Song of the Day 3/19: Michael Jackson, “Black or White”
As long as everybody is arguing about racism, let’s listen to what was intended as a condemnation of it. Here’s the song alone, stripped down to just the music — no controversial video segments, just a mid-tempo dance tune with catchy riff and a social message.
Of course, that’s not how anyone remembers the song. When it was released in late 1991 on prime time TV in dozens of countries and an audience of 500 million people, it was wrapped into a short film (directed by John Landis) that ended with several minutes of MJ dancing without musical accompaniment. The segment drew widespread criticism for Jackson both grabbing his crotch and smashing an automobile with a crowbar. The message of the song was instantly forgotten.
Almost 30 years on, the video is problematic for other reasons, too. What Jackson intended as homage to cultures around the globe can now be read as cultural appropriation, and the film’s use of Macauley Culkin will probably give lots of people the creeps, too, in a post-“Leaving Neverland” world.
Side note: The rap section of the song was written and delivered by composer/producer Bill Bottrell, the same guy whose writing and production on “Tuesday Night Music Club” launched the career of Sheryl Crow.
