Le Roi (Du Pop) Est Mort
I know I am late to the party, but I was out in the woods when it happened.
Curiously, the best blogging I read on the subject was written by Ta-Nehisi Coates a week before Jackson’s death:
Mike used to be beautiful. My sister Kelly just knew she was marrying him. And he danced so smooth and easy. I hate to think that what gave him that ability, was the same thing that ruined him.
After you start producing music everything sounds different. I rediscovered his music several years ago and was floored by the arrangement, production, songwriting, everything. I know some of that credit is due to guys like Quincy Jones and Bruce Swedien, but remember that MJ wrote a lot of his best songs.
If you write, perform, or produce music, you can learn something from Michael Jackson.
This is my favorite MJ video:
I like the suits. I like the lean. I like the hottie with the fan. I even like the cheesy coin flip. I love the D-50 bassline.* The staccato delivery is now a staple of modern R&B-- listen to Beyoncé’s “Crazy In Love” for example.
Here is a short history of the moonwalk (HT: The Midnight Man):
*OK, I have no idea what kit they used. It could be a D-50 though.
July 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
[...] just read my brother’s post about Michael Jackson’s death. It’s a brief reflection on Jackson’s influence on music production and well worth a [...]
July 2nd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
FYI, Snow Patrol did a surprisingly good cover of “Crazy in Love” during a recent BBC appearance. You might want to look that up.