HeyMercedesJax

Whenever I walk into a bookstore I travel the same path: meander through the fiction section -> peruse through the biographies/religion/self-help -> and then finally mosey on over to the music section and foolishly scan the shelves for anything Michael Jackson-related. Inevitably, I run into the same 1 of 2 issues:

1. there are zero Michael Jackson books or
2. there’s a tabloid book, ghoulishly diving into his “scandals”

Every time this happens, I have to ask: how on earth does one of the most important figures in music/entertainment (and “arguably” the most important in pop music — quotations used here to denote ~impartiality~) not have dozens of books seriously dissecting his music, his performance, his dance, his lyrics, his style, his philosophies, his art?

There are was a brief moment in time (the 5 years or so after his death in 2009) when these books sort of popped up, like Joseph Vogel’s Man in the Music, Michael Bush’s The King of Style, and Susan Fast’s 33 1/3 Dangerous entry but the number of books still paled in comparison to other musical giants. And after the trash debacle of 2019, new books about Michael basically disappeared or were required to have absurd asterisks even when it had nothing to do with the subject at hand (including the updated foreword/introduction of Man in the Music for whatever reason). This lack of serious scholarship is not only a pet peeve of mine as a fan, but it poses a huge problem in the sense of historical accuracy: when future students, researchers and commentators search for music history sources, Michael (as of this moment) will be largely MIA.

The lack of scholarly studies on Michael Jackson, as an artist, humanitarian, and general human being has allowed for disinformation to soar. The usual debunk-able theories about his skin, face, and eccentricities have run amok throughout the decades but there seems to now be an increase in people (both the average music fan and the “serious” music journalist alike) attempting to render him as nothing more than a glittering apparition who moonwalked. Scores of alleged music aficionados on social media, in music publications, radio shows and podcasts accredit all of his success to other people like Rod Temperton or Quincy Jones, inaccurately stating that all of Michael’s hits were written by Temperton or Jones or that Jones somehow created Michael (Temperton wrote 5 songs on Off the Wall and Thriller combined. Jones is not a songwriter, he’s a producer. Michael wrote or co-wrote the majority of his 13 number one hits and he already had major writing credits on Destiny, Triumph, and Victory but we’re getting distracted). Even more annoyingly, random fans of other pop singers take joy in claiming that Michael can’t sing or – even better – could only sing when he was “Black”, an entirely different conversation for a different day. 

The blame, partially, lays at Michael’s feet. During his lifetime, few, if any, of his interviews with major media outlets actually revolved around his music. We didn’t get any “Unplugged” moments, he stuck to a rather tight concert setlist not allowing for his lesser known songs to get shine, and we were rarely allowed into his process; his perfectionism meant we were only allowed to experience his work when it was at its absolute best. His 1988 autobiography Moonwalk didn’t offer much by way of his musical process either. In my opinion, it often felt as though Michael was more interested in crafting his persona as a larger than life, mysterious, magical being who blurred the lines between fantasy and reality rather than giving us the down and dirty of his artistic operations. Giving us too much of the pre-work would ground him too deeply in the real as opposed to the fantastic. His plan worked to a great degree — Michael continues to mystify and amaze those who encounter his music 15 years after his passing and 23 years after his last full studio album. And he might’ve assumed that he gave us enough through the work itself so we didn’t need the rough drafts (except for a few of the demos I assume he reluctantly gave us on The Ultimate Collection).

I feel that outside of the hit musical MJ, the long-standing fan fave Vegas MJ One, and the upcoming 2025 biopic Michael we must ensure there is serious study of Jackson. I keep searching for deep-dives, hoping that other people will truly recognize him as a text for a multitude of subjects but so little seems to exist. To be fair, there are a number of great MJ influencers and podcasters (1, 2) around, we all have access to YouTube videos like the 1993 Mexico deposition and, if you’re lucky, in-person seminars like Brad Sundberg’s In The Studio with MJ but not enough is being written down! We have too many articles, hit pieces, essays, and random annotations in other celebrities’ miserable memoirs about Michael but he deserves so much more, especially with much greater focus on his artistry. 

So here we are. As an almost-academic and long time media observer I’m staking my claim as a Michael Jackson scholar. I’ll be here to deep dive into the music, the words, the performances, the interviews, and yes, the small number of well-written Michael Jackson books to write about the things I always hope to see in bookstores but never do. Join me in this journey! Share your favorite Michael Jackson media (of all types) and your thoughts — lets get this Michael Jackson degree, together!!