Black to White
The King of Pop
Michael Jackson was a huge contributing factor in shaping the musical culture of America in the late 20th century.
His signature dance moves such as the moonwalk and the robot and songs like Thriller and Black or White rocked throughout the
ages to be well known world wide. However, though he was most dominant in pop culture and song, which are typically about money, drugs, and wild obscenities we seem to face, he had written about many racial barriers and were represented in many of his song lyrics, including Beat it and Billie Jean. Even though he has received many racial controversy over his songs, including showing violence and anger by throwing a bottle at a "KKK rules!" graffiti in a music video, he used it to his advantage by writing songs in a style that expressed his feelings about racism that have influenced many people's careers , especially African American artists in the pop, hip pop, rock industries, such as Usher, Rihanna, and Chris Brown.
Influencial Factors
"when I saw him move, I was mesmerized. I had never seen a performer perform like James Brown, and right then and there I knew that was exactly what I wanted to do for the rest of my life because of James Brown"
As a child, Michael Jackson always admired the dancing and singing of James Brown, one of the founding fathers of funk and famous for his influential approach of Africanized style of music mixed with soul, funk, and R&B. The famous move of dropping down to the knees for a dramatic finish was one of James Brown's move Michael loved from childhood and has imitated many times from sitting in front of the tv to stage in front of the whole entire world. However, Brown was not the sole artist he admired. Diane Ross's singing style also caught Michael's eyes and ears. A musician alike James Brown's style, her singing technique greatlly influenced MJ's. The high pitch oooh sound of Ross has been clearly used many times in Michaels's singing and is now considered a trademark of his.
Even though Michael Jackson is known as a large influence of his own in the pop culture, there were many artists who influenced the King of Pop himself.
Context of Black or White
Black or White lyrics clearly represents racism and Michael's opinion and tolerance against it. While Jackson was writing the song, he faced controversies about his skin color, surgeries, and many tabloids that earned him the nickname, "Wacko Jacko." The nickname was obtained by magazines by stating he was bleaching his skin color and getting surgeries on his nose to appear more "white", which seemed ludicrous at the time. Jackson, who became annoyed at the reporters and stories he was repeatedly denying stated, "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 single word that comes out of his mouth." Even when Michael was denying the stories, many people still continued to believe Michael preferred being white instead of black. However, Michael was experiencing a rare skin disease called vitiligo that caused him to turn pale and a white color, not due to bleaching or surgery in any way. Also, he had two nose surgeries, not due to the fact of the appealing American nose, but due to the aggressive verbal and physical abuse of his father. His father often insulted his apperance and used the belt many times that caused Jackson to feel insecure about himself since childhood; even causing him to vomit at the sight of his agitated father. To clear controversy over his rumored dislike to his African American appearance, the lyrics of Black or White represented his true feelings toward the everlasting battle of black v. white. He strongly believes that a man should not be based on a color, as written "I'm not going to spend my life being a color" in his song, and tries to incorporate his point in his lyrics as well as writing it for entertainment. He was a great advocate that strongly expressed the idea of equality among races.