i dont believe for a second MJ abused children. I never believed that bullcrap. Pure extortion is what it was. If I had half a billion dollars and somebody accused me of something, i would probably pay them 20 million to go away too.

Im not a MJ hater at all. However, I think his music is mediocre at best. He has in my opinion, a total of about 5 fantastic songs that are great for the dance floor. As for being far reaching, across the planet...i bet Bob Marley is far better known throughout the planet and his music is far more important and pleasing, in my opinion. Bob Marley's primary audience was white in the mid-70s and early 80s....as far as cross-over artists go, Bob is king...he just didnt sell a zillion records until after he died

Are all you MJ defenders gonna feel the same way when OJ dies? After all, he was acquitted too. He must be innocent. Would any of you let your kids sleep over at MJ's house? No? Why not?

My favorite black performer, nuf said!

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1247062136.jpg

u could hardly hear the guitar
and,,,,,,,, i can play better than that and i'm ****

At least Jimi didn't pay white women to have kids for him or try to change his own skin color.

Jimi didn't live long enough for that

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Great song, great performer! Timeless!

Not a hater here either, I respect MJ as an artist and a business man... but I didn't watch any coverage. Pop/disco is just not my thing, I like several of his songs but don't own any of his material.

And I would respectfully say I think Louis Armstrong and Jimi Hendrix were just as international known as MJ ever was... and Mr Armstrong had to fight a lot harder for acceptance.

But then I'm a jazz fan so my opinion might be skewed.

And yeah he was a freak... but he had a pretty f-ed up childhood... no excuse but most of us have some demons to deal with.

Dotttore

Asians, African, Europeans, Latinos—even Eskimos. Everyone gets Michael Jackson. That was never the case with Chuck Berry or Ray Charles etc . And that is what made him so great and so universal. That is why people all around the world are captivated by these tributes to his genious.

If you don't get this—well you probably never will.
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These are my principles. If you don't like them, I have others.—Groucho Marx

Marketing, are you telling me these othere people wouldn''t have been big if they had the coverage in the 40s 50s 60s that MJ had, we didn't have the world wide coverage then we have now, so what's your point? They were good and they were first.
You are saying because Porsche makes a 911 the Model T wasn't relevant.

i own Off The Wall and Thriller. I like Off the Wall alot and will occasionally put it.

However, I could never listen to these records and think, wow- this guy is the greatest star or entertainer ever. The production values are great and the music behind the vocal is great....but so what. MJ wasnt playing the instruments....If anything, the musicians and producer should be cited as being just as great as MJ. I think MJ had a nice voice and had some nifty dance moves....but this global meltdown for MJ is beyond my comprehension, especially considering he hasnt made a decent record since the mid-80s. As for his performances? blah. I have never thought of the MJ concert experience as being anything important or moving in terms of a musical experience....so the guy did a moonwalk. whoopy do. who the hell gets psyched for a MJ concert?

Its a shame that this country doesnt and never did, collectively value its true great black blues and jazz artists. but i guess this country is made up of mediocre minds who dont "get" real art and instead, gulp down any old mainstream crap

When Bob Dylan decides to head north, i wonder what the coverage will be. Probably nothing more than a 30 second piece on the evening snews...."60's folk protest singer died today, coming up next, the New England Journal of Medicine says red wine is good for your heart, bad for your heart, good for your heart, bad for your heart blah blah blah blah"

I couldn't agree more, srandalf. I could listen to Thriller today. It's timeless. But MJ didn't write or perform anything there more than the vocals. I don't think he even choreographed the dancing on the tour. I'm far more impressed by the music on that album than by watching a troupe of hired dancers jump around in unison on stage, which seems to be all the rage with folks today. I just don't get the entertainment value of watching synchronized dancing to some song. I'd rather watch real musicians performing the song.

I believe the world does appreciate other great performers and I blame today's media coverage for making the MJ's death the show that it is. I also believe the tremendous controversy over his attraction to children and court case caused the public to either love or hate him. Of course the strange behavior didn't help any, hanging the kid over the balcony, all the crotch grabbing, the plastic surgery, masks, sun glasses, one glove BS, strange outfits, hiding behind hats and costumes, neverland, parties for kids at the house..........

Come to think of it, he was a wacko

I'm not saying any such thing. My point is only that MJ was truly a global mass phenomenon. The height of his fame coincided with the opening up of much of the third world to mass media, and MJ is the first (and perhaps biggest) global artist that this generation has known.

