I was a junior in high school when Thriller came out. By the time that summer came around, it was impossible not to hear it being played in any public place I went. I was living in Monrovia, Liberia at the time. Even in the remote reaches of West Africa, you couldn’t escape that album. I bought a bootleg copy of the cassette off the street just for Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solo on “Beat It.”
Incredibly well-said.
That’s why I never use retreads.
I agree. Has anyone here seen the TV movie, Jacksons: The American Dream? It was on the other weekend and I stayed up all night watching it for the umpteenth time. That movie. . . it really makes you feel for Michael (well, and the whole family) and understand him more.
[Joliet Jake Blues]
How much for the little girl?
[/Joliet Jake Blues]
I think his biggest problem was that he had no-one who could grab him by the lapels and tell him, “No, you can’t do that.” He seemed to be closest to the women in his life, the Liz Taylors and Diana Rosses, and somehow I can see them reveling in his childlike nature and not thinking, “Damn, he’s a grown man acting/thinking this way.”
I think the person who had the closest connection in this way was Quincy Jones. When he came on the scene, Quincy was every bit the equal of MJ (maybe not in the PR realm, but as far as respect in the music industry). But they stopped working together after the Bad album in 1987 - which I think was his last top-to-bottom strong album. (Dangerous was very good but not quite up to Bad, IMO.)
MJ was a mealticket to virtually everyone in his orbit. All the weird spokespeople, bizarre projects… you almost wish someone came in from William Morris and cleaned house. But it seems for the past 15 years, some weirdo would propose concerts in Palau or something, contracts would be signed and… nothing.
The Jackson sycophant syndrome was really obvious in an ITV documentary I saw last year about Tito, Jackie, and Katherine moving to England. Tito was friends with this asshole with dollar signs in his eyes who was a martial arts impresario, and he wanted to bring the Jacksons to a small village in England to get away from the media horde in LA. But of course said asshole had all these side deals, and though he promised the family privacy the paps were tipped off a million times to the family’s whereabouts, etc. And of course in the end the asshole ended up suing Tito for some ridiculous reason. I think that’s pretty much what they all deal with, and Michael was most susceptible of all. :mad:
“I’ve never wished anyone dead, but I’ve read some obituaries with great satisfaction.” - Clarence Darrow
Ha! You’re not as safe as you think!
I thought he was a freak and a pedophile, but there’s no denying his talent. He did several great songs with The Jackson 5, and Thriller is one of the most influential pieces of popular music of all time.
Okay, that was some brilliant writing right there. Had to quote it just to make everyone read it again. 
Michael Jackson’s “stage debut” was basically at a school pageant when he sang a song as a first grader. Yes, he totally blew the audience away and technically it was his “first public performance”, but it was still just a grade school show. It’s like saying “Tom Hanks’s breakthrough role was as ‘Joseph Number 2’ in the 1961 Christmas pageant at Lincoln Primary School.”
The Marketing Machine of the music industry tried to make it sound as if that’s when he started performing professionally, and I think when they had their first hit, the label misrepresented his age for the “wow” factor.
Outstanding piece of work, Sampiro!!
I made my share of MJ jokes over the years, but overall Michael Jackson did less harm to humanity than, say, the Catholic Church and there are millions of people today who will swear by the Catholic Church. So I’ll take Beat It over Ave Maria, thank you very much.
That was 42 posts ago. Use the “quote” button next time please.
Not sure if this has been added to the thread … but one of my favorite MJ imitations. From The Jamie Foxx Show - The Dance Off.
Reports are starting to come in that MJ was injected with Demerol a few hours before his death - which is a derivative of morphine. TMZ says that his family was concerned about his use of Demerol and his father Joe wanted to place him in an addiction treatment facility.
Apparently he first started using it after the Pepsi commercial burn incident. 
If Sampiro’s post is quoted one more time, somebody needs to pay royalties.
Wait. I think I’ve been whooshed. Never mind.
I’m trying to think of a phenomenal child star who managed to grow up well-adjusted. Shirley Temple’s the only one I can come up with, but if she’d been popular 40 years later, she might not have survived either.
Ron Howard seems to have turned out pretty normal, though I don’t know if you could say he had phenomenal success as a child.
Whatever happened to that Sixth Sense kid? He was giant for like a year, then he disappeared off the map. I can’t even remember his name any more (I want to say Macaulay Culkin, but that’s the Home Alone kid).
Haley Joel Osment. Looks like he’s been doing lots of voiceover work.