The King Of What?
Michael Jackson has always been a little nuts… C’mon.. just because he died, i have to stop telling the truth?? Well i don’t believe in that.
I personally know a ton of people who idolize him, and it’s not that i’m unaffected by his impact on the world. Because truth be told (again) he has done his fair share of things. Every other blog, paper, news channel, radio (do they still exist?) and other media outlets will swamp you with numbers, awards, charts, hits and other successes. No doubt about it, the man was a musical genius…. 20 years ago!
Again let’s be honest, the man made 3 great albums. Not taking anything away from him, but the total number of albums stall at 9 during a 37 year long solo career. If that’s not a waste of talent, then i don’t know what is.
Compare him to two other legends.. Elvis and Frank Sinatra.
They also lived lives that were pretty fucked up… in each their own way. But they were way more consistent in their professional life, and you could argue that their tally of BIG albums outshine MJ’s. This is where fans will go to general impact, sales figures, world tours, size of statues and such things. But do you really want to argue Michael vs Frank/Elvis…. No i didn’t think so. It wouldn’t do you any good.
Personally, that makes MJ a lesser artist in my book. Sure he had a lot of things against him. Ambiguous sexuality. A nonexistent childhood. The tabloid press. The children. The surgery.
But to be honest, he could have done something about some of those things…
If he was gay (the rumors were there forever, let’s not pretend) he could have come out and said it. Would it have been painful and the hardest thing he’d ever have to do yes. But would it have helped him personally, yes probably.
The tabloid press loved to hate him because he did weird shit, or at least that’s what they told us. But is that not because much of the unusual things he did, were done in secrecy. The oxygen tent, the illnesses, the marriage, the elephant man, the kids, the skin… really the list is never ending. I’m not saying that he should have opened the doors to everything. But the easiest way to prevent misinformation or bad press is by informing, even in a somewhat limited way.
I know there is an entire world in mourning right now, and bless you, but when i look at Michael Jackson i see a man that ruined a beautiful thing. He lost his health, he lost his money, he lost this positive image and somewhere in the midst of things, he lost himself.
So for me, Michael Jackson died years ago! I don’t know who that other guy was…
Streetbeat
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Quite true!
Wow…very…to the, wow…! Speechless. Can’t argue with some of the points raised! Does make me rescan things. But… sorry. Still speechless.
Quite harsh.. But nevertheless, quite true.. The fans live in the past of Michael, were his talent peaked and from that time on, the image of what could have continued to be something musically amazing, slowly faded.. He simply had a talent that was way bigger than him as a person, bigger than he could comprehend..
But the impact he made on the music industry at that time, canged the course of music forever.. And for that, I will always remember him as a great artist. Rest in PEACE.
Wow i have to agree….so true. MJ did die years ago!!!
I belive that the man that many people mourn today, is in fact that man who died many years ago. The last really good album he made was Bad. He could have died right there back then, and he would have at least died with some kind of dignity and respect. Everything else after that has been ridiculous…May God bless his soul…
I loved Michael Jackson as an artist…no doubt about that…even thou the numbers of hitlists he made during his life in the industry was never the less memorable I do agree..to a some point! coz even thou he was crazy in his own way..who isn’t nowadays?! there are several artist that do good music and live a “average life” with some mistakes here and the there…but MJ’s “footsteps” live on among many other artist..how many artist/actors/actresses fans people all over doesn’t relate or use his persona with the black shoes with white socks with Mj? or the silver glove on one hand? or the famous dance with the flappy leg? the Thriller song? the nose job? the black from white jokes? or the legendary scream and the left arm straight up? and many many more trademarks that u CAN relate to just him? not many leave that mark on people…
I m not making excuses for him…not at all..I don’t know him personally and he’s pretty special in his way..I´m just saying..even thou he hasn’t made music in YEARS…the music he did make…lives on…even in this century…and his footsteps lives on…bad or good publicity…it was still publicity that made an impact…EVRY singel one..and the effect of that, EVERYBODY KNOWS who he is…no matter how old u are…where u from…what sex u have…even if it’s not the kind of music u usually listen too..if u hated him or loved him..u still know..and if u don’t know who he is…then u´ re not from this planet!
and that my friend…that’s an artist breaking thru this hard making industry we call…entertainment!
But Streetbeat…extremely well written never the less!
From Darren on Facebook;
The truest line was the last one, Michael Jackson died years ago. In comparison with Elvis and Sinatra? I wouldn’t say he was that far behind in his best year. Remember, he wrote the majority of his songs, neither Elvis nor Sinatra did that. Both sang other peoples songs. I would say as far as an impact on the world? All three were equal, not all in a good way.
There, got that off my chest lol
So true!!!
Christian,
Like I told you yesterday, Rob was on point: your “Who?” status on FB almost strained my chuckle muscle, but we’re going the fuck to hell for it! I asked you, whether you wanted to sleep on his death, you declined. Part of me understand, why you had to get it out of your system, and maybe an even bigger part of me actually agrees with you to some extent.
