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Black or White: A Rhetorical Criticism of a Michael Jackson Standard
By adam.cozens | June 26, 2009
Well, I suppose there is no better time than the present to re-release one of the most poorly-constructed, yet personally entertaining term papers I had the honor of putting together during my scholastic career. Enjoy…
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Black or White:
A Rhetorical Criticism of a Michael Jackson Standard
By: Adam Cozens
Rhetorical Criticism
March 14, 2006
A Paper in Three Parts
Part I
Since the beginning of modern communication, man has tried to figure out an appropriate and logical way of conveying his feelings on topics that are of important to him. He has found through the trial and error of attempting these methods that not all ways of demonstrating communication are applicable to all who hear it. Only those that fall within the range of his argument community are able to comprehend and appreciate his message when he gives it to them in their context. So thanks to this, or perhaps in protest to it, communication has evolved and rhetoric has been improved. Now the scope of communication has been opened and the fields of which messages can be heard, interpreted, appreciated and left open for debate are far greater than those of the past. In this following exhaustive critique, I plan to show how rhetoric can be used in one of the areas of current communication that is most often thought of to be void of substance: popular music.
It was the first day of March in 1991. An unknown African-American Los Angelino named Rodney King and two friends of his became involved in a high speed car chase with the Los Angeles Police Department. At the conclusion of the chase, Rodney and his guests got out of their car and when the night ended, an incident was documented on video that will live in infamy and caused much public outrage.
On that night, Rodney King was beaten badly and brutally by the Caucasian police officers of the LAPD that had been pursuing him and thanks to a nearby home video recording, the footage of Rodney’s un-‘by the book’ arrest was shown to millions of people in the comfort of their own home. While anger was heavy at this point and racial accusations begun flying by the two sides involved in the incident, what transpired at the following court case would send the nation into many states of civil unrest.
When a jury of Rodney’s peers found the LAPD officers accused of maliciously beating him to be not guilty, in a way of words, all hell broke loose. Rioting in the streets, burning of buildings, public assaults and overall senses of fear and anger were breaking out in the inner-cities of America. While many public officials and race-leaders spoke out against this chaos, their words for the most part fell on deaf ears. The riots had to continue until it had run its course. Similar to that of a fire that extinguishes itself when there is nothing left to burn to keep it alive, when the anger inside the people demonstrated dried up, there was nothing to do but stop.
In November of 1991, right in the middle of this terrifying landscape, popular music artist Michael Jackson released his fourth solo album entitled: Dangerous. The first of his seven singles to be released off the album was a four-minute song simply titled “Black or White”. While the title of that song along could be left to interpretation as to it’s meaning, the lyrical content centers exactly on the point that the artist so passionately chose to present.
The audience to Jackson’s record was the American people, specifically the youth many of whom were being confronted for the first time with issues of racism and were daily being forced to figure out where they stood on the topic. Despite one’s age, they could not escape the debacle as everyday the action was transmitted into living rooms across the country. Everything from the home video tape being played countless times, to the trial to the aftermath made for prime-time viewing. It was everywhere. Responsible parents were having to come at this with full-force and help their children sort through these issues.
It was with these circumstances in mind that Jackson wrote and released “Black or White” at the time he did. While he knew that the infectious pop song would rule the airwaves regardless thanks to its catchy beat and funky rhythm, for the first time in Jackson’s mainly fun-loving, care-free career, he had the podium to say something to change the culture and he decided to utilize this.
While pop music has been used throughout the ages to speak out to the nations in a unique, uniform way, music at the time of this release was going through a spell of conformity where everyone was trying to find that “Seattle-voice” or trying to hock their synthesizers in exchange for a solid bassist. In 1991, a clear statement needed to be made through music in a way that not even the exciting new technology of cable television could. Michael Jackson was the biggest star in the world and only he was big enough to get the attention of an entire country.
Contextually, this song was released at the perfect time. While this record in no way can be thought of as the sole reason for the peaceful resolve that came months later, Jackson found a way through the medium of popular radio and music television to deliver a statement that was so loud, everyone had to turn and listen: “it don’t matter if you’re black or white”.
