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- portthevoice(e.g.,distortedguitars,heavypercussion,markedattacksonnotes)? Music and Anger EversinceAristotleangerhasbeenconsideredamongthesixprimaryemotions,the fiveothersbeinghappiness,sadness,disgust,fear,andsurprise.Emotionsareextreme- lyelusivecategories,andsoisanger.Onerelevantdefinitionreadslikethis:“[Angeris 1 GregTate,“MichaelJackson:TheManinOurMirror.BlackAmerica’sEulogiesfortheKingofPop; alsoletusResurrectHisBestSelf”,Village Voice,July1,2009,accessed20February2011. 2 DuBoisdefineddoubleconsciousnessthus:“Itisapeculiarsensation,thisdouble-consciousness, thissenseofalwayslookingatone’sselfthroughtheeyesofothers,ofmeasuringone’ssoulbythe tapeofaworldthatlooksoninamusedcontemptandpity.Oneeverfeelshistwoness—American, aNegro;twosouls,twothoughts,twounreconciledstrivings;twowarringidealsinonedarkbody, whosedoggedstrengthalonekeepsitfrombeingtornasunder.”(W.E.B.DuBois,The Souls of Black Folk(NewYork:Bantam,1903/1989),p.3). danish MUSIcOlOGy ONlINe SpecIAl eDItION, 2012 • ISSN 1904-237x SpecIAl eDItION · 2012 102 MortenMichelsen a]nemotionthatresultsfromdispleasureatanundesiredevent,particularlyonethat isperceivedashavingresultedfromsomeone’sblameworthyaction.”3Here,angeras anintersocialphenomenonisstressed,maybeattheexpenseofthephysiologicalef- fects of the emotion (threatening body language, violence, or in this case, vocal ex- pression).Angermaybeexpressed(orsuppressed)inmanydifferentways: Emotionsaresubjecttosocialshapingintheirmodesofexpressioninthesense thatmostexpressions,perhapseventhosethataremoreorlesshardwired,are subject to local “display rules,” which govern which emotions and which ex- pressionsareappropriateinwhichcircumstances.Anexpressionofangerisut- terlyinappropriateinmostpubliccircumstancesinJapan,butitisquitetobe expectedatanurbanintersectionintheUnitedStates.Theculturalmeaningof anemotionisalso(andobviously)sociallydetermined.InTahitiangeriscon- sideredextremelydangerousandisevendemonized;intheMediterraneanitis oftenasignofvirility,suggestingrighteousness.Thisisnottosaythatthesocial influences on emotion are limited to their cultural interpretations. The emo- tionsthemselvesareconstituted,atleastinpart,bysuchinterpretations.4 Inthiscontext,Iaminterestedinhowangerisexpressedbyoccidentalpopularmusic singers,anditisthusrelevanttomovefromgeneraldefinitionsanddescriptionsto performativeaspectsofanger.ExperimentalpsychologystudieslikeJuslinandLaukka donotseemtooffermuchhelpasthedescriptorsforanger(amongthemarefast- speechrate,high-voiceintensity,muchvoiceintensity,muchhigh-frequencyenergy, fast-voice onsets, microstructural irregularity) suggest that Mozart’s “Queen of the Night”wouldbetheepitomeofmusicalanger.5Giventhatangerisanelusivecon- ceptandthatexpressionsofangeraremultifaceted,Iwouldsuggesttothinkofanger as a semantic field which includes near synonyms like fury, rage, hatred, contempt, resentment, loathing, and scorn.6 Also, in their study Juslin and Laukka mention a seriesofrelevantwordsusedbytheresearchersincludingaggressive,aggressive–excit- able,aggressiveness,anger,anger–hate–rage,angry,coldanger,destruction,frustration, fury,hate,hotanger,irritated,rage,andrepressedanger.7Suchasemanticfieldopens upforarangeofpossiblemeaningsataverballevelandforawiderangeofsounds which might be related to the bodily experience of anger. The point is to listen for suchpossibleverbaldescriptorsinthesoundsanddescribeinasmuchdetailaspos- siblewhatleadstosuchinterpretations. 3 GerrodW.Parrott,“Anger”,inAntonyS.R.MansteadandMilesHewstone(eds.),The Blackwell Ency- clopedia of Social Psychology,accessed26October2009. 4 Robert C. Solomon, “Emotion”, in Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online, ac- cessed27October,2009. 5 PatrikN.JuslinandPetriLaukka,“CommunicationofEmotionsinVocalExpressionandMusicPer- formance:DifferentChannels,SameCode?”,Psychological Bulletin129/5(2003),p.802. 6 SeeMortenMichelsen,“Sprogoglydianalysenafrockmusik” [LanguageandSoundintheAnalysis ofRockMusic](PhDthesis,UniversityofCopenhagen,1997),p.80–90. 