Michael Jackson

[iancurtis51880]

I was never a fan of his stuff, but I feel sad. Poor guy.

[Nikmis]

soon there will be rumours that he faked his death and is still alive, out of the limelight and far from scornful media attention

[iancurtis51880]

soon there will be rumours that he faked his death and is still alive, out of the limelight and far from scornful media attention

I always felt so bad for him. Even though I hated his stuff, he was, for my 80s generation, kind of what The Beatles were for my parents' generation, as far as his level of fame. Regardless of that, his life was really terrible, apparently.

[Nikmis]

i love his music and have always felt attachment to him because i went to high school in the jackson's hometown, or at least part of what used to be his hometown, Gary Indiana before the white part of it broke off in the 70's.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpvCWCUiI0k

i was there!

[tamajinn]

I was seven years old when "Thriller" came out and I still remember dancing around our living room to it. My favorite was the brooding "Human Nature." I've always felt pity for Michael, who paid such a high price for fame. The news of his death came as quite a shock, I'm still trying to believe it. I liked all the emotion he put into his songs-- behind it all was always a hint of sadness. I hope he is at peace now.

[Fred]

I loved the guy. I thought he was an incredible artist, and an even better performer. At the same time, he was deeply flawed and uncomfortable in his own skin, exploited by his family, friends, and even by his own fans. In the end, like Dave Chappelle said, I think he would do anything to be liked, and that was his downfall. I don't usually get worked up about celebrity deaths, but I've been feeling kind of sad since I heard about it. Couple of thoughts that I thought rang true:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/t ... chael.html
http://www.tnr.com/politics/story.html? ... 8e443c2556 (written in 1984)

[Dr. M]

There was a clip of him saying that he believes everything he sings. If doesn't believe it, he doesn't sing it. I've only really started listening to his music in the last like year or so, but I really believe that's what set him apart from all the other artists. He put everything into his performance, nothing about it was fake.

In the end of course he was a tragic victim of the same heartless system that let him reach so many people. That's a cliche way of saying it, but it's so true. As a child he was adopted by money, raised by money, and was never allowed to confront his problems like a normal person. He was forced into this fantasy world, and now that's all people my age can talk about, instead of what a tremendous artist he was. Watching the coverage almost made me sick... his life was a three-ring circus, so I guess we can't expect his death to be anything less.

Another interesting thing to note. With how much the market has changed, no album will ever outsell Thriller. It will go down in history as the single greatest selling album of all time. I don't really think there will ever be another household name quite like him either.

[Dave]

He is bound to have a new album out too. Cause that's how it works.

[tamajinn]

Fred, I enjoyed the articles you linked to, thank you for that. They had a lot of good perspective.

Here is one that is interesting on several levels, one of which is that it includes a picture of what Michael Jackson may have looked like at age 50 if he had let himself age naturally. There are other articles by the same author on different aspects of Jackson's life. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1050082/As-turns-50-Michael-Jackson-really-look-like.html

[iancurtis51880]

Fred, I enjoyed the articles you linked to, thank you for that. They had a lot of good perspective.

Here is one that is interesting on several levels, one of which is that it includes a picture of what Michael Jackson may have looked like at age 50 if he had let himself age naturally. There are other articles by the same author on different aspects of Jackson's life. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1050082/As-turns-50-Michael-Jackson-really-look-like.html

On a purely shallow level, I like his hair better in pic 2. That's the only thing. This whole story, sad and sordid as it is, will be news fodder for weeks and months +/-. No idea how long it will take the public to tire of it. It's his kids I feel the most sorry for, obv. No matter what happens, they're nearly always the victims.

[zerospacer]

On making Thriller:
Tension was growing. Unlike the previous collaboration, Michael was hell bent on making a “perfect record”. He later told EBONY he thought of how classical music masterpieces from the likes of Tchaikovsky had affected his thinking and he felt because they were “killer songs” how can he make a pop album with nothing but “killer songs”?

http://midnightman84.wordpress.com/2009 ... u-bet-cha/

Ive often thought the same thing. Why dont artists only make killer songs? Patience & discipline...