“Black or White” made a big jump from it’s previous mark in the high 30’s to reaching the #1 spot on the Billboard Hot 200 charts in only the songs second week of release. Due to the demand to hear this talented performer as well as to listen to the picture of reconciliation that he paints in the four-minute lyrical Picasso, the single remained in place at number one for seven straight weeks. This was clearly a song that meant something to a great many people.
In the early 1990’s there was no wide-usage of the internet and cable television was still only a commodity that some had access to, despite its substantial growth from previous years. To find out the latest happenings as to a controversial court-case or any other big story, you had three options 1.) wait until the morning when the newspaper came out, 2.) crowd with your family around the television set at 7, 12, 5 and 11 o’clock to get quick updates or 3.) hope that your favorite television show got a ‘special announcement’ cut-in to interrupt regularly scheduled programming. The race riots across the country drew many of these cut-ins and garnered front-page newspaper attention for weeks, but similar as to how rap music was described as the “CNN of the Streets” in the late 80’s due to it’s true-to-life investigative story-telling of life on the other side of the tracks, Michael Jackson used popular, radio promoted music to get the story out that was not being covered: race should not separate us.
While many different artists could have used their fame to attempt to squelch the violence and bring peace to the land, none had the credibility built up with the people that Michael Jackson had. While in the current context that I am writing this, Jackson has seemingly lost all ethos but in 1991, he was a man who commanded respect. Having never previously exploitatively used his fame to attempt to change people’s mind (save the infamous “We are the World” concert) the public was interested in Michael’s stance and were not at a place in their realm of comfort where they were tired of hearing his messages preach to ad-naseum. Along with this, Michael Jackson was (and still is) a black man. While anger flowed from all corners of the hemisphere following the Rodney King verdict, young African-American men were the ones most associated with the violence and destruction. To have a young black man, one of ‘them’ as viewed by those of the other side of the fence, speak out against violence and racism, it made a much bigger impact than another white politician calling for an end to the insanity.
As addressed in this initial installment of my rhetorical criticism, the time, occasion and context were all very important as far as the release of this song. The audience for this track was able to understand and appreciate what was said in part to the way that the message was communicated (through popular music) and the historical setting made the tracks release influential.
Part II
In the winter of 1982, a 24 year-old pop-singer from the Midwest town of Gary, Indiana released an album that was as culturally defining as it was spectacular. The second solo album from this performer who had been involved in the music business since he was 11 was promoted as being of the beginning of a musical dynasty which had no expected boundaries. Just as promised, on December 1st Michael Jackson released Thriller. After only a few weeks climbing the Billboard charts, Thriller landed at the #1 spot and remained there for 17 weeks straight and stayed in the overall top four for the next 66 weeks. With these numbers along with continued sales from the generations that followed, Michael Jackson’s sophomore album has been said to be the best selling album world-wide of all time with 60 million copies sold.
Following Thriller, Jackson took a five-year hiatus from recording before releasing the 30 million selling (worldwide total) album Bad. Despite the album’s title, fans found the record to be anything but that in which it is described. Bad holds the Billboard charts record for being the first album to have its first five singles debut at the number one spot.
America was enamored with Michael. It seemed that everything he attached himself to became a hit. Disney capitalized on this success and sponsored a Francis Ford Coppola directed, George Lucas produced 3-D movie show at their theme parks called “Captain EO”. Michael was portrayed as the title superhero whose job was to deliver a gift to an evil alien queen, and in the process, get her to see her inner beauty and make her a nice creature. While the story sure seems ridiculous, it was highly successful and with Michael’s two original songs being included, its total run-time at assorted Disney Parks was over twelve years. As you can see from that example, Michael was far from being selective with what he was to attach his name to, but at the same time
It seemed that Michael and his image could not be stopped. From famous guest appearances on television shows, to expensive commercial deals to thousands of magazine covers, Michael was a dominant force in the world of entertainment, and to an extent, the world itself.
