Post by Kermit The Hulk on Aug 8, 2009 14:48:01 GMT -5
2. Michael Jackson—“Billie Jean”
www.youtube.com/watch?v=En-cHBv7UpA
Album: Thriller
Label: Epic Records
Director: Steve Barron
If “Thriller” is Michael Jackson at the height of his epicness and “Smooth Criminal” is him at his coolest, then “Billie Jean” is Jackson at his entertaining best. Well, actually, it’s one half of his entertaining best. The other half is him performing “Billie Jean” as the Motown 25 special in 1983. In that performance, Jackson was on stage alone; and he had everyone captivated with his singing, his presence, and his moonwalking. In “Billie Jean” the video, Jackson is just as much of a force to reckon with. How smorking cool was Michael Jackson that he could light up a sidewalk with the tap of his foot? The sidewalks are acknowledging his growing superstardom, and, by proxy, so did his audience. In this legendary video for the Grammy-winning smash single "Billie Jean," Jackson plays an urban Dorothy who walks on down the road and challenges an ex-fling's restraining order...or something to that effect. In a 1999 interview with MTV, Jackson could barely remember who directed the clip though he did reveal that the best part of the video was entirely his idea. Director Steve Barron didn't want any dancing in the video, but what he didn't know then was that to prevent Michael Jackson from dancing was not unlike dangling a baby from a fourth-floor balcony. Just wrong. Since then, “Billie Jean” has grown to legendary status. A lot of it has to do with a huge misnomer: that it was the first video to feature a black artist to air on MTV. Technically, it wasn’t. Eddy Grant, Musical Youth, Joan Armatrading, Tina Turner, Jon Butcher Axis, The Bus Boys, and Donna Summer were some of the Black artists whose videos were shown during MTV's inception. But, they were let on the air because their music fit MTV’s rock format. They wouldn’t show Jackson because he was a black man who played “black music,” which was stupid because some of the pioneers of rock (B.B. King, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry) were black, making rock “black music.” Anyway, that was pretty much the answer Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson's record label, CBS, got when he approached MTV to play the "Billie Jean" video. Yetnikoff became enraged when MTV refused to play the video, and threatened to go public with MTV's stance on black musicians. "I said to MTV, ‘I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and smorking tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.’" MTV relented and played the "Billie Jean" video in heavy rotation. So, technically, “Billie Jean” was the first video to feature a black artist to get played in heavy rotation on MTV. And, thanks to that, rap was able to pretty much take over the network in the 1990s. But, it isn't just the history that makes “Billie Jean” so great. It’s Jackson. The man was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. He really knew how to put on a spectacle filled with cool special effects and lots of dancers. But, he didn’t need any of that. Jackson was at his most entertaining when he was on his own. He had a charisma and swagger that could keep anyone entertain, and he knew it. That’s why “Billie Jean” is his greatest video. It’s just Michael Jackson, alone, entertaining the world.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=En-cHBv7UpA
Album: Thriller
Label: Epic Records
Director: Steve Barron
If “Thriller” is Michael Jackson at the height of his epicness and “Smooth Criminal” is him at his coolest, then “Billie Jean” is Jackson at his entertaining best. Well, actually, it’s one half of his entertaining best. The other half is him performing “Billie Jean” as the Motown 25 special in 1983. In that performance, Jackson was on stage alone; and he had everyone captivated with his singing, his presence, and his moonwalking. In “Billie Jean” the video, Jackson is just as much of a force to reckon with. How smorking cool was Michael Jackson that he could light up a sidewalk with the tap of his foot? The sidewalks are acknowledging his growing superstardom, and, by proxy, so did his audience. In this legendary video for the Grammy-winning smash single "Billie Jean," Jackson plays an urban Dorothy who walks on down the road and challenges an ex-fling's restraining order...or something to that effect. In a 1999 interview with MTV, Jackson could barely remember who directed the clip though he did reveal that the best part of the video was entirely his idea. Director Steve Barron didn't want any dancing in the video, but what he didn't know then was that to prevent Michael Jackson from dancing was not unlike dangling a baby from a fourth-floor balcony. Just wrong. Since then, “Billie Jean” has grown to legendary status. A lot of it has to do with a huge misnomer: that it was the first video to feature a black artist to air on MTV. Technically, it wasn’t. Eddy Grant, Musical Youth, Joan Armatrading, Tina Turner, Jon Butcher Axis, The Bus Boys, and Donna Summer were some of the Black artists whose videos were shown during MTV's inception. But, they were let on the air because their music fit MTV’s rock format. They wouldn’t show Jackson because he was a black man who played “black music,” which was stupid because some of the pioneers of rock (B.B. King, Bo Diddley, and Chuck Berry) were black, making rock “black music.” Anyway, that was pretty much the answer Walter Yetnikoff, the president of Jackson's record label, CBS, got when he approached MTV to play the "Billie Jean" video. Yetnikoff became enraged when MTV refused to play the video, and threatened to go public with MTV's stance on black musicians. "I said to MTV, ‘I’m pulling everything we have off the air, all our product. I’m not going to give you any more videos. And I’m going to go public and smorking tell them about the fact you don’t want to play music by a black guy.’" MTV relented and played the "Billie Jean" video in heavy rotation. So, technically, “Billie Jean” was the first video to feature a black artist to get played in heavy rotation on MTV. And, thanks to that, rap was able to pretty much take over the network in the 1990s. But, it isn't just the history that makes “Billie Jean” so great. It’s Jackson. The man was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. He really knew how to put on a spectacle filled with cool special effects and lots of dancers. But, he didn’t need any of that. Jackson was at his most entertaining when he was on his own. He had a charisma and swagger that could keep anyone entertain, and he knew it. That’s why “Billie Jean” is his greatest video. It’s just Michael Jackson, alone, entertaining the world.