Did Michael Jackson influence prog?

 

Prog metal band Lemur Voice did Beat it (genuine cover) on one of their albums. I couldn't believe it but it's true. Other than that, no role for MJ in our business I feel.

 

I can easily tell you that Michael Jackson was aware of what we call progressive music, and thing ... and I know that he had listened to Space Pirate Radio many times ... and even had commented on it.

 

To my ear, the mixes of music he went on to make in the 80's that really made him big, is to me a sign of a man who had heard other things and had developed a really good ear for music and became a lot less afraid to mix it up ... which was one of the big things in a lot of music in those days ... than most of his peers and counterparts and specially Motown ... who is one of the worst labels when it comes to variation and different types of music ... but then, Barry made the label for himself, not others! We never discuss that!

 

In the end, his mixes with various other talents in music did the one thing that was not very common, and that was to mix music to such an extent ... that helped bring down the color barriers, which had been a massive issue in the 60's and even into the 70's ... up until that time, there were not many colored artists that sold in the rock areas or vice versa. Case closed ... it crosses and by its very existance forced one of the most visible changes in TV ... MTV had to wake up and realize that it was screwed up! ... and they should be big enough and honest enough to apologize and say thanks to Michael ... but they won't, they made their money off his music and videos. It just shows you how much respect there existed for other musics and musicians, specially colored folks at that time.

 

As such, someone that caused change where so many had given their lives, including Dr. Martin Luther King ... he is important, not only to "prog" but to a lot of music ... I'm not sure that he will ever be given credit for a lot ... for a while ... until the elvis'h rip offs get done ... I'm betting that there will be 4 albums of music and one of them is going to be massive (the 2nd one, not the 1st) ... so that more people can drain his heart and soul ... like they did.

 

As far as him influencing prog, he really didn't.  His career started at the end of the 60s, the same time as most of the classic prog groups, but he was a little kid singing motown songs written by other people.  His style of singing was motown and r&b, which influenced some prog artists like Phil Collins in the 80s, but I wouldn't say it was Michael Jackson's work in the Jackson 5 that specifically influenced his early solo records.

 

Peter Gabriel, on the otherhand, may have been influenced a little bit dance-wise, if you watch some of his 80s concerts in which he incorporates dance coreography, something Micheal Jackson mastered like no other artist.  It really wasn't until the 80s that Jackson had any sort of influence on prog artists.  He worked with Paul McCartney on a few songs, and they probably influenced each other on those collaborations (before their falling out).  I think Jackson's influence on prog was felt more visually than musically, namely in the long epic videos which eventually was used by rock bands both prog and non-prog.  And as more and more prog bands became pop in the 80s and 90s, it's possible they were all somewhat influenced by "the king of pop" to some degree.  (ie Yes 90125 and "The Calling" as mentioned above).

 

But I think we're neglecting to mention how much prog influenced Micheal Jackson.  There's no doubt he was influenced by The Beatles to a large degree.  The extravagent stage shows and epic songs/storylines were something that started becoming popular with prog and Michael Jackson incorporated some of that into his videos and pop songs.  Some of the guitar playing on his songs (the finger tapping in Beat It for example) was influenced by prog.  The blending of different styles of music, though not purely a progressive feature, was definitely made popular by prog of the 70s, and something Michael Jackson did often in his music.  I would definitely say Michael Jackson was more influenced by prog than he influenced it.