July 23, 2009

OK, admittedly, talking about the musical contributions of Michael Jackson is a challenge, when so much has already been so brilliantly articulated and expressed.

Yet, there’s something going on in all of this mourning, celebration, remembrance and hunger for more (MTV: Michael Jackson's Thriller Set To Become Top-Selling Album Of All Time) that has to do, specifically, with his supreme talent and category-defying music, and yet more generally with music itself.

What else would cause this sort of outpouring? Or, for that matter the desire to so connect?  Throughout the world, people have sought this connection both locally in their communities, towns and cities, to connect in their personal relation to the artist and the music, as well as globally, spectacularly, across continents and to the tune of millions upon millions of viewers, bloggers and participants

We can look at the absolutely unique nature of Michael’s musical talent, skill, accomplishment and impact.  For those of us (ahem) over 30 (and beyond), “The Wall,’ “Thriller,” etc. were the soundtrack to our proms and basement dances, weddings and bar mitzvahs, first music video-viewing and dance-move-emulating.

But there’s something profound here occurring with Michael but is beyond Michael which is . . . how all of us relate to music.  How it defines our lives.  That song at that moment, that album when we needed it, that love forever associated. That other person or group of friends who get that artist that you worship that makes you smile inside and determines that you are, well . . . friends!

And now more than ever, when has music connected us more?  From discovering that band online directly, newly, to being part of a throng at a concert, to voting for that Idol, to finding out about an after-show from a social networking post to never being without the life soundtrack – car, gym, home, shower.

Music moves us.  And, what is also part of Michael’s legacy – brilliantly as shown through “We Are the World,” “Camp Ronald McDonald,” or Ryan White (countless examples) – is the way . . . music moves us.

In what other art form, through what other medium are we as moved and motivated to get involved.  What other sector, what other range of human beings truly hear the call, heed the call and sound the call.  Through this (and forgive me any hyperbole) . . .  human history has truly been changed.  Through Live AID and Live Earth, Post -9/11 and Post-Katrina, from musical instruments in schools to cancer research for children, from third world debt to hunger in our towns (again, countless examples), musicians have rallied and lent their voices and moved us to do the same.

But, in the end, it’s simpler than global.  It’s your kid’s school recital.  It’s the song sung at the funeral that defines the moment.  It’s the first dance as a couple. It’s the song or the album that will always transport you to that specific place, good or bad, that experience or that person.

That is music.  And that is eternal.  Thanks, Michael, for reminding us of that.

Joel Flatow

General Manager, West Coast Operations/Senior Vice President, Artist & Industry Relations, RIAA