Rawk Or Not? Vol. I Michael Jackson

[Karlifornia]

Ok, after a night of moderate drinking and catching up on FOFC threads, I got the awesome (subjectively speaking) idea of making a series of polls in which I name a famous band/musician, accompanied by a brief bio, and ask the question: "Rawk" or "Not"? This will span all genres of music: Rock (duh), hip-hop, country, pop and many others. If you have heard even one snippet of the proceeding artist, I implore you to vote and comment, as every opinion is valuable. Don't let the popular opinion dictate your own. Being a dissenting voice takes courage, but do not-for even an instant-think that the unpopular opinion is the wrong one. Stand up for what you believe in!

If this proves to be a worthless idea, I will euthanise it rather than let it die a slow, grisly death. However, I think it will be fun. :confused:

With that said, the first subject of Rawk Or Not? Is none other than the King of Pop Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson, or "Jacko", or "Wacko Jacko", has had one of the most remarkable career algorhythms ever. He started out as part of the immensly successful kiddie group "The Jackson 5". He was the youngest and most marketable of the Jacksons. After going through puberty and starring in "The Wiz", he dropped the musical equivalent to an atomic bomb on the world: THRILLER. This album singlehandedly forced MTV to throw away their unwritten segregation policy andmade him the world's biggest star. Thriller is the greatest selling record in music history, with a worldwide tally of 60 million units sold. Now, the part that questions his rawk quotient is pretty much everything that he has been involved in afterward. The complete facial reconstruction? Horrid. Captain "Insomnia Cure" EO? Black or White? Yuck. The Free Willy theme? Eeek. The sham marriage to Lisa Marie Presley? Holy moly. The child molestation suits? Yowwww.

So, after all this time, does Michael Jackson's music still move you, or does it make you feel unclean?

[Joe]

jackson 5 - yes
solo - no

[MIJB#19]

Who?



:)
But seriously, what does the word Rawk mean?

[Qwikshot]

He never rocked. Michael was a groove-master before it was big. I own "Thriller" and re-listened to it (I bought it when I was 6).

Motown thing aside, Michael likes to fuse music. Be it funk, rock or dance, he mixes it. Listen to "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" which is got this really good groove, and while you can barely understand him lyrically, it doesn't matter, it's got an addictive groove (but this isn't a riff) and the song explodes in the end with an African chant after having a "Hee-Haw" shoutout. All over the place, but it works. Still I've never found Michael's singing to be anything but soulful, a lot of high registered shouting doesn't make you a rocker.

But you get to the rock fusion of "Beat It" and Michael was sampling without needing to sample (Let's just get us Eddie Van Halen); sadly it dates the song as much as the video does. I believe this is as close as Michael came to rock.

Still the best song on the album (I ignore "P.Y.T. - Pretty Young Thing" anymore because it's just odd to hear him signing about a pretty young thing with his current state of events) is "Billie Jean". But it is funk not rock.

Later on Michael tried dance "Bad", and went to Adult Contemporary Rock "Black or White" (with a little fusing of rap) but the magic was gone. Gospel influences "Man in the Mirror" to just crappy balladry "You are Not Alone".

Michael does not "RAWK"

[wade moore]

He never rocked. Michael was a groove-master before it was big. I own "Thriller" and re-listened to it (I bought it when I was 6).

Motown thing aside, Michael likes to fuse music. Be it funk, rock or dance, he mixes it. Listen to "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" which is got this really good groove, and while you can barely understand him lyrically, it doesn't matter, it's got an addictive groove (but this isn't a riff) and the song explodes in the end with an African chant after having a "Hee-Haw" shoutout. All over the place, but it works. Still I've never found Michael's singing to be anything but soulful, a lot of high registered shouting doesn't make you a rocker.

But you get to the rock fusion of "Beat It" and Michael was sampling without needing to sample (Let's just get us Eddie Van Halen); sadly it dates the song as much as the video does. I believe this is as close as Michael came to rock.

Still the best song on the album (I ignore "P.Y.T. - Pretty Young Thing" anymore because it's just odd to hear him signing about a pretty young thing with his current state of events) is "Billie Jean". But it is funk not rock.

Later on Michael tried dance "Bad", and went to Adult Contemporary Rock "Black or White" (with a little fusing of rap) but the magic was gone. Gospel influences "Man in the Mirror" to just crappy balladry "You are Not Alone".

Michael does not "RAWK"

If I'm understanding this right, I think you are totally misinterpreting the point of this...

If Hip-Hoppers can "rawk", this is not about the fact that he is funk vs. rock vs. whatever...

I think...

Rawk ~= Rules

[albionmoonlight]

Thriller is enough to keep him in the Rawk category for me. If I understand what Rawk means, which I may or may not.

Also--this would be more fun going forward with public polls.

[WSUCougar]

She's just a girl.

[Butter]

or does it make you feel unclean?

Yeah, that.

[Daimyo]

I'm selectively ignoring everything after Thriller and voting "Rawk!"

[cthomer5000]

I'm selectively ignoring everything after Thriller and voting "Rawk!"

"Smooth Criminal" is his best song.. That + Thriller is enough for me.