7 JuslinandLaukka,“CommunicationofEmotions”,p.776.Inonespecificvocaltradition(belcanto opera),thequeenisofcoursesuchanepitome. SpecIAl eDItION · 2012 LeaveMeAlone 103 Anger in Popular Music Inpopularmusicuntilthe1960s,“negative”emotionslikeanger,fear,ordisgustmay sometimesbefoundinnonurbangenreslikebluesandfolk,butnotinmusicassoci- atedwithurbanentertainment.Ifthereweretracesofanger,thecroonerscontrolled themusingironyorarrogance.Instead,thelyricsfocusedonemotionsrelatedtohap- piness or sadness, and the changing styles did not contain musical conventions for angerorthelike.The1950s’folkrevivaldidbringtalesofdeceitanddeathtothetop ofthecharts,butitwasBobDylanandhislikeswhointroducedtheperformanceof angertothehitlistsinthefollowingdecade.8Sincethen,theangryyoungwhitemale withaguitarstrappedonhasbecomeoneofthearchetypesofrock.Andsincepunk inthelate1970s,angrywomenhaveslowlybecomemorecommon,sometimesalso withaguitarstrappedon. In genres associated with African-Americans, anger is a slippery topic. As the se- manticfieldshows,angermaybemanyslightlydifferentthingsandvocalisationsof anger may also draw on a multitude of slightly different techniques. Richard Mid- dletonhears(probablyindirectly)arageinCharleyPatton’srecordingsfromaround 1930whenhestates,“Theragethisstyleportrays(anemotionplentifullydocument- ed in Patton’s life) delineates a very modern sense of alienation—one encapsulated as well in his deployment of multiple voices.”9 Middleton describes Patton’s voice likethis: Theharsh,abrasivevocaltone,heldvowelsoftentighteningintoarasp,thegut- turaldictionwithwordssometimesindecipherable,thepercussiveaccompani- ments[…]theflexibletreatmentofchordchangesandmetre,theguitarfigures oftenrunninginalmostheterophonicparallelwiththevoice[…]10 Butotherwise,itishardformeasanonnative,nonsouthern,andnon–African-Amer- icantojudgetowhatextentcountrybluessingersexpressanger.Thismightberelated tothedouble-voicednatureofmostsongs,becausethepublicexpressionofangerwas notavailabletoAfrican-Americanmeninthe1920sand1930s,butitmightbethere fortheonesintheknow.ItiseasiertocommentuponlaterbluessingerslikeJohnLee HookerandMuddyWaters,partlybecausesomeoftheirlyricsareexpressingangerbe- ingdirectedat(supposedly)African-Americanwomenwhobehavebadly,forexample, returninghomeatfouro’clockinthemorning.11 8 Dylanbecamethefirstinalongseriesofangryprotestsingers.Beforethatandatthesametime,you couldfindratherviolentemotionsexpressedinlyriclineslike,“Iratherseeyoudeadlittlegirlthan tobewithanotherman.”ThelinecanbefoundinbothElvisPresley’s“Baby,Let’sPlayHouse”(Sun 217,1955)andTheBeatles’“RunforYourLife”(Rubber Soul,ParlophonePCS3075,1965),butthe voicessingingdonotexpresssuchemotions. 9 Richard Middleton, Voicing the Popular: On the Subjects of Popular Music (New York & London: Routledge,2006),p.60. 10 Ibid.,p.60. 11 ExamplesareJohnLeeHooker,“LeaveMyWifeAlone”(Chess1467,1951)and“I’mMad”(Spe- cialtySP528,1954);MuddyWaters,“StillaFool”(Chess1480,1951)and“JustMakeLovetoMe” (Chess1571,1954). SpecIAl eDItION · 2012 104 MortenMichelsen Withitsrootsinreligiouscommunities,thecivilrightsmovementdidmainlydraw onchurchmusicandotherkindsofparticipatorymusictoinspireitsmembers.Itwas amusicofhope,notofanger,andthefewpopularsingerswhosupportedthemove- mentearlyon(e.g.,HarryBelafonte)didnotrecordmusicinanywayassociatedwith anger.NinaSimone,whoishardtocategorizegenerically,wasoneofthefewtogive venttoherrage,especiallyin“MississippiGoddam.”12Themid-1960ssawapolitical radicalisation;andbecauseofitsfastness,noisiness,andintensitymuchfreejazzwas interpreted as being a musical expression of the anger felt by the African-American populationtowardsapartheid. Butbyandlarge,thepopmusicsungbyorproducedbyAfrican-Americansdidnot takeinspirationfromthat.Thereareafewexceptionstotheruleof“noanger”inpop onMotown,namely,EdwinStarr’sprotestsong“War”andTheTemptations’critique ofthestateofthenationin“BallofConfusion.”13Hip-hopchangedthatpicture,es- peciallyasPublicEnemyintroducedradicallyricssettoextremelynoisybeatstothe