Michael Jackson: The Case Against

I've never really liked ol' Jacko, even before his recent(and not so recent) troubles.

Partly, this is down to my mother, who loved him. She also loved Cliff Richard and Barbra Streisand. She almost turned me off the Beatles as well, but thankfully Ian MacDonald, God rest his blessed soul, set me straight.

Partly this is due to the boring predictability to which every single boy band and boy artist has followed his lead ever since. Ask any member of Westlife who they admire the most and they will tell you: Michael Jackson and Madonna, the two biggest record shifters of all time. They don't like them for their music or their talent. They like them because they're disgustingly successful, something they, and every artist these days, desires above all else. At least Madonna tries to change the script now and then, but Jackson has done nothing other than rely on other people to write and produce his records and then sing them in a high voice with lots of whoops. And guess what? Every boy band since sings in that same stupid way, like daft little sheep trying to cling to his coattails. Try telling them that John Lennon, Noddy Holder and Phil Oakey sold almost as many records in their time without singing as if their balls caught fire and they'd look at you blankly. Because they only 'almost' sold as many.

Partly, this is also due to his sheer, naked ambition. For someone who has known success nearly his whole life, it seems that he never tires of it. I'm old enough to remember when Jackomania was at its height; I even remember when he played Aintree Racecourse - the sort of gig, like Spike Island, that no-one has ever repeated. The sound of Jackomania was people continuously yelling at you about how great he was. David Beckham, Robbie Williams, Princess Diana and Nemo the Fish are all amateurs compared to the PR might Jacko shamelessly marshalled to tell the world about what a fantastic performer he was, how he was the 'King of Pop'. He seems to employ spokespeople based on their ruthlessness, as evidenced by the time of the Victory tour with the rest of the Jacksons when just about every record sleeve and poster made damn sure that Michael's name was not only above his brothers but in as big a type and with as many credits as possible. If you do that to your own family, the rest of the world hasn't got a chance.

Which leads me on to the main reason I don't like Michael Jackson. It's that childishness which he's invested himself all these years. Don't get me wrong, that probably isn't an act and he really is just someone desperate not to grow up. But aside from the obvious fact that a grown man with a grown man's sexuality hanging around a bunch of kids is probably what lead him into his current mess, he also shamelessly exhibits that perpetually annoying aspect of childishness: brattiness. Anything he can get away with he goes for, hence his usual PR blitzkrieg; e.g. his riposte to the Bashir documentary which made all the news programmes and papers, as well as a long documentary on Sky, yet consisted of his having caught Bashir saying how great Jackson's kids were. That really was it.

Hence also his recent announcement that the LA police roughed him up, despite the evidence that they probably did no such thing. Try and picture Jackson in a corner, sulking after he'd been told off for misbehaving once too often and looking around for anything to blame. Suddenly it all makes sense. It might be amusing except for the fact that he's blighted the pop world for nigh on twenty years (the utter decline of decent pop music can be roughly timed to when Thriller hit big and everyone tried to follow his slash and burn strategies) and he's also may have blighted the lives of many children in more personal ways.