[Joyflyer 59]

http://graphjam.com/page/3/
There's a Michael Jackson graph half way down.

[Gildas]

I never hated Michael Jackson....ever...I was wierded out a little by some of the things he did...but to be honest he was a brilliant singer and performer. God Bless his soul. It isn't like he sang of a negative message anyway. So I just wanted to say goodbye to him right now here on this board...Bye Michael.....you have given me many fond memories that I will never forget....Goodbye friend and may the Lord let your soul rest in peace after all that you have been through in this life.

[Dr. M]

Ive often thought the same thing. Why dont artists only make killer songs? Patience & discipline...

Well, which songs are killer and which aren't is completely subjective, so I can only assume the judge here would be the artist. Thinking of how many songs of his Ronnie dislikes that *at least* a few fans strongly disagree with, I'm pretty glad Ronnie and others allow themselves to make less than killer songs, and allow their fans to pick their favorites.
I know what you mean though, there are a ton of artists out there who could use a higher quality standard for their material, especially on album cuts.



I'm in a musical, and the director is a recovered coke addict. He said something I found extremely interesting, that I hadn't thought of. He said that Michael Jackson was a drug addict plain and simple, and died from drugs, just like any other strung-out drug addict out there. And that's what the kids need to be hearing, all musical contributions aside. It's a unique perspective.
That's kind of a weak way of putting it, it was a lot stronger to hear him say it.

[Heretic]

There was a clip of him saying that he believes everything he sings. If doesn't believe it, he doesn't sing it. I've only really started listening to his music in the last like year or so, but I really believe that's what set him apart from all the other artists. He put everything into his performance, nothing about it was fake.

In the end of course he was a tragic victim of the same heartless system that let him reach so many people. That's a cliche way of saying it, but it's so true. As a child he was adopted by money, raised by money, and was never allowed to confront his problems like a normal person. He was forced into this fantasy world, and now that's all people my age can talk about, instead of what a tremendous artist he was. Watching the coverage almost made me sick... his life was a three-ring circus, so I guess we can't expect his death to be anything less.

Another interesting thing to note. With how much the market has changed, no album will ever outsell Thriller. It will go down in history as the single greatest selling album of all time. I don't really think there will ever be another household name quite like him either.

I think you are on to something here, and it's preciesely that pop music is very rarely honest in any way, musically or philosophically; and perhaps this is his achievement, namely, that he made unpretentious pop music that still had the slick production more commonly associated with the more pretentious lot of pop music.

On the other hand, his life was such an illusion and he was such a victim of so many forces, including his fanbase, fame, and his own money, that the blatant honesty of his music really interrupts the noise of everything else, even though it comes from a distant reality foreign to us, it's a thin voice of humanity that comes through, even in some of the stuff that I think is quite awful, like the "Scream" duet.

What I am so confilcted about is the whole question of whether he himself became a victimizer, as so many victims become? We'll probably never know for sure. I can set aside the faults and problems of people like Phil Spector, George Michael, and Michael Jackson to appreciate their music. Many books will be written about MJ trying to make sense of it all.

[iancurtis51880]

While I do know some about his personal and family life as a child and adult, and how he and his siblings were basically manipulated by their father and others, there is a side of me that can't really get away from the fact that as an adult, he not only behaved like a child, but never really seemed to make any effort to 'grow up', as it were. He seemed very content to stay in childhood and not really move past it. I always felt sorry that he had his innocence and childhood taken away by forces outside his control, but at some point, all of us have to decide to put away childish things. I dunno, it's just such a sad story. No one will ever really know what living inside his skin was like(no pun intended). Just my two cents.

[deadliner]

Here's something for the fans. A nice vinyl rip of the long out of print MJ narrating E.T.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=2AQ4WJO2

Enjoy!

[deadliner]

At his best imo, before too many surgeries. What a great video. Suits the situation perfectly.

Let the angels wrap their wings around him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvYygjcMDdQ

And just to add my opinion... I don't believe for a second that he molested any children. Was he "strange"? I guess so, but who isn't? I am.