The most controversial position of the year strikes again! As Celine Dion fans protested in front of the magazine’s headquarters in New York, many were also surprised to see Michael Jackson, one of the greatest artists of all time, so low on the list of the 200 greatest singers of all time. He was only the 86th.
And the first to be upset by this, is the former king of pop manager himself, John Branca. He even took the time to post a reel on Instagram explaining why not putting Michael Jackson and Celine Dion on this list was a huge mistake. In the title of his video, he also ends with “Are you kidding me?”
In this video, he says this list is a “should” list of the 200 best vocalists of all time, and he highlights the word “should” in red to clearly state that this list is wrong or highly subjective. He then talked about the fact that he and Rolling Stone founder Jann Wenner went to the same school, Chadwick. Jann had graduated and John had been fired, and he was still wondering why.
He continued, saying the list was “strange”, and mentioned that Celine Dion, one of the greatest singers of all time in pop music, was not included in the list. For him: “he’s top 10 minimum, top 20”. And after that, he of course mentioned his former client, Michael Jackson, who for him is “one of the most influential vocalists in history”, who “dropped 60 odd spaces from one poll to the next” on this controversial list.
Trying to find an answer to what happened, he thought that maybe It’s because of “political correctness” or because they have haters in the critics of this magazine that Michael Jackson is very low. He then asked “who are these critics?”, and finally said “we need a supervisory board so we can criticize the critics”. Well, It seems complicated for that, because Rolling Stone never said this position is objective, It is “their” position.
Finally, for him: “Michael Jackson and Celine Dion are the two most important and successful individual vocalists of all time, including Mariah Carey and Elvis Presley, they are both in the top 10, I don’t read Rolling Stone anymore”. Well, it seems obvious. But what’s more interesting is the magazine’s answer, which we don’t talk much about.
Rolling Stone’s answer to critics
Rolling Stone never responded, but they did say something interesting at the beginning of the article: “Before you start scrolling (and commenting), keep in mind that this is a Greatest Singers list, not a Greatest Voices List. The talent is amazing; genius is transcendent”. This sentence says it all, they know they will have a lot of critics on this list.
And this comment goes back to what Michael Jackson’s former manager John Branca said about “criticizing the critics”. The problem here, and that’s why fans are so angry, is that nobody can do anything about this list. This list is not presented by an institution, by the government or by any special organization representing the population, journalists present it from a magazine that has been objective, of course, but also subjective on many topics.
This ranking is Rolling Stone’s ranking, not everyone’s ranking. But of course, Rolling Stone is a popular magazine in music that people think they would agree with.
Harry Styles, the new “King of Pop”.
Michael Jackson’s position on this list also brought back the anger of other fans due to another article published in Rolling Stone magazine a few months ago. And one of the fans (@d_rickmj) commented on John Branca’s video on Instagram: “What can we expect from the person who called Harry Styles the “new king of pop”?”.
Yes, Rolling Stone said a few months ago that Harry Styles is the new king of pop. And it’s not just fans who are angry. Michael Jackson’s family, especially his nephew, Taj, decided to respond to the article on Twitter.
There is no new King of Pop. You don’t own that title @Rolling stones, and you didn’t earn it, my uncle did. Decades of dedication and sacrifice. That title has been retired. No respect @Harry’s style, he is very talented. Give him his own unique title. https://t.co/td6SSSVkfX
— Taj Jackson (@tajjackson3) August 22, 2022
As you can see, Michael Jackson’s nephew asked Rolling Stone not to use this title again for anyone other than his uncle. For him, there is only one king of pop. And MJ fans would never say otherwise.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
