Michael Jackson

[Fiyero]

Although he was acquitted, *if* MJ indeed did offend the little ones, he is paying the price right now. But before that media circus began, during the Off The Wall - Thriller - Bad phase, he made some great music. And I still have the Super Bowl 27 halftime show on tape.

[wuapinmon]

In the Summer of 1983, my grandparents bought the biggest Winnebago there was and took seven of the grandchildren on a tour of the USA. We drove from Atlanta to Ventura to Jackson Hole to St. Louis to Atlanta, stopping along the way over the course of six weeks, and spending tons of time in Jackson, where my grandma was born, visiting family. "The Trip" is legend in my family. We cousins grew far closer because of that vacation together than we ever would have otherwise. The RV had a cassette player, a big deal in 1983. My cousin Carrie Lynn had just bought the Thriller tape before we left. We listened to that album every day, repeatedly for six weeks. "Don't you kids want to listen to the radio?" "No, turn it over to side B, pleeeeeeeeeeease."

"Beat It" was our favorite song. Some of the hotels we stayed in (at times, sleeping nine people in an RV got to be too much) had MTV......we'd watch until the video for "Beat It" would come on and then roar with excitement.

In 1993, when I still saw the world in Black or White, I thought Michael Jackson was a child molester. In 2005, at the last trial, and after I watched the Martin Bashir interview, I felt that he was still a little boy...that he had been damaged when he was young, and that the evidence against him was all circumstantial. Maybe he did, maybe he didn't. He was never convicted. While I wouldn't have let my kids go to Neverland, I still enjoyed his music, and he was a touchstone of my life. If I ever hear a song from Thriller, I can still see the black ink on cream plastic lettering on the cassette tape. My wife had the inside poster from Thriller on her wall, and she was in love with him. Her Barbie married her Michael Jackson doll, not Ken. I so desperately wanted a red jacket, though you couldn't have gotten me to wear just one sequined glove. Had my parents let me, I have short, curly, wooly, kinky hair, and I would've done geri-curl. I believe my father's exact words were, to a nine-year-old boy, "Hell no, son."

Michael Jackson was the biggest icon of the 1980s. Bigger than Madonna. Bigger than Bill Cosby. Bigger than all of them combined. He was, the King.

He's an inextricable part of most people of my generation's lives. He's one of the best singers we've ever had, especially in pop, and well, because his music is such a big part of my life, to paraphrase him, he's just another part of me.

[Babs]

Her Barbie married her Michael Jackson doll, not Ken.

That had to be short-lived.

[Indy Coug]

The Michael Jackson story is one of tragedy. Whether or not it was having an abusive father and not having a normal childhood that stunted his emotional development or whether or not it was a person who was drunken on his own celebrity to be able to get people do whatever he wanted (procuring boys for sleepovers or getting someone to conceive children for him), or whether or not it was a person who was incapable of meaningful adult relationships and could only innocently relate to children, wherever the truth actually lies it is a tragedy.

[Fiyero]

Looking at his albums on iTunes, he had only 6 original albums, and 10 best-of's and re-releases.

Originals:
1979 Off the Wall
1982 Thriller
1987 Bad
1991 Dangerous
1997 Blood on the Dance Floor
2001 Invincible

Specials:
1991 HIStory volume 1
1995 History: Past Present and Future book 1
1995 Anthology
2000 The Millennium Collection
2001 Bad special edition
2001 Off the Wall special edition
2005 The Essential Michel Jackson
2007 Thriller 25th Anniversary Zombie edition
2007 Thriller 25th Anniversary Deluxe edition
2008 Number Ones

That's basically only 2 new albums over the past 18 years. He owned the 80's, though.

[myboynoah]

Interesting responses.

I really don't feel anything. When I heard, I wasn't that surprised, given the weirdness surrounding Jackson's life.

Jackson and his brothers were bubble gum to me as I grew up. Obviously he moved way beyond that and produced some very good music in the 80s, although I didn't care for it that much. I thought those group dance numbers that he and his sister made famous got a bit tiresome.

His life to me was very sad. I could never understand why he cut up his face so much. While I know there were underlying factors that led to this, he became very much a freak to me, and that's how I looked at Jackson. Hence, I have a hard time understanding the continued appeal.

[Babs]

Hence, I have a hard time understanding the continued appeal.

Hey. Leave us Xers alone to mourn in peace!

[myboynoah]

Hey. Leave us Xers alone to mourn in peace!

Forgive me and thank you for putting this into perspective.

[Babs]

Forgive me and thank you for putting this into perspective.

anytime!

[myboynoah]

anytime!

no doubt

[Sleeping in EQ]

Looking at his albums on iTunes, he had only 6 original albums, and 10 best-of's and re-releases.

Originals:
1979 Off the Wall
1982 Thriller
1987 Bad
1991 Dangerous
1997 Blood on the Dance Floor
2001 Invincible

Specials:
1991 HIStory volume 1
1995 History: Past Present and Future book 1
1995 Anthology
2000 The Millennium Collection
2001 Bad special edition
2001 Off the Wall special edition
2005 The Essential Michel Jackson
2007 Thriller 25th Anniversary Zombie edition
2007 Thriller 25th Anniversary Deluxe edition
2008 Number Ones

That's basically only 2 new albums over the past 18 years. He owned the 80's, though.

History: Past, Present, and Future had two CDs, one of entirely new material ("Scream" is on this CD), so it should be in both categories.

[Babs]

no doubt

No, that's a different music group altogether.

[UtahDan]

No, that's a different music group altogether.

Yes. Ska, which has been influential but thankfully didn't stick.

[Babs]

Yes. Ska, which has been influential but thankfully didn't stick.

yeah, I know just what you're saying.

[Color Me Badd Fan]

I htink a lot of people are feeling that. I never bought a single Michael Jackson song or Album until a couple of months ago, when I picked up a couple of J5 songs on iTunes. I never cared for him, and spent much of high school mocking those who did. While I am not sitting at my desk right now sobbing, it has affected me more than I expected it to. I think that you are spot on that for anyone between the ages of 30 and 45, MJ's music was a lrge part of the background of their youth. Add to that the fact that, if you are near the older side of that demographic, you always felt he wasn't that much older than you, and it becomes kind of a shock to see him go.

For most people under 30, they just know Jackson as the freak he became and can't understand how huge Jackson was between Off the Wall and Bad.

I'm 32 and Thriller came out in 1982 when I was five. I have a lot of early memories from that point in time especially given the fact I had two older brothers that were teenagers at that point so I definitely got a heavy dose of 80s music. There hasn't been any music act in my lifetime that has really been as big as Jackson was in the 80s. The only other musical act in the past 50 years that was bigger at one particular time than Jackson was in the 80s were the Beatles.