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RIP Michael Jackson

Apparently Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest today, at the age of 50.

Despite doing his very best to stop us, it's important we look past his personal problems, and acknowledge him as one of the all-time great artists.

I was born in 92, so I obviously wasn't around when he was the most popular person in the world, but his music from the late 70s and early 80s is fantastic.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

I,m stunned. Lets remember him for his genius.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

I'm shocked. Even though he wasn't in great shape, I never saw this coming. Today, we lost one of the world's greatest entertainers.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Yeah. Goddamn.

"Thriller" is an amazing pop album. I'm listening to it as a tribute.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Sucks. I was always hoping he could turn it around and lead a normal elderly life.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

In a way, Billie Jean became the story of his life. "Some people always told me, be careful what you do". He should have known that a man as popular as him would be accused of pedophilia if he invited kids over for sleepovers, even if he only meant to relate to them like another kid.

It's sad. I'd always hoped his life would calm down and he'd have a chance to just be appreciated for his art again.

I heard Bad a few weeks ago for the first time since I was a kid. The contrast between it and Thriller seemed symptomatic of his emotional problems. Where in Thriller he seemed relaxed, happy, and able to just enjoy singing, in Bad he was overly desperate to please, insecure and defensive.

I only wish he'd been given a stable enough childhood for his self-image to be able to handle fame.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

It's a sad day for pop. Michael Jackson was its brightest star.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

He was my earliest musical memory(born '87) so I'll always remember him...

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

This is unbelievable. Just unbelievable. What a tragic end for the biggest pop star ever. I was hoping he could silence some doubters with the tour that was scheduled. And what about his poor kids?

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Very sad. But almost fitting given his self-destructive nature.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Klauw
I'm shocked. Even though he wasn't in great shape, I never saw this coming. Today, we lost one of the world's greatest entertainers.


i think considering he was preparing for his comeback tour he was most likely in great shape (think of all the dancing). my bet is drugs or something like that.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

I just found out. Needless to say I am pretty stunned. Another one of my favorite artists dead before his time.
The man was a musical genius, troubled for sure, but without a doubt a creative genius. It's a shame he didn't put out one last album before his death.

Rest in peace, Michael.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkcZDGFm0Yw

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

MIchael
Klauw
I'm shocked. Even though he wasn't in great shape, I never saw this coming. Today, we lost one of the world's greatest entertainers.


i think considering he was preparing for his comeback tour he was most likely in great shape (think of all the dancing). my bet is drugs or something like that.


Unfortunately, it might have been all that preparation that ultimately did him in. Don't forget that he'd already been forced to postpone a bunch of those shows - I think he was pushing himself WAY too hard, because he felt he had so much to prove, and his notoriously fragile constitution just couldn't take the strain.

We'll learn more as the days go on, obviously. The horrible irony here is that it's probably his death that will finally lead people to put aside the tabloid freakshow that Jackson's life became in its last decade-plus and shift the focus back to where it belongs - on the brilliant music and showmanship that made him the world's most famous entertainer to begin with.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Y’know, I’ve never owned Thriller (which came out when I was a high school freshman), and yet I know all of the songs on it. I can’t imagine that could be true of any other album.

Reviewing the short, often unhappy life of Michael Jackson, I find it pretty easy to look past the freakishness of the last 20 years and focus on his musical achievement, which was awesome. The range of styles in which he worked was just mind-boggling.

I also think it’s important to remember what he did for pop music in the 1980s. Before Jam Master Jay and Steve Perry got together, before Prince started getting heavy play on AOR stations, MJ was the first African-American to storm the gates of previously lily-white MTV, a network badly in need of a funk infusion. And he did it purely on the basis of the quality of his stuff—it wasn’t just Eddie Van Halen, because the “Billie Jean” video was in heavy rotation for months before “Beat It” came out.

In the US, at least, it was the first crack, maybe since Hendrix, in the great white monolith of rock—and I include my beloved punks in that (the UK did a bit better, with Madness and the Specials, and the Clash covering Junior Murvin, and Bowie channeling Motown).

In Obama’s America, we have the luxury of taking the original syncretists for granted, but Michael becoming a pop star for *everybody* was a defining moment in pop, and what we listen to today, from indie to Timbaland, is much, much richer for it.

Viva Michael.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

It's interesting that you say that Schleuse, because I had never thought of pop music as being an avenue that was closed to black people.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

ChrisF
It's interesting that you say that Schleuse, because I had never thought of pop music as being an avenue that was closed to black people.


