Comments on: Heresy: Michael Jackson Wasn’t That Good After He Left The Jackson Five

By: Realist

Realist — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:09:11 +0000

‘Myth Buster’ you should change you name to be ‘BS Believer’

By: Realist

Realist — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 07:05:42 +0000

Farrah Fawcett died and as a good person she naturally went to heaven

God said to her ‘Farrah you lived a good life so you get one wish’

Being the unselfish person she was Farrah said’ I want all the children in the world to be safe’

So God killed Michael Jackson

By: Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer

Pee Wee Herman, Community Organizer — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:59:40 +0000

Sheesh isn’t that good a troll.

By: jrp61356

jrp61356 — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:45:30 +0000

I find it interesting that the posts that defend Jackson’s musical abilities post-J5 make exactly the same assertions that are made in the posts that lambaste Jackson’s solo work. Each side makes claim that the other doesn’t know what it’s talking about. This comes down to a matter of personal preference and individual opinion about Jackson. No need to insult (neither directly nor by insinuation) someone who may disagree with your own opinion. Me, I was never a Michael Jackson fan after the breakup of the J5. Obviously he still has – even now – a huge fan following, and for them, this is a sad time. I do not, however, understand the absolute media obsession with this guy. A few token items about Farah Faucett, and Ed McMahon is just a distant memory. And Billy Mays – whose media exposure admittedly was limited to 60-second commercial spots – is probably already forgotten, simply because of the timing of his unfortunate death. But the news channels have become the Michael Jackson networks. I can see this dragging out for a very, very long time.

By: Cybergeezer

Cybergeezer — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 23:03:46 +0000

Oh, my God! This article is all “HATE SPEECH”!

By: myth buster

myth buster — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 17:33:15 +0000

No one ever proved that Jackson was a pedophile, nor have they proved that he abused drugs. There’s a lot of overmedication and drug interactions that can occur even when the drugs are used as directed.

By: T.S

T.S — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:52:13 +0000

People are actually upset about Jackson’s passing…geez!!!celebrity worshipers really need to pursue a productive hobby.

By: ACME

ACME — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:24:06 +0000

Never thought I’d have to defend Michael Jackson’s solo work, mainly because I’m not that big of a fan. But if you think that the J5 output was better than MJ’s solo work, then I’m guessing you’re probably of an age where your first high school slow dance was to “I’ll Be There”. Kinda like some of the older Boomers who insist that the Beatles were never as good after “Hard Day’s Night”.
MJ’s solo stuff is, like his J5 work, good pop music. I don’t get the adoration, but his work with Quincy is well produced pop superior to the majority of his J5 output.
And don’t forget that after Thriller came the Bad album, which was massive as well. So if you can’t name a song off of it, I’m guessing you were off the pop culture grid by that point.
Off the top of my head, that album had
Bad
Smooth Criminal
Leave Me Alone
Man in the Mirror

and I don’t even own a single MJ song.

By: Mike Murray

Mike Murray — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 16:00:05 +0000

What fascinates me is that the overwhelming majority of people who claim to be severely distressed by Jackson’s passing probably hadn’t given the guy a thought in years.

Probably hadn’t played a single one of his tunes in over a decade, either.

By: Ice Nine

Ice Nine — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 15:35:55 +0000

I think Michael Jackson was a severely warped and demented individual. I have no regard whatsoever for him as a person. I was not a huge fan of his nor certainly did I ever idolize him. His death did not particularly affect me. I think the non-stop postmortem apotheosizing and memorializing of him is a troublesome manifestation of a vast monumental shallowness.

However, the fact remains that he was an extraordinarily talented entertainer who made some great music. And to recognize only his relatively banal Jackson Five bubblegum stuff to the exclusion of some of the superb music he subsequently made is, IMO, to reveal an unfamiliarity with his work (the full expanse of which I myself do not know). I admit his great post-J5 work was limited to “Thriller,” “Bad” and “Moonwalker” – which were followed by a lot of pathetic junk – but that hardly leaves us with the sum total of his great talent having been expended with the J5.

Your question is easy to answer. Off the top of my head:

“Beat It”
“Billie Jean”
(Sorry, but your claiming that only his J5 stuff was “interesting” and then asking if there was anything memorable *after* “Thriller” – uh, leaves out the “Thriller” album.)
“Bad” (the song)
“Dirty Diana”
and, the best, “Smooth Criminal” (which BTW is IMO the best music video http://tinyurl.com/mldrjx ever made – back in the days when there was some art involved in that endeavor. Yes, I know it’s from a movie – ex. produced and choreographed by Michael Jackson.)
And it is hard to imagine anyone asking your question who has ever seen this breathtaking performance of “Come Together” http://tinyurl.com/lsbgmk (with apologies to The Beatles, whom I adore). As one YouTube commenter aptly, if inelegantly, stated, “He set this s**t on fire and made it right.”

Really now, if you are going to disparage his talent because of the costumes he wore, one wonders what you’d do with Las Vegas Elvis and Sergeant Pepper Beatles. Hey, Michael Jackson was a freak but if that somehow negates his great talent, you’d better also toss Alice Cooper and David Bowie onto that fire. And none of those things is a competent music critic likely to be doing.

As for the moonwalk, if you are going to reduce his amazing stage presence and dancing skills to his occasional moonwalking then you are simply not being candid or are simply unaware of what he did in his spectacular performances.

I have to say that your ignoring the existence, let alone the greatness, of Michael Jackson’s talent in general and of those songs in particular, calls into question your music reviewing bona fides. But, one man’s meat is another man’s poison, so I’m content to let it go at our prerogatives for differing opinions. Still, as regards your assessment of those things, I feel compelled to paraphrase a certain blogger, by saying, “…judging from the other (millions) of commenters (out t)here, you’re the one whose ‘critiquing skills’ (might) need a re examination.”