It shows how out of it I was in trying to be in it, acknowledging that I was out of it to myself, and then thinking, “Okay, how do I stop being out of it? Well, I get some legitimate illogical narrative ideas” — some novel, you know?
So I decided on three writers that I might be able to option their material and get some producer, or myself as producer, and then get some writer to do a screenplay on it, and maybe make a movie.
And so the three projects were “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” “Naked Lunch” and a collection of Bukowski. Which, in 1975, forget it — I mean, that was nuts. Hollywood would not touch any of that, but I was looking for something commercial, and I thought that all of these things were coming.
There would be no Blade Runner if there was no Ray Bradbury. I couldn’t find Philip K. Dick. His agent didn’t even know where he was. And so I gave up.
I was walking down the street and I ran into Bradbury — he directed a play that I was going to do as an actor, so we know each other, but he yelled “hi” — and I’d forgot who he was.
So at my girlfriend Barbara Hershey’s urging — I was with her at that moment — she said, “Talk to him! That guy really wants to talk to you,” and I said “No, fuck him,” and keep walking.
But then I did, and then I realized who it was, and I thought, “Wait, he’s in that realm, maybe he knows Philip K. Dick.” I said, “You know a guy named—” “Yeah, sure — you want his phone number?”
My friend paid my rent for a year while I wrote, because it turned out we couldn’t get a writer. My friends kept on me about, well, if you can’t get a writer, then you write.”
~ Hampton Fancher
“That was the most disappointing thing to me in how this thing was played. Is that I’m on the phone with you now, after all that’s been said, and the fundamental distinction between what James is dealing with in these other cases is not actually brought to the fore. The fundamental difference is that James Franco didn’t seek to use his position to have sex with anyone. There’s not a case of that. He wasn’t using his position or status to try to solicit a sexual favor from anyone. If he had — if that were what the accusation involved — the show would not have gone on. We would have folded up shop and we would have not completed the show. Because then it would have been the same as Harvey Weinstein, or Les Moonves, or any of these cases that are fundamental to this new paradigm. Did you not notice that? Why did you not notice that? Is that not something notable to say, journalistically? Because nobody could find the voice to say it. I’m not just being rhetorical. Why is it that you and the other critics, none of you could find the voice to say, “You know, it’s not this, it’s that”? Because — let me go on and speak further to this. If you go back to the L.A. Times piece, that’s what it lacked. That’s what they were not able to deliver. The one example in the five that involved an issue of a sexual act was between James and a woman he was dating, who he was not working with. There was no professional dynamic in any capacity.
~ David Simon
A very sad HEE HE to the king of Pop.
He made “Thriller.” All the bizzare behavior in the world will not erase that. A truly, truly towering figure of twentieth-century culture. One of the most famous people of the last century. There were a lot of famous people in the last century. But he was worth any number of galaxies of them. A superstar, now a supernova.
Trivia: He was directed by Sidney Lumet, Francis Coppola, Martin Scorsese and John Landis! Just imagine what you can do with those degrees of separation.
Looking at film of a young, healthy, talented ‘Off the Wall’ era Michael, I am more convinced than ever that the real Michael Jackson was killed filming that Pepsi commercial back in 1984. The man we’ve been following for the past quarter century was obviously some impersonator hired by the record companies to keep the gold-mine going, just like they did when Paul McCartney was killed in that car crash in the sixties.
He peaked in ’84.
I wish I could feel even the slightest feeling about this (Jackson was THE talent of my youth) but I can’t. He was an enormously damaged man who, I’m sure as we’ll see in the tell-all books to come, damaged a lot of people, especially young people, around him.
I can only imagine what the funeral will be like in L.A.
The slightest feeling? He’s Michael Jackson. If you lack the ability to grasp what that name means. You are not only the annoying ignorant twat that you portray yourself as on this blog. You also lack a sense of culture. It figures coming from someone like you, whom reeks with mid-20s arrogance. Fuck you, long live the King, and a HEE HE to you all.
