The Atlantic - Latest Comments in Michael Jackon

Re: Michael Jackon

Neil — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 00:22:19 -0000

As some one greater than me once said:

So it goes.

Re: Michael Jackon

Bruins2Lakers — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:54:23 -0000

I feel so badly for all those near and dear to him. I just heard the man who discovered him dissing Michael's family and Atlantic Records on talk radio--kind of unseemly. There are good and not-so-good elements in everybody's family. Mine was more dysfunctional than the Jacksons.

I had Jermaine Jr. in a 10th grade English class I taught at Beverly Hills high back in the 90s.He was the most down-to-earth, real kid, compared with so many of the others who talked of shrinks and how their maids were caring for them while Mom ran off to Europe with her producer boyfriend. J.J. used to talk about his technique for taking out the trash, how he had it down to a science. I said, "You're kidding me! You actually take out the trash?" "Of course," he said, "My pops doesn't play. We work or we get grounded." I thought Jermaine did a great job with that kid and I wrote and told him so.

Re: Michael Jackon

JoeF — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:53:19 -0000

MTV was how I (and a good number of my friends) found out Cobain died.

MTV News used to be a pretty big deal, back in the day. One more thing they've let die on that channel.

Re: Michael Jackon

Jennifer D. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:47:21 -0000

Yes! I remember sneaking over to a friend's house to stay up late to watch Johnny Carson, and both Michael and Farrah held prime poster placement on my walls.

Re: Michael Jackon

Persia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:26:16 -0000

Wow. Good for him, if it's true.

Re: Michael Jackon

Persia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:25:38 -0000

Yeah.

Re: Michael Jackon

Persia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:23:33 -0000

I suspect twenty years from now his star will have risen again.

Re: Michael Jackon

Persia — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:22:40 -0000

Me too. God.

Re: Michael Jackon

Wrye — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 21:06:25 -0000

I really hope that's true. I want that to be true. For some reason I'd been thinking about the McCartney/MJ collaborations recently, even before TNC's recent posts.

For me, what really evokes MJ is the Fatboy Slim cut "Michel Jackson". It sounds nothing like an MJ tune, but it just moves so fast and pure, like lightning in a bottle, while young Mike says "look out, here I come". So much promise, so much joy.

Re: Michael Jackon

Swiffness — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:45:48 -0000

Michael Jackson May Have Left Paul McCartney Rights to 200 Beatles Songs in His Will

http://www.clevelandleader.com/node/10457

If true, that was a good look on Mike's part.

Re: Michael Jackon

Swiffness — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:27:22 -0000

Remember the Moonwalker video game for Sega Genesis? Where his special move was to make all the enemies dance and then fall over dead?

Re: Michael Jackon

marksalot21 — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:25:18 -0000

hi. ty for this post. the sound on that vid is horrid and does not do the song justice. here is a better link.

i mean, cant have MJ with no bass!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CbH04pY7alA

Re: Michael Jackon

rikyrah — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:23:23 -0000

McMahon, Fawcett and Michael Jackson...this is my childhood.

I think of being little, and the only way you saw Ed McMahon was if you snuck out of bed, and was standing in the doorway, trying to hide from your parents as they watched Carson in the living room (no such thing as a tv in every room). Sometimes they scolded you, other times, they told you to come on and sit with them.

Farrah - Charlie's Angels was revolutionary for its time, as odd as that might seem now. That poster was everywhere, and we wanted that hair.

Michael - wow...for my sisters, who actually went to see The Jackson Five routinely when they were growing up, to me being fully aware of Michael with Off The Wall first, then Thriller, and him MAKING MTV, and all that meant.

Re: Michael Jackon

uspoverty — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:22:56 -0000

I'm hearing the he's our Elvis, he's our Princess Di cultural icon comparisons.

I'm blown away.

Re: Michael Jackon

drumwolf — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:22:12 -0000

Oh, I have absolutely no doubt that Joe has a lot to answer for. I've never been a fan of Michael Jackson, but I did have some sympathy and pity for him and I have absolutely no doubt that his life would have turned out much happier if his dad hadn't essentially stolen his childhood.