When Michael released the song “Black or White” as the first single off of his 4th solo album Dangerous, Michael had already established himself as a voice to be listened to. He had already built up credibility in the eyes of his audience by continuously putting out great music that appealed to their senses of enjoyment and had built a strong rapport with them by not forcing his views down upon them.
In the late 1960’s and early-to-mid 70’s, before Michael became a solo star, he was a child member of his families R&B recording group named The Jackson 5 (later forced to be renamed “The Jacksons”). Since audiences had seen him perform since he was 11 years old, it was as if grew up with them and he had the same feelings and social perspectives that they did. So, in 1991 when Michael released “Black or White”, it was their first chance to his political side and since he had not been using his position in the spotlight to his advantage previously, they accepted it as a genuine, respectable statement.
By being able to be seen from such a young age and growing up in front of the eyes of his peers and fans, Jackson was viewed as “one of them” by his audience. He wasn’t some super musician that was grown behind the scenes and came into prominence all of a sudden to much pomp and circumstance. It was like seeing one of the kids from your neighborhood succeed. Everyone wanted to support him. One reason of this, is that despite his music being timeless and wonderfully, Mr. Jackson has never had a lot of depth lyrically. He sang of loves and life and relationships, all common topics in pop music and life itself. This helped him not get too distanced from his audience. As he grew older and became a bigger star, it was harder for people to hang to that prior feeling of relationship with the soon to be “King of Pop”. He was beyond what they knew, but they still felt that he spoke to what they knew of as well.
Being from the Midwest town of Gary, Indiana, Michael was raised in a community that did not immediately immerse him in world full of glitz and glamour. He lived in a town which holds to an 84% black population and was raised and treated as most young African-Americans were. He was not always held up on a pedestal of perfection for the world to admire. Following his families success, Michael went solo and eventually moved out to the very affluent, very Caucasian town of Santa Barbara, California. It was during this time that he first penned “Black or White”.
By being able to draw upon both lifestyles, Michael was able have a real perspective on what he was talking about in the song. He had experienced different angles of racial relations and that builds up his credibility in the eyes of his audience.
With all of Michael Jackson’s success in terms of tours, endorsements, and above all, record sales, Michael was undeniably someone who knew what he was doing in the music industry. Being an entertainer from such a young age, Michael had received special training his entire life on not just how to be a singer, but a message deliverer are well. At the point that the song “Black or White” came out, Michael had achieved a high degree of credibility with his audience due to his previous successes.
Part III
1991 was a crowded time in the music world. Southern college music heroes R.E.M. had released their seminal mainstream classic Out of Time and had singles like “Losing My Religion” and “Shiny Happy People” dominating the popular music charts. Up north, a quartet of young men from Philadelphia named Boyz II Men were breaking onto the national music scene and garnering immediate attention from Grammy judges as well as radio program directors thanks to their “Mo-town”-esque stylings. In San Francisco, a group once boycotted and demonstrated against for supposedly having satanic messages incorporated into its lyrics was winning awards for their self-titled rock album, Metallica. But the year in music was dominated by a second generation diva who went to great lengths to create an album with her late father and did so in beautiful fashion when Natalie Cole released Unforgettable (Infoplease.com, 2006).
In order to get heard in this busy landscape, a performer had to, for lack of a better term, really “bring it”. He or she could not stick to simple and often used rhythms and lyrics to get noticed, not could they afford to simply release an album and expect it to sell just based on name value. The shelves of the record shops were packed full of hot new releases and in order to create a hit, you needed to make the audience really feel what you wanted to get across.
The first single off of Michael Jackson’s 1991 album Dangerous exemplifies the kind of records that had to be made in order to succeed in this tough battleground for airwave and purchase superiority. Unlike many on popular radio, the song in question, “Black or White” is not an easy listening track that slowly seeps into your ears allowing the subconscious to gradually pick up on the artist or focus. Instead, the song opens up with a heavy guitar lick that rotates between the stereo speakers and demands for immediate listening attention. The riff has almost no musical correlation to the rest of the song, but it does serve as a signal of sorts that an exciting song is about to begin and all attention should be directed to it. Following the riff, the mainstay musical bed of the song is laid out: a series of fun and dance-like slide progressions preformed by Guns ‘N Roses lead guitarist Slash.
