Michael Jackson dead

I have some limited respect for his artistic talent and I actually like a few of his songs from back in the 80s but I think that the way that some news outlets are all over his death is (although not unexpected) way out of proportion (out of proportion in the same way that they were all over the pedo claims). I'd understand if this was 1989 but it's 2009 and Michael Jackson has not even blipped on the radar (at least for me or did I miss something?) in the last 15 to 20 years.

That's why I have a pretty low tolerance level for this kind of "news". From his heights in the 80s, MJ has turned into a complete nobody as far as I am concerned and a pathetic one at that.

His whole "OMG look at me I'm wearing a mask and gloves and I'm soooooooo speshul" behavior has always turned me off in a major way. OK. It's obvious that he couldn't deal with the attention and the success. But instead of at least trying to deal with it, instead of pursuing any sort of strategy to get out of his misery, he just dug himself in deeper and deeper. He bathed in his "speshulness" and turned into a complete hypocrite along the way.

Remember his social engagements, his charity efforts? Just plain pathetic. He hopped on stage to preach modesty (e.g. "Man in the Mirror" lyrics anyone?) to people and then got off the stage and got the next beauty surgery or bought some retarded shit for his ranch or for his stupid chimp, Bubbles, costing him thousands or even millions of bucks. Thousands or millions of bucks that could have saved or at least prolonged the life of hundreds or thousands of kids in the 3rd world that he was supposedly so fond of.

Don't get me wrong. I got nothing against celebs living it up but MJ is a different story if he talks about "OMG think about the childrun!!11" and then turns around and spends his money on the most inane shit that money can buy.

In that case I do prefer a Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Hilton who (supposedly) spent US$ 20K for a few drinks in one night. They may be rich, spoiled dumbfucks but at least they are sparing us the drama of trying to pretend to be anything else than that. Michael didn't. Unfortunately.

Hm, well, as I see him, he´s just never really grown up.
Early fame plus likely abuse from his father rid him of his childhood and he just ended up in his own universe forever searching for it.
And somewhere near the start he made great records with Jacksons 5, plus his "solos" Off the Wall and especially Thriller are some of the finest examples of modern popular music (no doubt, significant credit goes also to Quincy Jones for these 2).
Whether or not a child molester, I can´t really bring myself to blame him as I see him more as a tragic victim of circumstances who never really managed to put his own life together and, uh, become an adult. :shrug:

As for the media outbreak, that´s just the usual demand/supply thing.
There´s quite a lot of people who liked his music at some point in time, plus, well, dude´s story is pretty fascinating. People like these.

Anyway, beat it.

If anything, I'm amazed that he's actually dead. I thought this guy was going to live hundreds of years, a half-cyborg freakazoid gone mad at year 250.

Damn. RIP Michael Jackson. He was an awesome performer, song-writter and dancer. He will be missed.

Originally Posted by xSamhainx
If anything, I'm amazed that he's actually dead. I thought this guy was going to live hundreds of years, a half-cyborg freakazoid gone mad at year 250.

Actually from what rumors I've heard, it was the multiple cosmetic surgeries that caused his health to degenerate.

Originally Posted by Surlent
Actually from what rumors I've heard, it was the multiple cosmetic surgeries that caused his health to degenerate.

More likely the myriad of drugs he had to take because of the surgeries.

Keith Richards outlives one more of his contemporaries.

This is a sad day in the history of music.

RIP Michael Jackson.

I will keep loving your songs untill the end of my days

I still fear the impending zombie apocalypse.

I still remember how ticked off we were in 1983 when we came back from summer and the kids on the field were still playing Thriller on their ghetto blasters. It had been 6 weeks! Time for the next top 40. guh!

What was worse was that adults were now listening to it too. My art teacher claimed Thriller was the perfect tape to jogging with in his Walkman.

What was with his hair on fire? Can those screaming girls really think that was real? Neil Young certainly didn't think so.

MJ proved that Disco wasn't dead no matter what people said. They simply hid the music in videos so no one actually listened.

We were always looking for the next act to come along and replace him. Closest thing was Prince as someone pointed out he could actually play guitar. I couldn't stand his music though either.

Many of us were convinced (or hoped) that Weird Al was actually being serious in mocking MJ with Eat It.

Heehee, great times. The symbol of bad 80's music which those raised on Brittany Spears and NSync think is great stuff now. But even if MJ was a symbol of the bad music I realize now its pretty catchy stuff.

Aim for the brain people and don't fall asleep at the Drive In.

Originally Posted by txa1265
OK, please stop before one of you gets banned … and at this point you deserve a slap down.

There is no disputing Jackson's impact … or his troubled life and controversy.

This thread should be for those who have something to say about that … not about each other. I think both are legit targets, especially since this *will* dominate the news for a while.

A classic example of somebody that 'flipped out' when they reached superstardom.

Originally Posted by Moriendor
I have some limited respect for his artistic talent and I actually like a few of his songs from back in the 80s but I think that the way that some news outlets are all over his death is (although not unexpected) way out of proportion (out of proportion in the same way that they were all over the pedo claims). I'd understand if this was 1989 but it's 2009 and Michael Jackson has not even blipped on the radar (at least for me or did I miss something?) in the last 15 to 20 years.

That's why I have a pretty low tolerance level for this kind of "news". From his heights in the 80s, MJ has turned into a complete nobody as far as I am concerned and a pathetic one at that.

His whole "OMG look at me I'm wearing a mask and gloves and I'm soooooooo speshul" behavior has always turned me off in a major way. OK. It's obvious that he couldn't deal with the attention and the success. But instead of at least trying to deal with it, instead of pursuing any sort of strategy to get out of his misery, he just dug himself in deeper and deeper. He bathed in his "speshulness" and turned into a complete hypocrite along the way.

