Another Jackson Family? Don't Count On It!
Helllooo, everybody!
Well, we've come to the first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and the question that's been on a lot of my friends' and relatives' minds is, "Will there ever be another Jackson-type musical dynasty?" Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer to that question is, sadly, no. There will never be another musical dynasty quite like the Jackson family, and not only because they were one of a kind, which they were. Here are three reasons why there will never be "another" Jackson family.
Number one: The African American middle class that made the Jackson family rich, no longer exists. Sad, but true, but back in the 1970's, many middle class African American kids had much more disposable income than we do now. That's because their parents had those good union factory jobs that paid for many of the things those kid enjoyed, including the albums and 45 singles they bought. True, the Jacksons have many different fans from all over the world, but back in the 1970's, it was the African American middle class, who listened mainly to rhythm and blues, who made them, and sadly, that middle class of average workers with high school diplomas, and maybe a community college Associates degree, who had good union jobs in the inner cities factories of this country, no longer exist.
Number two: The music industry itself has changed in the past forty years. Back in the day, the record companies used to make the majority of their dough by packing recording artists' albums with a lot of "turkey corn" (novelty songs, or songs that would never make it onto the Billboard Top 10), and maybe a couple of songs that are really worth a person's while. This particular practice made it possible for the record companies to get rid of a lot of songs that they wouldn't normally be able to any other way, and sell millions of albums in the process. Not any more. Thanks to the IPod and MV3 player, listeners can pick and choose what they want to listen to. And that, I suspect, is the real reason why CD sales have slumped over the past decade, because people don't have to buy a whole album of "corn" just to get a couple of gold nuggets anymore.
Number three, and the most obvious reason: in order to make the kind of dough now that the Jacksons made back in the day, you have to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's Degree. A community college Associates won't cut it. The only thing an Associates is good for is to transfer to a university that's at least at a state level. True, there are a lot of celebs out there with various educational levels, but if you really noticed, the ones who are really successful, and whose wealth is out there in the stratosphere, are the ones with the college degrees that are a Bachelors or higher. And we all know how increasingly hard it is for the average American to get a community college degree, let alone a university degree.
So there you have it. The three reasons why there will never be another family like the Jacksons. And that's also all the time we have. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
Well, we've come to the first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death, and the question that's been on a lot of my friends' and relatives' minds is, "Will there ever be another Jackson-type musical dynasty?" Well, I'm here to tell you that the answer to that question is, sadly, no. There will never be another musical dynasty quite like the Jackson family, and not only because they were one of a kind, which they were. Here are three reasons why there will never be "another" Jackson family.
Number one: The African American middle class that made the Jackson family rich, no longer exists. Sad, but true, but back in the 1970's, many middle class African American kids had much more disposable income than we do now. That's because their parents had those good union factory jobs that paid for many of the things those kid enjoyed, including the albums and 45 singles they bought. True, the Jacksons have many different fans from all over the world, but back in the 1970's, it was the African American middle class, who listened mainly to rhythm and blues, who made them, and sadly, that middle class of average workers with high school diplomas, and maybe a community college Associates degree, who had good union jobs in the inner cities factories of this country, no longer exist.
Number two: The music industry itself has changed in the past forty years. Back in the day, the record companies used to make the majority of their dough by packing recording artists' albums with a lot of "turkey corn" (novelty songs, or songs that would never make it onto the Billboard Top 10), and maybe a couple of songs that are really worth a person's while. This particular practice made it possible for the record companies to get rid of a lot of songs that they wouldn't normally be able to any other way, and sell millions of albums in the process. Not any more. Thanks to the IPod and MV3 player, listeners can pick and choose what they want to listen to. And that, I suspect, is the real reason why CD sales have slumped over the past decade, because people don't have to buy a whole album of "corn" just to get a couple of gold nuggets anymore.
Number three, and the most obvious reason: in order to make the kind of dough now that the Jacksons made back in the day, you have to go to college and get at least a Bachelor's Degree. A community college Associates won't cut it. The only thing an Associates is good for is to transfer to a university that's at least at a state level. True, there are a lot of celebs out there with various educational levels, but if you really noticed, the ones who are really successful, and whose wealth is out there in the stratosphere, are the ones with the college degrees that are a Bachelors or higher. And we all know how increasingly hard it is for the average American to get a community college degree, let alone a university degree.
So there you have it. The three reasons why there will never be another family like the Jacksons. And that's also all the time we have. Until next time, be well, stay well, and don't forget to help the earthquake survivors!
Sincerely,
Marley Sue
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