Fuck, dude, you think you have it all figured out, don’t you? I grew up with MJ, who was the biggest cultural figure of my early life. Michael-mania in 1983-84 was insane. Fucking Rockwell could hit the top of the chart with a piece of shit song like “Somebody’s Watching Me” just because Michael sang the chorus. The world practically shut down with the dude burned his head in that Pepsi shoot (I remember everyone being so concerned about his Jheri curl and then relieved when they found out he only wears water in his hair). I remember my buddy Danny waxing rhapsodic about the Thriller video, and everyone buying the making-of VHS tape. I remember when Michael did the moonwalk on the Motown special and everyone went APESHIT because they just saw something that they had never seen before and it blew their brains out the back of their head.
But the fucker was damaged. And damaged people damage the people around him. His poor kids have been so damaged that I feel nothing but pity for them. So, yeah, I don’t feel anything, because I really don’t know what I’m supposed to feel. Tell me, Fievel, what do YOU feel?
He WAS an icon and probably one of the five most influential acts in the history of pop music – I definitely idolized him as a kid, as many around me did. And sorry, he was seriously damaged, but so was Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, James Brown…..the guys had enormous skeletons and it did not diminish their influence.
Shame that he never really broke into movies, though he did try a couple of times – he never even had that long-rumored cameo in a Spielberg movie. But he was probaly as big as any movie star.
Geoff, he did cameo in Men in Black II.
NickF, I live in LA, and I can only imagine. I hear traffic horrible on the Westside right now.
I’m in my late 20’s so I can really only guess about the peak of his fame in the early eighties. But even in the early 90’s, good god he was the biggest Music talent ever. The 1993 superbowl half time show was one of the most watched things EVER. It boggles the mind how huge this man was.
We played some of his songs at our wedding: Can’t Stop til You Get Enough, Beat It and I’ll Be There.
I like what Andrew Sullivan just wrote about him – that our culture found an immensely talented young man, and proceeded to chew him up and spit him out in ways that we can’t fathom.
There’s some cool footage on CNN – big crowd outside the Apollo Theater in Harlem singing and dancing his music.
Ok, I’m always up for some fun tribute stuff, top five Michael Jackson songs, your favorites? You know it shoudldn’t be too hard, actually.
Here’s five favorite ones:
Rock With You
Billie Jean
I Will Be There
Man in the Mirror
Black or White
And I know it’s become for hip music geeks to say, but I agree that Off the Wall was his best albumn.
“And sorry, he was seriously damaged, but so was Miles Davis, Elvis Presley, James Brown…..the guys had enormous skeletons and it did not diminish their influence.”
Yeah, but none of them were accused of child molestation. It’s a funny thing, fame. People will look past the most horrid personal atrocities a star can commit if they’re fans of that person. If anything, they become even bigger fans, more protective. The fan feels a personal connection to the celebrity and will ignore anything that affects that relationship. A relationship that in reality doesn’t exist.
“Human Nature” FTW!
Yeah, I was in fifth grade when “Billie Jean” and “Beat it” were HUGE, then the “Thriller” video hit in like December. Still remember the cool kids who’d bring their TAPES into school for recess breaking down between those who were playing “Thriller” and those who had “Metal Health” by Quiet Riot. That MAKING OF video mentioned above with Landis was a big deal, and probably one of the first times I got to see a big-time director I recognized in action on a set.
Just last week I was watching the Eddie Murphy “Delirious” DVD, and on the features Eddie talks about how his MJ imitation was affectionate, and Jackson watched it with his family (his mom, I believe) and thought it was funny. Just really takes you back to that ’83-’84 world with the red jackets and Murphy on top at the box office and Jackson just DOMINATING the music scene, everyone from kids in the cities to suburbanites in the sticks just galvanized by them.
Wrecktum, sorry, but we’re heading into moral equivalency, here – I’m pretty confident that Davis and Brown both abused wives and/or girlfriends and there’s a lot of talk that Presley engaged in pretty deviant behavior with underage girls.
I’m not equating it with child molestation and I have two young children, myself…..but you can’t just ignore the issues of some and not the rest.
I like that too, J-Mc, but blaming the culture is a bit lazy. Joe Jackson destroyed Michael Jackson, let’s not forget. Culture only enabled him in the wake of his public success.
