitled to those opinions. This is still America, right? Well, at least until the Republicans take over Congress.
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Anyway, we were watching this countdown of the 100 "Greatest Artists", and we came in somewhere in the 80's. Immediately we knew something was amiss. They had Janis Joplin and Otis Redding ranked in the 80's. What? Joplin was one of the most important and influential female rock singers of all time, and ditto for Otis Redding in the evolution of R&B. The 80's? Stop it. But then came the most ridiculous cut of all. Justin Timberlake was ranked as a "greater artist" than Joplin and Redding. Stop, stop, stop the madness! It was at this point that we almost lost a lung retching up our breakfast. Okay, we know we just said that you cannot take these lists seriously, but seriously, come on! Justin Timberlake is a "greater artist" than Janis Joplin and Otis Redding? It was at that point that we turned the channel, knowing that VH1 just lost what little credibility it might have had on this topic. And even if Timberlake might have, at one point, been on his way to "greatness", oh please, we can't stop laughing, he lost that trajectory when he made "The Love Guru". There is no way in hell that Joplin, Redding, Dylan, Hendrix, Jagger, etc. would have ever donned a speedo and done "The Love Guru". What is it with Timberlake and his generation that they have absolutely no sense any longer of what it means to be "cool". To be considered a great artist, you have to have an innate sense of "cool", not be a laughing stock. Bitch, please!
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Okay, and now, with that rant out of the way, we happened to turn the VH1 show back on, just now, to catch the "Top 5". Michael Jackson was ranked #2 and The Beatles were #1. Okay, we can handle that, but the #1 greatest pop musical artist of all time is still, and always will be, Elvis Presley. Sorry haters, but it's true. And that's not coming from a generational prejudice, Presley actually came before our time. But when you consider his world-wide popularity at his peak, his influence on other artists, his helping to create rock and roll itself, and his success in other mediums, i.e. film, television, etc., no one, not even Michael Jackson or The Beatles ever equaled him. Even now, thirty years after his death, he's one of the top selling musical artists in the business, and his following is still cult-like. Say what you will, but thousands of fans aren't gathering to remember Jackson or The Beatles, and they certainly won't be gathering years from now to worship Justin Timberlake's speedo. Thank you, Jesus.

A Kiss is Just a Kiss

Today's marks the 95th birthday of screen icon and three-time Oscar winner, Ingrid Bergman. Bergman was one of the most beautiful women to ever grace the silver screen and proved to be quite a capable dramatic actress as well. She won Oscars for "Gaslight", 1944; "Anastasia", 1956; and "Murder on the Orient Express", 1975, but is probably most famous for starring in the legendary film, "Casablanca" with Humphrey Bogart.

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1942's "Casablanca" was the Oscar winner for Best Picture in 1944, and it became so popular and has endured so well over the years, that many lines and scenes from the movie have found their way into the national cultural identity. Lines like "Play it again, Sam", "Here's looking at you, kid", "This is the beginning of a beautiful friendship", and "I'm shocked, shocked to find out gambling is going on here" have been referenced hundreds of times over the years in other movies, t.v. shows and as the foundation of thousands of jokes and stories told everywhere from the Broadway stage to water coolers in every office in America. "Casablanca" even managed to showcase not one, but two of the greatest musical movie moments of all time: Paul Dooley playing the piano and singing "As Time Goes By" and Madeleine Lebeau leading the French patriots in a rendition of "La Marseillaise".

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The Turner Classic Movie Network has a regular program called "The Essentials" in which they promote the idea that there are some movies which are so important to the cultural heritage of America that everyone should be familiar with them, regardless of whether one is a fan of old movies or not. "Casablanca" is certainly one of those essential movies.

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Oh, and today also marks the 52nd birthday of another great entertainer, someone named Michael Jackson. Have you heard of him? It's still shocking to realize that he's gone.

Michael Jackson 1958-2009

The world was shocked yesterday by the sudden and unexpected death of music icon, Michael Jackson. There's a lot to say about Michael Jackson's life, his career, his impact on American and world culture and the subsequent effect of massive fame on a person's life.

As much as we loved Michael's solo career, we actually prefer his days as a member of The Jackson 5, the singing group he fronted and shared with four of his brothers, Jackie, Jermain, Marlon and Tito.

Michael was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Jackson 5 years before he was inducted as a solo artist, and The Jackson 5 was the first recording act in history to have their first four major label singles reach #1 on the pop music charts. Many of his younger fans today have no idea of the major success Michael enjoyed as a pop music star way before "Thriller" came along.

