Often Imitated Never Duplicated free essay sample

Never Duplicated Michael Jackson brought a new style to the music scene, changing everything from fashion, videos and dance, which started around the making of the Thriller album and several of it’s music video’s. Men, women, boys, girls, black, or white it did not matter; everyone wanted to be a little like Michael Jackson, he crossed over all races and genres of music. It could have been the red military type jacket, the black pants, patent leather shoes, or the white sequin glove that he wore in the Thriller video. Everyone tried to copy Michael Jackson in some shape, form, or fashion, especially trying to do the moonwalk or robot that Michael Jackson perfected. Everyone stood in front of a mirror to see if they could do the Robot or told someone to watch me as they did the moonwalk. Michael Jackson and the Thriller album have influenced many of the pop artists today in their dance and showmanship. We will write a custom essay sample on Often Imitated Never Duplicated or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Record executive, producer, and singer Antonio Reid stated this in Rolling Stone Magazine. Michael has influenced so many artists, some of whom are picking up on the grandeur and showmanship of his live performances. You can see his influence in his sister Janet, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Britney Spears, and in Jennifer Lopez and Mariah Carey. You can see his influence in the dance moves—the syncopated choreography—that a lot of young artists use. And a lot of them have picked up his work ethic. When you look at Britney Spears production or a Justin Timberlake production, or it you look at an Usher production, you really see that they took a page out of Michael’s book; they went to rehearsal, and they must have worked eight hours a day, because their shows are flawless, as Michael’s shows were flawless (A. Reid). So many artists are motivated and influence by Michael Jackson that a lot of them even imitate him 25 years after the Thriller album. The imitation runs deeper than just song and dance. His vision and perfection set the example for so many more to follow. Michael Jackson still has musicians in the 21ST century aspiring to be a modern version of him. Not everyone will pick up on how much he influences artist today unless they follow Michael Jackson closely or grew up with him and watched the evolution of Michael; he was the Elvis of his generation [early to mid 80’s]. Of all Michael Jackson’s great qualities, dancing is probably the most imitated or at least it’s the most visible imitation of all, unless you just have a good ear for Michael Jackson’s music and remixes. Michael Jackson perfected the Moonwalk that he learned by watching kids and break-dancers perform in the streets. Once Michael Jackson had it perfected it, he debuted the Moonwalk on the Motown 25th Anniversary special, which was on National TV. This made the Moonwalk tremendously popular and notorious worldwide along with the robot that he was famous for. There’s way to many pop artists inspired and influenced my Michael Jackson to cover them all, a few of them are Ginuwine, Justine Timberlake, Sisco, Usher, NSYNC, and Janet Jackson. Justin Timberlake, Usher, Chris Brown and Ginuwine are a few of the many that will be used to show how much influence Michael Jackson has had on the pop music of the 21st Century. In an interview with VH1 the VH1 staffer asked Justin Timberlake â€Å"How have your changing musical tastes influenced your solo work? † and Justin answered with â€Å"My inspirations have been the same since I was 12. I love Stevie Wonder†¦Al Green. And of course, Michael Jackson and Prince and Earth Wind Fire, too† (Lerner). Justin Timberlake has been known to dance like Michael Jackson in his concerts and videos, even wearing a fedora like Michael Jackson. Susan Horsburgh of People magazine did an article on Justin Timberlake covering Justin’s solo debut. â€Å"emerging from a gigantic boom box to sing â€Å"like I Love You,† which, with his fedora and moonwalk moves, he performed in the style of his idol, Michael Jackson† (Horsburgh). Just another example of how Michael Jackson has pop artist today trying to be the new King of Pop. Justin Timberlake is not the only artist that is influenced by Michael Jackson. Chris Brown is another popular pop artist that has been influenced by Michael Jackson when it come to his performances and dancing. Chris Brown took Michael Jackson’s style of dancing and added his on spin or flare to it to make it his own. In the Washington Post journalist Allison Stewart says this about Chris Brown, he’s, â€Å"Fond of modified moonwalking and benign, poppy club jams†¦Michael Jackson without the ick† (Stewart). Which tells the reader that Brown is just like Jackson but with out the ick, can’t get any better than that. Chris Brown has taken Michael Jackson’s moves, practiced them, perfected them, and added his own twist to them making it his own. Chris Brown is another pop artist that is known for his dance as much as his music. As we make comparisons you will be surprised by some of the artist and what they’ve done. One that you might not know that was influenced by Michael Jackson is Ginuwine. Popular RB singer Elgin Baylor Lumpkin or