I hadn’t seen anything on here about Michael Jackson’s death. So, I thought I’d add my two cents from Misery…
Thriller was the first album I experienced as an album. What I mean is that besides wearing it out on the turntable, I read the liner notes from cover to cover, sought out any reviews or insights into the album’s back story, and studied the lyric sheet to the point of obsession. I credit much of my love of the album to Michael Jackson.
But that’s where it ends.
I outgrew Michael Jackson. As transcendent a performer as he was, I could not continue to follow the silly cartoon circus that was Michael Jackson’s life. Of course, I had no idea of the turn his life and career would actually take.
I’m not even going to get into the weird here. We all know about the plastic surgery, the ridiculous spending sprees, and the odd names he gave his children. Michael Jackson did enough over his fifty years to make Latoya look sane. Now that’s starting something.
What I can’t get over is how everyone has conveniently ignored his pedophilia. Sure, Jackson was never convicted of a crime, but charges and lawsuits were brought against him several times. He bought off some of the accusers. There’s a lot of evidence that suggests he sexually abused young boys. He was just rich enough to get away with it.
I still think it’s OK to love his music or reminisce about our days in grade school, moonwalking in our living rooms. However, this admiration should be tempered with the fact that the man was a pedophile. One does not go without the other.
l3wis
Rumor has it last night was the first good nights sleep the CEO of Boy Scouts of America has had in years.
Jackson stopped being relevant in about 1988 as far as I am concerned. I can’t say as I really care one way or another that he is dead… but then again I feel the same way with pretty much all celebrities.
Como-
I kind of made an unwritten rule that I would not post about MJ last night. He was a child molesting fuck who squandered his riches on gold plated peter pan statues and monkeys instead of using it for good and he fucked over Paul McCartney (well I kind of think that is funny) in the Beatles deal. What would be cool is if you deleted this post and replaced it with a post about Farrah Faucet who got bumped in the headlines because of this A-hole. The pool lady suffered for years from Cancer and she gets trumped by a pill popper who dies of a heart attack.
Your call.
I’ll leave it. Your comments alone hit the nail on the head. There’s not enough of that viewpoint out there.
Fawcett should have received more attention, but Jackson was an iconic figure, love him or hate him.
I second that. FF deserves the post more.
And your Snark Skills need honing.
I’m so fucking sick of hearing about MJ that I wish something else horrible would happen in the news so we can get over it already.
Volcano, earthquake, tsunami, plague… maybe california would sluff itself off into the Pacific and stop TMZ once and for all… anything but this…
I agree, FF was an icon who worked very hard to prove she was more than just a pretty face, whether that was through her art, philantrophy, activism, business empire etc.
MJ was an icon who spent his life and fortune moonwalking away from the demons who tormented his soul. He never had anyone who he felt loved him enough to reign him in and force him to get the help he so desperately needed. When you’re the “king”, you can create the world you want and no one can stop you from living there as opposed to the world that actually is. Sad & tragic to say the least.
STFU, Sy.
2 words HOMOSEXUAL PEDOPHILE.
I guess it’s okay to be a crazy pedophile if you’re a celebrity.
Actually, hossenpheffer, pedophiles are almost exclusively heterosexual. Pedophilia is about power, not sexuality. So, when you have an individual like Jackson who grew up in an abusive environment that included sexual deviancy, it’s not unheard of for a victim to morph into a perpetrator in adulthood, regardless of sexual orientation. Jackson could have been gay, but I suspect he was more likely a powerless victim who turned into a predator in order to get back some of that power that was lost in his childhood. If anything, I’d argue that he was somewhat a-sexual.
Actually, Comoasshat, all of those little kids he didn’t molest were male.
I don’t think he was a homo or A-sexual, I think he was just a pervert. Joe Jackson created that monster and I think he should have went to jail with MJ years ago.
AG, I always thought your ignorance was an act. Talk to me after you’ve read research on pediphilia.
L3wis, you’re right about that.
If we were talking about the psychology of pedophiles (note the spelling, genius. PedIphiles have FOOT FETISHES) in general, I would agree that statistically most pedOphiles are hetero. Calling MJ a common pedophile is like calling Hitler a common anti-semite.
Congrats, AG. You win today’s spelling bee. However, as you probably already know, someone who fetishizes feet are podophiles. I am disappointed that you’ve already resorted to comparing MJ to Hitler. That’s just lazy. What’s next? Will you call me a fag or talk about my mother?
Godwin says “you lose” Angry Goat. Got your head stuck in the gate again, kinda think you like what inevitably comes next.
