On The King of Pop
My first actual memory of MJ's music wasn't really with him: I was watching Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" and was wondering where he got the idea from. When I found out, I was so shocked to see someone with such talent; to be honest, we've rarely had someone who could write music, sing the song and dance as amazingly as Jackson could.
Then I saw Thriller, which revolutionized videos. Up until then, people didn't know what to do with video; they basically just played their song with a bland backdrop, or in a studio. Jackson showed that a video could take a musician's song to the next level.
But mostly I remember the Michael after the 80's: making movie-videos, that surreal video game where he could kill people with dance moves, the weird habits, the multiple surgeries, the sexual assault lawsuits, having Kings Dominion in his back yard, the comparisons to Prince, the almost-affair with Madonna, the videos with Michael Jordan, Eddie Murphy and his sister Janet, the challenge from M.C. Hammer, hooking up with Elvis' daughter, having children, dangling babies, leaving the U.S. and his latest attempt at a comeback.
My five personal favorite songs from Michael Jackson (in no particular order):
Then I saw Thriller, which revolutionized videos. Up until then, people didn't know what to do with video; they basically just played their song with a bland backdrop, or in a studio. Jackson showed that a video could take a musician's song to the next level.
But mostly I remember the Michael after the 80's: making movie-videos, that surreal video game where he could kill people with dance moves, the weird habits, the multiple surgeries, the sexual assault lawsuits, having Kings Dominion in his back yard, the comparisons to Prince, the almost-affair with Madonna, the videos with Michael Jordan, Eddie Murphy and his sister Janet, the challenge from M.C. Hammer, hooking up with Elvis' daughter, having children, dangling babies, leaving the U.S. and his latest attempt at a comeback.
My five personal favorite songs from Michael Jackson (in no particular order):
- Billie Jean: classic.
- Remember the Time: sure he turned into kitty litter at the end, but at the time is was so cool.
- Smooth Criminal: he's talking about a girl getting shot, and no one thought this was controversial; today a rapper can't even say the word "gun" without facing a protest. Plus I believe this was the one where he did the super-lean.
- Man in the Mirror: I liked the theme of this song: if you want to change the world, start with your self. It also showed that Jackson could sway from a generally entertaining song to one with a powerful social message without losing a step.
- Leave Me Alone: It was essentially MJ's "fuck off" song, which every artist does from time to time. If you ever wanted to know how emo's feel, but didn't want to listen to emo music, this is the song to hear.
- The world mourns.
- New York Times' take.
- Let's not forget one thing: despite his appearance, Micheal Jackson was an African-American and broke many barriers. MTV essentially had a black music ban before MJ hit the scene (but of course today they'll play his music nonstop).
- Usually it takes a politician making pop cultural references for someone like Josh Marshall to step out of the political realm. So for him to mention Jackson's passing is saying something.
- Celebrity reaction. Yes; Jackson was a celebrity's celebrity.
- Ten decent ways to remember the King of Pop.
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