Through his career this superstar had sold an estimated 750 million records worldwide, released 13 No.1 singles and became one of a handful of artists to be inducted twice into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The lyrics describe his opinion on racism and how they have affected him and the world around him. The first lyrics that caught my attention were "They print my message In the Saturday Sun, I had to tell them, I ain't second to none."
Here he states that he is not no one, that he is a person, with equalities.
Racism is a war of races, land or "turf" as he describes it and he would "rather hear both sides" of people's opinions. He describes racism as being about "places, faces, where your blood comes from and where your space is".
He also states that he's "not going to spend my life being a color." This artist does not want the label of a different race, he wants people to see him for his artistic abilities.
Weird Al Yankovic had the idea to parody this song as "Snack All Night," following his food-themed parodies of this singer’s songs like "Eat It" and "Fat." Today’s artist, who was a big fan of Yankovic's work, told him to leave this one alone since it was a very personal and meaningful song. And he did.
.As we stated, Weird Al Yankovic did NOT parody this song when asked by this singer to skip this one, but he didn't get the same respect from the show In Living Color, which portrayed him singing this as "Am I Black Or White?" making fun of his increasingly pallid complexion.
This bit has him destroying a car as he did in the video for this song and then getting arrested for it. When a cop cuffs him, he says, "I guess I am black."
The success of today’s song, and its innovative video, solidified this artist’s reputation as "The King of Pop." Although he'd been called that name a couple times in the past, he wanted to make it official, especially since the tabloids had started calling him "Wacko Jacko" for his eccentric behavior and changing appearance.
Any network that hoped to air the song's music video had to agree to refer to him as "The King of Pop." MTV even sent out a memo to its staff instructing personnel to use that term at least twice a week up until the premiere.
It’s Michael Jackson...Black or White...IKTS.