Abstract/Introduction .
When one thinks of legendary artists, it would come as no surprise that the names of Beethoven and Michael Jackson would arise in conversation. On one hand you have the "King of Pop", who is most widely known for his contributions to contemporary music and dance all over the world. While on the other, you have a master composer and pianist; a musical prodigy from a young age. Both were geniuses in their own right. In this paper we will make an analysis of two individual pieces respective to both men and the impact they had upon society on a more universal level. First will be Jackson's Thriller, the seventh and final single hit from his sixth studio album. Then we will move on to Beethoven's Für Elise, otherwise known as, "For Elise". It is perhaps one of his most well known compositions for its iconic introduction. Thriller, by genre, is classified as a disco-funk song. It is set in the key of C# and its instrumentation consists heavily on synthesizers, guitar, trumpets, flugelhorn, saxophone, flute and trombone. Set to a moderate tempo of 120 beats per minute the overarching theme of sound monopolized on frightful elements and themes. During the early 80s, racism still ran subtly rampant throughout various industries, music production not excluded. Even if a black artist were to come to high acclaim to fame, advertisement was limited to black music divisions. This meant the marketing campaign was summed up to ads in Jet and Ebony magazines. One of the easiest mistakes to make about a song is who wrote the original lyrics. In the case of Thriller, as a matter of fact, the song itself was not written by Jackson but by former Heat wave keyboardist, Rod Temperton. The song was presented to Jackson and Quincy Jones, his producer, with a title called "Starlight Love." In itself, the concept brought forward was touted as an "amazing" song.