He’s gone but his music lives on. The person will hardly be remembered beyond his creative genius. He was never cornered as a pedophile. If he’s gone, it’s to late to prove anything. The Jackson family is truly weird. Father has used his children in a manor that should be considered criminal. The next big shock will be Janet Jackson. Her story is almost as strange.
Fuck Godwin. The Hitler reference was lazy, so I’ll concede the point. If I have to invoke Adolf to force an end the MJ discussion, I’m calling it appropriate.
Comozoloft, you’re a Virginia Slim 100 and your mom makes tasty cookies.
Touche, AG. Well played.
MJ didn’t squander all his money just on shopping sprees. He actually gave alot of his money to charities..over 39 charities in fact. I actually read somewhere that he was one of the top celebrities when it comes to philanthropy. He used alot of his fame to bring awareness to issues such as famine, HIV/AIDs, gang violence, and ironically, drug abuse. He raised money for charities by giving concerts where often all the proceeds went to those charities. He would give away free tickets to his concerts. I don’t know if he touched those boys or not and the charity work doesn’t make molestation okay. However, humans are complex and I don’t think that we can label people as evil. People do good things and people do bad things.. Who knows how many people’s lives have benefited due to him versus those who have been negatively affected.
blahblah.. were you not here when I said MJ and Hitler masterminded 9/11 so the US could invade IRAN to capture their oil and secretly fund fleets of Somali pirates?
I thought I was delusional.
AG, that was funny.
But blahblah has a point. If we want to focus on Jackson’s sketchy past with young boys, we also need to acknowledge his philanthropy. Michael Jackson’s legacy is not as simple as you love his music or you hate his pedophilia. He was a transcendent performer, abuse victim, suspected pedophile, and a generous philanthropist. You can’t pick and choose which parts to include in Jackson’s story. It’s all part of the same bio.
MJ gave a lot of his money to families to KEEP THEM QUIET! Maybe his pervertedness was never “proven” but look at OJ.
Who really cares about his talent. At the end of the day he was a DRUG ADDICT PEDOPHILE.
I’m so glad we don’t have to spend the next 30 years hearing about his money problems, his next comeback or his nose falling off.
One good thing that did come out of this is those kids he bought can get into therapy and maybe not turn out a f*ed up as him.
(and i’m talking about the ones that called him dad, Blanket and is siblings.) If one more person asked if they were “really his?”, I’m going to flip out.
THE MAN WAS BLACK, those kids were butter skinned WHITE!
I agree Hos. As Rocco pointed out to me, Thriller was a recording success because of the backing band, Toto, not because of MJ. I will say this, MJ was a great singer, and he could fucking dance like nobody’s business. Though I still think James Brown could beat him in a dance off, probably taking place right now in Hell. And one other thing, at least Brown knew which hole to lick when you become rock star. Sony forgot to send MJ the memo.
Thriller was a recording success because of the backing band, Toto, not because of MJ.
Whoever convinced you of that is a fucking lunatic. Like him or hate him, MJ was pure gold back in the Thriller days, and it had jack shit to do with the backing band. I’m not saying his voice was the best in the business, but you have to admit he did have the entire package as far as being an entertainer. He had the talent to sing and dance – and he didn’t rely upon voice over work in a studio…he actually sounded like that live as well.
He also had the unique factor whether it was his short pants, the stupid glove, the military style outfits, or the red leather jacket…the man was simply idolized and worshiped like no one else, and I’d bet if you asked 100 MJ fans what they loved about him zero would say anything about the guitar riffs or background instruments on any of his songs.
Hell I love Toto as much as the next guy – in fact I actually own a couple of their records (can’t say the same for MJ) but that is like trying to convince people the real reason Journey was successful was due to Neal Schon or Ross Valory when everyone knows they would have been nothing without Steve Perry as their frontman.
Hey Coster, you better take that back, because Rocco is big and tough and will kick your ass.
Rocco is starting to sound a lot like Sy….or at least how Sy seems himself on the Internet.
Well, Costner, if MJ was such a musical genius he would have recorded the entire album himself, like Dave Grohl did after leaving Nirvana. But he didn’t. Toto deserves some credit.
and Costner deserves an ass kicking.
Bob Schieffer nails it yesterday in his final comment on Face the Nation:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/06/28/ftn/main5119903.shtml?tag=cbsnewsSectionsArea.0
I loved the final sentence;
“Pop icons and American heroes are not one and the same.”
And of course, Winchell makes me laugh;
http://www.aprilwinchell.com/2009/06/28/highway-to-heaven/
“Pop icons and American heroes are not one and the same.â€
Does this really need to be said aloud? For those who actually treat someone like MJ as a hero…well I doubt there is any reasoning with them as sad as that may be.
I agree Costner, but in today’s society you do have to spell that stuff out for people.