Here's an early appearance in 1969 with the Jackson 5 whilst signed to the Tamla Motown label. Berry Gordy (the owner) had a particular formula for ensuring success. This involved a strong adherence to dress code and musical style.
Micheal Jackson Thriller - Album and Music video for 'Beat it'
Michael jackson ‘beat it’ from Ben Thatcher
Click the link below for a quick powerpoint summary of the development of Jackson's dance style - this isn't a definitive guide, just a useful suggestion of just some of his influences...
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Lyrics that tell the story: Read the lyrics to the three songs below: Is there a change in themes? What was going on in his life at the time? What does it say about Jackson's politics? Was he just a mainstream 'pop' performer?
Human Nature (1983)
Click the link below for a quick powerpoint summary of the development of Jackson's dance style - this isn't a definitive guide, just a useful suggestion of just some of his influences...
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Lyrics that tell the story: Read the lyrics to the three songs below: Is there a change in themes? What was going on in his life at the time? What does it say about Jackson's politics? Was he just a mainstream 'pop' performer?
Human Nature (1983)
Looking out across the night-time The city winks a sleepless eye Hear her voice shake my window Sweet seducing sighs Get me out into the night-time Four walls won't hold me tonight If this town is just an apple Then let me take a bite If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature Why, why does he do me that way? If they say, why, why? Tell 'em that is human nature Why, why does he do me that way? Reaching out to touch a stranger Electric eyes are everywhere See that girl, she knows I'm watching She likes the way I stare
From ‘Scream’ (1995) (janet) "oh my god, can’t believe what I saw As I turned on the tv this evening I was disgusted by all the injustice All the injustice" (michael) "all the injustice" (news man) "a man has been brutally beaten to death by Police after being wrongly identified as a Robbery suspect. the man was An 18 year old black male..." (michael) With such collusions don’t it make you wanna scream Your bash abusin’ victimize within the scheme (janet) You try to cope with every lie they scrutinize (both)
Black or White (1991)
They Print My Message In The Saturday Sun I Had To Tell Them I Ain't Second To None And I Told About Equality An It's True Either You're Wrong Or You're Right But, If You're Thinkin' About My Baby It Don't Matter If You're Black Or White I Am Tired Of This Devil I Am Tired Of This Stuff I Am Tired Of This Business So When The Going Gets Rough I Ain't Scared Of Your Brother I Ain't Scared Of No Sheets I Ain't Scared Of Nobody Girl When The Goin' Gets Mean
‘They don’t really care about us’ (1996)
Tell me what has become of my rights Am I invisible because you ignore me? Your proclamation promised me free liberty, now I’m tired of bein’ the victim of shame They’re throwing me in a class with a bad name I can’t believe this is the land from which I came You know I do really hate to say it The government don’t wanna see But if Roosevelt was livin’ He wouldn’t let this be, no, no
Skin head, dead head Everybody gone bad Situation, speculation Everybody litigation Beat me, bash me You can never trash me
Michael Jackson Representation Michael Jackson and Representation
Before Thriller, Jackson struggled to receive coverage on MTV, allegedly because he was African America. Pressure from CBS Records persuaded MTV to start showing "Billie Jean" and later "Beat It", leading to a lengthy partnership with Jackson, also helping other black music artists gain recognition.
For the lyrics see below...
Jackson and sister Janet angrily retaliated against the media for misrepresenting them to the public. The acclaimed video for "Scream" was shot primarily in black and white, and at a cost of $7 million (Directed by Mark Romanek 1995), it features lyrics and gestures which might be argued to demonstrate his response and feelings about the media at the time.
MTV employees deny any racism in their coverage, or pressure to change their stance. MTV maintains that they played rock music, regardless of race. The popularity of his videos on MTV helped to put the relatively young channel "on the map"; MTV's focus shifted in favor of pop and R&B. Short films like Thriller largely remained unique to Jackson, while the group dance sequence in "Beat It" has frequently been imitated. The choreography in Thriller has become a part of global pop culture, replicated everywhere from Indian films to prisons in the Philippines. The Thriller short film marked an increase in scale for music videos, and has been named the most successful music video ever by the Guinness World Records.
Part of an article by Alan Sepinwall on Jackson’s influence on MTV:
It's been often said that Jackson brought about two fundamental changes to the world of music video: he desegregated MTV, and the cost and scope of his videos marked a paradigm shift away from the cheap, unambitious schlock MTV had been showing to that point.
There's more evidence supporting the former theory than the latter, but Jackson inarguably made as big a mark in the world of video as he did in the world of music itself.
Great as his songs were, many of our strongest memories of him come from television: The early Jackson 5 appearances with Diana Ross. The Rankin/Bass-produced Saturday morning cartoon. Jackson moonwalking to "Billie Jean" on the Motown 25th anniversary special on CBS in 1983, which has to rank alongside the "Ed Sullivan Show" debuts of Elvis Presley and The Beatles among the most iconic moments in the crossover between music and TV.