At this point, the mood of the song seems to be set up. An explosive, attention capturing opening, mixed with a fun, energetic beat = another Michael Jackson pop spectacular to be played in the clubs and school hallways. This is where Michael Jackson throws the audience a curveball. Lyrically, the song opens up similarly to a lot of his other numbers with his singing about a night out with a lady friend and them both having a grand time.
I Took My Baby
On A Saturday Bang
Boy, Is That Girl With You?
Yes, We’re One And The Same
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
As the third line states (and in the context of the song, it is being asked TO him by an outside party) someone is questioning the relationship of the young lady with Michael that evening. It is implied that the girl is of a different race than that of Michael and there was shock by the third party as to their connection to one another. Michael responds that despite their looks, they are in fact, one and the same.
Now I Believe In Miracles
And A Miracle
Has Happened Tonight
But, If
You’re Thinkin’
About My Baby
It Don’t Matter If You’re
Black Or White
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
As the first set of lines above indicates, Michael is telling us this story from a ‘flashback’ perspective and now he is recounting the events that unfolded to produce this story. He is of the belief that he was able to accomplish something with his words through the conversation with this currently unknown third-party which could potentially make some sort of miracle happen.
The next series of lines come back to his conversation with this third party, almost as if he is finishing up his previous thoughts which previously were thought to end with the line “Yes We’re One And The Same”. He is now stating that whether the third party is black or white, it doesn’t matter, because all races love the kind of woman that he is with. Affection for the women that he is with is apparently a natural common ground for all men around the world.
While the third section of lyrics flowed perfectly in-sync with the rest of the song, those lines also double as what would considered to be the traditional ‘chorus’ although by traditional standards, this song does not have one. Following the lines, the guitar riffs sparks up again and emphasizes the last words before heading into the solo: “it don’t matter if you’re black or white.”
They Print My Message
In The Saturday Sun
I Had To Tell Them
I Ain’t Second To None
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
We as the listener learn here that the previously unknown third-party who was asking Michael questions earlier in the first verse was actually a reporter and the message that Michael delivered about it not making a difference which race you had to be to appreciate his girl-friend is now on newsstands everywhere and being pondered by many people with different perspectives. Was this the miracle that took place? Was Michael’s running into a paparazzi reporter that would go onto to publish his quote a miracle in Jackson’s eyes? It appears so.
And I Told About Equality
An It’s True
Either You’re Wrong
Or You’re Right
But, If
You’re Thinkin’
About My Baby
It Don’t Matter If You’re
Black Or White
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
Jackson finishes his thoughts on what was printed and how it was hopefully influential on people’s beliefs on equality, before diving back into his point-of-reference line.
It is at this point in the song that things take a much darker approach. The guitar takes a slightly less poppy sound and this allows Michael to vent for four bars on his thoughts about what is going on around him. While lyrically it stays similar to his overall theme, it is thrown into the song at a time where it really catches the audiences attention. The audience has been digging the song so far and are enjoying the dance-y beat, so this is the perfect time to change things up and really hammer the point home. Jackson does not say it ‘spoken word’, but he does switch up his vocal characteristics to show a different style of focusing is going to be used.
I Am Tired Of This Devil
I Am Tired Of This Stuff
I Am Tired Of This Business
Sew When The
Going Gets Rough
I Ain’t Scared Of
Your Brother
I Ain’t Scared Of No Sheets
I Ain’t Scare Of Nobody
Girl When The
Goin’ Gets Mean
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
The “devil” that Jackson references can be interpreted most likely to mean the hate inside people and this “stuff” can be the propaganda and actions of people when they late that hate overwhelm them. He is also tired apparently of the “quitters” attitude used by many in his line of work when things don’t seem to go their way and they need a scapegoat.
