America in Panic - Michael Jackson dead

[number6horse]

To find the "genius" in Michael Jackson's work, you have to go back to the Jackson 5 Motown days. But that was due to the songwriting and musicianship of guys like James Jamerson and the studio band. To my ears "I Want You Back" still stands out as an AM radio pop gem. Bad-ass bass line too.

On his own ? There wasn't much to get excited over. But that's what you get when you put everything in the hands of Quincy Jones. QJ could make Blowfly clean and acceptable to the masses.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

I don't know if Michael Jackson wrote anything but he performed and sang better than most. Like him or not, he sang and danced better than most and you can't take that away from the little freak.

I hope the family has a big picture of Michael at the services of the real face of Michael before he started trying to look like Diana Ross.
When he was still a handsome negro man.

Maybe his pain was from all of the surgeries.

 

[Black Swan]

Maybe his pain was from doing splits :eek: and moonwalking after hitting
the big 50, getting ready for his next tour.

 

[justin grimbol]

i grew up on michael jackson---not the way that the kids at neverland ranch did, but still, i listened to his music more than i watched sesame street. i still love listening to his OFF THE WALL album. shit good. it makes me sad to see how crazy he got and that he is now dead. shit.

 

[Gerard K H Love]

no Panic

Okay it's going around and before I share it I want to say I liked many of Michael Jackson's songs.

So Farrah Fawcett went to heaven and St. Peter said is there anything you wish to have for the people you left behind? Farrah said, "I want all of the children to be safe." and Michael Jackson died.

I know that's cold but you may laugh.

 

[1fsh2fsh]

And I doubt that anyone here has not dance or secretly tried to imitate him.

I misplaced one of my gloves once. but I kept the other hand in my pocket. you know, just so people wouldn't think that I was trying to imitate MJ. but I really don't think that this counts.:p

 

[Billville]

Never really been a Michael Jackson fan, but there was no denying his presence in popular culture. He's been around since about the time I was born and now he's ... not around anymore and ... it's ... kinda .... weird ....

 

[strangegirl]

I loved Little Micheal Jackson. Ben was and still is a classic.
Use to love how the Jackson 5 would outdo the Osmonds everytime.

When I was in recording school one of the teachers had gotten an early release of "Thriller"
without telling us who the artist was he played about a minute of each song and said this is going to be one of the biggest hit records ever. Then he told us it was MJ and Quincy Jones and to watch how it would take off. And we did.

For me that was the end of the best of MJ, after that he really set out to to be someone else. It was a shame. I think he really wanted to look like Janet or Latoya.
It all started to be such Tabloid fodder I just stopped paying attention to it.

Gerard that was a wicked joke but I have to say I did laugh... quite a bit.

 

[Black Swan]

I misplaced one of my gloves once. but I kept the other hand in my pocket. you know, just so people wouldn't think that I was trying to imitate MJ. but I really don't think that this counts.:p

The white socks gave you away.;)

 

[number6horse]

Q: What did Michael Jackson and an X-Box have in common ?
A: They were both made of plastic and were turned on by kids.

Q: What was the difference between Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson ?
A: Farrah played with Majors and Michael played with minors.

 

[strangegirl]

:eek:
lol
:D

 

[number6horse]

Strangegirl - Do you think your recording instructor made that prediction based more on the artistic value of the demos or the high-profile names involved ?

When I heard that Eddie Van Halen contributed a solo, my thought was that it was a decision made at a power lunch at Spago. "Hot rock guitarist and top R&B performer TOGETHER ! IT'S GOLD, BABY ! "

 

[strangegirl]

Oh I am sure it had to do with how the business of music was at that time. The music was really well produced... well as far as the Music industry was concerned. It was polish and sheeen and yeah the people involved added to the high gloss finish. I was learning about the music business at the time. Back then and even now if I like something there you have it. But i think he was definitely trying to make a point to us and to see the bigger picture of the "Biz" of the Music. I am sure there was a Buzz going in the inner circle of the industry. They had a lot riding on this and a lot behind them. Remember this is 1982, MTV is just in it's infancy. This was made for this time.
I remember thinking that what i had heard was okay, you know it wasn't the worst thing i had heard. What he (my teacher) was telling us was, this is what the Music Industry is listening to right now and this is what is going to make them scream and if you want to work in the Music Biz and you want to be big time... you need to know this...
Needless to say I opted to go work for and avant gard SF rock Band. Made no money did lots of drugs had a great time... sometimes... got seriously burned out and then decided i wanted to be a sound editor for films...

