Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael Jackson.
Three icons of pop culture. Rest in peace.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
Yeah, totally unexpected. Kinda sad, he really did have some great songs. On a lighter note, my cousin and I use to play a video game called Moonraker for the Sega Genesis(aka Megadrive) which was based on his music videos and had you playing as the Gloved One himself. It was really awful and gave us some gut busting laughs. Well here's to you Michael, for putting a song in our hearts and a wiseass smirk on our faces.
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
I never understood his appeal. I thought his songs were terrible, and he seemed to be famous mostly for wearing a glove and grabbing his crotch. *shrug* Pop culture tends to confuse me....
Posted by Kosh (Member # 167) on :
Young boys have one less to worry about.
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
quote:Originally posted by Saltah'na: It was the Mala Noche.....
Huh? What do you mean buy that sentence?
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
quote:Originally posted by Daniel Butler: I never understood his appeal. I thought his songs were terrible, and he seemed to be famous mostly for wearing a glove and grabbing his crotch. *shrug* Pop culture tends to confuse me....
Of course, you were born *after* his biggest successes in the early 80s. If you didn't live through the 80s, I can understand how you might not get it.
Posted by Sean (Member # 2010) on :
I never real cared for his music, and during my lifetime he was really only in the limelight for all that...controversy...surrounding him, but still, he was a human being, therefore, I mourn his death, if only in a small way.
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
quote:Originally posted by Saltah'na: It was the Mala Noche.....
Hmm...Bad Night
Posted by The Ginger Beacon (Member # 1585) on :
I kinda think he had a bit of a shit run all the way from the cradle. I mean the guy was never allowed to have a life, had a severly arrested personality, got dragged through the courts, was (probably) mentaly disturbed to some extent and had the wierd skin thing (if it was an illness).
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
quote:Originally posted by AndrewR:
quote:Originally posted by Saltah'na: It was the Mala Noche.....
Huh? What do you mean buy that sentence?
Watch the series and you'll understand the reference.....
Posted by AndrewR (Member # 44) on :
What series? Still not making sense!!
Posted by Saltah'na (Member # 33) on :
CSI Miami.
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
I cant say I'm thrilled about his death, neither is it particularly sad. When it comes right down to it the guy was just a singer who had one big album in the 80's, not to mention he was very likely a sexual deviant. He was not a saint in any way, he did not change the face of music as we know it, and his bizarre addiction to plastic surgery didn't do him any favours either. He didn't cure cancer or learn to divide by zero, he was just a pop singer with a penchant for young boys. From day one he didn't have a chance of a normal life, at least now he's not worrying anyone else.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Actually, he did change the face of music- before Billy Jean MYV played no black artists- MJ's record company threatened to pull all their artists off MTV if they did not play it. Thriller became impossibly huge as a result- it went Platinum over 50 times, making it one of, if not the largest selling album of all time. MTV became the thing to watch for a generation- just to see videos so well made as Jackson's.
No jackson- no giant success for MTV.
Various other artists had to scramble to make music videos and music with more of a dance beat and videos themselves had to be more cinematic and high-production affairs.
And then there's the immense cultural influence he had- kids wearing that red leather jacket, urban dancing getting into the mainstream, a better blend of R&B and rock came to pop music. At the top of his carrer, he was bigger than the Baetles.
Really, he changed everything.
It's not an excuse for the weirdness that followed but give the creepy manaquin his due. Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
Of course, we all know that Captain Archer taught Michael Jackson all his moves, including the moonwalk! Posted by Omega (Member # 91) on :
There are two kinds of "important" in media: you can be the best ever, or you can be totally revolutionary. Take I Love Lucy. It's really not that great a show, though it's still pretty entertaining. Yet it was the first multi-camera sitcom, and single-handedly created the concept of the rerun. Or Star Trek: The Next Generation. Hardly the best sci-fi show ever, even at its high points; at it's low points it was garbage. But it paved the way for the entire syndicated sci-fi industry for the next two decades.
