MJ Symposium

What is popular music? Is it white or black? Do African American practices become more “white” as they enter the music economy? Or does the extended reign of hip-hop indicate that, really, pop music has just been “black” all along? Is there a racial connotation to the notion of the “mainstream”? As the King of Pop and oft-discussed racial chameleon, Michael Jackson is perfectly poised as a figure through which to investigate these questions.

An original poem by spoken word performance artist and national poetry slam winner, Blair. More info about Blair and his award winning work can be found

here

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*Michael, Michael, On the Wall* * * Who’s the –est of them all?

For decades, Michael Jackson’s face, body, voice, actions, beliefs, music, and dancing have been discussed in superlatives and dichotomies, arguably often reflecting as much if not more about ongoing anxieties in U.S. society (in particular regarding race, gender, and sexuality) than about the pop-star himself.

Prof. Adreanna Clay recounts a 1969 television appearance on the Ed Sullivan show, where a child Michael Jackson leads his brothers in a cover of Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You,” singing lyrics about love lost on the playground. However, through this skillful portrayal of an adult male mourning the loss of his true love, he was accepted as a man. In her talk, Clay argues that the public’s sexualization and later disposal of Michael Jackson as a Black male in the public sphere, mirrors the spectacularization of Black men and Black male bodies in popular culture and discourse.