The likely second or third single from Kanye West's fantastic new platinum-selling album, Graduation, is a headnod-inducing slammer called "Good Life." It took me a minute to recall what that slowed-down sample was from. Of course... Michael Jackson's "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)." It took me back to the first time I heard that song in a public setting. It was autumn 1983, and my father and I were sitting around in a McDonald's when "P.Y.T." came on over the speakers.
Like the other Thriller tracks, it really popped out of the radio when played amongst bland white rock singles from the likes of The Police and Huey Lewis. On this particular day, the response was immediate: toes started tapping, there were whispers of "oh, is that the new Michael Jackson song?" Kids in the Playplace started dancing around with spontaneous choreography straight out of The Wiz.
"He can't miss," my father said breathlessly, between bites of his Big Mac. "I really think Michael's nailed the formula. I don't think he's ever coming down."
Within a few weeks the song would be in the top ten, and Thriller was on its way to becoming the top selling album of all time... but we all know the rest of the story. Within 20 years, MTV had no more use for him. Later on, he found himself on trial for "allegedy" diddling kids and selling a succession of greatest-hits packages to pay his legal bills, and nowadays he's a walking punchline that isn't funny anymore.
We can nail down the exact moment when Michael lost it: the 1995 release of HIStory, with its ridiculous cover depicting M.J. as a gigantic iron statue. Or maybe it was the 1996 Brit Awards, when he was awarded the "Artist of a Generation" award and performed in flowing white robes while making Jesus-on-the-cross poses. Either way, it was the moment when he started believing in his own heart that he nailed the formula, and forgot that consumers like two things: quality entertainment, and punishing hubris.
None of what I'm saying here is anything new, but the cycle reoccurs constantly at every level of creativity. Somebody discovers the formula to shake booties or capture imaginations or build widgets, then at some point they start believing that the audience wants them instead of the product. They become comfortable and complacent and above the law, they start producing shitty shit, and then they look like a complete moron. So watch out, Kanye, because you could be next. I hope you're awake nights, thinking about how you're going to top this.
In the meantime, I'm sad about how time has ravaged Kanye's source material, how "Pretty Young Thing" has all sorts of clever ironic double-meanings now. But if you remove hindsight from the equation and place yourself back in the Morning In America that was 1983, you've got to admit that Michael and Quincy Jones really could do no wrong... they really did have the formula nailed.
Now get your ass out of that McDonald's Playplace, and start dancing.
Michael Jackson - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)
