Leave Me Alone Michael Jackson’S Angry Voice
MORteN MIchelSeN leave Me Alone Michael Jackson’s Angry Voice “IhavealwayswantedtobelievethatMichaelwasactuallyoneofthemostsecretlyan- gry Black race-men on the planet,” wrote African-American cultural critic Greg Tate in anobituarypublishedacoupleofdaysafterthedeathofMichaelJacksonintheearly summerof2009.1Thisremarkwasonestraythoughtamongmanyinthearticleandan opinionaboutJacksonseldomexpressed.Tate’swishconcernedJacksonasarepresenta- tiveofAfrican-Americans’deepangercausedbytheirculturalandpoliticalhistoryand presentstatus,thusincludinghiminalonglineofillustriouspersonsbeginningmaybe withFrederickDouglass.Theexpression“secretlyangry”pointstowardsaninterpretation ofMichaelJacksonthemusician,thedancer,theshowman,andthemediapersonaasa practitionerofW.E.B.DuBois’doubleconsciousness,2anditwouldindeedbefascinat- ingtoilluminatecodedreferencestoandexpressionsoftheangerof“blackrace-men”in thepolishandvirtuosityofJackson’spopandshowtunes,clothes,anddancesteps.This wouldbetoohugeataskforashortarticle,soinsteadIwouldliketoinvestigatewhere thetwosidesofthedoubleconsciousnessseemstoamalgamate—whereJacksontran- scendedthetabooandexpressedwhatwasforbiddento(African-American)malepop singers,namely,anger.Morespecifically,IwouldliketodiscusstheaspectsofJackson’s voicethatmaybecharacterizedasangry.Aftersomedefinitionsandhistoricalremarks,I willraiseaseriesofquestionsofamoredescriptivekind:Whatarethetechnicalmeans (e.g., screams, shouts, rasp, volume, articulation) and the linguistic means (e.g., curse words,irony,objectsofanger)?Doestheaccompanimentremainneutral,ordoesitsup-
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