moviefan2k4

As with my other threads, please show respect toward everyone. This is not intended as a place for bashing, trolling, or other insults. Please refrain from any explicitly sexual posts as well; thanks.


The fourth anniversary of Michael's death is rapidly approaching, so I wanted to start a thread about him. He's definitely my favorite musician, and I'd always hoped to meet him someday. Long live the King of Pop...

Supermallet

Off The Wall is one of the greatest disco records ever recorded, and that's saying something.

And, as always with the OP's requests of conversational decorum,

moviefan2k4

I have all his CDs from "Off the Wall" to "Invincible", including the 25th-anniversary editions of "Thriller" and "Bad". I'd love to get a copy of that huge Opus book, but it'll take some saving.

Michael wasn't a saint by any means, and I'm not one of those people who practically deify him, but I admire his genius. He trusted a lot of the wrong people, and made some impulsive decisions, but he seemed to have a lot of love for most people he met, whether he agreed with them or not. "Thriller" is still the biggest-selling album of all time after 31 years, and I sympathized with the cruelty he faced as a child, having gone through similar events myself.

bluetoast

Uh....whatever happened to those promised albums of unreleased material. That never came to fruition.

moviefan2k4

Well, the "Michael" album was released 2 years ago, and contained many new tracks. Different songs have been released on various compilations, like the aforementioned "Thriller 25" and "Bad 25". One of my favorites is "For All Time"...

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Supermallet

I own Off The Wall and Thriller on vinyl and spin them all the time. He still released good material after those two albums, but those were definitely the peak of his solo output. I also love the Jacksons album "Destiny".

UAIOE

I've always loved "Smooth Criminal" (recently got into PYT). I remember watching "Moonwalker" quite a bit when it aired on TV. I also got to see Captain EO at Disney World back when.

"The Girl is Mine" is a really bizarre song. Not really the lyrical content, just bizarre to hear two super famous music artists doing the seemingly mundane task of trying to win the affection of a lady.

Supermallet

It's also a really bland, mundane song. I always skip it when I play Thriller.

moviefan2k4

Well, Michael did two recordings with Paul McCartney, the other being "Say Say Say", which featured LaToya in the video. They later parted ways after Michael bought the ATV catalog, even though Paul got first dibs and passed.

Supermallet

The way I read it, McCartney and Yoko Ono went in together on an ATV bid, but Jackson outbid them.

And "Say Say Say" isn't a great song either, but it's miles better than the tepid "The Girl Is Mine".

moviefan2k4

I like both songs, but "Say Say Say" is more upbeat.

bootsy

Probably my favorite artist other than Stevie Wonder. I would have to say I'm a bigger fan of Off The Wall than Thriller but no one can deny how impactful Thriller is. The album flows perfectly and he had so many number 1 or top 10 songs on that album.

Josh-da-man

The way I remember it is that Paul and MJ had become friends around the time they did the two collaborations, and Paul told Jackson about the situation with the publishing rights for the Lennon-McCartney songs, how much money was at stake, and that Paul and Yoko wanted to buy the rights back. A couple of years later, when the publishing rights went up for sale, MJ outbid them and pretty much destroyed their friendship.

Hokeyboy

I was 11 when Thriller first came out. The absolute impact of that album can never be understated. It was a pop music phenomenon the likes of which will never been seen again.

At the time, I hated Jackson. Mostly because I was a budding young headbanger who thought anything dance music/breakdancing was pure shit. Friends of mine were shedding their AC/DC concert T's and Iron Maiden headbands for parachute pants and sequined gloves and the like. THE HORROR!

Needless to say, over the years my position on pop/r&b/dance music has "softened". THRILLER is a great album, and OFF THE WALL an ever better one. But those are the only two MJ albums in my collection. Still, for those two albums alone... dayenu.