And who is out there trying to profit from his death already? Same vultures.
I was summarizing, DP, not relaying the entire piece. Sullivan found plenty of blame at Joe Jackson’s feet, and plenty at Michael’s himself.
So, Dave, what were your favorite MJ songs? Indulge if you can….
Sullivan is a DOUCHE.
You’re just saying that because he doesn’t get boners at the same things you get boners at.
Wow, Rock My World video is on MTV – this thing had Chris Tucker, Michael Madsen, Marlon Brando, AND Billy Drago!
Really sad day. I cant stop thinking of the Thriller birthday party I had when I turned 11.
However, if I have to hear about everyone’s TWEETS from around the world on CNN every 4 seconds, then I’ll have to check out now. I don’t care what Oscar in Sao Paolo thought of MJ.
Since when did everyone’s opinion become news? Can’t we just quietly mourn someone’s passing for God’s sake?
Sullivan’s whole piece, except the end, squarely blamed Michael’s father and his sycophantic handlers. Which is definitely where the blame should be laid.
And Geoff, I really don’t know anything about the rumors you’re describing so I really can’t comment. Surely if Miles Davis was ever put on trial for child molestation, then I can definitely see a moral equivalence.
MJ broke about the same time pop culture was entering my consciousness. You cannot be bigger than he was around that time. Funny thing is, 15 years ago, this still would have been one of those “Where were you when…” deaths. Now, notsomuch. Even so, there was still a part of me that wanted him to come back and do something great.
Top 7:
Billy Jean
Human Nature
Beat It
P.Y.T.
Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’ (What an album!!!)
Smooth Criminal
Dirty Diana
And in a coincidence, my Mom died 7 years ago today, at age 50.
Jeff, I’m saying it because he’s a sanctimonious, passive-aggressive bore every time he’s on Maher. And because he (at least in part) blamed our culture of fame, celebrity and money in that article… like he’s turning down any chance to get his mug on the tube. Sanctimonious bullshit.
I’m not getting into the mud about this guy – favorite songs, albumns?
Lex, at least those are debatable points. Yes, Sullivan has an unctuous quality about him that irritates the hell out of me, not to mention that he gets downright hysterical and obsessive depending on his subject. But he’s still smarter and more perceptive than most people. And he’s not the kind of self-serving attention hog you’re making him out to be.
Amen, Lex. Only the likes of Andrew Sullivan could blame the US for Michael Jackson’s deviances.
Thriller all the way, great song, best music video of all time.
Jeff, let’s not get into a semantic argument here. This is a very sad day with MJ and Farrah, don’t ruin it with this back and forth blather.
So you’re not a Thriller fan?
Um, he blamed his father and his handlers, not the U.S.
I wonder how many of Jackson’s fans just know him mostly from Thriller. Thriller was an album that EVERYONE owned. From 5 year olds to grandmothers, it transcended age, social-economic status, race and sex. Everyone knew and loved Michael back in ’83. It’s really the last time in the U.S. that anything like that has happened.
MJ’s other albums, while popular, never reached anything close to the Thriller disk. Not by a longshot.
I have to ask, because I never did see about it, but sure about it in grade school, that week – did ANY ONE actually watch that first Moonwalk on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special live? Had to be quite the moment in see live…..
Sorry, just bouncing around the TV watching all this stuff – I forgot that Scorcese directed the Bad video! Wow, definitely had a gritty look about it.
Um, he blamed his father and his handlers, not the U.S.
Um, no. He said exactly what Jeff said he did:
“I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours’ [sic] and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.”
I’m seriously bummed about this news. I have countless memories of Michael Jackson’s THRILLER album from a certain summer vacation right before junior high I think. Man, what a talent and what an inspiration to many. In fact that “Thriller” video and the “making of” someone mentioned really coalesced with my love of film.
And for all the child abuse accusations, I’ll tell you what… I’ve worked with school aged kids for almost 20 years and pedophiles and abusers aren’t just “born.” It’s a cycle. I hope that when all the skeletons in MJ’s closets come out, the people (aside from his father) who abused him and likely molested him are brought to light. I don’t pity his actions, I pity the fact he was abused and kept the cycle going.
