The Voice of Michael Jackson: Shattering the Dichotomies of Race

Black and white teenagers listen alike to rock music on the radio and attended clubs to hear it, together. Rock ‘n’ Roll’s roots helped accustom white teens to black music through the lenses of white, male vocalists—a normalcy to ground these drastic changes in race relations. The stars, like Elvis Presley—know for his sexual and riveting performances—began to blur the line between different forms of music and more importantly, black and white music.3 Rock ‘n’ Roll music was a blend of these two different cultures, demonstrating the enormous consumer power of this emerging youth culture and giving it the power to unite an entire

This exploitation minimized the value of the singers, as they seemed easily replaceable as long as the next one could sing the same old song and make it a hit on the charts. Despite good integrationist intentions, the music in this industry was a result of the commoditization of black culture, further complicating the relationship between the music and the Civil Rights Movement. Listeners would receive glamorous snapshots of life as a black American, and not garner the complexity of the issues that existed. On the other hand, using this frame of a neatly packaged life made white audiences more receptive of black music, allowing them to ease themselves into the idea of

"This was a record that had something for everybody by adding harder funk, hard rock, softer ballads, and smoother soul-expanding the approach to have something for every audience. That alone would have given the album a good shot at a huge audience, but it also arrived precisely when MTV was reaching its ascendancy, and Michael Jackson helped the network by being not just its first superstar, but first black star”. (https://www.udiscovermusic.com/artists/michael-jackson/, n.d.)

The public views musicians are some of the most influential people they know, which is why many of them try to maintain this positive image for their audience. The inspiration for many hip hop artist today, Tupac Shakur is a prime example of one who was able to pull himself out of a dark place. Throughout his life, Tupac has faced many obstacles, the largest being his family. Associating with the Black Panther several members Shakur’s family has dealt with the law. His godparents killing a state trooper and teacher and stepfather wanted on the FBI’s Most Wanted. Although not entirely similar, Michael Jackson also had vast amounts of obstacles in his life. From a young age, Jackson had utilized his talents with his brothers to from the band the Jackson 5. Allegedly, he would often be overworked by his father to push for more popularity for the boys. This lack of a childhood contributed to him putting sums of money in his theme park and even being accused of being a pedophile for the degree in which he was around children. Regardless, both had one thing in common. They fought. Unlike the people stated before, these people decided that they did not want to become their obstacles. They did not want to become the people who were a bad influence on them. As a result, they decided to do everything they could.

Elvis Presley was one of the most influential rock and roll singers in the American history. Presley’s work revolutionized the music and brought about significant changes in the entertainment industry. He grew up in an environment where racial segregation between the whites and African Americans was highly pronounced. In fact, Presley schooled in Memphis where he graduated from a whites-only high school. However, he upheld the Black’s music and made it possible for their music to be accessed by the White American youths. Presley’s tracks broke past the racial barrier as many teenagers loved his amazing voice. Through his music, he confronted racism and challenged both social and moral values. Elvis Presley changed the manner in which the Black minority were treated in the U.S. through his music, and this initiated the fights against racial discrimination leading to the civil rights movement.

Music is a creative art form that allows the artist to construct something that expresses a purpose. It evolves over time and changes as the world changes, taking on many different motivations behind the melody and lyrics. In today’s society, anger, oppression, racism, and negative opinions rule the media and popular culture. I believe that African Americans need to show their self worth and not let white people hold them back. With the music in white culture often mocking African American culture and portraying negative stereotypes, African Americans have to find ways to gain respect. In acknowledgement of the negative portrayal of their culture, African Americans respond by creating songs and videos that express their pride in their culture and heritage, react to white oppression, and communicate their independence.

Michael Jackson was known around the world as the “King of Pop.” He was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness, which molded him into a shy and quiet person. Something he was opposite of on stage. It is well documented that his father became violent with him and his brothers in order to push them to become successful. Thus, missing out on his childhood. During his early life, Michael had an accident that resulted in burns on his head and face. After this incident he had plastic surgery, changing the shape of his nose. Although he was born an African American, it became apparent that he started to appear lighter and lighter, bleaching his skin and ultimately appearing white. He created his own amusement park called Neverland, where there were exotic

Michael Jackson was not only an artists but a human being who had his struggles. One of them was the insecurity about his appearance which he had tried to correct and then perfect for most of his life. Another was his insistence on preserving his childhood dreams which resulted in the creation of the Neverland Ranch complete with an amusement park and a zoo. Michael was also known for understanding and loving children and on several occasions was accused of child molestation. The shadow of these accusations did

Essay on the subject of power and way of thinking with refrences to the essays titled ;

     Michael Jackson is arguably the most well know celebrity figure in the world today. Michael Joseph Jackson was born in August 1958, in Gary, Indiana. Jackson has spent almost his entire life as a public performer. He was a member of the Jackson Five at the age of four, soon becoming the group's lead vocalist and front man. Onstage, he modeled his dance moves and vocal styling on James Brown, and portrayed an absolute self-confidence on stage that belied his shy, private personality. Throughout his life the media has dissected his personality and projected his image on a worldwide screen. The progression of his image has been a fascinating phenomenon, and his current taboo

The Article, Musing New Hoods, Making New identities: Film, Hip-hop Culture, and Jazz Music by Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr. addressed an important and conflicting aspect about the opportunities that African Americans feel they have in modern society. He continues to address the idea of “guiltsploitation”-feeling guilt for going against one's culture to move up in social class, an idea introduced by Henry Louis Gates and the different message that is received by society from the underlying message surrounding African-American films (Ramsey, 311). Stereotypes conceived through movies and hip-hop music create the identity and character through an authentic representation that is expected of African-Americans in modern culture. Although African-American films and the hip-hop music industry have worked to build and identify a culture through the art form, they have instead created a stereotypical image--a different inner struggle has resulted that remains in society today.

People hear the name Elvis Presley and think of his music career and not necessarily by what means the nation looked at him during his own era. There is so much more to Elvis’s inspirational roots from being a poor boy living a rough childhood to becoming a catalyst iconic man for his time. Often overlooked, Elvis altered many views towards racism, music, and how people united. The outcome of Elvis’s upbringings and his assemblings of society changed the life we live today. Our own selves have much to acknowledge for what Elvis has done for us, and the value that he is today.

Jackson had to overcome racial barriers that were designed to keep exclusively whites in the music industry.

The broadcasting and recording industries did not solely represent the conquering racial assumptions of the 1950's, they internalized them and helped to continue them. Racial conventions permeated the organization and structure of the music industry at every level. The very existence

As an adolescent Michael Jackson made appeared in a movie “The Whiz” and released his first solo album “Off The Wall”. His album swept the country topping the charts. He toured the country, show after show, promoting for his album. In addition to his album, at this age he wrote songs with legends like Stevie Wonder and Quincy Jones. In Erik Erikson’s theory Jackson was in the Identity vs. Role Diffusion stage. Jackson was supposed to discovering himself and his interest. While touring the country and constantly performing how could Jackson identify interests? Erikson points out failure of this stage could result in being influenced by circumstances rather than from awareness. The failure of this stage appears later in Jackson’s life when he relies on others to help him make important life decisions.