better known as Ginuwine was also influenced by Michael Jackson and took emulating Michael Jackson to a whole new level at an early age. â€Å"Lumpkins interest in music was ignited by Prince and Michael Jackson, especially the latter’s legendary moonwalking performance†¦at the mere age of 12, began performing parties†¦later worked as Michael Jackson impressionist†(biography). Ginuwine went on to further his music career using the influence and experiences of Michael Jackson to become a successful RB artist. Of the many, many artist influenced by Michael Jackson, Usher Raymond, has been influenced by Michael Jackson in so many ways, but mostly in his dancing. During the remaking of the 25th anniversary of the â€Å"Thriller Album† Usher said â€Å"That great choreograph and great energy that Michael puts behind it, try to re-create that feeling. I try to take different kinds of dance and apply it in the same way Michael did in â€Å"Thriller’, ‘Beat It’ and ‘Off the Wall. ’† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Which has brought us to where were at today, even with rap artist like Snoop D O double G. That’s the king right there,† Snopp Dogg said about the love Michael still gets. â€Å"Michael Jackson has always been an inspiration to me as far as his music is concerned. You can’t take nothing from Him† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Not that it’s a bad thing; there are worse people to imitate, emulate or just be influenced by. His dance moves have been imitated in just about everyway from music videos to TV ads. The most recent was the commercial during the Super Bowl with the SoBe drink, which had the lizards doing the thriller dance with one of the singers from Destiny’s child. Shaheem Reid a well known MTV and Hollywood writer points how Michael Jackson’s dance has influenced other artist to include female groups, â€Å"There is Michael Jackson’s dance moves from â€Å"Thriller† in Destiny’s Child’s â€Å"Bootylicious video† (Reid, Hiatt, and Yago). Just another example of how Michael Jackson has influenced pop artist both male and female. Why would any artist imitate, emulate or even use Michael Jackson as an Inspiration? Here’s a few statistics that would explain why the Justin Timberlakes, the Ushers, the Chris Brown’s and the Ginuwines would use Michael’s work ethic, music and dance to guide them. Thriller originally spent 37 weeks at No. 1, a total of 80 consecutive weeks in the Top 10. Its also the only album in American history to be the bestselling album for two years. Seven of the albums nine songs hit the Billboard Top 10 with Billie Jean and Beat It both reaching No. 1† (Gamboa). â€Å"The â€Å"Thriller Album has earned 47 million dollars to date, making it the 2nd best album of all times only after the Eagles Greatest Hits album† (RIAA). If you were to imitate an artist why not Michael Jackson, he has been accepted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame twice, as solo artist and for the work in the Jackson Five. He has the largest selling record of all times; selling more than 40 million copies, double diamond in the United States, not platinum, but diamond. His Thriller album was accepted by the United States as a National treasure, not many music artists can say that. Michael Jackson will go down in history as one of the all time greats, putting him with the likes of Jimi Hendrix’s, the Eagles, the Beatles, Elvis and Bob Dylan. It’s now been 25 years since the release of â€Å"Thriller† one of the greatest albums ever. Various pop artists of today like Fergie, Akon, Will I Am, and more will redo the original songs on the 25th anniversary album. After 25 years the spirit of the â€Å"Thriller album† is still alive and artists all want to be a part of such a historical event. The 25th anniversary of the album was released on 11 Feb 2008, with never recorded songs, behind the scene’s look and the remix songs. Most of the artist doing the remixes admit they can’t live up to the standard that Michael Jackson set years ago and continues to do. It’s hard to believe one album could influence the music industry so much, much less 25 years after it’s debut, but â€Å"Thriller† has done just that. If you don’t think Michael Jackson is often imitated and used as a source of influence in the music world you’re in a real case of denial. These examples have shown that many artists since the album â€Å"Thriller† were influenced by Michael Jackson’s performance and dance. Music and dance has been influenced through years and years of artist and will continue to influence the artist of the future. Many people have formed unbiased opinions of Michael Jackson, but if they take his personal life and separate it from his work they would realize the impact on today’s music and dance. He has influenced so many artists to become the successes they are today and will continue to influence the music of tomorrow. His style of dance has been recreated in so many ways from other music artist actually imitating him to taking his style and trying to make it their own. His dancing from the â€Å"Thriller video has been used in other music videos, commercials and in various other media’s. Some have tried, but none have succeeded on a Michael Jackson level.

A History of Flag-Burning and Flag Desecration Laws in the U.S.

