I really can't argue with anything you've said, especially the last paragraph. You are absolutely right about the way that the R&B versions of songs were pushed to the background in the 50's in favor of pop versions.
I will say, though, that history has (for once) been very kind to the original artists. I've heard the Chords version of Sh-Boom many, many times in my life but the Crew Cuts version (supposedly the bigger seller) only once. Little Richard's Tutti Frutti is a radio staple where I am guessing the "bigger" version by Pat Boone hasn't been played on any radio station in the last month.
We have, for once, overcome our fear of the unknown, in this case "Race Records" (as they were called at the time) and realized that they are the authentic versions of songs and not the horribly watered down pop covers.
I sort of understand the coverage of Jackson. He was, for about six or eight years, an entertainment phenomenon and quite deservedly so. Aside from his strange quirks, Off the Wall, Thriller and (to a lesser extent) Bad were classic albums of pop-R&B/dance music. He had amazing showmanship (Karen and I saw him during the Thriller tour) and was a very good dancer.
Unfortunately, his life got stranger and stranger over the years and it hurt him, especially here in the U.S. (Europe, Japan, etc. never pulled away from him the way we did).
He did nothing, that I'm aware of, for Race Relations. He WAS an ambassador to the world for awhile through his music. He was a pioneer of music video (with the help of some very talented directors like John Landis). I think one of his biggest influences was to the world of dance. On last nights "So You Think You Can Dance" producer/judge Simon Lithgow talked at length about Jackson's influence on modern dance and the fact that there were very, very few contestants over the five seasons (and they are all professionals) that didn't list Michael Jackson as an influence.
All in all, though, he was mainly just an entertainer who made many people happy. As Elvis Presley was the same. I do think you will see the same sort of long-term reaction for Jackson that you did (and still do to an extent) for Presley.
An interesting posting on Jackson from ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley:
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Date: 2009-06-26 11:21 pm (UTC)I will say, though, that history has (for once) been very kind to the original artists. I've heard the Chords version of Sh-Boom many, many times in my life but the Crew Cuts version (supposedly the bigger seller) only once. Little Richard's Tutti Frutti is a radio staple where I am guessing the "bigger" version by Pat Boone hasn't been played on any radio station in the last month.
We have, for once, overcome our fear of the unknown, in this case "Race Records" (as they were called at the time) and realized that they are the authentic versions of songs and not the horribly watered down pop covers.
I sort of understand the coverage of Jackson. He was, for about six or eight years, an entertainment phenomenon and quite deservedly so. Aside from his strange quirks, Off the Wall, Thriller and (to a lesser extent) Bad were classic albums of pop-R&B/dance music. He had amazing showmanship (Karen and I saw him during the Thriller tour) and was a very good dancer.
Unfortunately, his life got stranger and stranger over the years and it hurt him, especially here in the U.S. (Europe, Japan, etc. never pulled away from him the way we did).
He did nothing, that I'm aware of, for Race Relations. He WAS an ambassador to the world for awhile through his music. He was a pioneer of music video (with the help of some very talented directors like John Landis). I think one of his biggest influences was to the world of dance. On last nights "So You Think You Can Dance" producer/judge Simon Lithgow talked at length about Jackson's influence on modern dance and the fact that there were very, very few contestants over the five seasons (and they are all professionals) that didn't list Michael Jackson as an influence.
All in all, though, he was mainly just an entertainer who made many people happy. As Elvis Presley was the same. I do think you will see the same sort of long-term reaction for Jackson that you did (and still do to an extent) for Presley.
An interesting posting on Jackson from ex-wife Lisa Marie Presley:
http://blogs.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendId=42291868&blogId=497035326