RIP Michael!
By the way, that ROCKWELL song RUUUUUUULED. Still does.
“I hope that when all the skeletons in MJ’s closets come out, the people (aside from his father) who abused him and likely molested him are brought to light.”
Of course using that logic you would then have to have the same sympathy for his father and anyone who may have abused him…and so on…and so on…and so on…
I have no idea if the allegations are true. But if they are there is such a thing as personal responsibility. Not everyone who is abused goes on to abuse. That is a false logic.
Not trying to be contentious…I love MJ’s music. But many people now are making many excuses for what he may have done.
Something about that is not sitting well.
Part of it has to be that MJ looked too pathetic and sad to be a ‘monster’, therefore had to be a ‘victim’ when the truth must have been a little of both.
I’m not excusing any wrong he allegedly did, but it may be impossible for us to make sense of him, because he was not normal. He was a bizarro feral child. I heard a friend of his on TV describing how a major psychological turning point for MJ was the trial, when he witnessed friends/family turn on him. It may further unhinged him, because this friend went on to describe the abnormal behavior he witnessed. I agree with jeffmcm that MJ was a sad and pathetic figure.
Gus Petch, read all of Sullivan’s article, not just the piece you pilfered and you’ll understand what he’s saying.
Gus Petch wasn’t wrong, the Sullivan piece starts out by going after Joe Jackson, then the enablers, then MJ himself, and reaches its climax with the excerpt he selected. It’s a wide-ranging indictment with broad (societal), not narrow(Joe Jackson’s fault), implications.
The Thriller album seems to be the inarguable career peak, both commercially and artistically. But I think my favorite is still the first, “I Want You Back.” That’s just a perfect pop record, and it’s still amazing to hear how this 11-year-old kid had internalized the chops of Marvin Gaye and Jackie Wilson in a way that sounded more original than imitative.
The reason why I don’ think Sullivan meant what you think he said in that excerpt (and sorry for hijacking this thread) is because he is not a culture warrior who blames society for people’s wrongdoings. Quite the opposite.
I think he was saying that MJ’s father and handlers created him and the celebrity cocoon (the culture references) preventing him from getting help.
No, he’s not a culture-warrior in the standard right-wing bible-thumper sense, but he’s still a Catholic conservative (I’m sure Nicol will disagree with one or both of those points) who does have a particular, libertarian vision of what society ought to be. He’s not blaming “Hollywood” and he’s not blaming “Capitalism” but the nexus of those two things that have cause talented people who are unprepared to take care of themselves to be exploited and used up.
Wrecktum wrote: MJ’s other albums, while popular, never reached anything close to the Thriller disk. Not by a longshot.”
It
For those of you on the Left Coast: Check out ABC Nightline tonight. It’s about Michael Jackson, of course. But it may be more revealing about the host than the host intended.
It’s with Martin Bashir isn’t it?
Yep.
Since we are already treading in impolite conversations, is it too early to think about the possibility of a music biopic of Michael Jackson ala “Ray”? I know that we have the tv miniseries “The Jacksons” and the cheapo VH1 “Man in the Mirror”, but I would really be interested in a real warts and all portrait of this tragic, fallen legend. Something along the lines of a “Nixon” “All That Jazz” “The Aviator” “Citizen Kane”…it would be a fantastic dream project and role for a great actor…showing both victim and victimizer of Jackson’s personality… the artistic genius of the man… the commitment and hard work that made him as good as Astaire or Kelly…the devil that was his father…the unique family structure/dysfunction of Jacksons. The bit parts of the movie would even be interesting…who would play Quincy Jones, Marlon Brando, Elisabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney, etc? Just reviewing his videos on YouTube the past few hours, it would almost be an eerie tribute to him because his videos are so much inspired by the movies such as The Warriors, 30’s gangster pictures, musicals, horror pictures, etc. I believe that he once said that movies gave him an escape from pressures in his life. I mean, Eddie Murphy is going to be starting his Richard Pryor biopic soon with Bill Condon, so why not Michael Jackson?