Then Jackson comes back to the main theme: racism directed at him, a black man, and his women, a women of a different race, most likely white. With the “I ain’t scared of your brother” line, Jackson is making his feelings of racism to be very real and close to us all. It is not just something that is found in the south or in a place that is far away from where we sit today. It is right down the hall. It is our brothers who treat those unlike them poorly. It is our sisters too. And then, we are forced to look at ourselves and realize it is all of us that Jackson is talking about. He makes sure we are following his message by immediately following it up with “I ain’t scared of no sheets”, an obvious reference to the Ku Klux Klan white-supremacy organization. By coupling a mention of our own relatives with a reference to a hugely known racist organization, it cements to point that racism and discrimination are much closer to home that many of us realize, or want to realize.
Following this mini-diatribe in musical form, Jackson employs a different style of music to further illustrate his passion for ending discrimination. He turns to a form of music that had just recently become accepted by mainstream culture and was still in the building-blocks of achieving credibility. He turned to rap music.
Protection
For Gangs, Clubs
And Nations
Causing Grief
In Human Relations
It’s A Turf War
On A Global Scale
I’d Rather Hear Both Sides
Of The Tale
See, It’s Not About Races
Just Places
Faces
Where Your Blood
Comes From
Is Where Your Space Is
I’ve Seen The Bright
Get Duller
I’m Not Going To Spend
My Life Being A Color
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
Despite Michael’s numerous industry connections, he did not choose to have a well known rapper perform the verse on the song, instead calling upon an unknown performing who went by the name of L.B.T. What L.B.T. did post this song is unknown, but what is known is his rhymes direction matched with the rest of Jackson’s song in a seamless fashion.
Making reference to the various race organizations and color-divided gangs across the planet, L.B.T. refers to what is taking place to be something of a “Turf-War” where everyone is trying to take control over what little land that is left instead of sharing it with everyone. He hammers home Jackson’s previous statements and denounces using races and colors and dividing lines and makes a commentary about how when that is used, what was once bright and full of possibility is now much duller due to hate and waste.
The overall, predominant theme to the song is slammed home at the end of L.B.T.’s rap with the line: “I’m not going to spend my life being a color”. While that line by itself should be able to stand out due to it’s profoundness, the producers of the record made it even more so, by taking out the background instrumentation and letting the line be the only thing heard for those one and a half seconds.
Following the rap, Jackson returns to his initial pace from this beginning of the song and brings the positive dance beat with him. Unlike the beginning of the song however, the stage has now been set for the audience and Michael can speak more freely over the fun instrumental without necessarily guarding his words.
Don’t Tell Me You Agree With Me
When I Saw You Kicking Dirt In My Eye
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
In this line Michael Jackson becomes every man. He says that while we may be listening to this song and nodding out heads and agreeing with the statements, if we act poorly upon our differently raced brothers, we are kicking dirt in his eye and we are not being true to our words. He is really calling out those listening for a change of heart. Previously in the song, Michael relates to us areas that all CAN agree on, then he sets it so that we realize that we SHOULD be on the same side and now he is emphasizing the need to do so or else become traitorous to ourselves. Michael leaves us no ground to be intolerant of others.
But, If
You’re Thinkin’ About My Baby
It Don’t Matter If
You’re Black Or White
I Said If
You’re Thinkin’ Of
Being My Baby
It Don’t Matter If
You’re Black Or White
(Seek Lyrics, 2006)
In the second section Michael makes a brief twist of the words to show how it is not just US who think about wanting this lady, but any other lady who might have interest in Michael needs to pay to attention to the color of his skin. “Baby” in this context can also be used to mean any sort of friendship or relationship. If you want to be his friend, he does not care if you are black or white or yellow or red or green. He loves you all!
