June is Black History Music Month. Yahoo has decided to post a list of 25 Music Legends with at least 25 years of service. Author Rob O'Connor decided that Michael Jackson didn't qualify to make the list. We all know the through the years MJ has had his issues, but from the time that he hit the music scene in 1969 as the lead singer of The Jackson 5 until the at least the mid 1990s, Michael has been an influential part of our pop culture. Michael's accomplishments speak for themselves:- One of the few artists to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice.
- 13 Grammy Awards.
- 13 Number One Singles in his solo career alone (more than any artist in the hot 100 era).
- Sales of over 750 million units worldwide.
- The biggest selling album of all time in Thriller.
Controversies aside MJ's talent and influence on the music industry in his nearly 40 years in the business can't be questioned. During the Thriller phase he alone made MTV into the "go to" video channel and spawned an unlimited number of singer, dancer, performers who we see today still trying to imitate his signature moves. On the Yahoo list, Michael's contemporary Prince is listed at number 10 and the "Godfather of Soul" James Brown is number 2. It's hard to argue that Michael should be ahead of James Brown, but he's simply had more influence than Prince. The Jackson 5 years cannot be discounted, and the fact that there were periods in his career when sales were declining with the J5, and the group rebounded after moving to Epic Records shows his resiliency as an artist. This is the point in his career when Michael took creative control along with his brothers, and wrote and produced 1978's double platinum album "Destiny". This is the record that displayed Michael's talent as a writer and producer at the age of 20 years old, and he already had nearly 10 years in the business.
Yahoo's top 10 legends is as follows:
- Bob Dylan
- James Brown
- Paul McCartney
- Miles Davis
- Johnny Cash
- Chuck Berry
- Muddy Waters
- Van Morrison
- George Jones
- Prince
Rob O'Connor's reasoning for not including Michael in the top 25 is because "Michael Jackson got cut for spending too much time in Disneyland and not enough time in the recording studio or on stage." Michael should be in the top 10 since after James Brown he's the most influential Pop/R&B artist in the last 25 years. Numerous controversies and legal issues don't subtract from a body of work that can be compared favorably to any artist in the history of music.
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1 comment:
true dat
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