God, if only Francois Truffaut were still around to direct.
Yeah, Mr. Leydon. Truffaut would have been perfect. But not Rob Marshall…who is an adequate director but took the Fosse out of Chicago. I wonder if there is an actor talented enough, gutsy enough with their on screen sexuality, and who did not care about showing the monstrous sides of a character’s personality out there? Or are they not born yet? Some new age asexual Brando like actor?
seriously bizarre night…just returned home from opening night of ‘farragut north’ at the geffen….right across the street from ucla hospital….10:45 at night in the usually dead village and it’s a freaking carnival…food carts, t-shirts for sale, many hundreds of people, candles, costumes, choppers and satellite trucks for as far as you can see….usually, the news exaggerates stuff like this but this was really strange…..
now in the mood for billy wilder’s ‘ace in the hole’….
Michael Jackson was an incredibly damaged man, that we know. He was also an incredibly talented man, who existence – quite literally – changed the world. Not hyperbolic at all. Can you imagine a world in which he did not exist? Wow. I’m choosing to remember his music – my god THE MUSIC! – while quietly acknowledging that he was a disturbed and possibly hurtful man. I’ll take Roger Ebert’s take on it though. We’ll never know for certain if he did molest anybody, but I think we can all agree that he tried to seek a childhood in the form of other children. A childhood he never had.
In regards to favourite MJ songs. Well, I always go with “Smooth Criminal”. Bad is actually my favourite album of his. Not sure why exactly, although perhaps it has to do with the fact that it was my first window into Jackson.
I wasn’t around for the “Thriller” phase, but even at a mere five years old I became obsessed with the first MJ clip I ever saw on morning music tele – “The Way You Make Me Feel”. All that dirty dancing in those dark and damp downtown streets. Hooked me. “Smooth Criminal” and “Bad” were other favourites at the time. As the years went on I eventually became obsessed with the “Remember the Time” clip, as well as “Black or White”, “Scream” (I still remember the stories about it being the most expensive clip ever) and “Earth Song” to name a few.
Through the years I eventually discovered older MJ clips, but it was much harder in those days. “Thriller” was obviously amazing and I also have a strange fondness for “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” with its primitive, yet still fascinating, visual effects.
Best MJ songs?
1. “Smooth Criminal”
2. “Human Nature” – the word “gorgeous” was invented to discribe this song, surely
3. “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”
4. “Dirty Diana”
5. “Beat It”
6. “Burn This Disco Out”
7. “Remember the Time”
8. “Thriller”
9. “Bad”
10. “Scream”
Or something like that. That ranking would probably change (outside of the top 3) tomorrow if you asked.
Although I would hazard to suggest that 0:37-0:42 of “Thriller” are the greatest five seconds in music history.
Letting Vincent Price rap in “Thriller” was genius.
what a sad end to what seems a troubled life.
separate from the evolution of his talent and music, the physical transformation of michael jackson has to be one of the – if not THE – most bizarre and disturbing of any really high-profile ‘entertainer’ in the history of entertainers, certainly that i can think of. i suppose that lends itself to good cinema at any rate.
a while back there was a segment on micheal jackson on some tv show my son was watching, and on it was a clip of very young micheal singing in the jackson 5. my boy got very confused and asked me who that was singing; when i told him, ‘that’s michael jackson, that’s how he looked when i was young’, at first he thought i was kidding and commented that ‘that boy is black’, and when i convinced him i was telling the truth, he asked me why jackson looks like a white ‘lady-man’ now (his way of saying ‘transvestite’ of sorts, i’m not sure where he picked that up). that was a difficult conversation, as i didn’t know how to begin to explain to a child something i didn’t understand myself.
anyway, it really hit me then how truly bizarre the ‘transmogrification’ of michal jackson has been, happening sort of gradually over time so i guess i’d just slowly grown accustomed to it, but to my son the ‘before’ and ‘after’ was rather mind-boggling.
i wondered then, as i’m wondering again now after his death, what the correlation between jackson’s profound physical change to his obvious mental health issues might be. was he indeed a transvetite? i’d never really thought of him in those absolute terms, but his make-up, hair and rather bizarre dress of recent years would appear to suggest the exploration of some transgender issues.
if this is already a well-known thing, pardon my ignorance, i mean no offence. i just haven’t really followed MJ’s life in recent times, all his troubles just bummed me out. i prefer to remember him in his heyday, such a talented performer.
