Dead Wednesday on Friday: Michael Jackson RIP
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According to The LA Times , Michael Jackson has died. Well, what choice did he have? Although he was supposedly organising a world tour, we all know that would never have got off the ground. Not only would he never again reach the levels of adulation that he reached at the peak of his career, there were very strong doubts over whether he would have a career at all. And yes, we all know why. Those rumours, those reports, those stories, those court cases, meant that most people had made up their minds about him and the simple truth was, not enough people were going to feel comfortable about showing up at a Michael Jackson gig to bop along, or even (especially) feel very comfortable about letting their kids go along either. And let’s face it, no-one was exactly hanging out for the new Michael Jackson song or the new Michael Jackson film clip, so the possibility of him simply having a recording career that anyone cared about was pretty remote too. Could he have reinvented himself and staked out a post-plastic surgery career as some sort of middle-aged crooner with a regular gig in Vegas and on the talkshow circuit, with maybe the odd criticially acclaimed CD release, the occasional song picked up for a movie soundtrack, or even an unexpected cameo in, say, some Sophia Coppola or Cohen Brothers’ movie somewhere down the track? Ah, no. It’s all very tragic. Or comic-tragic. Or something. Someone on my Twitter feed this morning said something like they would rather remember the incredibly talented kid than the weird adult he became and that’s probably not a bad instinct. At the end of the day, he was an amazing performer, an innovator in his field and across mediums and a great songwriter. Though I must admit, finding nice things to say about him feels a bit like that line people sometimes use: well at least Mussolini got the trains to run on time. Sort of like, yeah well, there were all those accusations and court cases, but hey, the guy could moonwalk! Anyway, it’s easy to forget how big he was, what a phenomenon. I was out of music retail by the time Thriller came along, but I’d seen plenty of the adulation people threw at him from back in the Jacksons’ day. Destiny and Triumph were big albums. And it wasn’t just that people came in and bought these albums; they rushed in and grabbed them and held them to their breasts as if they had been given the keys to eternal life. They wore his clothes, or their versions of them, and they did his dance steps as they brought the records to the counter to pay. When Thriller was doing its thing, I was in Readings in Hawthorn one day, as non-Michael Jackson a record shop as you could imagine, but even they had a big display of the ubiquitous disc. I said to the manager, who I knew through work, that I was surprised to see MJ getting such prominence in such a store and he looked at me like I was mad. “Tim,” he said. “If you aren’t selling Thriller , you aren’t in the record business.” So we will all sit back while the news cycle does what it does. The stories, the rumours, the stories and rumours no-one would publish while he was still alive. I guess we’ll eventually find out how he died, and will anyone really be surprised if it turns out to be self-inflicted? Michael Jackson is dead and for American music, for music generally, that is a big deal. I always really liked this song:
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10 Comments
Michael Jackson Dead? Do we blame it on the boogie?
Imagine the scene ….
Farrah Fawcett reaches heaven, and God says “Farrah, you lived a pretty good life. If I could grant you something now, what would it be?”
So Farrah says “Can’t you do something to protect the children?”
And the rest is HIStory.
I have almost no interest in this ‘story’, but in the incessant media coverage I’m pretty sure I heard the tour had already sold out (in London at least).
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/jun/25/michael-jackson-dead says “The world famous entertainer had planned a series of 50 concerts in the O2 arena […] 1m tickets were sold within hours, proving the King of Pop had enduring appeal”
Hardly meshes with this assertion by Tim: “Although he was supposedly organising a world tour, we all know that would never have got off the ground […] not enough people were going to feel comfortable about showing up at a Michael Jackson gig”
Sloppy work Crikey.
Tim, he had sold out 50 concerts at London’s O2 Arena. That’s an unprecedented 1 million tickets so to say ’ not enough people were going to feel comfortable about showing up at a Michael Jackson gig to bop along, or even (especially) feel very comfortable about letting their kids go along either ’ is ridiculous.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2009/mar/13/michael-jackson-o2-arena-residency-sells-out
What an unbelievably snide and irreverent article. A major public figure dies and Crikey gives us comments like:
“Well, what choice did he have?”
“I guess we’ll eventually find out how he died, and will anyone really be surprised if it turns out to be self-inflicted?”
“It’s all very tragic. Or comic-tragic. Or something.”
Very unprofessional.
Ok penis features Dunlop, why didn’t you say what you really mean in 4 words “I hated the bastard”. That would have saved having to read the rest of your vile rubbish. Jackson had more talent in his finger nail than you could amass in a hundred years. For your information the 50 concerts were sold out and Jackson was at rehersals last night. Not a member of the Liberal Party are you? Your writing has the same stench about it.
When I hear, I played ‘Ben’ with tears in my eyes for that sad damaged brilliant original person frozen as a little boy
I’ll remember him as the first entertainer to grab and fondle his crotch during his performances. Much more exciting than the ubiquitous thrust of the Common Jagger.
Sadly missed.
More thoughts to you Dunlop. Apart from being the wanker you are, what are your qualifications to judge one of the most talented singer/song writers of the popular medium in a 100 years. My only conclusion is that you are of a mind Jackson is guilty of child molestation, regardless that 12 good and true men and women in the American judicial system found him innocent. if you think otherwise you have neither the guts to say so or the proof. You are probably the victim of such attention yourself as a child, kindly do not pervert the columns of this media with your snide, smug, immature insuations, attempting to hide as comment. Not all of us are as “childish”, stupid, narrow minded and self promoting as yourself. Crikey is condemned for allowing such columns. As the rest of the world mourns this tragic but brilliant man. I am bloody angry with this attack on Jackson. If I see your name on another contribution I will be not be renewing this sub. I can get the same junk writing, free from News Ltd.
Michael Jackson was a genius, and he was treated by ordinary folk as a genius, ie with contempt.