Pop music, no. "Rock" radio, yes, and MTV, most definitely. Were you around in the early '80s, ChrisF? Because I can assure you that before THRILLER, black artists didn't get played on MTV. At all. Then "Billie Jean" became SO huge, SO inescapable, SO pervasive, that for the network to ignore it would have been stupid at best and racist at worst. So, at least in the case of MTV, yes, Michael Jackson did open an avenue that had previously been closed to black people.

Don't put words in our mouths or thoughts in our heads. On this forum, of all places, you should know better than that. Sorry to get off on a rant.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Harold Wexler
I can assure you that before THRILLER, black artists didn't get played on MTV. At all. Then "Billie Jean" became SO huge, SO inescapable, SO pervasive, that for the network to ignore it would have been stupid at best and racist at worst. So, at least in the case of MTV, yes, Michael Jackson did open an avenue that had previously been closed to black people.


..makes me want to bless Frank Farian & Ralf Siegel for having sold out the brute part of this immaturity to us nutzis long ago in the 70's... boney m & les humphries for eva... munich did ruin peter green, btw, and no more mamy blus at all..

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Great loss but the real Michael Jackson I like died after Thriller. I don't get the comparison with the Beatles. The Beatles sold over billion albums while being a recording group for only seven years years and pushing the limits of pop music. I think the comparisons with Elvis Presley is a fair one.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

well to me Thriller is easily the best album of the top 4 most acclaimed albums of the 80s. I've always been impartial to british alternative guitar rock but I thought the Queen is Dead unlike Thriller is NOT flawless from beginning to end. I could think of two songs from that album that were at best average. Same thing goes for Sign 'O the Times. All those songs didn't really stand out in their entirty compared to Thriller. Public Enemy's cool and certainly different from what was coming out at the time. But still not in the same league with Thriller. He had some great singles afterward and even his less acclaimed albums like Dangerous could easily surpass the best work of any pop artist from today.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

TIM
Queen is Dead unlike Thriller is NOT flawless from beginning to end. I could think of two songs from that album that were at best average. S

The 'Girl Is Mine' is better than average???

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Harold, I think you're putting words in my mouth. I thought it was an interesting point that he made. I had never thought of it. I was not around in the early eighties. Well, I was, but not long before then. Point is, I tend to associate black artists so closely with the history of pop/rock that it had never occured to me that there was a time when it was hard for them to get on the radio/MTV. My musical awareness bloomed in the 90s. By then, it wasn't. You're assuming my post was sarcastic, which it wasn't.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

ChrisF
Harold, I think you're putting words in my mouth. You're assuming my post was sarcastic, which it wasn't.


confirmed and acknowledged, Chris, only bubbles seem to know why the Wanxxler did react that way - - so when will we both meet for dinner again?

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

TIM
well to me Thriller is easily the best album of the top 4 most acclaimed albums of the 80s. I've always been impartial to british alternative guitar rock but I thought the Queen is Dead unlike Thriller is NOT flawless from beginning to end. I could think of two songs from that album that were at best average. Same thing goes for Sign 'O the Times. All those songs didn't really stand out in their entirty compared to Thriller. Public Enemy's cool and certainly different from what was coming out at the time. But still not in the same league with Thriller. He had some great singles afterward and even his less acclaimed albums like Dangerous could easily surpass the best work of any pop artist from today.


I disagree. I think Thriller is vastly overrated. It's a decent album overall, but songs like "Lady in My Life" and ESPECIALLY the atrocious "The Girl Is Mine" really let it down. In all honesty, I prefer Off the Wall, Bad and Dangerous to Thriller.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Moonbeam
In all honesty, I prefer Off the Wall, Bad and Dangerous to Thriller.


then how about a "top 5 songs from Dangerous" for tonight, Mr. Runner?

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

ChrisF
Harold, I think you're putting words in my mouth. I thought it was an interesting point that he made. I had never thought of it. I was not around in the early eighties. Well, I was, but not long before then. Point is, I tend to associate black artists so closely with the history of pop/rock that it had never occured to me that there was a time when it was hard for them to get on the radio/MTV. My musical awareness bloomed in the 90s. By then, it wasn't. You're assuming my post was sarcastic, which it wasn't.


