RIP MJ…
I talked to a cousin and realized MJ had more impact on my life that I thought. He was the first of many things in my life.
In the first movie I saw–The Wiz (Still my all time fave)
First album I was given— Off The Wall
First concert–A Jackson reunion tour, with Oprah one row up and three seats away from me.
And one other first I shall remain silent on (and no it doesn’t have to do with sex :raspberry: )
I realized I was a child of the 80s today, than ever before. Gosh.
He was kinda kinky and kinda odd but for one day shouldnt we just observe the passing of a legend? I think basically he was a good guy at heart, havent heard otherwise.
He wasn’t kinky or odd. Okay maybe a tad bit. But that’s to be expected when you have the world at your feet, never had a childhood, and pops beat the shite out of you like no tomorrow.
If you’re famous since 5, and an icon, your perception is going to be a wee different from the other 6 billion ppl on this planet. 
A tad? More like a whaleful wad.
The next questions, however odious they may be, is: What exactly is getting frozen? Was the transfer successful? Etc,
He wasn’t kinky or odd. Okay maybe a tad bit. But that’s to be expected when you have the world at your feet, never had a childhood, and pops beat the shite out of you like no tomorrow.
If you’re famous since 5, and an icon, your perception is going to be a wee different from the other 6 billion people on this planet. [/quote]
I wasnt being critical, I liked him. He was much bashed in his later years, but at the core he was a music legend not much below the rank of elvis and none at all to his fans. His somewhat odd antics of sleep overs with little boys made him the butt of many a joke and his dangling a child off a balcony, while just for fun, didnt do him any honors either. But the guy may really just have been an overgrown kid at heart.
Billie Jean… that beats going to be with me the rest of today.
I’m bad. I’m bad. You know it, I’m bad.
[quote=“bismarck”]I agree. Like Madonna, like them or not, they did cut a swathe through the music world in their time.
But however we remember him, he was a giant in his day. The music of the eighties would’ve been very much poorer without him.[/quote]
and Farrah Fawcett too! The universe knows how to balance things…
i can’t believe the shit people are writing about this…the guy was a paedophile, pure and simple…do you think if gary glitter died tomorrow we’d hear a single word of praise for him?..the only difference is that Glitter didn’t have the millions MJ had to buy people’s silence…
…and please don’t try and argue it was never proven…that’s like arguing OJ never killed his wife…
[quote=“the bear”]i can’t believe the shit people are writing about this…the guy was a paedophile, pure and simple…do you think if gary glitter died tomorrow we’d hear a single word of praise for him?..the only difference is that Glitter didn’t have the millions MJ had to buy people’s silence…
…and please don’t try and argue it was never proven…that’s like arguing OJ never killed his wife…[/quote]
Did OJ kill his wife? Oh well never mind. As a friend just posted on facebook
[quote=“the bear”]i can’t believe the shit people are writing about this…the guy was a paedophile, pure and simple…do you think if gary glitter died tomorrow we’d hear a single word of praise for him?..the only difference is that Glitter didn’t have the millions MJ had to buy people’s silence…
…and please don’t try and argue it was never proven…that’s like arguing OJ never killed his wife…[/quote]
Walk a mile in his shoes. Living in a glaring spotlight from age 10 can’t be easy. Having an abusive father wouldn’t help. I don’t justify what may have happened, and clearly he had issues toward the end, but we don’t know where he was at psychologically. He had unhealthy relationships, I believe, but I don’t believe he was malicious.
Second, there is no comparison of the careers of Gary Glitter and Michael Jackson. How ridiculous. Michael Jackson’s music shaped a generation. I have 30 years of powerful memories with links to his music, from elementary school through university. I honor his accomplishments and mourn his passing.
Jaysus! Thank god I wasn’t knowingly subjected to that crap!
After a quick googly-woogly I realize that the “new” music I was listening to when Billie Jean came out was Aztec Camera, New Order, Robert Wyatt, Everything But the Girl, Wall of Voodoo, Shriekback, The Birthday Party, the Fall, the Go Betweens, the Monochrome Set, plus the ones who came before.
Never any room in my house, nor awareness, of Michael Jackson, apart from brief snatches on the TV wearing a daft wee red leather jacket and going “Ooh!”
[quote=“CraigTPE”][quote=“the bear”]i can’t believe the shit people are writing about this…the guy was a paedophile, pure and simple…do you think if gary glitter died tomorrow we’d hear a single word of praise for him?..the only difference is that Glitter didn’t have the millions MJ had to buy people’s silence…
…and please don’t try and argue it was never proven…that’s like arguing OJ never killed his wife…[/quote]
Walk a mile in his shoes. Living in a glaring spotlight from age 10 can’t be easy. Having an abusive father wouldn’t help. I don’t justify what may have happened, and clearly he had issues toward the end, but we don’t know where he was at psychologically. He had unhealthy relationships, I believe, but I don’t believe he was malicious.
