A daily tribute to Michael Jackson from 26/06/09 - 10/07/09
Every day, a great song gets analysed
Song: They Don't Care About Us
Album: HIStory Continues
Today's song defines Michael's sound. No other cut from his back-catalogue summarises it more succinctly. It honestly has a little 'something' from every era of his music. It has controversy, rap, a HUGE opening sound that would fill a packed Wembley Arena, an immecably sequenced beat, a gospel choir, kids chanting, rock guitar, innovative production techniques, "heee-heee"s, "hoo-hoo"s, synthesiser string, suprisingly mature lyrics, African-influences, his raspy vocals from '91 onwards, his clear vocals from '89 backwards, huge slap-bass slides, a pair of music videos that both created headlines for their innovative subject matter and A-list director, Freddy Mercury styled yelps, digital bursts of static, walkie-talkies and, finally, 'the Michael chord change' that indicates the beginning of a chorus.
If I were to write about each of these things, I'd probably be here for a month. 15,000 words wouldn't begin to cover this one. Lacking the time or the stamina for such an exercise (though if demand asks for it...) I'll merely say this: if I met someone who'd never heard a Michael Jackson song, this is the one I'd start with. Really, there's nothing left out, it is undeniably his. Perhaps that's what made it so much fun for the media upon release.
See, when it came out, a big fuss was made about the lyric "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me." It's a hard one to defend, and many spoke out about it. Whether or not the outrage was justified is hard to guage, but the singer was eventually forced to apologise many times over. Future versions of HIStory had a "sorry" message printed in it, but a select few weren't satisfied with this. He returned to the studio to re-record the offending line, with this newer version now saying instead, "Do me, sue me, everybody do me / kick me, strike me, don't you black or white me." Given his chequered past, it was an easy pitch for politicians and high-up members of the community to scream that Jackson was trying to subvert or modify the minds of the young and impressionable. I personally think that Michael should've been more aware of his brand, realising that he wasn't regarded as a lyrical genius by any stretch, and also that most of his audience was under-25. He probably didn't realise how much ill-will he was generating in adults by this point, not least because of the massive statue he'd adorned his album cover with...
When I first heard the song - Christmas Day, 1995 - I thought, mistankenly, that it was a cover of Another One Bites The Dust. You can hear why, right? It's a simple beat with a 'rap' in the old-school sense of the word over the top. Looking back now, I think it shares its musical lineage with the Billy Joel song We Didn't Start The Fire too. Part-history lesson, part-dance track, it's everything the music world doesn't realise it needs from pop music. Ha. In later life I danced many different performances to its crazy beats. Brilliant stuff. The only released footage (so far) of Michael's final rehearsal seems like his This Is It tour was gonna be an amazing one. Damned shame he never got to put on a few of the shows, because if this is anything to go by it would've rocked the roof of the o2 Arena:
If I were to write about each of these things, I'd probably be here for a month. 15,000 words wouldn't begin to cover this one. Lacking the time or the stamina for such an exercise (though if demand asks for it...) I'll merely say this: if I met someone who'd never heard a Michael Jackson song, this is the one I'd start with. Really, there's nothing left out, it is undeniably his. Perhaps that's what made it so much fun for the media upon release.
See, when it came out, a big fuss was made about the lyric "Jew me, sue me, everybody do me/ Kick me, kike me, don't you black or white me." It's a hard one to defend, and many spoke out about it. Whether or not the outrage was justified is hard to guage, but the singer was eventually forced to apologise many times over. Future versions of HIStory had a "sorry" message printed in it, but a select few weren't satisfied with this. He returned to the studio to re-record the offending line, with this newer version now saying instead, "Do me, sue me, everybody do me / kick me, strike me, don't you black or white me." Given his chequered past, it was an easy pitch for politicians and high-up members of the community to scream that Jackson was trying to subvert or modify the minds of the young and impressionable. I personally think that Michael should've been more aware of his brand, realising that he wasn't regarded as a lyrical genius by any stretch, and also that most of his audience was under-25. He probably didn't realise how much ill-will he was generating in adults by this point, not least because of the massive statue he'd adorned his album cover with...
When I first heard the song - Christmas Day, 1995 - I thought, mistankenly, that it was a cover of Another One Bites The Dust. You can hear why, right? It's a simple beat with a 'rap' in the old-school sense of the word over the top. Looking back now, I think it shares its musical lineage with the Billy Joel song We Didn't Start The Fire too. Part-history lesson, part-dance track, it's everything the music world doesn't realise it needs from pop music. Ha. In later life I danced many different performances to its crazy beats. Brilliant stuff. The only released footage (so far) of Michael's final rehearsal seems like his This Is It tour was gonna be an amazing one. Damned shame he never got to put on a few of the shows, because if this is anything to go by it would've rocked the roof of the o2 Arena:
