# Explain to my children why MICHAEL JACKSON gets an "Artist of the Millenium" Award **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 30, 2002, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227 "2002-08-30T03:14:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Ruffian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71e660/32.png) [@Ruffian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruffian)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/41 "2002-08-31T15:26:18Z")
Okay, I’ve read all the linked articles detailing how MJ basically misunderstood what Britney said… **BUT** , if that’s all it was, _why did he bring a prepared speech??_ SOMEone somewhere told him he was going to be receiving SOMEthing–would it be illogical to conclude it would be some sort of award? Not that I’m defending him much. As DeathLlama just said, the whole thing was just painfully awkward enough…we can hope he wasn’t _that_ out of touch with reality. And–I believe his career is over. It is way, waaaaaaaay beyond repair right now. Sure, Elvis and the Stones were/are still doing music late in their lives–but they aren’t anywhere close to his place on the weirdness spectrum. In fact, MJ has a spectrum all his own for that. ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/42 "2002-08-31T16:26:40Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RickJay \* > \*\*Jackson was the biggest pop star in the history of pop, ever, and nobody’s in second place. \*\* Ahhhhh, he ain’t no **Rudy Vallee**. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/43 "2002-08-31T16:31:07Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ruffian \* > \*\*And–I believe his career is over. It is way, waaaaaaaay beyond repair right now. Sure, Elvis and the Stones were/are still doing music late in their lives–but they aren’t anywhere close to his place on the weirdness spectrum. In fact, MJ has a spectrum all his own for that. \*\* My co-workers and I were discussing that last night (we work in music). We were actually hypothesizing that if MJ disappeared from the spotlight, he might be able to resurrect some form of career. We’re thinking along the lines of Prince (who’s pretty damn freakish too) – heard but rarely seen. Or alternativley, if MJ stayed behind the scenes more like Quincy Jones. He still has the talent to write and could be a kickass producer. Conceivably, he could be the contending force behind the “Next Big Thing” ie/ If he found some fresh face (meaning a new person, not more plastic surgery) with talent and developed the up-and-comer into a major performer. But as a public figure he is just not a marketable commodity. If he gets all reclusive and you never see him or see his weirdness, he could still make very marketable music. ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/44 "2002-08-31T16:39:08Z")
Just tell your kids he’s the **Frank Sinatra** of his generation but without as much style and then tell them that each generation has a tendency to forget that they are not the center of the universe. ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/45 "2002-08-31T16:54:49Z")
FYI, the VMA is being re-broadcast today @ 1:30pm est. In about 45 minutes. I’ll be checking it out to see this “award” presentation by Brittany. LOL ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/46 "2002-08-31T17:00:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by TV time \* > \*\*Just tell your kids he’s the **Frank Sinatra** of his generation but without as much style and then tell them that each generation has a tendency to forget that they are not the center of the universe. \*\* If they don’t know who Michael Jackson is, what makes you think they’ll know Frank Sinatra? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dreamer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dreamer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dreamer)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/47 "2002-08-31T17:27:29Z")
If Michael Jackson did not know he was getting an award before the show then why would he have written down on a piece of paper a list of people to thank for it? Something fishy is goin’ on here. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/48 "2002-08-31T17:31:36Z")
You’re assuming that there was some miscommunication in Michael Jackson assuming that he was being given an award. I think that it was a deliberate ambiguity. I think there was an agreement beforehand between MTV and Jackson’s managers about how the pseudo-award would be presented. First, let’s talk about Jackson’s place in music. Not only is it impossible to talk about who the “artist of the millennium” is, but I’m not even sure if Jackson belongs in a list of the top five artists in rock and roll history. He is, I think, one of the top four artists from the '80’s (the others being Madonna, Bruce Springsteen, and Prince) and that’s MTV’s first decade. MTV (and its associated channels like VH1) do have a little sense of history (or at least a sense of which older recording artists it wouldn’t do to tick off) and they would like to remain on speaking grounds with such people. You can’t do _Behind the Music_ programs unless you can interview the artist. But Prince has fallen far enough from the height of his popularity that he and MTV don’t have much to say to each other. Springsteen (who is older than the other three) never considered MTV to be important in his popularity, so he doesn’t really need to stay in touch with it. Madonna wants to stay in touch with MTV, but she has a little sense and knows she’s an older woman. She will occasionally appear on MTV-type shows, but she knows that her audience is mostly older than that. It’s only Jackson who’s trying to keep an audience that has a fair proportion of younger fans. He wants to keep his videos running on MTV and his name constantly before younger fans. He’s so arrogant though that he apparently insists that he can only appear on an award ceremony if he’s given a big award. MTV wanted him for the show, but they didn’t have any sufficiently interesting awards to give him. So they invented a pseudo-award ceremony. They deliberately scheduled the awards for his birthday so they could present him with a birthday cake. They wrote a speech for Britney Spears in which she would call him “the artist of the millennium.” That way, he could pretend that he had been given a big award and they could pretend that he hadn’t been given an award at all. ---
**Author:** ![KarlGrenze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/dbc845/32.png) [@KarlGrenze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGrenze)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/49 "2002-08-31T18:09:57Z")
That seems plausible, Wendell. But that means MTV did a mean thing too…I don’t want to defend MJ, but if he wrote a speech beforehand, that means he expected (and probably someone told him) he was going to receive something. Now, at the Video Music Awards, what is the kind of gift one expect? ---
**Author:** ![Scruloose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@Scruloose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scruloose)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/50 "2002-08-31T18:13:54Z")
OK, having just watched the re-brodcast a few minutes ago, I have to conclude the following. Brittanys choice of words led MJ to believe he was receiving an award, but wasn’t. The _only_ person to say anything about an award for AOM was MJ himself. Brittany didn’t include the word “award” in her speech. I would guess that MTV told MJ that they’d like him on the show for a little something, and didn’t tell him what that was. He had a speech prepared just in case. It was just a Happy B-day wish, and the “trophy” was just an MTV type of present. If you noticed, Jimmy Fallon, with a dumbfounded look, was holding the “trophy” afterwards, and joked that he too got one, apparently everyone was, they were giving them away backstage. I’m sure we’ll soon be hearing of the evil, racist joke played on MJ by the music industry, in particular, that nazi-clad, racist Brittany! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/51 "2002-08-31T21:23:59Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by KarlGrenze \* > \*\*That seems plausible, Wendell. But that means MTV did a mean thing too…I don’t want to defend MJ, but if he wrote a speech beforehand, that means he expected (and probably someone told him) he was going to receive something. Now, at the Video Music Awards, what is the kind of gift one expect? \*\* He may have been given some vague information like “MJ, you will be honored in a special presentation.” Bureaucracy being what it is, by the time it filtered through his many PR reps and handlers, it would be like that kids game, “telephone” where you whisper a message from ear to ear and it gets corrupted. And/or, some genuis may have thought a birthday cake would be a nice “surprise” and neglected to explicitly fill him in on what the “honor” was supposed to be. So he came prepared, just in case. (Mind you, this is just giving him the benefit of the doubt. He may simply be as mad as a hatter.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [August 31, 2002, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/52 "2002-08-31T23:06:54Z")
> [@](#): > > He may simply be as mad as a hatter.) Arghhhh! S-l-o-w-l-y I turned, step by step, … ---
**Author:** ![pldennison](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/9fc29f/32.png) [@pldennison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pldennison)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/53 "2002-09-01T15:05:12Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fingolfin \* > \*\ ***Duck Duck** chew on this for a while: > > _Off the Wall_ was the best album of the 70s. > \*\* \*Dark Side of the Moon? Let It Be? Saturday Night Fever? Rumours? Hotel California? Who’s Next? Exile on Main Street? . . . \* In a list of the top, say, 20-30 albums of the 70s, _Off The Wall_ doesn’t even _place_. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/54 "2002-09-01T16:39:08Z")
_Dangerous_ being the best album of the 90s doesn’t cut it, either. Phil, don’t forget _Graceland_, _Imagine_, etc. Please. Jackson is loony toons. Didn’t he dub himself King of Pop? Rather than have others do so? ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/55 "2002-09-01T18:39:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*Jackson is loony toons. Didn’t he dub himself King of Pop? Rather than have others do so? \*\* Actually, IIRC it was his buddy, Elizabeth Taylor, who started that by once introducing him to a cheering crowd as the “King of Pop.” How it stuck, I’ve no idea – most likely some news tagline. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/56 "2002-09-03T19:51:48Z")
About six months ago, he said he had an anthrax infection, now [this](http://channels.netscape.com/ns/tv/story.jsp?idq=/ff/story/0001/20020830/154906794.htm). The gloved freak should sell his rights to the Beatles songs to Paul and buy a whole friggin bunch of clues with the proceeds. ---
**Author:** ![Eats\_Crayons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/278dde/32.png) [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/57 "2002-09-03T21:22:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jeff Olsen \* > \*\*About six months ago, he said he had an anthrax infection, \*\* Cite, please. 'Cause that story, I’d really like to read. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/58 "2002-09-03T21:57:39Z")
It’s been longer than I thought; I posted about his anthrax claim back in [November](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=97815&highlight=jackson+anthrax). Sorry, the news links are dead now except the one at Salon. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2002, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227/59 "2002-09-03T22:08:05Z")
Aha! I googled for “Michael Jackson” anthrax and found an article at what appears to be a [Sony](http://www.sonymusic.co.in/news/newsbrief.asp?newsid=%7BA01FF2AF-E62E-4E6E-893B-28C58ADBEC7E%7D&artalb=False) website. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/explain-to-my-children-why-michael-jackson-gets-an-artist-of-the-millenium-award/126227.md?page=2)