Yeah, I overreacted a little bit. Your posts tend to be thoughtful and interesting, and I should have taken that into consideration instead of assuming you were just being glib. Sorry about that, Chris.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Harold Wexler

Yeah, I overreacted a little bit. Your posts tend to be thoughtful and interesting, and I should have taken that into consideration instead of assuming you were just being glib. Sorry about that, Chris.


gravity boots to that..



and off..
nj

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

I like it. I like all the songs on Thriller but it's certainly not my favorite album of all time. But of the top 4 of the 80s to me it's the best.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

Midaso
TIM
Queen is Dead unlike Thriller is NOT flawless from beginning to end. I could think of two songs from that album that were at best average. S

The 'Girl Is Mine' is better than average???


Its one of the worst songs ever.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

I really think Bad isn't nearly as good as Off The Wall or Thriller.

Besides the fact that that's when he couldn't deal with having white splotches on his skin so he bleached his whole body, Bad is also when all the stereotypical Jacko-isms really pop up. You don't get quite so many random unnecessary "SHIMONA! EE-HEE!" in the songs on Thriller.

Then if you look at the comparison between the songs Beat It and Bad. They have a lot in common. They both have a chorus that involves repeating the title of the song, and in both the narrator is a big tough gangster. But Beat It is a story. The narrator is saying "I'm a big tough gangster, and you want nothing to do with it, get the hell out of here before you die." Bad is just an ego trip. "I'm a big tough gangster. Aren't I cool? Seriously, isn't that awesome?"

Then Bad has all these lyrics like "Noone's business but our own!" and an entire song called "Leave Me Alone". It's not hard to read between the lines that he's having trouble dealing with his fame.

Bad is so much more a strained listen than his first two albums, other than a handful of singles like Smooth Criminal I have no reason to go back to it, whereas on Thriller the only song I feel the need to skip is "Girl is Mine".

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

BillAdama
I really think Bad isn't nearly as good as Off The Wall or Thriller.

Besides the fact that that's when he couldn't deal with having white splotches on his skin so he bleached his whole body, Bad is also when all the stereotypical Jacko-isms really pop up. You don't get quite so many random unnecessary "SHIMONA! EE-HEE!" in the songs on Thriller.

Then if you look at the comparison between the songs Beat It and Bad. They have a lot in common. They both have a chorus that involves repeating the title of the song, and in both the narrator is a big tough gangster. But Beat It is a story. The narrator is saying "I'm a big tough gangster, and you want nothing to do with it, get the hell out of here before you die." Bad is just an ego trip. "I'm a big tough gangster. Aren't I cool? Seriously, isn't that awesome?"

Then Bad has all these lyrics like "Noone's business but our own!" and an entire song called "Leave Me Alone". It's not hard to read between the lines that he's having trouble dealing with his fame.

Bad is so much more a strained listen than his first two albums, other than a handful of singles like Smooth Criminal I have no reason to go back to it, whereas on Thriller the only song I feel the need to skip is "Girl is Mine".


This is a great post! Bad is my favorite MJ album, perhaps because it showcases his eccentricity so well. "Leave Me Alone" is actually my favorite MJ song- the groove is simply delicious. You correctly anoint "Smooth Criminal" as an awesome gem, but I'd also put "Dirty Diana", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and the often-overlooked "Another Part of Me" in the realm of classic, perfect pop songs. Michael Jackson has always had some very silly lyrics (and I think Thriller is just as guilty of that), but that's part of the charm. Mama say, mama sah, mah mah hoo sah? Yes, please! I guess I just feel that Bad, particularly toward the end of the record, perfectly captures the same eerie paranoia that makes "Billie Jean" an enduring classic, but on a larger scale. Yes, the album's polished to the high hills, but isn't that what we expect from a superstar of MJ's caste?

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

nj! I'm eager to see your list.

5. She Drives Me Wild
4. Why You Wanna Trip on Me
3. In the Closet
2. Who Is It
1. Remember the Time

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

You'd think MJ would have more singles in the top 3000. Not that two of his albums alone and handful of singles haven't earned him a lofty position as it is.

His work will continue to impact and influence for generatons, I'm sure. Even though he hasn't produced anything remarkabkle in some time and kinda kept recycling his signature moves, it's a monumental loss to entertainment and music. R.I.P., KOP.

Re: RIP Michael Jackson

hearing about this made me really sad. i don't care what the autopsy reveals (revealed?), we're the real killers. we love MJ, but he has to die before we'll try to let him know. while he's alive, all we can do is criticise him. my guess would be that he didn't *want* to die, but something tells me he was ok with it, and maybe that's why it happened. every second website has a tribute to him at the moment. not meaningless ones either. if he could see them, i don't think he would have been ok with dieing. i'm sure he would have wanted to live. i'm sure the pressure he thought he was under would disappear. poor guy. i hope we learn something.