A Dance Dance Revolution: Michael Jackson in the United Kingdom

Music has played an important part of the British culture in the 20^th and 21^st Centuries. Artists such as The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Queen, and Michael Jackson have shaped British popular culture through their hit albums and hot singles. But as the age of technology dawned in the early 1990s and personal computers flew off the shelves and into homes and libraries across the globe, a new, more electronic sound began to dominate the electronic clubs of Britain. Electronic music, though it goes by many names, has single-handedly taken the British music scene by storm, and has become the most popular form of music in Britain. The genre is a part of daily life in the United Kingdom. Whenever a cell phone rings or a commercial airs, electronic music is there; whenever a car with its stereo drives by or a man on a train sets his Ipod a bit too loud, electronic music is there. Electronic music, which began as an underground music genre in the late 1980s, was embraced by British record executives in the early 1990s and propelled by mainstream artists such as Michael Jackson in the mid 1990s and has become the most popular and most commercially successful brand of music in the United Kingdom.

Electronic music, simply put, is a genre of electronic music that originated in Britain in the late 1980s. It is typically fast-paced, features digital and electric sounds, and is most widely created with electronic components such as computers, synthesizers, sound cards, samplers, and drum machines. It goes by many names in the United Kingdom: house, Euroelectronic, techno, jungle, Brit-hop, hip house, trance, funk, electronica, garage, and rave. It was heavily influenced by black American electronic music-"Britain is the great melting pot of America's black music styles (and has been for decades-think back to the Beatles and Rolling Stones)"-with artists such as "The Jacksons," "The Spinners," and "Earth Wind and Fire" providing a funky, soulful foundation for early electronic music (Hamilton). It was equally influenced, however, by the clubs in the Balearic Islands, where the club scene was described as "vibrant and eclectic" (Langois). Electronic tunes dominated the club scene in the exotic getaway, and injected newcomers with electronic sounds-a brand of music that was energizing and original. The Balearic Islands was a popular British summer getaway location, and young Brits returning from vacation sought to re-create the energetic sound in their local clubs. The earliest electronic clubs in London were run by DJs who had worked previously in the Balearic Islands, and sought to bring the Mediterranean style and sound to clubs in England (Langois). Also, with the introduction and popularity of euphoric "uppers" such as ecstasy, the electronic scene of the United Kingdom was energized and transformed (Langois). Thus, the electronic culture of the United Kingdom was born.

The energy and originality of fast-paced electronic music were not exclusive to the Balearic Islands, however, as artists such as Michael Jackson had popularized electronic, electronic-friendly in the early 1980s, nearly a decade before. "Thriller" was an important contribution that laid the foundation for electronic music to move toward a more mainstream audience, and was the best-selling album in international music history and is the eighth-most commercially successful album in British history, with sales reaching 3,578,107 as of November 2006 (Queen is champion of UK album sales). The record was the first of Michael Jackson's seven consecutive number one records (his debut effort "Off the Wall" peaked at 5 on the charts) as it spent 8 weeks at the top of the British charts, another 15 weeks in the second slot. Of its nine tracks, six were hit singles: "Billie Jean" was a top single; "Beat it" made it to the third slot; "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" and "The Girl is Mine," the latter featuring Paul McCartney, peaked at 8; the title track just cracked the top ten while "P.Y.T." ("Pretty Young Thing") just missed the top ten at 11. The album's success is recognized worldwide and is undeniable, but the album's influence on laying the foundation for the electronic music craze has been overlooked.

"Thriller" uses electronic keyboards, electronic orchestras, lengthy voice-overs, sound effects, and electronic bass beats (many times constant and fast-paced) almost exclusively on most of its nine tracks, many of which are fast-paced electronic tracks. Even the construction of some of the album's most popular songs are similar to modern electronic tracks. Beginning with the first track, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'," the album gets off to a fast-paced start with an unrelenting electronic bass beat that keeps the track moving quickly throughout. Even before the keyboard solo accompanied by sound effects, the song's fast pace and funky electronic bass beat have made it a electronic floor classic even before the popularity of electronic music hit the United Kingdom. Moving to the eighth track, "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)," the beat is an archetypal example of a disco-era funk song with a strong beat and constant electric bass accompanied by loud, strong keyboards, all set to a pace that is lightning fast and perfect for the dance floor.

