How Michael Jackson Revolutionized Pop Music In America

Throughout history there have been many who have inspired us, many who have changed us, one such source of inspiration was Michael Jackson. Michael began his revolution journey at a young age. He was gifted as a child and his gift only grew over the course of his life, and by the time he was a man there were none who could rise to his level. Without his music no one could’ve closed the racial gap separating white and black musicians. No one could’ve united music genres, and no one could’ve made music videos into what they are today. Michael Jackson revolutionized pop music in America by becoming the greatest symbol of freedom of expression and breaking boundaries this world has ever seen.
Michael was born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana, his family was
extremely large and deeply religious. By the time he was six he had already joined into his sibling’s band known as The Jackson 5. The band was managed by Michael’s abusive father joseph. Many of Michael’s later life issues are believed to have stemmed from his early abuse. The Jackson 5 started out playing small gigs and building a strong fan base, “They recorded one single on their own, "Big Boy," with the B-side "You've Changed," but the record failed to generate much interest.” (Connelly 1). They then went on to open for Gladys knight, the pips and James brown who were all Motown records artists. Proceeding these events “The group had four No. 1 Motown hits in a little more than a year” (Slotnik 1) and were signed to Motown records in 1969. After being signed they moved to Los Angles and produced their first album, Diana Ross presents the Jackson 5. Its hit single “I want you back” hit number one on the billboard hot 100 chart shortly after the album’s release. This was the Jackson 5’s biggest accomplishment due to the then young Michael’s branch off into the pursuit of a solo career.
His Solo career began at the age of 13 in 1971 with the release of his first solo album “got to be there”. Then, in 1972 he released his second album called “Ben”. Due to “ben” he achieved his first solo Number one hit by the song of the same name. There was a long gap in-between “Ben” and his next solo album but It did eventually release under the name of “Off The Wall” in 1979. The album featured the Grammy winning song “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” and other hits such as “Rock With You”, “She’s Out Of My Life” and “Off The Wall”. His next album would release in 1982, and is considered one of the best albums of all time, it is called “Thriller”. “It won eight Grammy Awards, spent two years on the Billboard album chart and sold more than 100 million copies around the world.” (Slotnik 1). This album was also when he truly shone, not only as a singer but as a dancer, choreographer and music video genius. Michael Jackson used the title song from “thriller” as his canvas for his second music video of all time. The first was “beat it” which had a 150,000 dollar budget all paid for by Michael and is an amazing video. But he wanted to top that for “Thriller”. “The Thriller video was set to be so expensive – $900,000, to pay for not just the filming and effects but 10 days of dance rehearsals” (Arogundade 1). And it was well worth it. The video received won worldwide appraise and won Oscar. It also “sealed MTV's reputation as a new cultural force; dissolved racial barriers in the station's treatment of music, revolutionized music video production, spawned the "making of" genre of documentary, helped create a market for VHS rentals and sales, because fans were desperate to see it when they wanted, rather than at the will of TV stations; and, in 2009, became the first music video to be inducted into the Library of Congress's National Film Registry” (Arogundade 1). This was also the same time in which Michael started to suffer from Vitiligo. “Vitiligo is an autoimmune disorder that causes a loss of pigment on sections of the skin” (Hebblethwaite 1). Many believed his loss of skin color due to excessive amounts of facial surgery and bleaching of the skin. But, these claims are false and he has been confirmed to have the disease by an autopsy done upon his death. These speculation are what caused a lot of his downward spiral.
Michael Jackson began his spiral after a series of repeated failures starting in 1984.
While filming an ad for Pepsi Michael was severely burned. Then he agreed to do a reunion tour with his family and reunite the Jackson 5. "Unfortunately, he could not withstand the family pressure, and he agreed to do a tour which he did not want to do" (Brook 1). His tour was a flop due to the inconvenient way of buying a ticket. “Tickets only could be purchased through the mail using a money order and application forms cut from newspapers. Many fans could not get tickets” (Brook 1). Then after more failure Michael became hooked on prescription drugs and overdosed on June 25, 2009.
Many would say that due to his ending he is not as great a star as we had once believed. These statements are unjust and unfair. Michael Jackson was only as much as the rest of us, a human. He dealt with his issues in a way to help others. He rose above and used his unruly upbringing to inspire not hurt. He became the most successful entertainer of all time. Even though, in the end, his grief took hold of him; he modernized the music industry, gave rise to a new way of music presentation and broke down millennia old barriers. He truly was a
Revolutionary.