So then, Michael Jackson…
Has it all been said? Yes. Yes it has.
But the odd funeral/memorial/superstar extravaganza we saw the other day got me thinking. Or should I say, Wondering…a-hahahaha…
See what i did there?
Both Wonder and Jackson were of course child stars. Michael started earlier (about 5) with his family, while Stevie first appeared as Little Stevie Wonder when he was around 11, spotted playing harmonica on a street corner in Detroit.
And it’s hard not to understand why Wonder took America by storm. Here’s Fingertips(part2), the B-side of his first single that US DJ’s played so much it became the A-side. A more outstanding live performance there has not been (well, Otis in Monterrey, but that’s for another week)
Little Stevie Wonder – Fingertips Part 2
That’s Marvin Gaye on drums, but then you knew that, didn’t you?
Wonder was a sensation, but not just because of his stage presence. Stevie could play piano, harmonica and drums by the age of ten, then perfected bass during puberty. That’s not a euphemism.
Ten years later he was educating us all:
The early 1970’s saw Wonder push the musical envelope, even getting over a car crash (in which he was hit in the face by a log and put in a coma for four days) and returning with Fulfillingness’ First Finale and then Songs In The Key Of Life. Not bad.
Wonder’s run of hits and studio albums blow anything Jackson did out of the water. Stevie wasn’t a great dancer though.
I’m in no way belittling Jackson’s career. He was indeed the superstar King of Pop – but that’s just it. Jackson was a pop star.
It’s easy to see the parallels in their amazing talent as children and subsequent massive fame, but there is one major difference. Michael Jackson was a consummate performer: Stevie Wonder is a musician.
So on the night Jackson died Wonder was in playing in Kansas. There was no soppy encore of a hastily put-together cover version.
He just played the music.
Difficult to forgive him for I Just Called To Say I Love You though, isn’t it?
Touch harsh on the boy Jackson – superb performer but also a decent songwriter in his own right:
http://www.songwriting.net/blog/bid/18936/Michael-Jackson-Songwriter-Remembered-1958-2009
As much as I love Stevie, post 1980 his output has been mostly MOR mushy love songs. And does the early 70’s records blow the early Jackson 5 or ‘Off The Wall’ era stuff out of the water? Great, but not THAT great for me. ‘Songs in the Key…’ should be one good album, not a double. ‘Talking Book’ is his masterpiece for me.
Good read mind.
I’m in no way downgrading Jackson’s incredible talent both musically and performance-wise, but I do wonder (ho) how we will react to Stevie’s demise. I think what I’m trying to say is that they really are quite similar in their careers, but Stevie can’t dance. Is that what catapulted Jacko in the megastar stratosphere?
Let’s not forget Wonder basically produced himself through all those albums, locking session musicians in the studio while he invented new sound. That Wonder run from I Was Made to love Her in 1967 to Masterblaster in 1980 is almost criminally underrated. I cannot forgive him for working with Blue though.