The track that is most reminiscent to the style of music popularized in the electronic music craze, however, is also the most popular track. "Billie Jean" features a melody that takes a simple, yet beautiful climb and fall by an electronic keyboard set to a fast-paced electronic beat that grows faster as it approaches the chorus. The song was a top single in the United Kingdom, and the first 1:50 of the track sound almost identical to most modern electronic tracks: an extra-long introduction with just a simple up and down bass beat melody, then an added keyboard melody, then vocals and a swelling to the chorus. Even the progression of the song is reminiscent of most modern techno or house tracks: a long introduction of percussion, an added keyboard melody, added vocals and a speeding up toward the chorus. And the music video for Billie Jean features Michael Jackson dancing on an electronic floor with lights that flash brightly when the melody rises and falls, similar to the special effects so popular in the rave music scene. For these tracks and more, "Thriller" was clearly a direct precursor to the electronic music that would gain popularity throughout the 1990s.

Some of the tracks from Michael Jackson's earliest albums were so reminiscent of the electronic music genre that they were later released on singles as electronic club remixes. From "Thriller," the "You Are Not Alone" single released in 1995 featured two remixes of "Wanna Be Startin' Something" with "Brothers in Rhythm House Mix" and "Tommy D's Main Mix." From Jackson's debut album, "Off the Wall," the "Who Is It?" single, which was released in 1993, featured a "Roger's Underground Club Solution" remix of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." Also from "Off the Wall" came the 1996 single of "They Don't Care About Us," which features a electronic music remix of "Rock With You" titled "Frankie's Favorite Club Mix." Since his very first efforts, Jackson's sound has always been electronic-friendly and subsequent paragraphs will prove he has continued to be so throughout his career.

Working with the framework that was constructed by pioneer artists such as Michael Jackson and others, electronic music found a small amount of support in the local clubs of London in the late 1980s and early 1990s. DJs, at least initially, were the most influential members of the electronic culture. DJs laid the foundation through their individual styles and choice of music, and set the trends that would define the early electronic music of the United Kingdom. In the clubs, the DJs were God: they decided what music would be played and for how long it would be played. DJs played what styles and tracks they thought were high-quality and simply ignored the rest. In having total control of the playlist and the club, DJs set the trends and had a great deal of influence in dictating what was popular in the genre. In the charts, DJs were the primary and most regular consumers of new releases; they were "largely responsible for the early chart placings of the majority of new entries" (Hamilton). Also, DJs were most likely to buy multiple remixed versions of songs they had already purchased, which was important because record companies who invested in electronic music "needed to keep a single selling to the same people who have already bought it" in order to increase the single's revenue and expand its market base (Hamilton).

DJs could only carry the genre on a local level, however, as its cutting-edge beats and fresh style quickly became wildly popular and electronic music grew to become an underground phenomenon across the United Kingdom. More than anything, young Brits craved a genre of music that was vibrant and original-electronic music provided it. And by the early 1990s, electronic music had been adopted into the mainstream of the United Kingdom club scene. Music fans eager to comingle gathered in any venue that would accommodate them; recording studios, playgrounds, gyms, film studios, country mansions, hotel basements and restaurants served were used to host "several hundred hedonists in search of a good time" (Traveling along the U.K. underground). More than anything, music fans enjoyed electronic music because it had never been done before and was exciting. "The idea is to keep it fresh," one electronic club owner stated. "We're starting to do theme parties and putting on different DJs. We've never gone for mega names...we provide a different atmosphere every time" (Traveling along the U.K. underground).

Electronic music had gained in popularity and by the very early 1990s, it spawned sub-genres that were incredibly popular in their own right. Rave music is a branch of electronic music that became extremely popular. "Raves," parties with high-volume music, an colorful lighting, and often a presentation of a "dream-like ambience created by special effects," were originally small, centralized get-togethers for fans with similar musical tastes (Langlois). As rave music's fan base grew exponentially in the early 1990s, however, raves "rapidly grew larger than existing clubs and electronic halls were able or willing to accommodate" (Langlois) And, like the patrons of electronic music, raves were held for large numbers of people (sometimes up to tens of thousands) in venues not suited for entertainment such as warehouses, abandoned airfields, and agricultural land (Langlois) Rave music became recognized in the mainstream of British society as a result of these venue choices, as mass amounts of young men and women gathering in non-licensed areas raised concerns from British citizens as well as the national British media (Langlois).

