The Influence of Michael Jackson’s Career on the Music Industry Essay Example

but not equals to Jackson's majesty. His Thriller albums, mostly, pleased and were embraced by both fans and critics. Not only did he have thirteen Grammys, but also thirteen number one singles, breaking through a racial barrier, which made it possible for pretty many of African-American artists after him even, get on the Television. Jackson's success helped lull the industry into happy-days mentality and the executives were so accustomed to blockbuster hits and pleased with the changing manner in which new generation consumed music.

When talking about dance and its inherent moves, Jackson's contribution and uniqueness shouts. No one moved like Michael, but everyone wished and wanted to. Music might have made him a star, but from the blunt sexuality of the laser-sharp spins, crotch grabs, pivots and snaps, to the mesmerizing group choreography spotlighted in his videos, to, of course, the otherworldly impossibility that was his moonwalk, dance launched Jackson into the mesosphere. He was among, if not the only one, the pioneers of the moonwalk. When the world watched him gliding like that for the first time, black loafers moving across the stage with liquid smoothness during a televised Motown Music special in 1983, no one had ever seen anything of that kind (Monica, 2009). How many teenagers spent how many hours dragging their stockinged feet across carpeted bedroom floors, trying to master that illusion but remaining surprised and of course, hopelessly earthbound? Additionally, he popularized the Robot, break dancing and popularized innovations that invigorated music and performance, brought them into mainstream, and shifted some barriers between styles and genres. Jackson simply made the music industry breath a fresh air with amazingly new twists,

that many admired and welcomed.

In fashion, didn’t you watch him teach the world the new way through? The single, white, sequined glove. The red leather jacket with so many zippers, the fedora, the pegged pants, and the bedazzled military coats went beyond the well-trodden bounds. Like everything Michael, his look was a price exercise straddling eccentricity and desirability. Everybody wanted that leather jacket he wore in the Beat It Video, but who, save Jackson could pull off a solitary, spangled glove? The Jheri curls? Maybe not. The mirrored sunglasses? Yes. He outfitted himself to show off his moves. Black shoes with glittering white socks? (Jocelyn, 2009). He knew no one could ignore feet turned out like that. In regal coats with epaulets and rhinestone regalia, he was the king of pop who dressed for the task.

Talk about videos and his breakthrough. When Jackson's full-length Thriller video was set to debut following an orgy of hype on MTV in the late 1983, people wrote on their calendars. They held back at their homes to just see it. The most expensive video ever made at that time, it was essentially a cinematic experience; a nearly 15-minute long mini-movie, a happening. Alan (2009) notes that , unlike many other artists who phone in videos with concert footage or pack them full of scantily clad models, Michael used his MTV time to tell stories (as in Thriller and Smooth Criminal), push the boundaries of special effects (as in Billie Jean), produce full, Broadway-choreography (as in Beat It). He single-handedly fortified the fledging music television channel and turned the music video into an art form.

On celebrity grounds, there had been,

most probably, no other famously known artist or even any other individual like Michael Jackson did. Jackson was a superstar whose eccentricities drove one tabloid headline after another. His plastic surgeries, his monkey, his marriages, and the molestation trial said it all. For a generation, Jackson was an ever-present media image, selling millions of records, launching millions of rumors. Byrd was hoping that Jackson's planned comeback tour would turn the spotlight away from the freak show and back to the artistry.
Michael Jackson is known to have reshaped the pop culture, like Elvis and Bob Dylan before him, in a manner that is hard to comprehend. He influenced just every musician who came after him in one way or another. His musical approach was simply unavoidable. Baltimore-based hip-hop performer MC Saleem Heggins cannot point to one specific way Jackson helped him shape his music. He said that would be insulting though. Michael was much broader than that, and his legacy is almost impossible to pin down. While commenting about Jackson's being, Heggins pointed out that Michael was the largest figure in music and that he was inspired and entertained by his ability to reach all the walks of life. He noted the legacy in Jackson's work in which he could create great music that was appealing to people without compromising himself. Additionally, Jackson played a great role on washing down the all-type stereotype concerning race and performance.

Before Billie Jean, MTV had not played a black artist. According to the channel, the black artists were not "rock" enough for their records to be played. However, as the Thriller became the top-selling album of all-time, and its corresponding

videos, all but made MTV, Jackson soundly broke that color barrier. His appeal became near universal, a sound as inescapable on white suburban boom boxes as it was in the urban dance clubs, Greene (2014). He became dominant star on a fledging TV channel that rarely if ever showed videos from African-American performers, and in the process helped put MTV at the centre of pop culture. By making movement, dance, image, and video central to a pop performer's repertoire, he altered the pop vocabulary and made MTV, rather than radio, the uniting force in the musical landscape. Still, the notion of racial harmony played out throughout Michael's career. He teamed it with Paul McCartney in the 1980s for the singles "Say, Say, Say" and "The Girl is Mine," and years even later, even as his own blackness seemed to be literally fading away as his skin tone became ever lighter, he sang: "If you're thinking about my baby it don't matter if you're black or white." According to Byrd (2010), Jackson's catalog revolves around love, around African-American pride and around uplifting all people, and that he aimed at telling people that we can do better as a human family.

Lastly, Jackson's music recording was unique. He worked with producers and engineers who later became mentors in the industry, and he could record in some of the very same studios where student apprentices were learning, like the studios in Philadelphia. This yield a sense of simplicity in the music recording yet producing master piece. The choice of producers mattered a lot to him, and should it to any other artist who aims high, not just financially but

also in eloquence production.

Work Cited

1. Fernandes, Kasmin (2014). "Why Michael Jackson was a style icon." The Times of India
2. Andy, Greene (2014). "Hear Michael Jackson and Freddies Mercury's Long-Lost Duet." Rolling Stone
3. Vena, Jocelyn (2009). Michael Jackson's Style Legacy, From Military Jackets to One Glove." MTV
4. Zhang, Michael (2002). A Review of Economic Properties of Music Distribution, in: internal Sloan of Management paper