Michael Jackson is "evil"

I mean, privacy issues notwithstanding, someone could get hurt feelings if they thought my SO was ignoring or deleting their birthday posts off her wall. Everybody involved has been real understanding.

I don’t get why it’s even considered a good story and not just gross and weird.

by whom

i also remember when the "Scream" video debuted and it was this enormous event, followed of course by You Are Not Alone. "Scream" was his comeback (and a pushback against those who made the initial allegations against him).

― omar little,

Comeback from what? His last American hit, "Will You Be There," surpassed expectations and rode the top ten for a while, thanks to Free Willy.

i assume omar doesn't mean commercial comeback but coming back from the first allegations

oh! Makes sense

my recollection was that the legal issues all started up in earnest after Dangerous and Will You Be There? But I could be wrong. Maybe "comeback" should be in "scare quotes", since he was coming back from the accusations of sexual abuse and the single was a pretty clear attempt to confront them angrily.

brad otm -- i think Dangerous was a huge album but the allegations obviously put his career to a halt for a minute before HIStory (which did sell 20 million worldwide, wtf, but it could be argued it was maybe the most New Jersey of all New Jerseys, of which MJ arguably had three perhaps?)

coming down from the extreme Thriller heights required a three-step New Jersey process perhaps.

i recall HIStory being a HUGE deal (and i bought it!) and Dangerous maybe not performing at the level people were hoping for.

MJ's worldwide sales figures go something like:

Thriller - 66 million
Bad - 35 million
Dangerous - 32 million
HIStory - 20 million

I assume HIStory's sales figures were boosted a bit by the double-CD = 2 unit sales?

well not to mention the 2nd disc was a greatest hits comp which gave a whole new generation reason to buy it. whose decision was that, anyway - MJ or the record company?

there was also a controversy regarding the scream video because mj beats up a car. america has changed quite a bit since then.

by whom

Zappa, I think, for one. Cole and Appice both also sound like they were bragging.

Btw, was just teaching a 7yo (not the one mentioned above) an exercise involving the 1st 3 notes of a minor scale and he commented that it sounded like the beginning of "Billie Jean".

The beating up a car was from one of the Bad singles, right, not Scream?

Black or White

XP The long version of "Black or White, I think? It was definitely part of the video premiere after the Simpsons (remember that?).

"Scream" is MJ and Janet on a spaceship.

Zappa, I think, for one. Cole and Appice both also sound like they were bragging.

This is a total of one outside observer

in 2009, Vanity Fair published an index of detailed reported pieces that Maureen Orth had written on Jackson's grooming/molestation cases in 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004 and 2005: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/06/michael-jackson-is-gone-but-the-sad-facts-remain

Unrelated to the sex abuse, but his behaviour over the Beatles catalogue purchase should have put paid to any "oh he's just a waif-like innocent man-child" bullshit in and of itself. Kind of an indication of how he really was behind the mask (pun(s) intended).

https://www.biography.com/news/michael-jackson-paul-mccartney-beatles-music-catalog

the faxes and the tape on the plane were the most disturbing parts of this for me

Even though the details of the abuse are absolutely horrifying, that's the only time we see/hear the way Jackson actually spoke to these boys (rather than them reporting what he said)

it's just so palpably wrong

I didn't see the doc - merely here to post this pretty good reaction piece:

https://newrepublic.com/article/153270/michael-jackson-its-different

in 2009, Vanity Fair published an index of detailed reported pieces that Maureen Orth had written on Jackson's grooming/molestation cases in 1994, 1995, 2003, 2004 and 2005: https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2009/06/michael-jackson-is-gone-but-the-sad-facts-remain

― steven, soda jerk (sic), Monday, March 11, 2019 9:00 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

thanks for the link -- just finished reading the first of these. chilling stuff.

i think there may have been a time when i would have found this anecdote funny, but it made me physically recoil just now:

One Hollywood screenwriter remembers that immediately after his baby was born in a Santa Monica hospital a release form was thrust at him. "What's this?" he asked. "It's from Michael Jackson," said the nurse. She explained that Jackson frequented the hospital to stare into the eyes of newborns. "He feels then that he can really see their souls."

that is some weird shit right there

Jimmy Saville had free access to hospitals (and morgues) for which he did fundraising, for three decades.

64 reported cases in one hospital alone.

(A 12-year-old girl) remembered being approached by a white-haired porter, wearing a gold medallion and a white coat, as she walked to the television room one evening after her surgery.

The man, who she did not recognise at the time because her family did not watch television, escorted her into the room and when they were alone he pounced, raping his young victim and walking off as if nothing had happened.

When she told a nurse about the incident she says she was told not to say anything or the staff would get into trouble. She later wrote a note explaining what had happened on a page torn out of a Bible, adding her father’s name and address.

She left the note in a red postbox on the ward in the hope that someone would contact her family, but nobody ever did. Twenty years later she says she wrote to Savile’s secretary, Janet Cope, explaining what had happened but she never got any response.

Cardinal Pell, an hour ago, got three years and 8 months without parole. That's nearly as long as the Vatican kept protecting him from having to return to Australia to give evidence! No word yet as to whether he'll stop being in charge of the budget for the entire Catholic church planet-wide. (He was removed from being one of the Pope's eight advisors 10 weeks ago, after his conviction, but is still able to use worshippers' tithes to pay for his lawyers.)

HIStory has tracks i've never heard of; Little Susie, Tabloid Junkie, Money, Smile, 2 Bad (featuring Shaquille O Neal).. anyone ever heard any of this? Also who the heck was buying HIStory *for the hits*?? 40-odd million already people must have already had them! The album consists of hits from the preceding 4 albums only. It's crackers!

Little Susie is creepy creepy creepy only exceeded in its creepiness by the drawing signed by MJ illustrating the song in the booklet.

I recall liking tabloid junkie. The track I love on history is “like a sonic in Moscow”

Stupid Celebrity Speaks

https://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/ny-barbra-streisand-michael-jackson-accusers-thrilled-sexual-needs-20190323-7z3b2dqgbzh7jfs4yyhqhdfjyi-story.html

Impressivelt out of touch, Babs!

Absolutely scorching take

what an appalling person

it’s like aaking my Mum what she thinks

Diana Ross has tweeted defending him too.

Diana Ross and MJ were very close, it’s not the same as Babs

it's a terrible take, it's also true that i'm pretty sure barbara streisand stopped caring what other people think about her before i was born.

i was at the grocery store today buying more drugs and they were playing "man in the mirror"

i was like "wow, ok"

Babs did the apology press release

I just saw a show with an MJ impersonator in it, now I’ve got mixed feelings again. It’s not his fault!!! Dudes just trying to make a living!!

His 'Best of' leapt 30+ places into the Top 20 last Friday in the UK album charts.

really testing the "all press is good press" adage

that's kind of like seeing a news report about the syrian civil war and deciding to head out for takeout falafel.

I just saw a show with an MJ impersonator in it, now I’ve got mixed feelings again. It’s not his fault!!! Dudes just trying to make a living!!

― frogbs

sure but i bet vaughn meader would be hella resentful if he were alive

I heard "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Billie Jean," and "Smooth Criminal" in different public spaces over the past week. Maybe I'm just noticing it more, but it seems like his music is getting played out now just as much as after he died.

Really? A lot of radiostations/television channels have stopped playing his music. That said an impersonator just sold out a show here.

heard "billie jean" and "shake your body (down to the ground)" at a bar this weekend

yeah I can't tell if it's actually being played more or if I'm just more receptive to it now

this is going to be one of those things like fucking "baby it's cold outside" isn't it