My #3 Song--theology and popular music

Anyone who knows me will realize I cannot have a top ten song list W/O including the Master of Pop, MJ. What can I say? His music has been around all my life. I had a hard time picking just one song, because I love them all. So, here it is.

Black or White
By: Michael Jackson
Album: Dangerous
Video: Black or White - Michael Jackson

Subjective: I have lived with Michael Jackson’s music all my life and confess that I am a fan. From the days of the Jackson 5 to Michael’s debut of his moonwalk singing Billy Jean on the Motown 25 TV special to his This Is It planned tour, I followed his career. Because of my exposure at a young age to R&B, soul and funk, his music rooted deep within me, setting my spirit free and remained with me for decades. All of his songs, but this one especially, with its mixture of pop, Hip Hop, rock and soul, makes me want to get up and dance.

Objective: Michael’s concern with racial equality and world peace are clearly expressed in this song. He wanted everyone to get along and eliminate the, “turf war on a global scale.” His earth-shattering dance moves changed the world of pop music like no other artist because of the opportunity to turn his songs into visual stories through the advent of MTV. Even though he decried violence, his extended video for this song ends with his acting out the violent and sensual instinct of a black panther. Michael was a contradiction in so many ways, yet a brilliant artist whose creativity consumed him.

Theological: This song questions how we see other people who are different than ourselves. How prejudice are we? What keeps us back from accepting people for who they are as unrepeatable children of God and rejoicing in and appreciating their uniqueness, customs, language, race? Kindness is a gift freely given. As human beings, we crave for acceptance and are moved by someone’s kind action toward us, especially in this maddeningly violent world. Love goes a long way. Love heals. Love changes. Love redeems.