Comments on: Rest in peace, Wacko Jacko

By: Aunt Linda

Aunt Linda — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:36:31 +0000

Before the British Revolution there was Motown. Motown, though not quite as popular once the British crossed the pond, survived the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Kinks, etc.

My peers were 11 when the Jackson Five debuted. I can’t say I went out of my way to buy their 45s but, did I know every word to those songs? You better believe it. Because we grew up with Michael we also appreciated his genius…Thriller. Yes, I did go out of my way to buy the album immediately. I did not like most of the 80s groups but did moonwalk and try to learn the Thriller dance. Paula bought me the Thriller DVD after 13 Going on 30 came out. We’re still going to learn that dance.

If he wanted to be a recluse, peculiar, bizarre….fine. Maybe I would too if I supported my whole family since I was 5.

RIP Michael. Rock on!

By: Chris

Chris — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 08:28:37 +0000

Spot on, Flack.

Funny thing, my wife didn’t really see this as a big deal… I tried to explain to her that this is “our Elvis”.

It’s really a shame that the younger folks of today only really know about MJ for the antics that illustrated what were his latter years.

Never was a “big” fan, personally… never bought an album, but wouldn’t change the station if he popped up on the radio. Can never deny his talent and presence.

By: ladyjaye75

ladyjaye75 — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 05:05:48 +0000

Deepak Chopa, who was a close friend of his, wrote a touching tribute for Huffington Post:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/deepak-chopra/a-tribute-to-my-friend-mi_b_221268.html

By: ladyjaye75

ladyjaye75 — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 03:05:21 +0000

Thriller is one of those albums (like Bon Jovi’s Slippery When Wet) that, even if you never owned a copy, you’re likely to recognize several songs off it.

I didn’t grow up a fan of MJ (my parents being into rock and prog rock, his music didn’t enter my home, save for the occasional glimpse on radio or on TV, off some videos TV show — there wasn’t yet a dedicated equivalent to MTV, that came only in 1986). But like you say it’s impossible to be a child of the 80s and not be aware of the singer. Heck, i remember when knockoff jackets like his (Thriller era) were popular. And indeed, it might have been cool to mock and hate him in the past several years, but he was highly influencial (as noted by some journalists, the current crop of pop entertainers like Justin Timberlake owe a lot to his legacy, much more so than the pop stars of the 90s).

I think he was a really unhappy man who lived in a sad bubble most of his adult life, and failed at compensating for his lost childhood, on top of probably hating himself physically (why else would a handsome black man transform into someone so alien that he became genderless and raceless, at least in appearance? Whether the skin disease rumor was true or not, it doesn’t excuse the plastic surgeries.

His story is truly a cautionary tale of how child stardom (and young adult stardom) can go wrong when not properly monitored. Then again, rare are the true icons who’ve made it with their sanity intact (well, there were the Beatles, but that’s because they were a band). Look at Marilyn Monroe, another icon of her generation who was deeply unhappy with her life, despite seemingly having everything…

So, even though MJ and Farrah Fawcett’s deaths are sad, I also feel relieved for the both of them, since they have stopped suffering. I can picture them both, forever young and beautiful and healthy, free from emotional and physical pain, having the time of their lives in heaven…

By: Earl Green

Earl Green — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 23:59:00 +0000

Dance like him? Heck, how about SING like him? My first points of reference for him were The Wiz and Off The Wall, long before Thriller, and man, could he sing. I had really missed the Jackson Five era, but I was actively listening to music by the time Off The Wall came along, and even though it’s easy to look back now and criticize it for being “too much of its time” – i.e. very disco-flavored – just about every song on it got played on radio a LOT. I’m still very much in the minority in that I like OTW better than Thriller to this day. Thriller managed to catch on like it did because MTV’s influence blew away any foregone conclusions anyone might’ve had that this was strictly “black” music. Now it was just good music, period – catchy as hell, and man, could he sing.