It had to happen. After years of alternately shocking, enthralling and annoying the public, popular music's most famous hit makers have hit the big four-oh. Madonna turned 40 this past Sunday and the self-proclaimed King of Pop will follow suit August 29th, which means it is time to sit back and reflect on where these two icons currently reside in the increasingly cluttered pop culture landscape.
Besides exhibiting a knack for fondling their nether-regions on stage and selling boatloads of records, Madonna and Jackson actually have little in common. Their career trajectories reflect this fact. Jackson, a child star with the Jackson 5 and a huge solo performer in the 80's, has morphed from can-do-no-wrong global phenomenon to poster boy for skin bleaching to creepy dude you want to keep away from your children at all costs. He enters his fortieth year on the planet at a decidedly awkward career stage; perceived as a universally recognizable celebrity mutant whose record sales are flagging, he has become more of a morbid fascination than a genuine cultural and artistic force.
Despite the skepticism that he is greeted with in this country, his "Thriller" remains the biggest selling album in history, and he has legions of fans around the world. His music, when it still mattered, was edge-free and fun, funky but friendly. We admired the Jackson who accepted awards by saying "I love you" to his fans, and here was a nice, shy boy who could sing and dance like no one else. That Jackson seems to be gone. When we found out Jackson really was "bad" and "dangerous" and all of those other words he called himself in his songs but we never believed him to be, we were all a little disappointed.
No matter what happens from here, we can safely say that Jackson has made his mark as one of the most successful recording artists ever, and he proved that black entertainers can make it big--even make it huge--on radio and MTV. It seems unlikely, however, that Jackson can ever live down allegations of child molestation and reclaim his past glories. The man who was supposed to be all things to all people has to settle for being a rag mag staple first, a performer second, and it is more than a little sad.
Without any plans of releasing a new album in the immediate future, Jackson is devoting his efforts to opening up amusement parks around the world and spending time with his wife and children. He seems to be setting into a not-very comfortable middle age, and tabloid rumors have completely overshadowed his creative output. To the R&B kids that are currently being weened on Boyz II Men and Cleopatra, Mikey is the crazy uncle you don't think too long or hard about but you know exists. Without having accomplished anything of note lately, Jackson's previous accomplishments risk being forgotten in the midst of the intense weirdness that surrounds his persona.
Madonna's career, on the other hand, is thriving. When she arrived on the music scene in 1983, the Ambitious Blonde had a voice as thin as a dollar bill and was dismissed as a here today-gone tomorrow disco dolly. Now she is the sole 80's musical icon who remains relevant as we enter into the twenty-first century.
It's an understatement to say that it is somewhat miraculous that she's still here. No celebrity in recent memory has courted career self-immolation on so many occasions, yet managed to climb back on top each time. She's most notorious for and most lucky for surviving the all-nude Madonnathon that was 1992. That's the year that the pop star started ignoring the fact that she has several very young fans and began marketing herself to adults only--and very horny adults at that. Having set herself the challenge of being constantly new and shocking, her series of ill-advised, buck-nekkid efforts ("Sex," "Body of Evidence") aliented fans, reeked of media manipulation and --here's where the death knell was supposed to come in--felt old hat.
Hitchhiking naked is not easy to live down, but out of sheer force of will or a deal with the devil or both, our girl survived. The hit songs kept on coming and her profile never dwindled even though naysayers were writing her off at every move. Her recent reincarnation as Golden Globe-winning actress and much-improved vocalist has earned her critical raves, and she is finally getting credit for the crucial ingredient in the Madonna-making machine that detractors love to leave out--her considerable talent.
Fans can be happy that their idol seems to be having it all these days. Her role as Mother has done for her what none of her films or pop hits could do--it has made her seem like an actual human being. She is also probably the only forty-year-old female who MTV puts in heavy rotation, and she even heads this year's pack of Music Video Award nominees. Her newest album, "Ray of Light," is considered her best yet and is her biggest selling album of all-new material for this decade. Not bad for an old-timer who was predicted to go the way of Cyndi Lauper.
The world has had a nearly two decade old love-hate relationship with Material Girl, and on her fortieth birthday it looks like we are not going to divorce her anytime soon. Sadly, it looks like we parted ways with Michael Jackson a long time. The tragic thing is that we seem to have known him his whole life.
