Michael Jackson’s insane work ethic
Michael Jackson was a once in a generation genius but his work ethic creative process and advice is timeless I don’t care if the whole world is is against you or tease you or that you’re not going to make it believe in yourself so here are a few simple ideas that we can all take away from his creative process study the greats and become greater we all know Michael Jackson had a difficult upbringing but like the rest of us Michael loved the music his childhood and he was continuously inspired by these artists James Brown
Jackie Wilson uh there’s so many great singers not only did he allow this inspiration into his work but he worked with them whenever he got the chance whether this was Diana Ross Quincy Jones or even Paul McCartney I love uh Beatles music I just love great great music but Michael Jackson didn’t just loved music he loved all forms of Art and he studied the greats from any art form and from any era I’m a great fan of art I love Michel Angelo if I had a chance to talk to him or read about him I would want to
know about what inspired him to become who he is the anatomy of his craftsmanship and he wasn’t afraid to take what these great artists did and then interpret it into his own work take for example his moonwalk as genius as it is the idea for it didn’t just fall out of the sky it was likely inspired by Charlie Chaplain people like chaplain I mean God how could you not admire his is genius he was the king of paos I mean he knew how to set your heart and he know how to make you laugh and cry at the
same time I mean he he was the master of that Michael Jackson understood that regardless of the art form and the era they’re working in great artists are always just trying to convey the human Spirit through their art if you’re at The Cutting Edge of your chosen art form the creative Geniuses of that time may not have come along yet but you can still study the greats of the past because the spirit of their work is the same for all great arti artists in fact his love for these great artists was so
strong that his autobiography is dedicated to the dance of Fred a stair and it opens with two quotes from Thomas Edison and John Lennon all this is to say good artist copy great artist steal this doesn’t mean trying to take credit for someone else’s work but it means trying to take the spirit of that work that you love and to put it into your own work it’s like taking the seeds of a beautiful flower and using that to plant something new with any type of creation you create what’s inside of you um
subconsciously what influences you but how does this inspiration actually turn into something new how do you write a song how do you write a song how do I write a song well everything about Michael Jackson from his songwriting to his dancing was so original and so unique but what links all of this together was his ability to create so fluently if I said here and play some chords whatever and say I’m going to write the best song ever written nothing happens something in the heavens has to say look this is the time
that this is going to be laid on you and this is when I want you to have it you can’t force an idea to come but if you allow things to happen you’ll notice that ideas come along actually quite easily well the songw writing process is is something that’s very difficult to explain because it’s very spiritual as if it’s been written in its entirety before you were born and you’re just really The Source through which the songs come they just fall right into your lap and its entirety you don’t have to do much
uh thinking about it the amazing thing about this is that often the best music is developed in this way you might think that sure loads of ideas will come along but it still takes lots of work to find the really good ones but actually the less thought that goes into it often the better the result now I remember when I when I wrote Billy Jean I was writing in my uh car down Venture Boulevard all I said to myself beforehand I want to write a song with a great base hook you know and um um and I just let it go
really and then several days later you [Music] know you know the where did that come from from above and like the rest of us for Michael Jackson overthinking an idea often led to a worse creative result take for example the introduction of Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough Michael sent me a note could you please take off the violin in the introduction though it’s messed up my groove you know what that line [Music] was he said take it off yeah and you said no way that’s one of the strongest
parts of the introduction but this is understandable considering Michael Jackson was an absolute perfectionist many people throughout the years have since given an account of what Michael Jackson was like to work within the studio and they all come back with the same observation oh he was a he was a perfectionist absolute perfectionist and he because he was that way and the same thing with Quincy Jones when you work with him you really want to give him your best you want to do the best you can do for him because he’s
given you his best last year I was fortunate enough to interview Bill Chen who worked as a live engineer for Michael Jackson Bill recorded a live show and when Michael came back after to listen to the recording of the show he insisted on recording his vocals again and when Michael got there I put him in my chair and hit play and the thing started and he said turn my vocal off turn my vocal off I I stopped the tape and I said Michael you really should listen to your vocals I mean they’re they’re really gorgeous and near perfect
and he said no I want to make everything perfect so where did this perfectionism come from well it’s something he learned from Barry gordi the founder of mtown during his early days with the Jackson 5 that’s the way mtown did things in those days because Barry insisted on Perfection and attention to detail I’ll never forget his persistence this was his genius then and later I observed every moment of the sessions where Barry was present and never forgot what I learned to this day I use the same
principles I do believe deeply imperfection I’m never satisfied I’ll cut a track or something I come home and I say no that’s not right we got to do it over this not right and you just go back and back and back and D it’s finally out you say darn it I could should done this I should have did his number one on the chge he still screaming about what you should have done it may seem like this ambition for Perfection would be enough to drive him crazy but actually there’s one final
part to the puzzle perhaps the most important of [Music] all Michael Jackson was more than a musician more than an Entertainer he was an innovator with so many different elements to his art but he knew that just like the greats that he’d studied before he’d also have to overcome adversity you know you know you’re not going to do it you’re not going to get anywhere they laughed at the right Brothers they laughed at Thomas Edison they laughed at Walt Disney and even after Decades of great work he was still
striving for something even greater You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet one of the things I love about studying great artists from the past is understanding that whatever we do in life there is always an opportunity to do something great persevere believe in yourself have confidence no matter what you do even if you’re sweeping floors or painting ceilings do it better than anybody in the world no matter what it is that you do thank you so much for watching if you made it this far please take a moment to subscribe
[Music]