Michael Jackson is not the best pop singer/dancer ever, by any means, though his greatest hits are worth having if you like that sort of music. But he did change music and dance worldwide, more than any other single individual I can think of in history. Yes, after him everyone was like him, so he doesn't stand out as much from our perspective. But everyone's like him now because to some degree they all copied him.
Posted by Aban Rune (Member # 226) on :
I lived through the 80s at the height of his success and I never really got it either. Of course, I never liked his music so I probably wasn't paying that much attention.
Posted by WizArtist II (Member # 1425) on :
I heard this joke a day or so ago.
"The Lego corporation is melting down Michael Jackson's body, which was mostly plastic at this point, into their famous 'building blocks'.....this will allow children to play with HIM for a change...."
Posted by Da_bang80 (Member # 528) on :
Meh, I chuckled.
Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
For the best visual stuff stuff on MJ, go to www.b3ta.com and check out their Michael Jackson image challenge. The best for me is the mock BBC News webpage, closely follwed by the moonwalking pall-bearers.
I think MTV would have been a hit with or without Jackson, it was running just fine without him beforehand, and is still going now. As for changing fashion, I didn't see anyone else trying to turn themselves into a white Diana Ross and wearing one spangly glove, on TV or on the streets of Central Scotland where I live.
Maybe his music influenced a generation for all I know, but it will be the generation specifically into his style of pop pap and not anyone else's genre. I certainly didn't like his solo stuff when I was growing up in the eighties, and no one I knew well did either. Performers might want his multi-platinum money, but that would be the extent of it.
Posted by B.J. (Member # 858) on :
"MTV..... is still going now."
Hah! That's a good one!
....oh wait, you were serious. Posted by Axeman 3D (Member # 1050) on :
It's turned into a never ending stream of shitty reality series, but it's still going. All TV is going through an upheaval right now due to the internet and user generated content. You can reach billions of people by posting on YouTube for nothing, and it costs them a fortune to put on a crappy show that might reach a million or two if they're lucky. My Flickr page gets more hits than some TV channels right now.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
What is this "internet" you speak of? A google search found nothing....are you sure it's spelled right?
Geez, Omega, you look like you're twelve years old in that photo on your website.... I reccomend a nice Carl Malden pic. Hmmm...maybe Edgar Caycee for the creep-out vote.
Posted by Hobbes (Member # 138) on :
Ok, well I didn't read every post before this one.
But after several weeks of MJ praise I feel like weighing in...
First off. There's no denying that Jackson was a pioneer in the music world. Especially in the 80s and some of the 90s. Mostly early 90s.
I guess what I find odd is that everyone was calling him "Wacko Jacko" now is practically giving him sainthood.
I mean Thriller was awesome. But giving little boys "jesus juice" probably not so much.
Posted by Reverend (Member # 335) on :
It's surprising what dying can do for your public image. Diana was a bipolar nut job, off holidaying with the son of a billionaire until her car came off the road. A week later and all of a sudden she's practically being canonised.
As for Jacko, he clearly wasn't right though I don't really by the kiddie fiddling accusations. For one thing, I can't believe a parent would take any pay-off if they really believed what they were saying about him....but that's a whole other discussion.
Posted by Pensive's Wetness (Member # 1203) on :
Is there really that little happening in the world?
We're at the point of peak hurricane season in US... is there a storm that the CNN/Fox News can focus on? Yes I realized this would be something that cable news would focus on. World events, not so much.
Posted by Jason Abbadon (Member # 882) on :
Waht is truly sad is that today is the fourth anniversary of Katrina killing scores of people and destroying most of what was New Orleans...which of course, is overshadowed by it being MJ's birthday. Spike Lee actually had a block party honoring his childhood hero- with a token moment of silence for the Katrina victims and Ted Kennedy, of course.
Meanwhile New Orleans is still an unlivable pit in may places and many people that lost everyting in the storm still have nothing.
But hey- BLOCK PARTY!
Posted by Mars Needs Women (Member # 1505) on :
And several days ago I saw Britney Spears was back on TV, cause we were all missing her so much...
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