“流行天王”还是“怪人杰克”？

Ｊａｍｅｓ

The world was shocked in June with the unexpected death of Michael Jackson, the 'King of Pop' in the 1980s. Jackson died on June 25th of a heart attack, aged 50, just weeks before he was due to begin yet another comeback tour.

六月,八十年代“流行天王”迈克尔•杰克逊突然辞世,全世界为之震惊。杰克逊6月25日死于心脏病,享年50岁,而他原本打算在数周之后复出,展开新一轮的巡演。

Jackson started out as a child star, part of a performing troupe, the Jackson 5, along with three of his elder brothers and one sister, Janet. In his first public appearances, he was only six. The group was put together and managed by his father, and was a moderate success, scoring several hits in the 1960s and 70s. Jackson achieved fame for his great dancing talent, vocal skills, and 'cute' appearance. His fame was marred by psychological anguish; his life as a child, forced into performances and constantly on the road, was warped and unnatural, with little time to play, and he would look out at ordinary children playing and cry. His father beat him viciously, and terrorized the children psychologically.

杰克逊做童星出道,与三个哥哥和妹妹珍妮同属于“杰克逊五兄妹”乐队。他首次公开亮相时年仅六岁。乐队由其父亲组建并管理,乐队小有成就,在上世纪60年代和70年代推出了几张热销作品。杰克逊因其精湛的舞技、出众的音乐才华和“可爱”的相貌而名声大噪。但心理上的痛苦为他收获的名声蒙上了一层灰;他的童年是扭曲而反常的——经常被迫参加表演,不停地奔波在旅途之上,鲜有玩耍的时间,看到别的孩子玩耍就会恸哭。父亲经常严厉地打骂他,对其年幼的心灵造成了创伤。

It was his solo career that made Jackson a megastar, however, escaping from the shadow of his father and working with the famous music producer Quincy Jones. His two early albums were fantastically popular – Off the Wall (1979) generated four top ten hits in the USA, and sold 20 million copies. Thriller (1982) was even more successful, and is the single best selling record of all time. Thriller is also credited with causing a racial breakthrough in American TV; MTV, the main music video channel, was previously reluctant to play videos by black artists, but Thriller was so successful that this barrier was shattered. Jackson's fantastic dancing, including the backwards 'Moonwalk' contributed to his popularity. The fourteen minute long music video for Thriller, with its large budget, brilliant choreography, and mini-storyline, was also deeply innovative, setting new standards for music videos. He was christened the 'King of Pop', the most financially successful musician ever. Bad (1987) was another mega-success, but by then Jackson's mental problems were already turning him from a musician into a sideshow attraction.

杰克逊的单飞使他真正成为一名超级巨星,这时他摆脱了父亲的阴影,并与著名音乐制作人昆西•琼斯合作。他早期的两张专辑异常受欢迎——《疯狂》(1979)里有四首单曲荣登美国排行榜前十名,销量达2000万张。《颤栗》(1982)更加成功,是全世界有史以来销量最大的唱片。《颤栗》也使美国电视实现了种族突破。MTV音乐电视台起初不愿播放黑种艺人的视频,但《颤栗》的成功使这种障碍土崩瓦解。杰克逊的梦幻舞步,包括“月球漫步”,也促成了他的流行。《颤栗》有长达十四分钟的音乐视频,制作成本高昂,舞步绚丽,还有故事情节,充满着创新,为音乐视频设定了新标准。他被封为“流行天王”,是有史以来赚钱最多的音乐人。《真棒》(1987)又大获成功,不过由于精神问题,当时杰克逊已经开始由音乐人转变为二流艺人。

The most visible signs of this inner trauma were the destructive surgeries that he inflicted on his body. He went from being a handsome young black man to an androgynous, deracinated freak, his skin an unnatural shade of white and his face seeming to be almost sloughing off at points. As a boy, he'd been mocked by his father for his prominent nose, which he reduced to a neat point. He claimed to have various diseases, including vitiligo and lupus, which caused the gradual bleaching of his skin. He also lost drastic amounts of weight. Personally, he became increasingly eccentric, living a strange, child-like life in his mansion, 'Neverland' – named after the magical fantasyland of Peter Pan, 'the boy who wouldn't grow up'. Jackson's life became a freakshow, watched by an eager public. He married Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie Presley, in 1994, widely believed to be a sham marriage for publicity purposes. The tabloids dubbed him 'Wacko Jacko', and claimed that he slept in a hydrogen chamber and had bought the bones of the 'Elephant Man', a famous Victorian freak.