Wasn’t there that five year period between Thriller and Bad where it all sort of went wrong? Like, he showed up in that “Bad” film clip looking quite different and people were wondering what happened to him.
Heh; I’ve fessed to enough embarrassing stuff here over the years, might as well cop to this:
Sometime in early ’84, at the height of Jackson/Thriller mania, I switched to a new school district (in 5th grade)… Walked in like “the new kid,” all intimidated and friendless. Like I said above, this was the era where EVERY kid was bringing tapes in of Thriller or Leppard/Hysteria or HERBIE HANCOCK ROCKIT.
Anyway, must’ve been some kind of talent show audition kinda deal going that first week or so, but I distinctly remember trying to curry favor with some Kelly chick by popping in someone’s Thriller tape and doing a COMPLETELY INEPT “MOONWALK” to either “PYT” or “Beat It,” in front of like thirty or forty kids, and instead of wowin’ ’em, like the whole classroom full of kids gawked in dead silence at the NEW LOSER, like you could hear crickets chirping and shit. TOTAL humiliation.
‘think about the possibility of a music biopic of Michael Jackson ala “Ray”‘
And his good friend McCauley Caulkin can play him in his later years.
I wasn’t a fan of his when I was young (the only kid in my school who did not own a copy of thriller) but I did enjoy his music later on. Even though every single piece of network and cable news coverage seems to be focused on his death, this seems to be justified this time due to just how huge of a star he was. What his death will do is take all the ugliness of his life out of the legacy of his music and people will be able to enjoy the songs remembering the amazing artist and not the terribly flawed man. I wouldn’t be suprised if Thriller hits number 1 again next week.
Between McMahon, Fawcett, Jackson and the Jon and Kate divorce, the next issue of People magazine is going to have to be about 900 pages.
LexG: No offense, man, but that might explain a lot.
BTW: I found this fascinating, so I thought I’d share:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gotham-chopra/my-friend-mike_b_221280.html
I can moonwalk. Still.
As for Sullivan, who can be perceptive when not in libertarian drama queen mode, it’s interesting he’s willing to chalk up MJ’s life to circumstances beyond his control, yet he continues to prop up racist genetic theories and believes that the poor should just take care of themselves. The rich and famous, suffer with his compassion.
Pier Paolo Pasolini, maybe. Fran
Anyone else thinking of that scene from Three Kings ? Where the interrogator beats Wahlberg asking ‘What happened to Michael Jackson’ ?
This coming Tuesday is the deadline for US Troops to hand over to Iraqis.
The world throws up some strange shit sometimes.
Truffaut would apporach the story with some clear-eyed compassion. Passolini? Freak show.
@hcat: Nielsen SoundScan considers “Thriller” a catalog album, not a current release. Should “Thriller” hit #1 next week it would be on the catalog list.
MJ’s death meshes with the collapse of the recording industry. Are his albums readily available? Walmart gets its recorded music through rack jobbers who push current releases. Best Buy, FYE and other chains have cut back severely on catalog.
I had no idea they made that distinction, thanks.
And I am sure retailers would have sold out of everything in the first hour this morning no matter how much they had in stock (the albums are 15 to 30 years old, how many do you think they keep on the shelves at any given time). I am sure Columbia has a shit ton of CDs being pressed at the moment and Itunes is going to get a huge spike in business today.
I’m kind of in the mindset that a Pasolini-esque (or maybe better, Fellini-esque) freak show is what the material calls for. Truffaut could do ‘crazy’ (Adele H.) but still in a maybe too-tasteful-for-this-subject manner.
Chucky and Hcat: It was quite a different world then, but I can remember going out the day after John Lennon was shot — and finding store after store in Dallas where there were gaping empty spaces in the racks where Lennon and Beatles LPs and tapes had been.
