"Gaslight of the Gods: Why I Still Play Michael Jackson and R. Kelly for My Students"

Professor William Cheng’s article, “Gaslight of the Gods: Why I Still Play Michael Jackson and R. Kelly for My Students,” appears in The Chronicle of Higher Education on September 15, 2019 :

"I continue to play Michael Jackson in popular music classes today because, in part, I feel obligated to deal with questions of historical context and stylistic lineage. But when I play 'Black or White' and 'We Are the World,' I also want these influential recordings to remind students firsthand of our collective susceptibility to seduction, musical and otherwise. (Instead of streaming these songs and generating clicks, I play them in class using CDs from the school’s music library whenever possible.) For courses emphasizing European classical music, I conduct similar exercises with Richard Wagner’s music dramas, Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Mozart’s Don Giovanni (an opera condemned by some writers as a misogynist rape fantasy)."

Read the full article on The Chronicle of Higher Education website.