That being said, the path of logic you’re venturing, seems to render artists little more than cherry blossoms: extreme beauty followed by quick death (shit, I think cherry blossoms are just beautiful!). And, by that same measure, James Brown could’ve died after his first 20 tracks, and Eddie Murphy should’ve died in 1993.
Was Jacko nuts (I know his monkey was bananas!)? Undoubtedly! But he left a larger legacy in his first 10-15 years on earth, than most artists can even begin to dream of.
Was he gay? Who knows? It boosted the shit out of Elton John, may or may not have made George Michael last longer (pun intended), and I doubt it did a whole lot for N*SYNC Lance (other than just being more recognizable as “that gay dude from N*SYNC”). I honesttogod believe, being openly gay probably would’ve cost Michael a helluva lotta credit – I have sincere doubts whether hip-hop would’ve taken to Michael the way it did, had he come out firing up his crotch like that…don’t tell me that ign’ant-ass Busta Rhymes wouldn’t have socked the shit out of Michael first chance he got, had Michael made Busta burn his nuts as a kid from all that rubbing, just to come out like, “Pssst, yo’ sexy ass inspired me to bust this move!” And don’t even get me started on Michael and Africa, or Michael and kids, had he been openly gay!
Did Michael think he was the biggest thing after Jesus? Probably (I mean, if the Artist of the Millenium Award doesn’t do you in, what does?!). And even if he wasn’t, he was probably the closest thing to the Coke of Music…and many people would choose Coke over Jesus, any day!
Sinatra/Elvis v. Michael? No, we don’t wanna go there, but still… Did Sinatra sing good? Sure. Did he revolutionize music (other than the annual Robbie Williams/Michael Bublé Sinatra rip-off)? No. Did Elvis sing and dance good? Sure. Did he revolutionize music? Probably. But both did so for predominantly white audience, in a still heavily segregated America. Michael Jackson bridged racial/social/geographical/political/economic/cultural divides like no other artist in history. Flat out! While Reagan would’ve probably loved to put every single black man behind bars (“he looks like a crack-smacking gangsta to me”), he invited Michael to the White House.
And as far as I’m concerned (and you might hate me for this one): Michael Jackson is partly responsible for even giving birth to places like BlackOut (because “black” music wouldn’t have been anywhere as marketable, lucrative and mainstream as it is, had it not been for Michael).
If that doesn’t deserves the recognition of his full 50 years of life, I don’t know what does.
Pete there is a reason I didn’t need to sleep on it, because I can in all honesty say that the immediate outcry from everyone online last night was what started this though process for me… In a time like this, most people tend to only remember the good things about a person. But when it comes to a guy like MJ, who was amazingly multifaceted, I had to get this off my chest.
Like I said in the post… he was a musical genius, no doubt about it, and his impact was huge. But he was also a talent gone hugely wrong, it was just overshadowed by his success in the 80′s. You never really got a true idea of how much trouble he was in until his success slowed down… And I’m sure that the lack of the same level of success he was used to, had nothing to do with his downfall. MJ was “just” a troubled man.
Would it have hurt the artist Michael Jackson had he been gay and openly so, maybe… but is his inner peace not more important? I know we’re talking very rhetorically right now, but I personally think he was at least bi. And being a black man at that time, it must have been hell on earth.
It’s very easy to write Sinatra off as just charming drunk with a good voice, but that is a huge mistake. We can’t forget that at one time Sinatra was Michael Jackson, and in my book he had a HUGE hand in how modern pop music sounds. Especially when you talk about how songs are sung.
Elvis may have stolen everything he had from black music and made it popular, and I’m not a fan of his. But the guy was a superstar on all levels. I agree that both did so for predominantly white audience, in a still heavily segregated America. But you can hardly hold that against them. It’s the same as saying that none of them would have been popular if you had debuted them against MJ in the early 80′s. He had a lot advantages that they never had.
Sure MJ had a hand in a place like Blackout, but Elvis essentially played black music as well, and Sinatra at one time had a black band and conductor, so I wouldn’t count them out either…
What disturbs me the most, and is essentially why I wrote this piece, is that I’m saddened by the manor MJ pissed his career away. Maybe he listened to the wrong people; maybe he didn’t listen to the right ones… I don’t know. But I do know that a guy, who could have done tremendous things with what he had, dropped the ball. And that’s a fucking shame!
Sorry everybody,I myself is a BANDIT however as much as i admire my partners opinion, I do not agree, to me it’s too easy just to say that he pissed his career away, the average lifespand of an artist is 4-5 years, people should remember that with great talent most of the time also comes a broken soul!!!(Billie Holiday, Bird,Jimmi Hendrix,Janis Joplin,John Belushi…what would their careers looked like, had they not died at a young age????? would we simply have seen Billie Holiday as and old wash up junkie? )How many artist can inspire for three decades and still be called the king even without a recent hit album? Was Merilyn Monroe the greatest actor ever??? nope but she still inspire people today. To last this long with human sacrifices no one of us can really grasp and still being able to inspire people to this day, i will have to bow my head in respect….Did he piss his career away…hmmm would anybody you can think of be able to overcome what he did, and come out a perfect human being on the other side…I don’t think so…It’s so easy to look at a billboard chart a judge MJ, but the truth is he fathered all of us with his music, his weirdness, male/female/black/white appearance etc. who are we to judge someone we owe some of the best times of our lives?????? challenge me, with more lame statistics PLEASE!!!!