It was not until the early-mid 1990s that electronic music became an established genre, however. The popularity of electronic music in the United Kingdom experienced a boom in the first years of the 1990s, as the technological advancements that took place worldwide in the early part of the decade propelled the genre to the mainstream for the first time in its short history. By the early 1990s, technology such as personal computers and music synthesizers were for the first time made affordable to the average British citizen. Electronic music, which had always relied on a synthesized, electronic sound, experienced an increase in popularity as citizens were able to create and mix their own music through the electronic hardware that was now readily available. This brought about great changes in the record industry of the United Kingdom, as a younger, more technologically-focused generation of Britons began to mature and made a niche for themselves in the British charts (U.K. Biz Looks To Electronic Club Culture To Reverse Fortunes).

The most significant reason electronic music took off in the early 1990s, however, is attributed to one of the artists who helped found the genre back in the early 1980s. Michael Jackson's "Dangerous," which went platinum multiple times in the United Kingdom, spawned a series of singles made entirely of electronic track remixes that would influence British music culture in a way no artist or group had done before: it would popularize electronic music in the United Kingdom by mixing electronic music with a more pop, mainstream sound. The track which would prove most influential in establishing the early popular electronic music sound was the single "Black Or White: The Clivilles & Cole House/Club Mix," a remix from a song on "Dangerous." The track was released in November 1991, and made it to the top 15 of the United Kingdom charts-an astonishing feat for a single, and even more astonishing for a remix single. But what was most impressive was that the track was a electronic track released in an era when electronic music was only an underground phenomenon and unrecognizable by casual British music fans.

But how did Jackson manage to make a popular electronic track when electronic music was only still just an underground phenomenon? Other than adding his signature brand of mainstream pop to the track, the answer is simple: the track was simply a faster, electronically-enhanced version of a song, "Black or White," which had already proven to be a smash hit in the United Kingdom, as it peaked at the top position on the charts when it was originally released. Michael Jackson, one of Britain's most popular and all-time best-selling artists (he is the only artist other than Queen to hold two albums in the top ten all-time U.K. record sales), added an underground electronic track element to his already wildly popular song and released it the United Kingdom-capitalizing on a fresh sound that had been yet untouched by the British record companies (Queen is champion of UK album sales). By mixing his already-popular pop style with a new and exciting brand of music that was known only to underground electronic fans, Michael Jackson introduced electronic music to the world and was a pioneer of the more popularized genre of electronic music that prevails today.

Another reason why electronic music became extremely popular in the beginning of the decade is that British record executives, who had dismissed electronic music as an underground phenomenon that was utterly unappealing to mainstream music culture, began to understand the vast popularity of the genre and embraced it in hopes of boosting sagging record sales (U.K. Biz looks to electronic club culture to reverse fortunes). And as the genre was fresh and largely uncultivated in the United Kingdom, record executives had their pick of an abundant pool of fresh talent in need of a record label contract. One British record executive described the excess of talent thusly: "Every Monday morning, we get in, say, 15 or 20 records from small labels...First releases. White labels. And the stuff is really good. It's really energetic, and it works" (U.K. Biz Looks To Electronic Club Culture To Reverse Fortunes). Major and minor British record labels offered a benefit never extended to electronic music artists before: promotion. Newly-signed bands, already popular in their respective localities, exploded as a result of the national promotion they received from their respective record companies. Record executives were flooded with new talent, and had a new genre of new acts to promote to a British public that simply could not wait to get its hands on the next hot electronic music record.

The last reason why electronic music increased in popularity in the early 1990s was an added emphasis on touring. British groups are notorious for their distaste of long tours, and record executives in the early electronic music era began to place greater emphasis on touring as a way to connect with fans and promote albums. British record executive Nick Angel stated in 1993 that "It's not entirely satisfactory to people to have these seemingly endless 12-inchers," explaining that singles, which were once the staple of British record companies' revenue, are simply not as important and profitable in the emerging electronic music era as they once were (U.K. Biz Looks To Electronic Club Culture To Reverse Fortunes). It was in this era that British record executives recognized that touring was the most effective technique to stir up the emerging mass of electronic music patrons, who had always been fond of the live music scene in the clubs they had frequented for so many years. Muff Winwood, former director of Sony U.K., said about British bands distaste for touring: "You ask a British band to do a 15-day English tour with one day on and one day off, and they complain if they have to double-up in a room with their mate. Certainly, we've got to [make] our own bands a little more conscientious, if you like, about their own work ethic" (U.K. Biz Looks To Electronic Club Culture To Reverse Fortunes).

