I'm generally quite fond of Google's altering of their logo to honor people or events. I've been known to save those I like, such as the recent 400th anniversary of Galileo's invention of the Telescope (an all time favorite for me).
Well, in case you hadn't noticed, the August 29, 2009 U.S. logo honored what would have been Michael Jackson's 51st birthday. I don't recall ever seeing logos for Elvis, The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, or any other pop music icons, and I have to admit a slight loss of respect for Google due to their logo choice on August 29th, 2009:
When I saw it I didn't know what it was supposed to represent. I've learned that one can find out what the logo represents by hovering the mouse cursor over the image, which I did, to my dismay.
Let me make clear, I have nothing against Michael Jackson. I have owned many of his albums, in multiple formats, and I've always enjoyed the Jackson 5ive's hits (since before I was old enough to have my own music collection). Today I own more Michael Jackson CDs than my Elvis and Sinatra CDs, combined.
My complaint is that this feels, for the first time, like Google is pandering, or trying to stir up a little fuss, which apparently worked in my case. It was nearly enough to have made me switch to Bing, but frankly, I prefer making my own decisions. BTW, Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, Gene Kelly... no logos. But there was an awesome Ray Charles logo a while back (another favorite):
Many other great musicians share August 29th as a birth date and have yet to be honored with a Google logo:
- Bebop jazz pioneer saxman, Charlie "Bird" Parker comes to mind. "Bird" was certainly as important to musical history as Michael.
- Shouldn't the "Queen of Jazz" precede the "King of Pop"? In 1963, Dinah Washington also died of an overdose (accidentally). She was interred at the (in)famous Burr Oak Cemetery in Illinois. Burr Oak is the site of the recent scandal involving the re-use of gravesites. With the similarities of death and post-mortem controversy, why not feature singer-Dinah's lungs as they did dancer-Michael's feet?
From fetishists to prudes, many folks will find
this adaptation of the 8/29/09 Google logo crass,
but I prefer a pretty smile to sweaty feet any day.
Anyone wondering why I mentioned Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly earlier? When I think of Gene Kelly I think of Fred Astaire, so there he is, and I was thinking of Gene Kelly because 8/28** is Donald O'Connor's birthday, and Donald and Gene starred together in "Singin' in the Rain", for which a logo like this might have been concocted.
Any sticklers who believe the 3 umbrellas don't accurately
represent Google's two O's? There is precedent in Google logo
history for further stretches than I've made here. Also, it
closely resembles the quick-jump bar at the bottom of a Google
search results page.
For simplicity I've limited my complaint to the naming of musically connected performers. If we looked also at sports, cinema, theater, science, and other celebrities, I honestly believe a more important and relevant choice could have been made, but not one as timely or controversial.
Click here to keep up with international and past Google logos:
http://www.google-logos.com/
**
Donald O'Connor was born on 8/28 and appears here by accident due to my reference of a faulty "8/29" birthday list. I didn't wish to waste my efforts, so I've made editorial corrections for their inclusion.
