Michael Jackson: Classic or Dud?

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classic
i only got around to getting some michael jackson albums recently...
i wish the video version of thriller was on the album though,its much much better

― robin (robin), Friday, 7 November 2003 22:45 (twenty-two years ago)

God he sucks now.

― Mr. Snrub, Saturday, 8 November 2003 04:39 (twenty-two years ago)

He's always sucked.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Saturday, 8 November 2003 04:51 (twenty-two years ago)

madam you go too far!

― stevem (blueski), Saturday, 8 November 2003 13:25 (twenty-two years ago)

Absolute classic.

HIStory and Dangerous are ridiculously underrated. Sure, they're a big departure from Off The Wall and Thriller, but they sounded distinctive and considerably more courageous than a lot of other pop pap out at the time. Forget Black Or White or the execrable Childhood, listen to Jam, She Drives Me Wild, In The Closet, Who Is It, Scream, They Don't Care About Us, Money, Tabloid Junkie, 2Bad, HIStory, even the remix album had high-calibre tracks like Morphine and Ghosts, and none of these sounded remotely like anything else on pop radio at the time. I happen to think they sounded mighty funky.

The most recent album is a total dud though, mostly because (apart from 2000 Watts) it's full of songs that sound like they really really care about being hits, and really really want to sound like all the other songs that have been hits recently. For the first time ever it is Michael Jackson trying desperately to sound like something other than himself, and it fails miserably.

Almost everything else is CLASSIC, CLASSIC, CLASSIC.

― syntaxfree, Saturday, 8 November 2003 14:15 (twenty-two years ago)

I liked him better when he was a cartoon.

― Brandon Welch (Brandon Welch), Saturday, 8 November 2003 15:26 (twenty-two years ago)

Jackson Five anno 1970 and his 1979-87 solo output is classic, classic and nothing but classic. No denying that, even though he is a weirdo and the quality of his output has dropped considerably lately.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 9 November 2003 01:09 (twenty-two years ago)

Stranger In Moscow, Scream and Money are the keepers for me off of History. I'd add They Don't Care About Us, but the "jew me/screw me/kick me/kike me" stuff is pretty rank.

― Anthony Miccio (Anthony Miccio), Sunday, 9 November 2003 01:38 (twenty-two years ago)

"Stranger In Moscow" is definitely a strong track. However, I feel like the general quality of his 90s material was a bit below par (better than most of his latest album though)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 9 November 2003 03:51 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't hate his music.
True, for the most part, nothing else sounded anything like it.
But it's boring, guys.
Just dull, watered-down stuff that was already being done better, by other people.

Even Off The Wall and Thriller are just PRETTY GOOD despite getting the collective nod from most sides as being the over-exposed weirdo's golden era.

But he's a hands-down classic for his legacy as a freakshow media juggernaut alone, ongoing as it is into it's fourth goddam decade!

Whoever saw such a public spectacle than this ageing, trans-racial, trans-gendered, trans-humanist effigy - shyly, yet boldly parading himself through the media hoisted upon his own shoulders?!?

― Stephen Stockwell (Stephen Stockwell), Sunday, 9 November 2003 09:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Let me take a wild guess - you are about 22 years old or younger. Am I correct?

― Broheems (diamond), Sunday, 9 November 2003 10:11 (twenty-two years ago)

Just dull, watered-down stuff that was already being done better, by other people.

IMO it was what you call "watering down" that made it better than other R&B.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 9 November 2003 11:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Let me take a wild guess - you are about 22 years old or younger. Am I correct?

hey! ageism! and not true for everyone.. alex in nyc is a lot older than that! (yeah?)

― Vic (Vic), Sunday, 9 November 2003 12:17 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm 29, but how is that relevant?

And Geir, I don't quite understand your question.

― Stephen Stockwell (Stephen Stockwell), Sunday, 9 November 2003 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

Anthony, when you say the jew me screw me kick me kike me line in They Don't Care About Us is pretty rank, do you mean it's just a badly written lyric, or do you mean it's offensive in some way?

If it's the former, then I don't have much of a view either way, it's not great, but in the spectrum of bad lyrics I think it's insignificant.

If it's the latter, I strongly disagree. I never saw ANYTHING remotely offensive or anti-Semetic about that line - surely it's crystal clear (though it didn't seem to be to the world media) to any person who, er, can read, that it was basically saying "yeah, do whatever the hell you want to me, kick me, call me a kike, I remain unbowed"? The whole controversy was absurd. The fact that he eventually changed the lines (to something stupid like "do me, sue me, kick me, strike me") is even more absurd. He should have stuck to his guns.

