Mike McInally

I got an excellent note last week from a reader, Matt Bierek, who made some points about Michael Jackson that I hadn’t thought of before. They’re worth sharing.

Matt argues that Jackson’s tinkering with his vocal cords and nasal structure might well have caused permanent damage to his voice — at the very least, he says, it “somehow robbed the fans of their opportunity to experience the true maturing of the performer. For example, look at the sounds and style of Sinatra over the years. The richness of his music became more profound as his voice deepened. I only wish we could have had the chance to hear MJ develop in similar fashion.”

Matt continues: “The natural deepening of his voice over time would have forced him to look toward new material that he could have capitalized on in creating something more meaningful to his fans. …”

Tony Bennett is another example of a performer who found unexpected depth in his voice as he matured.

In retrospect, Jackson must have felt trapped by the huge success of the “Thriller” album — every subsequent album had to somehow top its success. That essentially prevented Jackson from moving into different musical areas that he might have found more personally satisfying — and that his fans might have found interesting as well.

I’m not saying that he should have gone the Rod Stewart route and recorded an endless series of bland  “Great American Songbook” cover albums. But what if he had, say, reunited with Quincy Jones for an album of jazz with a heavy R-and-B feel? (Well, that might have turned out bland as well, but you know what I mean.) The upshot is that if Jackson had been able to shake off those pressures triggered by massive success, and had explored some unexpected musical avenues, the resulting work might have been interesting in unexpected ways — and it’s hard to say that about most of “Dangerous” and the albums that followed.

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