A History of Flag-Burning and Flag Desecration Laws in the U.S. Flag-burning or desecration isnt unique to the 21st century. It first became an issue in the U.S. after the Civil War. Many felt that the trademark value of the American flag was threatened on at least two fronts in the years immediately following the Civil War: once by the preference of white Southerners for the Confederate flag, and again by the tendency of businesses to use the American flag as a standard advertising logo. Forty-eight states passed laws banning flag desecration to respond to this perceived threat.  Heres a timeline of events. The First U.S. Supreme Court Ruling on Flag Desecration (1907) Most early flag desecration statutes prohibited marking or otherwise defacing a flag design, as well as by using the flag in commercial advertising or showing contempt for the flag in any way. Contempt was taken to mean publicly burning it, trampling on it, spitting on it or otherwise showing a lack of respect for it. The U.S. Supreme Court upheld these statutes as constitutional in  Halter v. Nebraska  in 1907.   The Federal Flag Desecration Law (1968) Congress passed the Federal Flag Desecration Law in  1968 in response to a Central Park event in which peace activists burned American flags in protest against the Vietnam War. The law banned any display of contempt  directed against the flag, but it didnt address the other issues dealt with by the state flag desecration laws. Verbal Disparagement of Flag Is Protected Speech (1969) Civil rights activist Sydney Street burned a flag at a New York intersection in protest against the shooting of civil rights activist James Meredith  in 1968. Street was prosecuted under New Yorks desecration law for defy(ing) the flag. The Court overturned Streets conviction by ruling that verbal disparagement of the flag - one of the reasons for Streets arrest - is protected by the First Amendment, but it didnt directly address the issue of flag-burning. The Supreme Court Rules Against Laws Banning Contempt of the Flag (1972) After a Massachusetts teenager was arrested for wearing a flag patch on the seat of his pants, the Supreme Court ruled that laws that ban contempt of the flag are unconstitutionally vague and that they violate the First Amendments free speech protections. The Peace Sticker Case (1974) The Supreme Court ruled in  Spence v. Washington  that affixing peace sign stickers to a flag is a form of constitutionally-protected speech. Most states revised their flag desecration laws in the late 1970s and early 1980s to meet the standards set in Street, Smith, and Spence. The Supreme Court Strikes Down All Laws Banning Flag Desecration (1984) Gregory Lee Johnson burned a flag in protest against President Ronald Reagans policies outside the Republican National Convention in Dallas in 1984. He was arrested under Texas flag desecration statute. The Supreme Court struck down flag desecration laws in 48 states in its 5-4 Texas v. Johnson  ruling, stating that flag desecration is a constitutionally protected form of free speech. The Flag Protection Act (1989-1990) The U.S. Congress protested the Johnson decision by passing the Flag Protection Act in 1989, a federal version of the already-struck state flag desecration statutes. Thousands of citizens burned flags in protest of the new law, and the Supreme Court affirmed its previous ruling and struck down the federal statute when two protesters were arrested.   The Flag Desecration Amendment (1990 through 2005) Congress made seven attempts to overrule the U.S. Supreme Court from 1990 through 2005 by passing a constitutional amendment  that would make an exception to the First Amendment. This would have allowed the government to ban flag desecration.  When the amendment was first brought up in 1990, it failed to achieve the necessary two-thirds majority in the House. It has consistently passed the House but failed in the Senate since the Republican congressional takeover of 1994.   Quotes Flag Desecration and Laws Justice Robert Jackson  from his  majority opinion  in  West Virginia v. Barnette  (1943), which struck down a law requiring schoolchildren to salute the flag:   The case is made difficult not because the principles of its decision are obscure but because the flag involved is our own ... But freedom to differ is not limited to things that do not matter much. That would be a mere shadow of freedom. The test of its substance is the right to differ as to things that touch the heart of the existing order.If there is any fixed star in our constitutional constellation, it is that no official, high or petty, can prescribe what shall be orthodox in politics, nationalism, religion, or other matters of opinion or force citizens to confess by word or act their faith therein. Justice William J. Brennans  from his 1989  majority opinion in  Texas v. Johnson:   We can imagine no more appropriate response to burning a flag than waving ones own, no better way to counter a flag burners message than by saluting the flag that burns, no surer means of preserving the dignity even of the flag that burned than by - as one witness here did - according its remains a respectful burial. We do not consecrate the flag by punishing its desecration, for in doing so we dilute the freedom that this cherished emblem represents. Justice John Paul Stevens from his dissent in  Texas v. Johnson  (1989):   The ideas of liberty and equality have been an irresistible force in motivating leaders like Patrick Henry,   Susan B. Anthony, and   Abraham Lincoln, schoolteachers like Nathan Hale and Booker T. Washington, the Philippine Scouts who fought at Bataan, and the soldiers who scaled the bluff at Omaha Beach. If those ideas are worth fighting for - and our history demonstrates that they are - it cannot be true that the flag that uniquely symbolizes their power is not itself worthy of protection from unnecessary desecration.