― syntaxfree, Sunday, 9 November 2003 15:22 (twenty-two years ago)

I don't quite understand which question you are pointing towards, as I have asked no question :-)

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:33 (twenty-two years ago)

Let me take a wild guess - you are about 22 years old or younger. Am I correct?
hey! ageism! and not true for everyone.. alex in nyc is a lot older than that! (yeah?)

I just turned 36. Michael Jackson is, was, and invariably always will be a deplorably overrated side-show freak. Shun him.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Sunday, 9 November 2003 16:43 (twenty-two years ago)

one year passes...

rampant capitalism in action:

via NewsNow this was on the news wire:

The Essential Michael Jackson To Be Released
http://www.undercover.com.au/news/2005/jun05/20050630_michaeljackson.html

Sony-BMG will release the 2CD Michael Jackson compilation, 'The Essential Michael Jackson' on July 15.

― DJ Martian (djmartian), Thursday, 30 June 2005 11:11 (twenty years ago)

And what better way for one to celebrate their vindication of paedophilia charges (and pay legal costs) than to crank out another compilation. Might Jackson have also overheard those placard-waving fans outside the courthouse on the day of his aquittal agitating for a career comeback?

Stay tuned...

― Stephen Stockwell (Stephen Stockwell), Thursday, 30 June 2005 12:40 (twenty years ago)

record company exploits publicity to sell records shocker

― mark s (mark s), Thursday, 30 June 2005 12:45 (twenty years ago)

Disc 1 is HOTT, but my own version is better.

― Spencer Chow (spencermfi), Thursday, 30 June 2005 17:25 (twenty years ago)

He still sucks.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 30 June 2005 20:26 (twenty years ago)

His apologists are almost creepier than he is.

(almost)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 20:30 (twenty years ago)

"the jew me screw me kick me kike me line ... I never saw ANYTHING remotely offensive or anti-Semetic about that line"

Using the term "Jew" (a noun, an ethnic identifier - NOT A VERB) to connote a negative, stereotyped behavior is totally anti-semitic. gimme a fucking break.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 20:39 (twenty years ago)

Can I just step out a bit on that point and ask the panel (and the world) how and why anti-Jewish racism has come to be in a class of its own, that's implicitly a greater evil than any other type of racism?

Just bugs me.

― Stephen Stockwell (Stephen Stockwell), Thursday, 30 June 2005 22:57 (twenty years ago)

I don't consider it in a "class" of its own, I'm not sure what you mean by that.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 30 June 2005 23:02 (twenty years ago)

Has its own term, Shakey. I suppose that's not really much of a point you could hang your coat on, but a lot of the discourse on the subject in the media seems to follow a theme that there's Racism (such as that endured by indigenous Australian's, for example, which we don't really like, find kinda embarssing and hope will one day come to an end), and then there's Anti-Semitism, which seems to absolutely require a coordinated national response between governments, the intelligence community and public.

It's on-the-nose.

― Stephen Stockwell (Stephen Stockwell), Friday, 1 July 2005 00:12 (twenty years ago)

well, taking your examples, Aborigines are only discriminated against by Australians. Nobody in the rest of the world rarely encounters (much less cares about) Aborigines. Jews, on the other hand, have been stereotyped, vilified, murdered, and otherwise discriminated against in multiple cultures across several continents. For several thousand years. So I imagine the difference in terminology that rankles you (which I think is fairly recent? does the term anti-semite predate the Nazis...?), simply reflects the varying scale of the type of racism in question.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 1 July 2005 15:12 (twenty years ago)

classic, of course!

― Susan Douglas (Susan Douglas), Friday, 1 July 2005 15:21 (twenty years ago)

(I guess my point is that anti-semitism is international and much older than most, more localized, instances of racism, hence the difference in terminology. Tho qualitatively speaking I wouldn't say that anti-semitism is worse than, say, slavery. but such kinds of comparisons aren't really helpful to anybody. "I've been persecuted more than you!" etc. nothing productive there.)

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 1 July 2005 15:26 (twenty years ago)

anyway back to the topic at hand - Michael's like Elvis: classic for the media spectacle/personal drama, but I don't have any use for the actual music. So duddily classic. I don't own any Elvis or Michael Jackson and don't feel the urge to ever listen to either, really.

― Shakey Mo Collier, Friday, 1 July 2005 15:28 (twenty years ago)

ten months pass...

classic- The man is a legend. Michael Jackson is the most important musician in our planet. He is definitely the best. He started singing when he was 5 years old, give the guy some credit. Songs like billie jean and Beat it , don't stop till you get enough are easily the best songs in history. I don't know any other popstar who has been successful for 30 years. He is going to be back soon and shock you all!