他内心创伤最明显的标志是手术对其身体的破坏。他从一名英俊的黑人小伙堕落成一个不男不女、不黑不白的怪人,皮肤不自然,脸上有多处塌陷。小时候,父亲嘲笑他的鼻子太大,于是他将其整匀称。他声称自己患有多种疾病,包括白癜风和红斑狼疮,皮肤因此逐渐漂白。他的体重也大幅度减轻。他变得越来越怪诞,孩童般在其“梦幻庄园”豪宅里过着奇怪的生活,“梦幻庄园”的名字来源于“永远也长不大的男孩”彼得•潘的梦幻乐园。杰克逊的生活成了一场畸形秀,公众皆引颈观看。他于1994年迎娶猫王埃尔维斯•普雷斯利的女儿丽莎•玛丽•普雷斯利,人们都认为这场婚姻实则为假,只是为了宣传罢了。八卦小报称杰克逊为“怪人杰克”,说他睡在氢室里,还买了维多利亚时代著名怪人“象人”的遗骨。

The nadir came with accusations of child sexual abuse. Jackson surrounded himself with children, and often slept in the same bed with them – innocently, he claimed. He accused the family of the child he was supposed to have abused of fraud and blackmail attempts, and was found innocent by a jury, but his reputation was permanently damaged. Many still believed him to be guilty. His personal life became even more bizarre; he had two children from a short marriage to his nurse, followed by a third, via artificial insemination, with an unknown mother. He covered their faces in public, and refused to allow any press contact with them. After he publically dangled his infant son over a balcony, there were calls for the children to be removed from his custody.

在被控猥亵儿童之后,杰克逊的事业坠入谷底。杰克逊喜欢有儿童簇拥,还经常跟他们睡在同一张床上,不过他说这样做是不带邪念的。他指责涉嫌被他猥亵的小孩的家人是骗子,想要勒索他。虽然陪审团裁定杰克逊无罪,但其名声已彻底受损。许多人依然认为他有罪。他的个人生活更加古怪,他同照顾自己的一名护士有过一段短暂的婚姻,育有二子,又通过人工受精跟一名陌生女子生了第三个孩子。他在公共场合总盖着他们的脸,并拒绝任何媒体接触他们。他曾经公开在阳台悬荡其小宝宝,引发人们的抗议,要求解除他对孩子的监护权。

Financially, he was having difficulties. Much of his money had been blown on extravagant purchases or stolen by crooked associates, and, despite his canny purchases of the Beatles' back catalogue of music (for fifty million dollars, an investment that returned itself many times over), and the continuing sales of his albums, he was nearly bankrupt. He was about to embark on an already sold-out tour when he died, which would have earned him over fifty million dollars. Despite all this, the greatness of his early solo albums remains. Most of Jackson's later work is derivative, sometimes virtually unlistenable, pap, but the energy and innovation of his 80s music is undeniable. Off the Wall (1979), Thriller (1982), and Bad (1987) are brilliant pieces of work, containing crackling numbers like Wanna Be Starting Something, Billie Jean, and Beat It. In the long run that, rather than the sad scandals of his later years, are what he deserves to be remembered for.

杰克逊经济拮据。他的许多钱都挥霍在购买奢侈品上,或被无良合伙人窃走,虽然他购买了披头士音乐的版权(花5000万美元购入,收益已翻倍),其个人专辑也在继续销售,可他还是几乎身无分文。他去世前不久,正在准备展开巡演,演唱会门票都已经卖光了,收益可达5000万美元。即使如此,他早期的独唱专辑依然伟大。杰克逊晚期的作品大多平淡无奇,有时简直惨不忍听,纯粹是糟粕,但其八十年代音乐的能量与创新却不可否认。《疯狂》(1979)、《颤栗》(1982)和《真棒》(1987)都是杰出的专辑,里面有《找茬》、《比莉•简》和《走开》等著名单曲。从长远来说,这些才是杰克逊应该被铭记的,而不是他后期的丑闻。