 

[slimedog]

This is a great country where a poor young black boy can grow up to be a rich old white lady.

I believe it will come out as a murder suicide-Jackson killed Farrah and then killed himself.

 

[Ambreen]

This is a great country where a poor young black boy can grow up to be a rich old white lady.

:D :D :D That will make my whole week ! :D :D :D

 

[1fsh2fsh]

I'm just waiting to see if Janet Jackson shows up at the funeral. I've surmised for a long time that these two may be the same person....

 

[CRBSMILE]

Does anyone remember the performance he did; it was either the Emmys or the Superbowl, when they brought out hundreds of little kids to surround him? It was like a 'children of the world' theme or something. It was unbelieveable to me then and it is the same today. He was allowed to abuse children and get away with it because of money and fame. He flaunted it in people's/the puplic's faces for years,and the one's closest to him chose to turn away from it and not do a thing to stop him.
It is a horrible world when people like him are loose to do what they want. And I think there is many a child, his own included, that are now in a much safer situation with him out of the mix. I'm glad he's gone. CRB:)

 

[bospress.net]

Yes, one less child molester around to continue to abuse and use his fame/power/money to cover it up...

Bill

 

[rjwink666]

America I think this is your very own Diana moment.

 

[number6horse]

Well, it's close.

Sort of.

No - actually it's not similar at all. Yeah.

America I think this is your very own Diana moment.

Haha. And that will make my whole week !

 

[Hosh]

Without making excuses about him twisting off later in life, I think MJ was a product of a cruel, relentless Showbiz parents...which explains quite a bit about him. He was also pretty darn famous for, what 40+ years?...& we all know that the world treats famous people much, much differently. Fame is it's own brand of insanity when it comes to what it teaches...& he was famous when he was 7 or 8 years old. I can't even imagine how lonely it would be to have screaming hordes following you everywhere, everyday, all the time...

He made some world-class pop music...that is undeniable. To accomplish the things he accomplished in music is nothing short of amazing. Professionally he was a real talent; in his personal life, from age 8, he never had a chance at normalcy. All of which fed into him ruining many lives...his own among them. Anything sinister he did to kids is unforgivable--&, despite his professional accomplishments, have really come to define him.

Talk about a life that saw unimaginable highs and lows...

 

[mikeypants]

Did M.J. molest little children? I don't know.

Would it have been hard to accuse him of pedophilia? No.

Would it of been beneficial for certain parties to acuse him of child molestation? Hell yeah.

Was he a genius? Yes.

Did he write "good" music? No.

Did he write good pop music? Hell yeah.

 

[slimedog]

It's all up to opinion whether he molested but I have to give him the benefit of the doubt, keep in mind most molesters do anything not to bring attention to themselves and usually give off an image of macho guy next door not Peter Pan guy weirdo. Besides he always came off as a gentle guy and it's hard for me to believe he'd go from that to a man who would harm a cancer victim child. I believe one family has a history of shaking down celebs. And I don't see him as a stupid person just a naive one and arrogant about what society would think of his actions.

I feel very sorry for him, but if he did molest, not a bit.

 

[mjp]

Besides he always came off as a gentle guy and it's hard for me to believe he'd go from that to a man who would harm a cancer victim child.

Maybe he didn't see it as harming them. But I don't really care what the guy sticking a knife into me thinks, I'm more concerned with the effect his "feelings" are having on me.