― Tolu, Thursday, 25 May 2006 11:02 (twenty years ago)

I don't know any other popstar who has been successful for 30 years.

Um, the Stones? McCartney? Robert Plant? Ozzy? (I know, I shouldn't take the bait...)

― Thomas Inskeep (submeat), Thursday, 25 May 2006 20:35 (twenty years ago)

but he's been singing SINCE HE WAS FIVE. fuck that Stevie Wonder punkass!

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 May 2006 20:51 (twenty years ago)

Um, the Stones? McCartney? Robert Plant? Ozzy? (I know, I shouldn't take the bait...)

But let's be honest, he's funkier than those dudes.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:03 (twenty years ago)

actually I don't think he's funkier than any of them, except maybe Ozzy.

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:10 (twenty years ago)

Okay.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:13 (twenty years ago)

LET'S AGREE TO DISAGREE

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:14 (twenty years ago)

He is going to be back soon and shock you all!

in the genitals?

― latebloomer (latebloomer), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:32 (twenty years ago)

Alex in NYC's hate upthread looks hilarious in retrospect.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:51 (twenty years ago)

it didn't at the time?

― J.D. (Justyn Dillingham), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:54 (twenty years ago)

hilariously OTM maybe

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 May 2006 21:56 (twenty years ago)

Michael Jackson is classic, and he has made a lot of great music.

However, he isn't even one hundredth of the Godlike creature that his fanatical fans have turned him into.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:08 (twenty years ago)

oh geirpaws

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:10 (twenty years ago)

Yeah, but when do you ever meet these fans? I mean, they show up outside the courtroom and google their way to ILM threads, but ... are they even real?

― jaymc (jaymc), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:12 (twenty years ago)

they are all old abandoned animatronic Disney robots run amok and only Jacko truly loves them

― Shakey Mo Collier (Shakey Mo Collier), Thursday, 25 May 2006 22:13 (twenty years ago)

I am a Michael Jackson fan!

Uh, a fan of Michael Jackson's music!

― Jordan (Jordan), Friday, 26 May 2006 00:33 (twenty years ago)

Alex in NYC's hate upthread looks hilarious in retrospect.

I stand by every word of it.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Friday, 26 May 2006 01:39 (twenty years ago)

they are all old abandoned animatronic Disney robots run amok and only Jacko truly loves them

I just coughed up a cup of coffee for laughing.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 26 May 2006 01:40 (twenty years ago)

Hey, Alex! I can send you a YSI of "Morphine" -- a track as anything by Killing Joke.

― Alfred, Lord Sotosyn (Alfred Soto), Friday, 26 May 2006 01:41 (twenty years ago)

Skipping 404 messages at this point... Click here if you want to load them all.

and not even understanding how someone could take "jew me" as anything but a standard MJ statement against oppression of all forms,

in the next line he says "kike me"

― J Edgar Noothgrush (Joan Crawford Loves Chachi), Saturday, 2 May 2026 21:14 (one month ago)

On the ABC News program Prime Time Live, Jackson said: "It's not antisemitic because I'm not a racist person ... I could never be a racist. I love all races."[40] He said some of his closest employees and friends were Jewish.

Well that's settled then

― If your ass is a Bible, 213 will regulate (Neanderthal), Sunday, 3 May 2026 15:22 (one month ago)

https://i.ibb.co/5xRjg8qj/its-black-its-white-michael-jackson-video.gif

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 May 2026 15:23 (one month ago)

^^^ one of the queerest moments in video of the '90s

― boners for bombs (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Sunday, 3 May 2026 15:40 (one month ago)

two weeks pass...

This is the greatest video I’ve ever seen. No notes. The lifeless clanker carcass just laying there. No crowd reaction, anything. Just Billie Jean. Until its lifeless shell is shamefully dragged off. Purely amazing. pic.twitter.com/4WSUwZr7nO
— Tatum Turn Up (@tatumturnup) May 20, 2026

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 07:47 (two weeks ago)

wonderful

― corrs unplugged, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 08:50 (two weeks ago)

kind of amazing it stayed up after that first stumble on the stairs tbh. some "detroit become human" pathos going on there

― Tracer Hand, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 11:35 (two weeks ago)

that’s chappie

― Brenton Wood Conference (Boring, Maryland), Wednesday, 20 May 2026 11:54 (two weeks ago)

"I sing the Body Electric!" [Falls over, dies.]

― Vast Halo, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 11:56 (two weeks ago)

how did nobody in the crowd react to that? what is happening to the human race??

― frogbs, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 14:33 (two weeks ago)

Creepy that the thing is child-sized

― Cow_Art, Wednesday, 20 May 2026 15:19 (two weeks ago)

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