“Challenge me with more lame statistics”???? Wow…..
Ok…. This is a matter of opinion, and everybody is entitled to theirs.
You say that the average life span of an artist is 4-5 years, and the greatest talent has had broken souls. Well if this is more lame statistics then I’m sorry, but what about:
Stevie Wonder, Elton John, Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, Nat King Cole, Paul McCartney… and so on. Yes some of them lived partly fucked up lives, but they also managed to clean up nicely, live somewhat normal lives, and still be creative. Some maintain/maintained their level of greatness, some didn’t.
And that is my absolute point about MJ… He was so deep in a mess he, for a big part, created for himself. Does that make him a better artist, I’m not sure, because the personal life and professional life mixed and the outcome was… nothing, silence, a void. Where instead we as fans, could have gotten a lot more from him.
Another thing is this mirage of Michael Jackson actually overcoming something… they way I see it is that he just buried everything that ever happened to him inside, partly because he was so shy and timid (not on stage though). And because he never actually tried to help himself, things just got worse. So again I’m not saying that he didn’t go through a lot of shit in his life, he absolutely did, more than most.
On a side note… Billie Holliday died at age 44 as “as an old washed up junkie”.
Does Marilyn Monroe inspire people, absolutely. But so does Charles Manson, Hitler, Djengis Khan, Anwar Sadat, George Bush, Charles Ponzi, Silvio Berlusconi and so on…
This is in no way about being a perfect human being, it’s merely an attempt to remind everybody, that one sided hysterias always have at least two sides…
I read that post that you put up. I feel what you are saying on this post but I do not think that one can really compare Elvis and Frank…what were Elvis and Frank doing when they were 12 years old? Were they getting whipped by their dad with a belt to sing and dance better? The sad thing is that in all reality MJ is the biggest POP star that might never had been one had he not been abused into that life. Just because he was rich & famous very young does not mean he was ever given the opportunity to live and grow like most people do. Elvis was 18 when he started his career, and Frank was about 25…they were both arguably men. Try drafting a 12 year old in the NBA and then compare his career to those that entered when they were adults. NO comparison. MJ’s career was no waste of talent. It was what it was. End of story. Elvis and Frank were not robbed of their childhood, nor did they have to overcome the face of racism, not a fair comparison.
You think MJ fucked his life up all on his own? Wow…ignorance is bliss and I hope you are enjoying your front row seat brother cause as you said it is your opinion and that is all that it is. You are entitled to it and I am entitled to mine, and in my opinion you are not really evaluating this issue with all the facets of what made MJ who he was, what he went through so young in life…I really don’t think that MJ is fully to blame for how f-ed up he was as an adult.
Well…enjoy listening to your Elvis and Sinatra records. No one plays Elvis or Sinatra in a club to dance to…they used to…not anymore….maybe a few Elvis tracks but MJ will be blasted in clubs every night across the globe forever….believe that…so in 100 years I guarantee that you will be proved wrong. MJ is way more relevant in the long term, in my opinion….peace
Ok so this has turned into a big discussion of, well basically taste and opinion, and that’s fine, because that’s human nature (no pun). What makes us individuals is just that.
Me, I still think that MJ messed up, mostly on his lonely. When you look at other people that have risen to his level of fame, and fallen hard, it’s often the same story… They weren’t equipped to handle the situation they landed in. So I agree that being whipped into showbiz by your dad is not the best start. But let’s be logic for a sec and ask ourselves why that had such a huge impact in the later years and not so much in the early “magic” years.
Yes it drove him into being the artist he was, and he found a father figure in Q, but when that father figure was no longer there he folded, and turned into something else. The, arguably weird, latter day Michael overpowered the young genius… and nothing was done about that. In essence he became the kid he never was, and everybody knew that. But the public just looked at it and said… aaaawwww that’s so cute, he living out his childhood. Instead of realizing that he was a grown man with serious problems, in need of help.
So yes Michael partly did it to himself… but all the people mourning his death today, crying their eyes out, were just silent onlookers when he needed action.
And when did what get’s played in the club become the golden standard of quality?? Very often it’s the opposite!
I will have to say, that I’m thrilled about how far this discussion has gone,it’s fantastic to see so many people get involved and state their opinions (agree or not..), to me this just tells me how great an artist MJ was (is), lets keep the discussions going in the future!!!!!
Phil
Bandit
I just emailed my nephew yesterday saying pretty much the same thing. Elvis is the closer match than Sinatra I believe but either’s accomplishments far exceed MJ’s. In the long run both are ultimately more complete entertainers, though both turned in pretty tired work at the end but Elvis, at least, had those gorgeous gowns. Michael suffered from so many unnamed and unexamined terrors it’s amazing he lasted as long as he did.
Don’t forget Judy. Not pop, but probably one of the greatest entertainers and talents of the 20th century. And a much better trooper even when she was all fucked up.
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