A Sneak Preview of "Earth Song – Inside Michael Jackson's Magnum Opus"
by Joe Vogel on June 21, 2011 13 comments Uncategorized
Michael Jackson was alone in his hotel room, pacing.
He was in the midst of the second leg of his Bad World Tour, an
exhausting, 123-concert spectacular that stretched over nearly two
years. The tour would become the largest-grossing and most-attended
concert series in history.
Just days earlier, Jackson had performed in Rome at Flaminio Stadium to
an ecstatic sold-out crowd of over 30,000. In his downtime, he visited
the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Cathedral at the Vatican with Quincy
Jones and legendary composer, Leonard Bernstein. Later, they drove to
Florence where Jackson stood beneath Michelangelo's masterful sculpture,
David, gazing up in awe.
Now he was in Vienna, Austria, music capital of the Western world. It
was here where Mozart's brilliant Symphony No. 25 and haunting Requiem
were composed; where Beethoven studied under Haydn and played his first
symphony. And it was here, at the Vienna Marriott, on June 1, 1988, that
Michael Jackson's magnum opus, "Earth Song," was born.
The six-and-a-half-minute piece that materialized over the next seven
years was unlike anything heard before in popular music. Social anthems
and protest songs had long been part of the heritage of rock. But not
like this. "Earth Song" was something more epic, dramatic, and primal.
Its roots were deeper; its vision more panoramic. It was a lamentation
torn from the pages of Job and Jeremiah, an apocalyptic prophecy that
recalled the works of Blake, Yeats, and Eliot.
It conveyed musically what Picasso's masterful aesthetic protest,
Guernica, conveyed in art. Inside its swirling scenes of destruction and
suffering were voices—crying, pleading, shouting to be heard ("What
about us?").
"Earth Song" would become the most successful environmental anthem ever
recorded, topping the charts in over fifteen countries and selling over
five million copies. Yet critics never quite knew what to make of it.
Its unusual fusion of opera, rock, gospel, and blues sounded like
nothing on the radio. It defied almost every expectation of a
traditional anthem. In place of nationalism, it envisioned a world
without division or hierarchy. In place of religious dogma or humanism,
it yearned for a broader vision of ecological balance and harmony. In
place of simplistic propaganda for a cause, it was a genuine artistic
expression. In place of a jingly chorus that could be plastered on a
T-shirt or billboard, it offered a wordless, universal cry.
Jackson remembered the exact moment the melody came…
Copyright 2011 Joseph Vogel
The full version of "Earth Song – Inside Michael Jackson's Magnum Opus"
will be available June 25th on Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble
(Nook), iPad, Android, Blackberry, and other digital platforms.
A Sneak Preview of "Earth Song – Inside Michael Jackson's Magnum Opus"
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