FUN FACT: I once saw MJ casually strutting around Disney's EPCOT Center in December of 1983, at the absolute pinnacle of his fame. Like it was no big thing. He was much taller than I thought he would be.

moviefan2k4

During a private dinner at his home, Paul told Michael about the monetary benefits of music publishing. Michael then said he'd own all the Beatles' songs one day, but Paul thought he was joking. When the ATV catalog became available, Paul didn't want to pay the money being asked, so Michael did. I never heard of it as being a deliberate snub towards Paul or the group, but it seems he took it that way. As such, McCartney has no one to blame but himself.

moviefan2k4

I wasn't yet two years old, and didn't hear Michael's music until 1988, when an uncle played a cassette tape for me. I even performed "Beat It" with a few family members as a kid; God only knows where that video is now...

He was 5'10" when he died, which is about an inch shorter than me.

Seven, to be exact. He also won 8 Grammys in early '83, including Best Album of the Year.

Jacoby Ellsbury

One of the biggest humanitarians of his time. Ridiculed the last 20 years of his life and didn't make many hits those last 20. Remembered for a lot more good than weird once he died.

Decker

I have tickets to see the new Cirque show "Michael Jackson : One" the opening week (beginning of July). I'll post impressions here. I'm looking forward to it. They've spent a year renovating the Lion King theater at Mandalay Bay for this show. I expect it to be a huge hit -- there's a lot of excitement surrounding its opening.

I saw their touring MJ show "Immortal" and wasn't too impressed. But here in Vegas, we're so used to seeing these Cirque shows up close in a specially designed theater, that an arena show wouldn't have felt the same anyway.

moviefan2k4

Sadly, that's the way many people are; when a person dies, attacking them personally no longer seems fashionable, and most eventually give up. I have more respect for those who stuck by Michael when he was alive, versus those who only praised him after death. His father still seems to care far more about money than his own family, and its despicable.

Decker

I'm not sure about that.
I will say this : I worked as a resident on the Pediatric Oncology unit of Long Beach Memorial Hospital in 1995, 1996 -- every year a busload of children from that unit were taken to Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara. It was, by far, the highlight of their year and kids would be talking about the upcoming trip for months in advance. The trip really gave them hope and made them excited; it made them feel special and I (not a big MJ fan at the time) had a lot of respect that he'd do that for so many kids.
Then the story broke and I felt sick. Not just with the details of the allegations, but that anyone would take advantage of sick, desperate children that way, if the stories were true. It also made me feel ill that we physicians were somehow enabling this behavior by shuffling sick children into his private play park without a second thought about it.

I'm still really torn over the whole thing.

And back to the Cirque show for a second : Immortal featured a number set to MJ's song "(Have You Seen My) Childhood". Man, what a self-indulgent, terrible song. It's one thing to have others speculate that your messed-up childhood had a devastating effect on your life. It's quite another to be a super-rich Superstar and write a self-pitying song like that.

Supermallet

I didn't say it was a personal snub, but Jackson did outbid McCartney and Yoko, so it wasn't like McCartney said, "What, the publishing rights to my own songs? Nah, pass!"

Jacoby Ellsbury

Did they have a fun time in the Glory Hole Mirror Maze, yes or no?

Do I think MJ is guilty? Probably, but I'm not convinced. One or two money hungry families sue MJ, this after him having 1000s of sleepovers with 1000s of other kids. Settled out of court. This tells me it was more about the money than putting a monster away.

If you are not sure about the humanitarian aspect, here have about 40 pages of reading material of examples
http://www.michaeljacksonslegacy.org...anitarian-work

Solid Snake

Fucked up or not. Jackson had some damn good beats. Jesus titty fucking Christ, his 80s stuff is fucking great. Really liked Thriller as a kid.

bunkaroo

I was 8 when the Thriller video/single juggernaut hit and I was floored by it. Hearing anything off Thriller or even Off the Wall makes me very nostalgic for my childhood. I remember being super-pissed when Nena's "99 Luftballoons" ended the massive streak of "Thriller" at #1 on the local radio.

My dad was worked as security for his Comiskey Park dates in 1984 - I kept begging my dad to get a glove from Michael.

Later this year some ex-bandmates of mine and I are planning to do a new cover band playing more modern takes on 80's classic stuff, and we will definitely be looking to do a couple Jackson songs.

EdTheRipper

Agreed. I liked a ton of his music. I was 6 when Thriller came out and it was one of the first albums I really listened to frequently.