Michael Jackson continued to pioneer the electronic music genre throughout the mid 1990s, as his singles were packaged almost exclusively with electronic club remixes of his most popular songs. The "Who Is It?" single was released in 1993 and featured a club mix of "Who Is It?" as well as a "Roger's Underground Club Solution" remix of "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough." The "Remember the Time" single was released in 1993 and was made up entirely of electronic remixes. "Remember the Time" was remixed on the single five times with "Silky Soul 7''," "New Jack Radio Mix," "12'' Main Mix," "E-Smoove's Late Nite Mix," and "Maurice's Underground" while "Black or White" was remixed four times with "the Civilles & Cole Radio Mix," "House with Guitar Radio Mix," "the Civilles & Cole House-Club Mix," and "the Underground Club Mix." In 1995, the "Scream" single featured five electronic club remixes of the hit song with "Single Edit, No. 2," "Def Radio Mix," "Naughty Radio Edit with Rap," "Dave 'Jam' Hall's Extended Urban Remix," and "Classic Club Mix." Later that same year, the "You Are Not Alone" single was released and featured three electronic remixes; the single reached number one on the United Kingdom charts. In 1996, the "They Don't Care About Us" single was released and featured fix electronic club remixes of "They Don't Care About Us," a "Frankie's Favorite Club Mix" of "Rock With You," and a "Hani's Club Experience" remix of "Earth Song."

As electronic music followed the lead set by artists such as Michael Jackson and moved toward a more mainstream pop sound, it appealed to a more wide audience of British music fans and by 1996 "electronic music [had] become the largest selling sector of the UK's recorded music industry" (Electronic music comes of age). As it became more mainstream, however, electronic music began to lose its originality as it took on many of the conventions of mainstream acts. First of all, it became "poppier and popular," and the underground electronic culture that was notorious for "careers beginning with singles conceived in bedrooms" was starting to evolve into a genre dominated by "album-producing bands capable of performing live" (Electronic music comes of age).

Michael Jackson's mid-1990s efforts, most notably "Blood on the Electronic Floor," were wildly popular, dominated almost entirely by electronic tracks and club mixes, and propelled the already increasingly-pop genre into toward a full-blown mainstream sound. Tracks such as "Scream Louder (Flyte Tyme Remix)," "Money (Fire Island Radio Edit)," "2 Bad (Refugee Camp Mix)," "Stranger In Moscow (Tee's In-House Club Mix)," "This Time Around (D.M. Radio Mix)," "Earth Song (Hani's Club Experience)," and "You Are Not Alone (Classic Club Mix)" cater to the electronic craze sweeping the United Kingdom (Blood on the Electronic Floor). Frank Ceraolo, director of marketing at Epic records, said of "Blood on the Electronic Floor": "[Clubgoers] just want to electronic to his music. That's what this album is about--giving people something great to electronic to, which has always been one of Michael's greatest strengths as an artist" (LANGLOIS). With this release and more, Michael Jackson had become such an icon in the electronic floor genre that his albums became a forum to showcase club remix skills and were widely touted as promotional tool for up-and-coming DJs to make themselves known. "Blood on the Electronic Floor" was described by Rolling Stone magazine was "a cute little package that should increase the mainstream visibility of some of clubland's finest (Langois). And by the late 1990s, Michael Jackson and others had created a monster, as "Electronic music [had] become the punk rock for this generation of Brits" (Electronic music comes of age).

For better or worse, artists who have embraced the electronic music genre as openly as Michael Jackson have helped electronic music become the popular brand of music in the United Kingdom. What began as a tropical, energetic sound from the Balearic Islands has become" (U.K. Electronic Getting Lost In Translation?). London music producer Mickie Most, whose artists have sold over 250 million albums since the 1960s, explains that "everyone [in the U.K.] is stuck on producing electronic music, which has become the mainstream" (Rock of Aged). And as Jackson's latest effort, "Invincible," was a electronic-friendly album that was met with enormous success in the United Kingdom, it appears that Jackson's electronic-floor success in Britain is far from over.

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