I'll never forget an experience I had in Borneo. After 3 days of going deep into the jungle up the Skrang river on wooden longboat, we stopped for the night at a Dayak longhouse (essentially a village under one roof). Huddled around the fires were about 100 naked natives, who were headhunters just a generation ago. They shared the longhouse with their pigs and chickens, and hanging in the rafters were hundreds of shrunken heads of their former enemies. The whole scene was primitive beyond belief. But hanging from a nail pounded into one of the beams was a cheap cassette recorder, and from it came the sound of Michael Jackson singing "Beat It", and everyone in the house was bopping along to this. Truly an amazing moment for me.

I agree. Sort of. MJ was a mass phenomenon among a certain socio-economic class. And it was a global phenomenon. You can't deny this. You can of course make the point that the masses have bad taste. But that is a different argument.

Dylan, of course is God. As such he is immortal. No need to worry about him going north. ;-)

Dottore, your story made two things come to mind and made me laugh, Higgins from Magnum PI and Elaine's boss, Mr. Peterman on Seinfeld

Anyway I bet that was an interesting moment...just seeing shrunken heads must have been a little interesting

The guitar part in Beat It is what made the song catchy in my opinion and therefore, I tip my hat to Eddie Van Halen

I would even suggest that's what made it somewhat fashionable for white kids to listen to MJ. I'd never heard of him before Beat It and I bought the 45 of it because I was already a longtime Van Halen fan at the age of 12.

No i cant deny it. However, i dont understand it. i dont know why. i listen to everything from mozart to swedish death metal and everything in between - blues, jazz, pop, rock, electronic, folk, reggae, punk, dub, hardcore, hip-hop and (vintage) country and hillbilly music. I am open to just about anything because I love music and buy it by the boatloads because my appetite for music, old and new, is never ending and is my primary passion in life. the fact that my friends think im gay because Neil Diamond comes on my stereo after a Slayer song doesnt bother me at all. My point being, I dont diss MJ just because its mainstream or because he appeals to feminine male cosmetology students or gay go-go dancers

In the context of all the music i have listened to and studied, MJ is not even on the radar as far as I am concerned. The BeeGees for example blow MJ out of the water as far as "writing" music, performing the music and being danceable.

in the overall history of music...when it comes to MJ, the one true thing I know is that Thriller was one of, if not the top selling record of all time, regardless of genre

so what does that mean? 1 kid goes and buys the album (vinyl), then gets a boom box and buys the cassette, then gets a CD player and buys it on CD and perhaps downloads the album on itunes. So 1 kid over time, buys the recording FOUR TIMES.

So, the reality of how many people out there really love MJ's music is not really known because record sales are not an accurate way of measuring anything

I think the reality is, the entire world doesnt revere MJ. This is clearly the media capitalizing on an event for ratings. I dont have TV at home but Ive listened to these idiot news people on my sirius radio...BBC and CNN...my god what garbage. what ignorant pandering rejects they are...on and on with it. its shameful actually.

you guys make the mistake of comparing MJ to musicians, sure he made music, but above else he was a performer, an entertainer, a show man...
That's where you gotta make the comparison.

So you gotta look at folks who dance AND sing.
So who else can you look at? James Brown, Madonna, who else was ever in the same league as MJ when it comes to the Music and Dance performance combination?

I'm not going to argue about MJ , when comparing him to Louis Armstrong or any of the others mentioned before... But that's "just" about the music, when MJ was not "just" about the music.

So there's nothing to be miffed at, it's not "just" about the music. Nobody called him the King of Music and i seriously doubt that any selfrespecting journalist wrote about him as the greatest "musician" either...

And sure , there is a lot of exageration going on right now, but nobody can objectively deny that the dude had a serious talent for stage performances and shows... Nobody get's to become that big with such a loyal following, when they aren't really talented and good at what they do.

You guys really need to put things in the right context else it's Apples and Oranges all over again.

musicians are entertainers, show men.....your argument would be like saying you cant compare Elvis to musicians because he swung his hips

Mick Jagger runs all around and dances...is he just a "showman"?

the context is the "music" industry. MJ made music...just because he danced doesnt put him in some sub-category

Let's compare him to Wayne Newton, there's a good comparo. They've both had their faces made over umpteen times. Wayne's face is so tight his mouth is his navel and his mustache is curly short ones if you know what I mean!

Madonna hardly dances, she prances around stage barely clothed, I suppose it's choreographed but so is a circus act.