Michael Jackson died.
It’s just weird.
He was just weird.
I feel like I should be sadder than I am, I guess. He was an undeniably talented guy. The King of Pop. I just could never quite get over how creepy he ended up being. It’s sad that his music was tainted. Can you listen to it and just enjoy it, without thinking of what a freak show he turned into? Sometimes I can—his music is just that good—but it’s always kind of hovering there in the background.
I feel bad for his kids. But I felt bad for them when he was still alive.
I think he’s basically the poster child of the harm our pop culture can do to someone. Not to excuse his strange behavior, but how many of us can really understand what it was like to be Michael Jackson? Maybe Princess Di. But even she didn’t experience the constant hounding until she was an adult.
So when you were a kid, could you do the moonwalk? Did you own a copy of Thriller?
Posted on June 25, 2009, in Pop Culture. Bookmark the permalink. 32 Comments.
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Farrah Fawcett died as well. (Although to me she’ll always be Farrah Fawcett Majors because of the Six Million Dollar Man)
As for Jackson. He was creepy. The fact he was so secretive was creepy. Just so…weird.
So what happens to his kids?
Wait, is he really dead or in the coma? So many conflicting reports.
L.A. Times says he is dead. Paramedics found no pulse and were never able to get one. He was pronounced DOA at the hospital.
This is pretty cool:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z5O61yKkdr4&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&hl=en&feature=player_embedded&fs=1It’s very sad!
Boing Boing has a good series.
I’m sad. It’s hard to imagine a world without Michael Jackson — warts and all.
Sky Saxon from The Seeds died also. He’s the most talented of today’s reported deaths, but also likely to be the least reported of the three.
No concrete facts seem to be available, but I can’t imagine that Jackson didn’t commit suicide.
May he rest in peace.
I was at Wal-Mart this afternoon in Rexburg. A number of young female BYU-Idaho students seemed to find his death to be quite humorous. That has left a rather bad taste in my mouth. He was a person. A very sad life in many ways, but still deserving of human dignity.
I can listen to his music without thinking of his eccentricities. His music is phenomenal. Particularly Thriller and Bad. Those two albums are his best.
I think “eccentricities” is putting it a bit mildly. But yeah, his music was phenomenal.
I sometimes think that Michael Jackson’s best work happened when he was singing the lead for the Jackson Five. His voice was really special. I’m not denying he achieved amazing things in his later career and that his success then eclipsed anything else he had done – but some of those early Jackson Five records are pretty amazing too.
Three days ago, for the first time in my life, I saw this video of Michael Jackson singing an audition for Motown. It’s freakish how well (at such a young age) he channels James Brown.
I like what Andrew Sullivan writes of Michael Jackson
http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2009/06/thinking-about-michael.html
I never really knew the extent to which he was abused by his father. Knowing some of the details makes me feel really bad for him and puts Neverland in a very powerful perspective.
I was sad and surprised to see the news but I have to say him going like this is very MJ, it adds to his “mystique”.
I’m not mourning his death at all, I mourn his life. He had amazing talent and couldn’t have a normal life from a very young age. It’s a real shame. The people surrounding him and influencing him as he grew up leave as bad a taste in my mouth as the things he was accused of doing later in his life.
His Jackson 5 stuff and first three albums are all amazing.
R.I.P. Michael. It is a sad day indeed.
I guess what I’m hoping is now his musical genius can again rise to the surface and the fractured weirdness of the last decades might eventually fall away.
His music will last forever, the tabloid stories will fade and blow away.
I never got into his music but I do hope he finally has found some peace.
I have never owned Thriller and only recently learned the trick to moonwalking having run across it on a website. If only someone could have given me that information in 6th grade, when I cared.
As for the music, I think he peaked as a child with the Jackson 5. Of his solo work, Thriller is nearly its own greatest hits album, but there is an emptiness to it and even moreso his later work that often goes unmentioned for whatever reason. I still don’t understand why Beat It and Thriller managed to be considered cool rather than silly. Think about it for a moment before tear my head off. Yes they are fun to listen to, but remember he’s singing about being tough and confronting gang members and monsters for crying put loud!
The passing of Michael Jackson is like a star being plucked from the sky. The sky becomes dimmer.
I do feel kinda sad. I loved his music growing up, but of late just found him a little too weird and antics like hanging your son out of a window have to make you wonder about his mental health.
arj,
Thriller and Beat It are cool. It’s in the beat, in the rhythm.
I’m with Dan; I put on Thriller last night and it is a nearly-perfect album. A lot of that has to do with Quincy Jones, and a lot has to do with MJ as a performer and a perfectionist.
His life was tragic, but listening to his music, I never think of the tragedy. (Of course, I only started buying his stuff in high school and college, but that’s when I appreciated it most.)
My favorite MJ stuff is from Off The Wall.
The Guardian had a June 14th article about Michael Jackson. It was this article I read that mentioned the audition for Motown (that I linked to earlier).
Interesting to read what someone had to say about Michael shortly before he died.
This article was linked up at aldaily.com – an excellent source for interesting reads.
Thriller was the first album I owned (got it as a birthday present) It was pretty awesome then, and really still is.
Wanna Be Starting Something is excellent.
Sadly, there is a third thing that needs to be said about him. He abused others. Those scars will remain for many years – and they won’t fade or blow away.
I’m not sure if he was an abuser in the traditional (i.e., sexual) sense. I could never come to an opinion about that, but I think maybe he wasn’t. Yes he was weird, but I’m sad he’s gone. It always feels sad when legends die.
off topic just for a question. I’m curious why Kulturblog doesn’t discuss anything related to musicals at the theater….
I am not saying that Thriller isn’t very well executed. I’m simply saying that the subject matter is a bit silly when you consider who is singing. MJ is simply not the tough guy that he plays in his videos. I should add that the videos are amazing and set a standard that has never been matched. In fact I think it is odd to discuss the music of the Thriller album without mentioning the videos.
While I don’t think it was established he was a big abuser sexually there are plenty of reasons to be suspicious he was. Let’s say I’d not let kids near him. And even those who hung out with him as kids who have gone public but don’t say he abused them say he showed them pornography and gave them alcohol. (Thinking here of Corey Feldman who obviously had his own issues as a kid – including hanging out with MJ)
That said were he a chronic abuser you’d have expected more to come out.
However even ignoring his bizarre behavior with kids his other antics suggest some serious mental issues.
Dan, I suspect no one goes.
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