Hey I loved Thriller as much as the next guy. I have fond memories of the Victory Tour from the last row at the Pontiac Silverdome, but come on - this guy hasnt had a consistent career in 15 years ! Why is he still so revered by everybody ?
Please explain !
'cause he has a tabloid life all of his own. Who besides the tabloids (print or electronic) talk about him at all?
He’s not… that’s why the execs bankrolling his latest incredibly expensive to produce album have good reason to be nervous. This project has to generate massive sales before they even break even.
Because he’s a black guy who thinks he’s white.
Just like Eminem is so popular because he’s a white guy who thinks he’s black.
I’m not a fan of his and his music is far from my favored genres, but I have to admit that he is an incredibly talented man.
Well, you’d be talented too, if you had a kajillion dollars to buy people to do all the work for you.
Because he’s managed to transcend ordinary stardom to become celebrity royalty. Once you do that, you don’t need a career.
I think a lot of people remember listening to Michael Jackson back in the days when he wasn’t an alarming tabloid fixture. Along with acid-washed jeans and demin jackets, I think he’s become something of an eighties nostalgia trip. I don’t know anyone, in my circle of friends, who is actually looking forward to his new CD.
When I worked at a record store, I remember only one person ever asking about Michael Jackson, in the entire year I was there. A woman called and asked if we had Thriller. I checked the racks and told her that, yes, we did have one in stock. She asked if we could hold it for her for a few days. Since we weren’t supposed to hold stuff for more than 24 hours, I had to tell her we couldn’t, but that it would in all likelihood be there whenever she got to the store.
Probably the same reason people make a fuss about a new Tom Wolfe book:
When he was at his best he was so far beyond just about anybody else that it boggled the imagination. When presented with such talent, even in decline, you have to keep an eye on it just in case it flares up again.
All the speculation about Michael Jordan’s return strikes me as similar.
Oh, in case my participation in this thread surprises people:
I don’t know anything more about Michael Jackson’s music than I do anybody elses (i.e., nothing). Mine is just a general observation on why talented people seem to matter, even after their talent seems to have faded.
Actually, I’d have to agree with the nostalga theory. I like listening to his older stuff, but over the past 5-6 years, he’s gotten WAYYY too weird and scary for me.
Besides, has anyone seen a picture of him lately? He doesn’t even look human anymore!
Personally, I think a long, slow fade to obscurity, with acknowledgement of his great talent in his younger days, should be the way to go.
Rubbernecking-perhaps?
I think that Jackson stuff is literally a soundtrack to the lives of many millions of folk who pretty much grew up with the whole Jacksnon phenomenon.
I hear cetain songs by the Jackson industries and it reminds me of times past, even completely unrelated, from the crappy 70’s tv detective stories to starting various shite jobs, to being drunk for the first few hundred times etc etc.
Whenever Jackson news comes out its rather like seeing an old signpost, only the destinations are your own personal history that you can never revisit.
People love a freak show. The wierder he gets, the more people want to check out the wierdo.
Celebrities reach a certain level, and it doesn’t matter WHAT they do so much as HOW they’re doing.
After all, most of us can’t talk about Michael Jackson’s music (except for certain hits), but we can talk about the stories and rumors surrounding his life. When people like MJ pop up (see the participation in the Anne Heche thread for another example), and this Straight Dope community has found a reason to get together: to talk about why MJ is SSDP.
We’re connecting through MJ, just as we connect through the other threads.
And you can take what we’re doing here and discover the same conversations going on in the office, in school, at home and at social gatherings. Given that through the countless moves most of us have been through, and the impersonal nature of the Internet, talking about celebrities is the one safe way of trying to connect with people.
So ask not what Michael Jackson can do for you. Rather, ask what we can do for Michael Jackson.
PS: Plus, I’m curious to hear what his CD sounds like after so many years. The guy’s had more second acts than Andrew Lloyd Weber.
Ah, many good ideas have come up. I agree that he was indeed the King of Pop for a while in the 80s and it isnt very often when someone can come along who is so innovative and creative. The tabloid fixture that he has become also plays a big part.
I’ll admit I got excited watching him at the MTV VMA with *Nsync but only for the nostalgia of all those stupid posters I had in my room in 5th grade. Thank god my mother never let me get that red leather zipper jacket !
He isn’t popular. Since when has he sold a lot of albums or packed arenas.
People watch him these days for the freak show aspects:
a) rampant pederasty;
b) bizarre “marriages”
c) pathological plastic surgery, making him look more and more like an alien;
d) and best of all – the man’s 42 years old! He makes Mick Jagger look like a member of the VFW!
I think everybody pretty much has it right.
The concert at MSG was tonight and I will certainly read the reviews. Even though the Jackson camp insists the shows sold out in 5 hours, a NY Post article appearing the day of the show (9/7/01) says that while it is true that all the affordable seats were immediately snapped up, hundreds of the $500 and up seats remain unsold. The article went on to say that MJ is in serious financial straits (denials issued by his mouthpieces). Apparently several years ago he took out a $200,000,000 loan secured in part by his ownership interest in the Beatles catalouge. It said that he will make approx. 14 million from the concerts (don’t know if that figure includes T-shirt sales and the HBO special to follow) BUT that if his album does not sell the 14 million can only support his lifestyle for a few months. http://www.nypost.com/news/regionalnews/32312.htm
http://www.nypost.com/entertainment/32283.htm
I loved the Jackson 5 when I was a kid. As Lockfist says I loved Thriller just as much as the next guy. But there is something obscene about charging $2,500 for a ticket. Who does he think he is, Barbra Streisand?
Quite a few things, actually.
Many singers have done one or more of these things, but only Michael Jackson was audacious enough to do all of them. He’s practically a one-man sideshow, and that, more than anything else, is why people still watch.
Of course, it can’t go on forever. (One hopes.)
For me, it’s the music.
I’m not a shrieking fan or anything – but I love to listen to his albums when I’m writing my fiction. I went into a discount store the other day, and bought the CD of History (I had the tape set, but not the CDs, and I really needed to hear Stranger in Moscow again.) The store clerk there said, excitedly, “There’s a new Michael Jackson album coming out!” Genuine interest. Here in NZ, it’s still an event.
To heck with the tabloid junk, and the endless “did he, didn’t he?” crap. I love the music. And I’ll continue to buy his albums 'till he gets too formula to move my soul anymore.