The night Lennon was killed, the record stores were packed and the LP’s were flying out. I was there!
I wonder how much Ahmadinejad and Iran’s ruling clergy are grateful for the distractions of Michael Jackson, Farrah Fawcett and Mark Sanford? I mean, did those guys pray for this trifecta, or what?
Yes, I can see the Mullahs cackling over their good media luck. “Look at the infidels weep!”
Joe – I am sure that was the case but Lennon was a current artist, still very much in the industry and Rubber Soul and Peppers would have been about 14 years old. Thriller is 25 and change with the artist being in exile for almost a decade.
As far as the Mullahs, not only are the deaths distracting but can be used as a symbol of western decadence.
Hcat: Not to argue, but wasn’t THRILLER reissued just a while back? And wasn’t there a GREATEST HITS compilation not that long ago? Of course, there was a report in today’s Houston Chronicle that a local music store sold out its “entire stock” of Jackson CDs — all 15 of them. So you may have a point.
Faceplant time — why do I post here but not think about online commerce?
Right now at Amazon.com MJ has the entire top 15 in albums and the top 12 of music videos. “The Wiz” is in that video list. So is “We Are the World” — remember that 80’s spectacular?
At the iTunes Store MJ has the entire top 5 if not the entire top 10.
So much for my thinking old school.
Chucky: True enough.
If the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller sells (the one with Fergie and Akon and so on) then it could be #1, but Chucky is right, Billboard have the catalog chart and if people are only buying the original Thriller then it can’t top the regular chart. Here in Australia the anniversary edition was actually classified as a “re-release” of the original and so the “weeks on chart” thing was around 150wks. If that makes any sense.
Interestingly it is “Man in the Mirror” that ranks highest right now on Aus iTunes. It’s at #8, “Thriller” at #9, “The Way You Make Me Feel” at #15, “Black or White” at #17, “Billie Jean” at #18. Curiously, “Ben” ranks at #22 (I guess not many people had ever heard of it) while “Beat it” is at #29, “Can You Feel It” at #36 and “Smooth Criminal at #37. “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” is at #41, “You Are Not Alone” at #43 while “They Don’t Care About Us”, “Bad” and “Black or White (single version)” take up #51-#53. “I Want You Back”, “Blame it on the Boogie”, “Wanna Be Startin’ Something”, “Heal the World”, “Rock With You”, “Remember the Time”, “We Are the World”, “Scream” and “Beat It” also rank.
Meanwhile he has 11 albums in the Aus iTunes top 20 including Thriller (both orig and anniversay), Bad, Off the Wall, History plus an assortment of “greatest hits” collections like King of Pop, Number Ones and The Definitive Collection. Craziness.
They were playing his albums at 8.45am yesterday in the music shops near where i work. His death was announced at 8am.
So sorry about your Mum, Mystery, that’s awful young to go, and more relevant than any messed up pop star.
I grew up with Michael Jackson being the biggest thing…then Prince being the second biggest thing, and yes everyone…parents, kids, all colors and languages had THRILLER.
But like many talented famous people he seemed to implode and become something other than his best self.
maybe he is “the complete” musical artist, but I can;t help wondering if he did do bad things to kids (though any parent who would allow a kid to stay overnight at a man’s house like that reported is simply nuts or an abuser themselves). It made me not want to buy his music anymore. Why would you have kids over like sleepovers. No No No.
RIP, and **I hope you get your original beautiful brown face back in Other world**. Maybe that is true–the fire killed him and that was an imposter ever since.
I saw the moonwalk on TV as a kid, sitting next to my parents in awe, and I remember everyone trying to do it the next day, even the teachers in school. Everyone saw it, and kids who didn;t lied and said they did.
Imagine what he could have done with his power over people if he didn;t go weird…he probably could have stopped all wars, ended hunger and recessions caused by greed.
Billie Jean video on BBC2 now. Cool.
Now BBC2 is showing Rockin Robin 1972 video. never seen that before.
If 1972 Michael was Britain’s got talent show, I think he’d been Susan Boyle and the dance team that won it.