Most of all, we think of the videos: of Michael as a dancing zombie in "Thriller," Michael as a tough gang kid in "Beat It," Michael evading the paparazzi in "Billie Jean," etc. As he grew from boy to man, it was his dancing as much as his singing that made him the King of Pop, and nowhere was his otherworldly footwork on better display than in his videos.
MTV executives have always denied that there was any kind of prohibition against African American artists in the channel's early days, while Walter Yetnikoff, who was the head of Jackson's record label at the time, has always insisted there was.
Yetnikoff wrote in his autobiography, "Howling at the Moon," that "I screamed bloody murder when MTV refused to air his videos. They argued that their format, white rock, excluded Michael's music. I argued they were racist (jerks) -- and I'd trumpet it to the world if they didn't relent... With added pressure from Quincy Jones, they caved in, and in doing so the MTV colour line came crashing down."
Whether MTV's resistance to Jackson had to do with colour or genre, there was no question that his videos quickly became the channel's biggest draw.
The launch of the video for "Thriller" -- a 13-minute pastiche of '50s horror movies, directed by John Landis and featuring horror legend Vincent Price in a cameo -- was presented with all the pomp and circumstance of a movie premiere. Later Jackson videos, notably "Bad" and "Black or White," got similar treatment.
Whether there had previously been resistance to artists of colour on the channel or not, there's no question that they became more prevalent after Jackson's ascension.
As for changing the content of the videos themselves, what Jackson and his collaborators accomplished wasn't so much a matter of kind as of degree. While the reputation of early '80s MTV was of low-budget videos that were little more than glorified concert footage, many videos of the pre-"Thriller" period were ambitious and/or expensive, like Duran Duran's "Rio," or Blondie's "Rapture."
TASK:
Can you validate the claims of racism at MTV?
Nowadays we see a multicultural mix – but was it always like that?
1: Look back at the MTV archive play lists for 1981 – is there any evidence of black music?
What sort of black music was popular in the late 70s - early 80s? ? (Stereogum/MTV yearbook)
2: Now look at the archive play lists for 1985 – is there more evidence of black music? What styles of music/bands are represented? Is this a fair representation?
3: Which records had Michael Jackson produced between 1980 and 1985? Were they ‘video- friendly’? Do you think they helped pave the way for others?
It could be argued that Hip Hop and Rap were only beginning to achieve mainstream audience appeal in the early 1980s, but was this primarily due to their lack of exposure on MTV? What was out there in 1982 that could have been played?
TASK:
Are there any other areas of ethnicity that are under-represented on music videos today?
Is there a particular style of music that is being ignored? Why do you think this is?
Michael Jackson was also represented to the public in many forms; in the mid 1980s he began to stop talking to the press. Note this quote from him during this time:
“Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They'll believe anything you say, because you're a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I'm an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He's cracked up. You can't believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth."
As a result of the need to sell newspapers it could be argued that the press were ready to print anything that was dramatic and made people want to read – they just needed a high profile figure – and Michael Jackson fitted the bill perfectly.
How many of these have foundation and how many are just ‘moral panics?’
Micheal Jackson and Digital Technology
Michael Jackson and The Industry (Copyright)
The Beatles back-catalogue
While working with Paul McCartney on the two hit singles "The Girl Is Mine" (1982) and "Say Say Say" (1983), the pair became friendly. McCartney told Jackson about the large amount of money he earned from owning music catalogs; he was earning approximately $40 million a year from other people's songs. Jackson subsequently began buying, selling, and distributing publishing rights to music from numerous artists. In 1985, ATV Music, a music publishing company owning thousands of music copyrights, including the Northern Songs catalogue that contained the majority of the Lennon-McCartney compositions recorded by The Beatles, was put up for sale. Jackson took an immediate interest in the catalog, but was warned he would face strong competition. Excited, he skipped around saying, "I don't care. I want those songs. Get me those songs Branca [his attorney]". Branca contacted McCartney's attorney, who clarified that his client was not interested in bidding: "It's too pricey". After Jackson had started negotiations, McCartney changed his mind and tried to persuade Yoko Ono to join him in a joint bid, but she declined, so he pulled out. Jackson eventually beat the rest of the competition in negotiations that lasted 10 months, purchasing the catalog for $47.5 million.
His own earnings
His total lifetime earnings from royalties on his solo recordings and music videos, revenue from concerts and endorsements have been estimated at $500 million; some analysts have speculated that his music catalog holdings could be worth billions of dollars. This speculation however is contradicted by financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, which showed that as of March 31, 2007, Jackson's 50 percent stake in the Sony/ATV Music Publishing catalog (his most prized asset) was worth $390.6 million and Michael Jackson’s net worth was $236 million. As one of the world's most famous men, Jackson's highly publicized personal life, coupled with his successful career, made him a part of popular culture for four decades.
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Exam question: 'Most media texts target a range of different audiences.' How true is this for your chosen texts? For this particular question you could consider Jackson's use of different musical sub-genres, varied lyrical themes (above) and dance influences. As he has aged, so has his themes. 
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