I tweet a sizable amount on my Twitter. My twitter is linked to my Facebook. I get admittedly a tad more responses there than anywhere as much as I loathe facebook.
Anyway. With the passing of Michael Jackson just 3 days before my birthday on June 25th. This left me feeling in somewhat of a funk. I was involved in other birthday plans, but his death did overshadow that.
Now I don't allow just anyone on my facebook. That's mostly a place for people who actually know my real name. This is not my myspace so debates on this microcosm of the cyber-verse become ignored. Personally I would rather they were had on the newly reformatted and wicked cool new Dark Forums but I digress.
Michael Jackson is the "King of Pop". Not that I'm a big fan of pop music, I can't deny the amazing talent, innovator and achiever he was. I'm gonna let you all in on a little secret. In another life, I was a Michael Jackson Impersonator.
I think by now, and it will eventually get out anyway, I admired who he was. I learned the music industry by living it through him. I found out how shady media and radio industry representatives can be and I learned how manic fans are. I lived parts of the life and tasted a little of what it would be like. Women threw themselves at me, men started fights with me. I began to understand a side of humanity that just not many see.
The debates have sparked a lot of great responses and thoughts to the passing of MJJ. I'm going to drag over a few of the more profound paragraphs I thought I should share in response to many of the opinions on Michael from the alleged pedophilia to his bizarre nature.Here are some points I'd like to share:
On the subject of Michael Jackson's alleged pedophilia:
It all started with this tweet (and I'm not reproducing every reply):
If people are gonna hate Michael Jackson during the worlds loss, at least do it for legit reasons he was CONVICTED for. Oh wait, he WASN'T!
Re: On being seen holding hands with children on TV.
He didn't hold them like a boyfriend. He held them with the same love a man who was robbed of his childhood and at some point, he snapped. He looked at the world through the eyes of Peter Pan and thought of love as a great best friendship. In some ways, I wish we could all do that. Instead, we put sexual tension and pressures on people, stripping ... the innocence from friendship. This sexual charging leads to the great debate over why women and men have it so hard to just be friends without the sexuality. In that way, I sometimes wish I was MJJ if nothing but to feel what it feels like to not have the stress and pressure of adult relations be no matter between whom.The people that let their kids hang with MJ were purely opportunists as Heather said. Just like that Law & Order episode They took advantage of a man who was pretty much akin to an autistic. A genius in the music and performance department, yet a sheltered child in the social graces department.
On the subject of whether Michael or anyone else in today's music should be called "genius":
There's no limit to deeming someone a "genius". The results of genius are ever evolving. Those you bring up are innovators of their day, but genius lives on. It's a description, not a title nor an award. In our time, Stevie Wonder, Billy Joel, MJJ, John Lennon were examples of our "MUSICAL GENIUS'". Lest we forget Stephen Hawking, Einstein, Freud... Read More and more in their respective fields of genius also. Genius is when there are those who can do and achieve what the common man cannot. These are our Supermen and Wonder Women. If I could do HALF of what these musical masters could do...I'd be more than proud to walk in their ranks an more so, contribute to the coloring of our grayed world.
I've been a pro DJ over a quarter century. I've seen loads of music come and go. Most pop is swill. The genius behind pop was if an artist actually wrote not only the lyrics, but the music and the arrangement. As a musician and producer, we always chase the ever elusive "hook". The "hook" is what gets us what we crave... the golden ticket called "... the record deal". Most pop music is terrible. It's the icons that continuously crafted tunes to stay on our minds, be they Depeche Mode, Johnny Cash, the Doors, the Beatles or the Sister of Mercy.Odd... it's always the B sides that were worth more. I was a "B side" listener. I looked at the obscure. I found those less listened to songs were often the more intrinsic and intricate and showed more of the actual "genius" that most common pop listeners could not fathom.
@Althea Ann (facebook) I detest pop as much as the rest of the alternative DJ's, but I will never belittle the skills of the great ones, nor will I ignore their musical contributions.
Althea Ann (myspace)replied:
I believe that both Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton had A LOT do to with most of MJ's hits. (Writing, arranging, producing, etc)I don't "detest" pop at all, as a concept, like I said, I like a lot of pop songs - but I recognize that they are commercial products, created by formula.
The "hook" is the ad jingle - it's what will sell the product. They can actually figure them out mathematically, btw
I replied:
Posted by Darkstar at July 8, 2009 05:43 PM | TrackBack
There were great songs written after he separated from them. Eg:The "Invincible" album probably could've been the next "Thriller" had he NOT pissed off Tommy Motolla and Sony calling Motolla a "racist". It had many great songs in it.What CAN'T be broken down into formula? Love stories, Vampire movies, Horror movies, most movie plots in general ... Read Morealong with TV shows. How many times have you guessed what was coming next in a TV show or movie? The only harder part about writing good music is trying to be original with only 12 chords available.
How many great alternative, rock or underground songs can attribute their success to a copy of something else popular before it utilized in the song? Maybe that may support your Mozart and Da Vinci as genius theory, but modern geniuses have far less original thought to work with. I guess that's what makes them modern geniuses.