My Two Cents on Michael Jackson

Humans are creators of culture, and I think Christians should create the best kinds of culture. Sadly, too much contemporary Christian writing and music is poor quality. In our attempts to create an alternative culture to the popular masses, we have sacrificed too greatly in quality. In trying to create overtly "Christian" art, we sometimes fall prey to the cheesy, trite, and meaningless. Yet, Christians can produce art with Christian themes without something being overtly "Christian." And Christians should do this in literature, music, painting, dance, cinema, etc.

What I have just articulated is the difference between content and quality. Christian art should be of the highest quality, even if the content is not overtly Christian. The distinction must remain though: content and quality are two separate categories of art. In the world of art, one may approve of the content even if the quality is poor (see: most "Christian" music). On the other hand, one may acknowledge poor content but respect the level of quality. On a smaller (and yet still relatively huge) scale, this latter category is the category of Tupac, the Beatles, or Dave Matthews. These are heroes of quality even where content suffers. And, in my opinion, the biggest world icon and hero of quality must be Michael Jackson.

Now I must define "quality" again. Quality does not mean agreeable. You don't have to like pop music to respect it. As a matter of fact, I don't much care for Dave Matthews or Tupac, but their musical artistry is undeniable. And in this regard, Michael Jackson truly is the originator and king of Pop music. Now is Pop a form of music as high as Baroque? Probably not, but in Michael Jackson's large worldwide arena of Pop, he's the king. Was the king. Michael could dance, sing, and make visual/audible art like the best of them. His life may have been sad, but his art was beautiful (I can't believe I just typed that, but I believe it). Michael did, however, have some songs with quality content- I'm a particular fan of "Black or White" and "I'll Be There" (Jackson 5) myself.

In sum, we should lament the loss of culture makers of any stripe, regardless of content (or, almost regardless of content), and Michael's life and death should make us mourn for the figure he was.