HOW MICHAEL JACKSON SMASHED THE WALLS OF COLOUR

 

HOW MICHAEL JACKSON SMASHED THE WALLS OF COLOUR

Perhaps Michael Jackson's most significant achievement came with videos.

Like magazine covers, Grammys and radio, Michael Jackson's plan to overcome color barriers was, simply, to do something so good that MTV couldn't resist it. When he saw the canal and the nascent art there for the first time, he was fascinated, but felt it wasn't close to the potential it had.

“At that time ,” he later wrote , “I looked at what people were doing with video and I didn’t understand why so many seemed primitive and weak. I saw children watching boring videos and accepting them because they had no alternatives.”

In fact, most music videos at that time were simply presented as promos or commercials. They typically featured some kind of montage of images or live performances. Jackson envisioned something different: he wanted to tell a story.

Michael's first opportunity to realize this vision came with Billie Jean . With a then exorbitant budget of $75,000 paid by CBS, Jackson and director Steve Barron created a small masterpiece. There were the dance steps, of course: spins and twirls. However, it was the total transformation of cinematography and the mystery of the narrative that really impacted

MTV initially refused to air the video, citing its policy of only airing rock music. However, the president of CBS, Walter Yetnikoff , who had released a huge amount of money for the video, in addition to the interest of promoting the Thriller album , did not accept the refusal of his biggest artist. “I told MTV, 'I'm pulling all our artists ,'” Yetnikoff recalls. “'I won't give you one more video. And I'm going to go out to the audience and tell them about the fact that you don't want to play a black guy's music. '”

MTV relented and quickly put Billie Jean into heavy rotation due to audience demand.

With that decision, the walls crumbled.

After the success of the Billie Jean video, Jackson upped the ante with Beat It. For this song, he had a specific concept in mind. He wanted the anti-violence message to be taken literally, but he didn't want to be soft or didactic. To execute his vision he hired talented commercial director Bob Giraldi and brilliant choreographer Michael Peters . He also insisted on filming the videos on the streets of Los Angeles rather than in a studio. When CBS refused to pay for the budget, Jackson provided the money, his own.

The result was the most revolutionary and influential music video that MTV had broadcast up to that point. Inspired, in part, by the Broadway musical West Side Story , Beat It showcased both grace and courage. The group choreography, with Jackson leading in his iconic red jacket, became the blueprint for countless music videos to come.

Beat It was approached with a level of realism and ambition that made it completely different from other music videos of the era. The final product was original, provocative and innovative. MTV played the video even more than Billie Jean, as ratings continued to climb. The short film would go on to win numerous awards and honors, including Best Music Video of All Time, from Rolling Stones readers and critics. It, too, put the final nail in the coffin of MTV's reluctance to play black artists.

And then came the video for “Thriller .” From the beginning it was treated more like a feature film, with an unprecedented budget of $500,000 (a number that would balloon to almost 1 million). Jackson attracted comedy director John Landis (known then for An American Werewolf in London ) to direct the video. At the time, Landis didn't know much about Michael Jackson, but decided the project sounded intriguing enough for him to embark on. Once work began, however, he soon realized he was part of a phenomenon.

“It was wonderful working with Michael Jackson at that time,” Landis recalls, “because it was the height of it — it was like working with the Beatles at the height of Beatlemania or something, it was extraordinary to be with him, because he was absurdly famous.”

The fourteen-minute video is now almost universally recognized as the most successful, influential and culturally significant music video of all time. Countless publications and research have recognized Thriller as the best music video ever made.

Michael Jackson definitively proved that music has no borders or color.