Michael’s repeated use of the phrase “It Don’t Matter if You’re Black or White” as the hook for the song is perfect for sending out his desired message. While he could have just integrated the themes into the song and had a less obtrusive hook, by making it so brash and to-the-point, Jackson is forcing fans of popular music to keep the message on the tips of their tongues. By making it sing-songy and for the most-part ‘un-dark’, the song is made accessible and enjoyable to a much wider audience then most politically charged songs and it’s infectious beat and melody make it a song that you can catch yourself singing in any situation.
The contrast of the beat of the song versus the message is ironic in nature. Usually a message so serious and important is layered in a much different way with more focus on telling the message straight instead of jumping around it with stories and so much flavor. But Jackson knew the audience that he was trying to reach would not respond to a song like the style just mentioned. Like any great speaker, Jackson had to meet his audience where they were. He could not expect them to change in order to hear his new message. He had to keep it the same in order to achieve the desired results.
In writing and performing the song “Black or White” Michael used many forms of rational arguments. In the beginning of the song, Jackson illustrates a woman who is so beautiful that all men desire to be with her, regardless of her or their race. If we can all agree that a woman is of beautiful to all, why can’t we be more understanding of each other in other capacities? Another example of Jackson using rational arguments is in his and rapper L.B.T.’s arguments of how much brighter the world could be and how if we all worked together how much more powerful we could all be if we could end this pointless human on human in-fighting.
Michael uses a very of aesthetic means to convey his message. From going into the song with an attention get guitar riff, to the poppy instrumental played over the duration of the song, to the venting diatribe to the rap solo interjected, Jackson created a multi-layered song that made for a very enjoyable listen, even with it’s uncomfortable subject matter.
One aspect of the song that is often overlooked is the rap interjection and it’s affect on his listening audience. In 1991, rap music was for the black audience. It was beginning to get it’s own radio stations and fan followings and it was not commonly integrated with ‘mainstream’ music. Combine that with the guitar used by Guns ‘N Roses’ Slash and you have a combination of two very different fan-bases. You have your rock fans liking the song and your rap fans liking the song. And on top of that, the man responsible for it all was a pop musician with no distinguishable links to the other two, accept for their commonness as human beings. So by branching these three musical genre’s together, the song is able to reach a much wider audience than it could have if done differently and it makes the song better thanks to it. By putting this ‘black’ music into the homes of the white kids who are buying Michael’s records, they are learning about a new culture that previously may not have been accessible to them.
The biggest appeal to value that the song made was the line at the very end of L.B.T.’s rap: “I don’t want to spend my life being a color.” No matter how much pride you have in your race, or your religion or your job, no one wants to be labeled as something short of what they are worth. And on top of that, no one wants to be labeled as a ‘thing’. So by making people realize that thinking of others only in means of black or white, they were limiting others as well as limiting themselves. That appealed to peoples values of what they wanted. It came back to the principle of treating others the way that they would want to be treated and it was used at a tool to make people feel foolish about the way that they viewed themselves and each other.
The song “Black or White” came out at a very influential and tumultuous time in American culture. Despite this, the song and its message were able to break through and become the center point of a movement that moved a generation and encouraged more concentrated efforts by people to think over what they believed and how they wanted to treat others.
While the song in itself did not stop the Rodney King riots, hopefully the message displayed by Michael Jackson and the others responsible for it will be enough to hopefully discourage another one from happening.
Topics: APU, Bloggin', Celeb, Dead, Entertainment, Exclusive, Los Angeles, Music, Random, The Man |
March 9th, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Well,I love your paper and really enjoy what u found about MJ’s songs.
PS:I am a postgraduate from Chinese and now really busy preparing my thesis. The theme is similar to your study called “A rhetorical analysis of Faye Wong’s songs”.
Faye Wong is one of my favorite singers in China. She is great.
Thank for your article and it indeed bring me much inspiration.
July 15th, 2010 at 9:37 am
what a great work! actually, i’ve already finished my undergraduate thesis about this video music by using mise-en-scene and theory of space and place. it’s enriching my knowledge about racism in america…if I just read your paper earlier, it would be very helpful…but thx anyway…