Michael Jackson’s Disco Defense Proved He Was the King of Pop

Michael Jackson said disco was better than rock music in some regards. That was a very provocative statement at the time! The King of Pop went on to explain why he didn’t care much for diving up genres, likening music to bird calls.

Michael Jackson defended disco during a racist backlash to it

Today, disco music is about as controversial as apple pie. However, in the late 1970s, the genre was polarizing. Some critics and fans hated it because they felt it did not live up to the quality of the rock ‘n’ roll music of the previous decade. Others felt disco was taking up too much of the music market. Most disconcertingly, some audiences attacked disco because of its association with Black and LGBTQ communities. 

Jackson wasn’t primarily a disco singer. However, he released disco/disco-inspired tunes such as “Thriller,” “Billie Jean,” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.” During a 1980 interview posted to Blank on Blank, the King of Pop had some kind words for disco.

“I hate labels because it should be just music,” he explained. “I don’t see anything wrong with disco. You can’t dance to [imitates guitar thrashing sound] or … Call it disco. Call it anything. It’s music. Would you call ‘She’s Out of My Life’ disco? ‘Off the Wall,’ ‘Rock with You’ … I don’t know. It’s music to me.” While “She’s Out of My Life” is a soft-rock ballad, “Off the Wall” and “Rock with You” could reasonably be classified as disco songs — even though Jackson didn’t care much for classification.

Michael Jackson said genre doesn’t matter if a sound is beautiful

The King of Pop compared the different genres of music to bird calls. “It’s like you hear a bird chirping,” he said. “You don’t say: ‘That’s a bluejay. This one is a crow.’ It’s a beautiful sound. That’s all that counts. Listen to it. You watch them soar in the skies. It’s just beautiful.”

While Jackson was very open to different types of music, he was still hard on his own output. “I’m never satisfied,” he revealed. “I’ll cut a track or something and I come home and I say: ‘No, that’s not right. We gotta to do it over it’s not right.’ And then go back and back and back. Then when it’s finally out, you say: ‘Darn it. I should have done this.’ It’s No. 1 on the charts you’re still screaming about what you should have done.”

Whether the songs were disco or not, they were huge

“She’s Out of My Life,” “Off the Wall,” and “Rock with You” all became hits. “She’s Out of My Life” reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100, “Off the Wall” reached No. 10, and “Rock with You” reached No. 1. Disco or not, the American public was in love with all of those songs. 

All three of those songs appeared on the album Off the Wall. That record reached No. 3 on the Billboard 200. It spent a total of 193 weeks on the chart. Off the Wall spent more time on the chart than any other by the King of Pop, with the exception of Thriller.

Jackson was the King of Pop and he acknowledged how expansive pop music could be.