Sorry, one - or even two - people conspiring against poor Michael can be explained away, but not the more than half a dozen who have accused him. Two of them brought it all the way to trial, and Jackson settled one of those cases privately. Why? Would you settle a case like that if you were innocent? I wouldn't. I would spend every penny I had defending myself. So would you. So would anyone who is innocent.

And Jackson had the (much) bigger hammer in those cases. He could have easily paid 10 lawyers to drag it out until the accusers couldn't afford to carry on and dropped the suits. Instead, the guy holding all the cards folded. He folded rather than go through with the trial that would have exposed details about his overall creepiness and the specific methods he used to prey on children.

What sort of mass hypnosis is the world under to hail that piece of shit as a genius? If he was just Mike Jackson who worked at the hardware store and not famous the famous man-child of Motown he would be run out of every town he tried to move to (and he would always move to the house right across the street from the elementary school, where his type lives). To say any music he wrote or performed is anything other than polished, utterly disposable pop is kind of delusional. The only trail he blazed was to the playground.

The Emperor has no clothes! (And your kid is right next to him on the bed. Why aren't you angry?)

 

[Gerard K H Love]

LOL!
Hey I just heard Al Sharpton is in town, at the request of the Jackson family, to speak at the funeral an as he says, "clear Michael Jackson's name". That is one tall order. How many times have you seen Michael Jackson standing, sitting, walking or holding a young boy with a blurred out face? How in the world is the great not so sharp Reverend going to clear all of that up?
I liked a lot of his music, but they have been talking about him paying off kids since the early 80s.
One last thing: Does the Black Entertainment Television know that Michael Jackson hasn't been black for over 25 years?

 

[Socratease]

MJ is (was) a token black.

Clear up what? They can start with his alleged paternity of those kids.

Let the circus begin.

 

[d gray]

nice wrap-up. can we lock this thread now? i'm sick of this guy.

oh yeah, what's brown and smells and is found in little boys underwear?

 

[slimedog]

MJP you may be right but it doesn't add up to me & I'm really not a fan of his music just a fan of crime cases -and if I had that much money I would probably pay someone off to avoid the unpleasantness of a trial. And that trial against him was flimsy from what I saw and I was unsurprised he was acquitted. Again I don't think anyone can say conclusively by the evidence.

 

[mjp]

I guess I just don't see how the trial would be "unpleasant" if you had the truth on your side. Seems more like a chance for vindication. But what do I know, no one has ever accused me of drugging (or jesus-juicing) and molesting their children.

But let's say we take away all the squirmy, unpleasant kiddie stuff and assume that it is normal for a man to have an amusement park for a home, and have sleepovers with young boys (no parents, thank you), and just deal with Jackson's music. The genius tag is still undeserved. He did nothing, ever, that demonstrated or even hinted at any sort of musical genius. It's expensive follower-pop.

It's easy to lose perspective after almost 30 years, but when Thriller came out, all we could say was, "Well, someone has been listening to Prince." His influence was all over that record. Jackson absorbed what was going on, just like a lot of singers do (David Byrne, David Bowie and Paul Simon come to mind as others who would have trouble releasing new records if some other musical source wasn't "inspiring" them).

Judge Jackson on the songs alone and there's nothing there but some craftsmanship and expensive recordings. I can't find any genius there. Compare him to any number of really good songwriters. He doesn't stand up.

 

[slimedog]

Oh, I totally agree about the music, I might like a few tunes but give me the Jackson 5 everyday and I think both him and Prince owe a whole lot to James Brown. When you think about it Michael and Prince added a lot of white elements to their music making it more acceptable for white audiences while Brown's was very black. I think of MJ (not MJP) a lot like Madonna as they were both better dances than singers and became sucessful during the MTV era when visuality took precedence over music.

Still you can't make judgements about him based on his music, it's true he did a lot to help children out and it's true this is all cancelled out if he molested even one. But someone like Gary Glitter kept it all under wraps and only got discovered through a computer he had fixed (he must of been unaware of what computers do) he never opened a camp and he follows the more typical scenario for a molester.