"Point two: exactly, these artists weren't rock. Which "Billie Jean" also is not."

Yet it was the most popular song and video at the time, and just about every kid at the time wanted to look like the "one gloved" one.

You can argue it as much as you want, and make yourself look more stupid, but "Billie Jean" was a huge success for both Michael Jackson and MTV, but MTV at first didn't want to play the greatest "pop" song and video of all time, because it was writen, sung, and preformed by a black man (or as MTV claimed, "not rock").

Deny it if you want, but "Billie Jean" had a profound influence on pop culture, pop music, rock music, MTV, white and black relations, and to the world at large.

I have heard "Billie Jean" played in dance clubs thousands of times, played at countless parties, and loved by many.

"Billie Jean" in and of itself changed the world, you can deny it, but the facts remain.

Being about the same age as you Joan, I feel much the same as you. I had someone approach me and ask, "do you remember where you were when the Thriller video came out?" Unfortunately I do remember but it certainly doesn't rival the assasination of Pres. Kennedy or even 9/11! I think we can all say we loved his music and what he did for our generation in that respect but to forget all the strange events in his adult life is nothing memorable. Exit stage left.

Listen to the song "Billie Jean" (which can be downloaded as an MP3 from several sites I won't link to), pay attention to the baseline in the intro, and then try to tell me that aint a rock song.

"Thriller", on the same album, had a guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen. Try to tell me that aint a rock song.

"Thriller" is and was arguably more popular than "Billie Jean", but the "Thriller" video did not achieve the success of the "Billie Jean" vidoe, though the "Thriller" video is quite popular.

"Pop music" has always been synonymous with rock.

The "Pop music" distinction does not reside in any genre other than rock.

The Police, Madonna, Cindy Lopper, and most popular rock groups are considered "pop", and MJ was the King of Pop."

To wevans1958

I think we all prefer to remember the music more than the man (just as we prefer to remember Polanski's movies rather than the man).

Michael Jackson's music will live on for thousands of years, inspire future generations, and continue to make people happy and want to dance and sing.

That is how I choose to remember MJ, as the "King of Pop" whose music had a profound influence on my life, and changed the world for the better.

The only part of your statement I'm really arguing about is your contention that MTV didn't want to play the video because MJ was black, and that they had a policy of not playing black artists before "Billie Jean." That's just not true, and so far the ONLY evidence you've presented is a Wikipedia article that the Wikipedia powers-that-be have themselves flagged as inaccurate. I've proved that they did play black artists before "Billie Jean," a point you have consistently ignored, and I've showed that the story that MTV was "forced" to play Billie Jean is also false. These are claims you made in your first post, and they are the ones I dispute.

As for the rest: it's a matter of opinion how "important" "Billie Jean" was. Sure, it was popular, but not as popular as you suggest, at least not where I lived. Maybe in your area everyone wanted to look like MJ. I grew up in New York City, and we had a wide variety of choices. Some of us were punks, a few were mods, some were Rocky Horror devotees (the film showed weekly, as it still does, in NYC) and some wore dreadlocks and followed Reggae.

Michael Jackson and "Billie Jean" was just another choice, not the all-encompassing tidal wave you describe. It didn't win a grammy for best song--the Police did for "Every Breath you Take." It didn't win record of the year, "Beat it" did. It also didn't win for best video--Duran Duran did. It wasn't the greatest song, the greatest video, or even the greatest song or video by Michael Jackson, of all time...or even of 1983.

"Billie Jean" changed the world as much as any really good pop song: a little, but not that much.

Pop=Rock: exactly wrong.

"Pop" began to be used as a genre term in the 1950s, as a way to distinguish a softer, more youth-oriented music from Rock. In other words, it is not only not rock, but was defined in contrast to rock.

You could check your beloved wikipedia on this, by the way.

To swinick

What I have a problem with is your stupidity and ignorance.

Why do you continue to presist that the "Billie Jean" video didn't cause MTV to dramatically change their policy towards black artist and music in general?

Why don't you admit that the "Billie Jean" video changed MTV profoundly, and paved the way for artists such as Prince, Jody Watley, Mariah Carey, Wintney Houston, Fishbone, Hootie and the Blowfish, Digital Underground, and etc to get more air time on the national scene.

"Billie Jean" killed the notion that black music was only for blacks, and white music was only for whites. After "Billie Jean" there was simply "pop" music, which was available to anyone who liked it.