Second, there is no comparison of the careers of Gary Glitter and Michael Jackson. How ridiculous. Michael Jackson’s music shaped a generation. I have 30 years of powerful memories with links to his music, from elementary school through university. I honor his accomplishments and mourn his passing.[/quote]
Amen. It was proven that MJ wasn’t a pedophile. Michael Jackson "doesn’t really qualify as a pedophile. He’s really just this regressed 10-year-old."That was the surprising evaluation offered to police by Dr. Stanley Katz, the Los Angeles psychologist who interviewed the singer’s teenage accuser and the boy’s brother–and who is expected to soon testify as a government witness at Jackson’s molestation trial.
[quote=“Namahottie”][quote=“CraigTPE”][quote=“the bear”]i can’t believe the shit people are writing about this…the guy was a paedophile, pure and simple…do you think if gary glitter died tomorrow we’d hear a single word of praise for him?..the only difference is that Glitter didn’t have the millions MJ had to buy people’s silence…
…and please don’t try and argue it was never proven…that’s like arguing OJ never killed his wife…[/quote]
Walk a mile in his shoes. Living in a glaring spotlight from age 10 can’t be easy. Having an abusive father wouldn’t help. I don’t justify what may have happened, and clearly he had issues toward the end, but we don’t know where he was at psychologically. He had unhealthy relationships, I believe, but I don’t believe he was malicious.
Second, there is no comparison of the careers of Gary Glitter and Michael Jackson. How ridiculous. Michael Jackson’s music shaped a generation. I have 30 years of powerful memories with links to his music, from elementary school through university. I honor his accomplishments and mourn his passing.[/quote]
Amen. It was proven that MJ wasn’t a pedophile. Michael Jackson "doesn’t really qualify as a pedophile. He’s really just this regressed 10-year-old."That was the surprising evaluation offered to police by Dr. Stanley Katz, the Los Angeles psychologist who interviewed the singer’s teenage accuser and the boy’s brother–and who is expected to soon testify as a government witness at Jackson’s molestation trial.[/quote]
…um that doesn’t prove he wasn’t a paedophile; that;s just one guys opinion…i have no proof he had penetrative sex with young boys…but he still qualifies as a paedophile…i.e. he had a sexual preference for prepubescent children.
His record of over 750 million albums sold and 13 grammy awards will be a hard act to follow.
This isn’t about whether he was or wasn’t a pedophile. This is about a person who had an amazing career for several decades that touched millions of people around the world. What may have happened toward the end of his life doesn’t change that. The only thing I have to say on that subject is that we can’t know what it was like. Child stars don’t develop psychologically like the rest of us.
And sandman, his career started LONG before Billy Jean and his unusual taste in clothes. So you had different musical taste, but there is no denying his impact on music and pop culture, more than any of those bands you mention, most of which I’d never heard of.
Poor laddie!
I guess I’m just too old to have been touched by his music. He was just one of those poofy pop stars my little sisters used to listen to, after all. I’d entered my “discriminating” :roflmao: phase before he entered the scene. Sure, maybe he was good, but he had no hope of competing against the likes of the Clash for the affections of thinking folks. 
If album sales is any indication of successful competition, none of your favorites can hold a candle to Michael Jackson.
If album sales is any indication of successful competition, none of your favorites can hold a candle to Michael Jackson.[/quote]
I’m pretty sure most people other than maybe record company execs don’t use record sales as a measure of anything other than slick expensive marketing. I mean, Backstreet Boys and Celine Dion are up there in the top selling records of all time as well, and no-one in their right mind – at least no-one whose musical opinion I would take seriously – would ever think of them as being “good.”
Yeah, well, Big Macs and Hello Kitty sell well too. Whoopdeedoo. Quality rarely sells as well as pop pablum.
I never cared for MJ’s stuff, ever. Sure, he was the biggest pop icon in his day, but being king of a pile of pop crap doesn’t mean much, does it? Maybe for some of you it was good music, or good entertainment. That’s fine; I don’t mean to detract from your tastes. But this guy always got way too much attention. Glitz and savvy marketing and appealing to teenage tastes, along with a lot of scandal and oddness. That’s all this guy was IMO.
There have been many far finer popular musicians who deserve our respect much more. This circus show freak was JUST a pop entertainer, and a pretty messed up one, too. Nothing to stop the presses over, IMO.
RIP Michael. You went too early – always sad. Your weirdness made for good rubbernecking, and good jokes. 