For quite a few years before this I considered him to be just as much of a pop stardom tragedy as Cobain, Hendrix, 2Pac or Jim Morrison. I just hope he's finally at peace now.

Re: Michael Jackon

sporcupine — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:22:05 -0000

Some of us were 10-year-old girls when "ABC" hit the charts. We were much too mature for the playground, though not above swooning over 11-year-old rock stars.

Such a sweet, sweet talent. Such a sad, sad life.

Re: Michael Jackon

piledhighanddeep — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:21:33 -0000

MTV is actually running his videos nonstop right now. I am just so sad.

Re: Michael Jackon

calexical — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:21:24 -0000

You never expect people like him to pass on at all, let alone so quietly.

Re: Michael Jackon

Swiffness — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:13:48 -0000

I'm only 23, so I never knew Black Mike in his heyday. But my junior year of high school, around the time he was readying the big comeback tribute concert, all the hip-hop heads in my high school was feelin the classic Mike songs. HARD. From Off the Wall to Dangerous. I guess it was because the R Kelly scandal was breaking at the time, so MJ looked pretty good in comparison and we were all ready to forgive Jacko. Then that stupid documentary came out a few months later and deaded all that. Still, "Thriller" was one of my favorite songs to do during beatbox battles.

It's a shame.

A couple of months ago, I was walking past a Suncoast video store in the mall. The TVs in the window were showing a compilation of his videos. I saw a "Smooth Criminal" title card appear on the screen. I stopped and watched. When the video ended, a security guard walked up and said "alright alright, show's over keep it movin". Only then did I look behind me and notice the 20+ brothas who had also stopped to watch that ill ass video.

It's a shame.

Re: Michael Jackon

frankie d — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:12:49 -0000

i'll always remember michael jackson the first time i saw him, live and in living color.

it was around 1970 or so, and believe it or not, the jackson 5 were the headlining act at the michigan state fair, in detroit, over on woodward near 8 mile. (actually, closer to 6 mile, but folks who aren't familiar with detoit know 8 mile, not 6 mile.)

this was back in the days of their big fros and the tight, brightly-colored spandex bellbottom jumpsuits and the show was everything you could imagine it would have been. unforgettable.

michael was a real person back then, not the cartoon figure he has become, probably 10 or 11, a child. but he sang with the maturity and force of a grown man. hearing a little kid sing, "who's lovin you" with an understanding that a little kid is not supposed to have, well, it was stunning. and almost as weird as watching jacko the freak in later days.

so, yea, he's been a weird sucker the last couple of decades and i'll never forget or forgive all of the messed up things he probably did to and with children. but my anger and discomfort with him, at least, will be tempered by the fact that michael himself probably had been subjected to some truly vile stuff as a kid. and you could hear it in his voice.

i used to represent kids in the juvenile justice system and what was plain as day was that kids who victimized other kids had always been victims themselves, and when they abused other kids they were simply mimicking bad stuff that had been done to them. so, with kids at least, the question always was: when does a kid stop being a victim and when does he/she start being just a bad person, a perp? who knows the answer to that question, but i'm sure it had to be applied to michael jackson.

so when i think of michael, i'll always think about that little kid on the stage at the michigan state fair, singing "who's lovin you" like a love-struck 50 year old man, wondering how the heck a kid like that could understand and feel a song like that.

to tell the truth, in a way, i really didn't want to know.

Re: Michael Jackon

Mrs. Teufelshunde — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:09:18 -0000

I teared up reading your comment. That song gets me every time. Beautiful.

Re: Michael Jackon

Dave C — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:07:33 -0000

I'm not aware of those songs. Do you have a YouTube link by chance?

Re: Michael Jackon

Jennifer D. — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:05:47 -0000

May he rest in peace. His music will endure.

Re: Michael Jackon

BabylonSista — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 19:03:21 -0000

I danced to "I'll Be There" by the Jackson Five with my father at my wedding. I will never admit this to my husband, but that was the single happiest moment of my life.

Re: Michael Jackon

Juba — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 18:55:41 -0000

Absolutely. Joe will have to make peace with himself as to whether he cost his son a happy centered life by his actions toward his son.