Remember his social engagements, his charity efforts? Just plain pathetic. He hopped on stage to preach modesty (e.g. "Man in the Mirror" lyrics anyone?) to people and then got off the stage and got the next beauty surgery or bought some retarded shit for his ranch or for his stupid chimp, Bubbles, costing him thousands or even millions of bucks. Thousands or millions of bucks that could have saved or at least prolonged the life of hundreds or thousands of kids in the 3rd world that he was supposedly so fond of.

Don't get me wrong. I got nothing against celebs living it up but MJ is a different story if he talks about "OMG think about the childrun!!11" and then turns around and spends his money on the most inane shit that money can buy.

In that case I do prefer a Cristiano Ronaldo and Paris Hilton who (supposedly) spent US$ 20K for a few drinks in one night. They may be rich, spoiled dumbfucks but at least they are sparing us the drama of trying to pretend to be anything else than that. Michael didn't. Unfortunately.

Hey chief, Michael Jackson worked his ass off and earned his money, and he can spend it any way he wants to. Hell, I didn't even like the dude, but your take on him is ill-thought out and, downright annoying.

The thing about all his bad publicity, and if you remember MJ as far back as I did, we were inundated non-stop with press about him. he just wouldn't get out of the news. I think this was far more than the PR that Colonel Tom Parker ever gave Elvis.

It was marketing like you had never seen before because the conventional wisdom was that overexposure was a bad thing. There was nonstop PR for MJ and it worked.

This was why there was so much backlash with the bad publicity and MJ just couldn't understand it. Many people knew the stories weren't true (ie he was still a virgin at 40, he was gay, his kids aren't his, etc.) but its like his day of reckoning came. Since he only likes adoring crowds its easy to see why he didn't take it well.

--

Now concerning the settlements that went on, anyone that was witness to a custody battle knows that accusations fly amongst hurt spouses when they are desperate to get back at the other one and demand custody of their children at all costs. As well, Michael we know didn't know the value of money. He spent a lot of money clearing his name the only way he know how when he coluld have settled for a lot less.

As I said before the LA prosecutors certainly didn't think there was any truth to these rumours (because settlements are meaningless in these kind of cases) and when they finally did they did it turned out to be a shakedown.

I sure would have wanted to see more of his work. I guess he was just unable to grow old. Refused and died middle-age instead.

I grew up to his music. I don't really call myself a fan, but I wouldn't change the channel on the radio if one of his songs popped on. My girlfriend went to one of his shows here in Kahsiung back in the 90's and said it was best concert she had ever been to.

I know nothing about the man personnaly and think that anyone who claims they know who or what he was is full of crap. All these flamewars I've seen on about every forum out there is ridiculous. People should admire what he did for music or hate him for it, but to hate him for something you don't know happened is ludicrious. Like it really matters anyways whether or not these people believe that bad press about him. What have they done to compare to what Michael achieved?

I think it's sorta sad how he went from being at the top to being broke and scarred at the end. But like I said it doesn't really matter what I think or anyone thinks for that matter. All that matters is that one of the icons I grew up to is now dead.

Edit: I found this over at 1up. They did a retrospective on Michael Jackson's influence on gaming. I think they're reaching to conclusions in it, but still it was an interesting piece nontheless. Moonwalker was not that fun, I should know I bought the dang thang. I never did know about the Final Fantasy Moonwalker video. If they put music in it with Michael singing it would of been even better.
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3174955

Updated one for today
http://www.1up.com/do/blogEntry?bId=…UserId=5379721

In the piece they had a link to his auction. The man had tons of arcade games. If you want a stroll down memory lane, then take a look at all of the coin operated machines he had. It looks like he had everyone of the games I used to play at the arcades.
http://www.juliensauctions.com/aucti…icatalog4.html

Dude is in 'Plants vs. Zombies' kinda weird.

Originally Posted by magerette
Keith Richards outlives one more of his contemporaries.

I wouldn't call him a contemporary … Richards was a has-been by the time Jackson emerged.

Originally Posted by txa1265
I wouldn't call him a contemporary … Richards was a has-been by the time Jackson emerged.

I wouldn't say that necessarily. Keith had a #1 hit with Start Me Up just 2 years prior and his solo album was well received after Undercover of the Night bombed. No band has ever stayed on top for so long as the Stones and there is no shortage of turmoil in its history. Some think the break up was just a publicity stunt ala MJ.

--

Somoene (I don't know if it was here) worried with Farrah and MJ dead that there was a third celebrity in trouble. Ed McMahon's name was mentioned so all was ok now.

But now *gasp* BILLY MAYS dead at 50! How will I ever get my Oxy clean again?

The wheels in my head started smoking and a name suddenly popped in - DAVID CARRADINE!

On nos! Michael wasn't #3, Farrah was.

If I were a celebrity exactly 50 years old right now I'd lock the doors and be boarding up the windows right now.

Hmm, could this actually be true?

Thing is, if MJ did pay off that kids parents to drop the lawsuit for molesting their kid, what parent in gods name would do that? If my son was molested I wouldn't stop until the guy that did it was dead or in prison. Not drop the case after being handed a load of money. That's why I think it's more likely this was all a shakedown.

Originally Posted by txa1265
Richards was a has-been by the time Jackson emerged.

Definitely not. The Stones are still selling out stadiums within minutes, and their 2006 "Bigger Bang" tour was the highest grossing tour of all time.

If that article is true, that is almost worse then when he didn't lied.

I mean this could clear michaels name as a pedo and this case was awfull for his career.

Damn if it is true, it is very sad for the boy too. his father should rot in jail.