There's no way to say everything there is to say about an entertainment legend as large as Jackson's, instead we'll address some of the myths surrounding his life and career.

"Diana Ross discovered The Jackson 5". Actually it was Gladys Knight and others who were at the Apollo Theater that night in 1967 that The Jackson 5 won the amateur night contest, and who then persuaded Berry Gordy at Motown to take a look at them. Later Motown decided to attach Diana Ross's name as the "discoverer" in subsequent press releases, thinking that if they attached the Jackson's to a bigger name star, it would give the young singers more credibility with the public.

"Michael Jackson was the biggest pop star of all time." While no one can measure the amount of love and devotion anyone attachs to a particular celebrity, to say that Michael's singing career was "the greatest" is certainly open to debate. He still trails Elvis Presley, The Beatles and Mariah Carey in the number of #1 hits in the rock era, and almost certainly trails other singers if pre-rock era totals were included, i.e. Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, etc. His world-wide fame and adulation was undeniable, yet many could argue that he was no more worshipped in his day than Elvis or others were also worshipped in every corner of the globe in their heyday. It's also interesting to note that while other members of rock royalty, (Elvis as "The King of Rock and Roll", Aretha as "The Queen of Soul"), were given their nicknames by others, Michael Jackson first named himself as "The King of Pop".

"Michael Jackson broke down the color barriers at MTV". Nothing could be further from the truth. Most of the young commentators who are currently making this claim on the 24 hour news outlets weren't even born when MTV premiered, or at least weren't old enough to actually remember the era. To make this claim is to imply that MTV was racist, which is irresponsible and at best, unfair.

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First there were other Black performers on MTV before Michael Jackson, mostly lesser known acts from England, such as Joan Armatrading and The Bus Boys, but also major American stars such as Tina Turner and Donna Summer.

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But it's important to note, and this is what the young commentators don't remember, that when MTV premiered in 1981, no one was producing music videos. The concept of music videos was almost completely new, and in those early days, MTV scrambled hard to even find enough videos to play on the channel. But music videos had already become somewhat more popular in England, thus MTV's heavy reliance on (White) British music acts in those early broadcasting days. Almost no American acts, including Black performers, were producing music videos at that time. One early MTV executive recounts having to beg the major labels to spend the money to produce videos for their singers and groups.

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But what we also understood about MTV in those first years was that they were promoting a particular format, just as every radio station in the world does today. Just as some radio stations play country, some play rock, some play light pop, some play rap, and some play classical, MTV's original format was rock, with a heavy leaning toward punk rock and its newly emerging offspring, New Wave. Quite simply, there just weren't a lot of Black rock, punk or New Wave acts in the early 1980's.

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So what is the real truth? The success of Michael Jackson's "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" videos certainly did pave the way for more Black acts on MTV, most notably Prince and Whitney Houston, but it was more a matter of timing and shifting currents in the overall culture which "opened the doors", it was not as if Michael Jackson single-handedly forced the change. As MTV's mainstream acceptance expanded, they decided themselves that they could expand their format to include a more mainstream, "Top 40" rotation, which did include many Black performers. And also, by the time that Jackson's "Thriller" came along, music itself was changing; the punk and New Wave trends were coming to an end, and popular music began to be dominated by a return to more mainstream pop hits, again which included most American Black acts.

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So while we are not denying the massive popularity of Jackson's work, or his success on MTV, to say that there were "racist color barriers" at the MTV Network which had to be forced down is to simply misundertand that unique era.

Michael Jackson will be forever remembered as major talent and star, as he should be. Many will also be convinced forever that Jackson was a pedophile, whose escape from justice was unfairly aided by his celebrity. We will always think of Jackson mostly as a sad figure, in the "final days of Elvis" mode. In other words, our pop culture history is littered with people who become so big that they completely lose touch with reality, and are surrounded by a dangerous group of "enablers". Just as Elvis had a "doctor" who was willing to pump him full of drugs and as Elvis had a small army of people who depended on a working Elvis for their paychecks, so we will probably discover in the coming days that Jackson also had people around him who depended on him to keep working, even at the risk of his physical and mental health. As one MSNBC commentator said this morning, "When the real story of Michael Jackson begins to emerge, the events surrounding his final years and the contribution of his "entourage" to his decline will be tawdry."

But whatever the ultimate outcome of Jackson's legacy, we can rest assured that at any time we can put on a little "ABC", "Dancing Machine" or "PYT", and always feel a little better. Thank you, Michael!