Michael Jackson: Beyond Genre
When looking at the songs currently charting on the Billboard Hot 100, there are plenty of songs that fit nicely into genre designations. Songs like “That’s What I Like” by Bruno Mars (#3) can be described as R&B, while songs like “Body Like a Back Road” by Sam Hunt (#11) fit into the country music genre.
But for every song that can be summed up generally, there are other songs that are outside of the norm. “Something Just Like This” by the Chainsmokers and Coldplay combine the electronic dance music that is typical of the Chainsmokers’ other songs like “Closer” with the alternative rock tendencies of Coldplay, famous for songs like “Yellow” and “Clocks”. This song could fit into several different genres.
Upon its release in 1982, it could be said that Michael Jackson’s Thriller fit into several different genres as well.
Except in the early 80s, the idea that one artist could create songs that combine several styles at once was uncommon. For the listening public, it was strange to hear a song like “Beat It” that featured rock instrumentation with electric guitars and rock bass, paired with Michael’s R&B-inspired vocal lines and harmonies. When “Billie Jean” became the first song by a black artist to appear prominently on MTV, it was an acknowledgment that MJ was combining black R&B and white pop and rock music in ways that had never been heard by the general public.
Michael Jackson’s music career paved the way for many top 40 music artists who blended genres and invented new ones, creating a new pop landscape that brought black and white music together in unique combinations.
Thriller was released at the end of November 1982 after a few months spent in the studio crafting the songs that would later become iconic hits. Before it came out and took the public by storm, Michael was upset that producer Quincy Jones was trying to temper expectations by saying that two million copies sold would be a good number.
Of course, MJ proved him wrong after it spent over 30 weeks at number one and sold tens of millions of copies. But noted in a contemporary review of the album from the New York Times is the attempt to combine black R&B and white rock music. John Rockwell writes, “It is as hopeful a sign as we’ve had that the destructive barriers that spring up regularly between white and black music may be breached once again.”
He turned out to be right as “Billie Jean” transformed from a funky dance-pop song about an obsessive fan into a massive crossover hit, hitting number one on the R&B chart before taking over the Hot 100 for seven weeks and becoming the biggest hit of the year. The successful video of the song premiered on MTV, breaking barriers for black artists that had never been able to overcome it, even on white radio stations. But Thriller was able to do it, with seven songs ultimately reaching the top 10, each one bringing its own potent blend of R&B, funk, rock, and dance-pop.
Michael’s influence grew with each achievement by Thriller and the success of Bad that by the end of the decade black pop artists like Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown, and Michael’s sister, Janet, were consistently creating successful singles that featured the combination of black and white music styles. Where there had been a definitive line between black R&B and white pop, there was now a growing grey area.
By the early 90s, Michael had already set his sights on including hip-hop and rap in his unique blend of R&B and rock-pop, and with his 1991 album Dangerous, he enlisted new jack swing producer Teddy Riley to bring a hip-hop edge to songs like “Remember the Time” and “Jam”. But the crowning achievement on his eighth album was the song “Black or White” which put to words his belief that “it don’t matter if you’re black or white.” In the song, he’s saying that the skin color of the person he’s with shouldn’t matter, but that idea can be translated to the music on the radio also.
By this point, hip-hop artists like NWA and Public Enemy had started to pierce the resistance to black rap music by the white rock community. And even though Michael hadn’t yet experimented with hip-hop extensively, his ability to garner acceptance for black pop artists on white radio contributed to a greater awareness of black music generally because of the messaging inherent in his music. As The Atlantic’s Hampton Stevens put it a year after his death, “There are no more barriers of race, sex, class, or age he told his audience. You too can be and do whatever you want.”
Michael Jackson broke down barriers that had existed before in order for him and others to innovate and continue to achieve success with any style of music. “Scream”, the lead single off of 1995’s HIStory, was a combo of hard-rock and the new jack swing style perfected by Janet Jackson, who guests on the song. But listen farther down on the album, and the tight beat and subtle guitars of “Stranger in Moscow” sound like some of the R&B-pop that would come in the 21st century from artists like Justin Timberlake and Ne-Yo.
Michael might’ve broken down the wall between black and white on Thriller, but he continued to bring different emerging genres to huge audiences in interesting ways.
In the immediate aftermath of Michael Jackson’s passing in 2009, the world was able to come together and celebrate the life and career of a superstar instrumental to the modern sound of pop music. He ushered in a world for artists of every skin color and genre to reach across and make music that blends different styles in ways that still remind audiences of the power of Thriller.
In 2013, Daft Punk had a huge hit with “Get Lucky”, collaborating with Pharrell and Nile Rodgers to mix electronic dance music with the disco sound of Chic and Michael’s Off the Wall album. As Ben Beaumont-Thomas expressed in The Guardian in 2014, “the success of Pharrell, Robin Thicke, Daft Punk, Bruno Mars, and a resurgent Justin Timberlake shows the music Jackson popularized is still relevant.”
In today’s pop music landscape, the lines are completely blurred between R&B, pop, and dance music. Even more incredible, the music Michael Jackson created at the very beginning of his solo career with Epic Records has become a relevant style across the music spectrum. Songs like “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” and “Rock With You” are blueprints for songs by R&B-pop artists like The Weeknd, but also for alternative bands like The 1975, who had a hit with the synth-laden “Somebody Else”.
On top of the inspiration Michael still provides for current pop stars, the takeover of black rap and R&B is complete with artists like Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and Beyoncé storming the charts any time a new song or album is released. As well, rappers guest often on pop hits, even when the songs are still well in the pop realm, as the case is with Maroon 5’s “Don’t Wanna Know” featuring a verse from Kendrick. Fittingly, one of the first hits to feature a rap bridge was Michael Jackson’s “Black or White”, which includes a verse performed by the song’s white producer, Bill Bottrell.
Even now, Michael’s influence continues to be felt, from songs directly inspired by his hits to black and white artists collaborating and melding genres like R&B, dance, rap, and rock further together.
Looking back at the response to Thriller, it is obvious to many why the album’s songs became touchstones for multiple generations of music artists and fans alike. But the concern expressed by Quincy Jones before its release is understandable. The music that Michael was creating in the studio didn’t sound like anything else at the time, but it was his creativity and unique ability to experiment with genre in his songs that made his music so successful in so many different markets.
To black music fans, here was a Motown darling finally living up to his potential and bringing the sounds of black America to a wider audience.
And for white music fans, Michael Jackson was the first black pop superstar, crafting songs that combined the classic sounds of pop and rock music with styles they might not have heard before like funk and hip-hop.
In the years since Thriller, his music has continued to shape the culture of pop music and inspire new artists to innovate and try new things for the sake of greater musical diversity.
Thanks to Michael, we don’t see music in black and white anymore; instead, we hear all different colors mixed together.
