It's been a strange journey for the man they call the "King of Pop." It's hard to compare the young boy in Jackson 5 footage to the Michael Jackson of today, a snow-white waif-thin recluse who's rarely seen in public. If he is seen in public, he's usually being whisked somewhere - from the car to the door or from the door to the car, with a hand (or a mask) to the face amid a mob hit of flash bulbs, and then off again into oblivion.
Well, not quite oblivion this time. You see, something is occurring in our culture; it's hard to put a finger on. It seems as though America is ready to welcome Michael back after he disappeared from the pop music scene for almost a decade. With a new album slated for release in the near future, it seems he's ready.
The upwelling in pro-Jackson sentiment started with the current deluge in boy and girl bands that claimed Michael and Janet Jackson as key influences. Where once his name was not spoken except as a punchline, here were musicians (I use this term with the utmost looseness) who weren't afraid to call him cool.
And now, on the eve of the release of Jackson's first album of new material in almost a decade, we have the punk band Alien Ant Farm shooting to the top of the pop charts with a straight-up cover of "Smooth Criminal." Against all odds, it seems that Michael Jackson and his music are back.
At the same time that Jackson is being embraced by pop and (apparently) punk, something else and perhaps more significant is happening. Michael Jackson, whose issues with skin color and race once distanced him from black musicians and listeners, has seemingly been reclaimed by them. This trend can be clearly seen in hip-hop.
Master P and his self-started No Limit Records became an iconic success story by leading an insurgence of bounce-style gangster rap from the South, selling millions of records and home videos without major label backing. But a few years after its initial success, the label's star began to fade as similar efforts from Cash Money Records and other Southern rappers overshadowed their own, and artists like Snoop Dogg and Mystikal, who they had wooed from major labels, left the organization. The label's savior came with child rapper Lil'Romeo's "My Baby," a pop-rap redux of the Jackson 5's "I Want You Back," which put the struggling company back at the top of the charts. A company that made its name with songs about drug dealing and thug life had its death sentence pardoned by the King of Pop himself.
Now there is talk that rapper Jay-Z, indisputably the most popular living rapper in music, has collaborated with Jackson on a track to appear on either his or Jackson's forthcoming album. Jay-Z's new single, "H to the Izzo" even features a similar Jackson 5 sample to the one used in Lil' Romeo's hit. On a recent episode of BET's daily countdown show "106 and Park," the hosts even made an on-air solicitation to Jackson, begging him to come to the studio for a taping while he was in the New York area.
It's easy to understand why Michael Jackson went AWOL for as long as he did. His last major public appearance was kissing his soon-to-be-ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley on the MTV Video Music Awards in the early '90s. The awkward embrace was by most accounts irksome and stagy; the publicity stunt drew jibes and jeers from his contemporaries and the viewing audience. Despite his efforts, to most he was still the reclusive alleged child molester from the Neverland Ranch - a big star who had fallen in the worst way. Shortly thereafter he released "HIStory" - a double album that flopped. It appeared that Michael was finally washed up.
So, why the sudden Michael-mania? Perhaps he was strapped for cash and decided to have another go at the music biz. Perhaps America has finally detached Michael Jackson the man from his incredible music, pulling his contribution to music back into memory. Or perhaps it's deeper than that. Perhaps it's the current popularity of bubble-gum girl and boy bands that's drawn the gloved one out of hibernation.
As pop music pulls hip-hop, punk and other marginal genres closer to the mainstream, perhaps it's only fitting that the King himself should be resurrected to reclaim his throne. I can't help but be reminded of that scene in the "Thriller" video when all of the brain-dead, glassy-eyed zombies turn Mike into a zombie, dancing in unison as they close in to feast upon the helpless human. Well, maybe those girl and boy groups aren't all that bad ... but here's to hoping Mike's new album doesn't sound like 'N Sync.
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