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Questions: The Michael Jackson Edition Michael Jackson dead?? That's what the LA Times and AP are reporting, anyway (CNN hasn't yet confirmed). Unbelievable. Earlier today, my brother was bemoaning Farrah Fawcett's death, trying to come to grips with the loss of his most common inspiration for those special, intimate teenage moments. (I kind of remember Charlie's Angels and thinking of Farrah as a sexy broad, but she was a bit before my prime mastubatory years). Michael Jackson, however, was kind of like my Beatles. So I'm in shock, and surprisingly sad to learn of his premature death. Thriller may be the album (and I do mean 'album') I remember playing the most as a child. I remember ordering and breathlessly awaiting a Michael Jackson biography from one of those Scholastic book forms we used to get as kids (I think it was called Thriller). And despite all his successes, to me he seemed like such a tragic figure. In honor of the loss of the undisputed King of Pop, I present the Michael Jackson edition of Questions.
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1) What's the first word you think of when I say Michael Jackson?
DANCE!
My childhood and my bedroom covered in his posters
Gary, Indiana (Yeah, two words...so sue me.)
Moonwalk. i dont know why, but that just sticks with me.
I should have said 'Ja-Mor!'
Thriller
Five
2) What Michael Jackson songs/albums do you have on your IPod?
All of them except HIStory (which is where he lost me) and Invincible. The ones that get the most run are I Wanna Be Where You Are, PYT, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, and Wanna Be Starting Something.
I do not own an ipod
Sadly, none. But I love basically everything he ever did musically. I'm just not very good at downloading.
Beat It Billie Jean PYT, The Girl is Mine. Wanna be starting something.
I want you back and I'll Be There from the Jackson 5.
surprised i dont have more actually.
None, but that's probably because I have no music on my iPod, only podcasts. You do not want to know which podcasts.
Security Now?
Not that particular one, but you've got the right idea. Oh, and anything from NASA. I also have a few on German. I'd really like to improve my German.
I was in the car with my ex-BF who was a TOTAL techie & the iPod was on shuffle. The Security Now podcast came on with full theme song. I teased him mercilessly. :)
3) Which Michael Jackson song is your favorite? (Jackson 5 Tunes included)
Wanna Be Starting Something. It's a New York thing. Close second - Don't Stop Till You Get Enough.
thats what Jack got, cant remeber the title
"I Want You Back."
Like Dija, "Don't Stop til You Get Enough" is a close second. And, I quite liked the whole "Bad" album as well, although I think we were on to cassette tapes at that point.
Ill go with billie jean. I want you back and wanna be starting something close behind.
Man in the mirror (or whatever it's called)
4) What about your favorite Michael Jackson video?
um, seriously there's only one answer. Thriller is still the best video EVER.
Ditto
Seriously, you wasted a question on this? Thriller. Duh.
I dont know, thriller was overrated. im kind of partial to man in the mirror.
plus black and white should get credit (blame??) for starting that whole morphing craze!!
Thriller. Without it, we wouldn't have this.
5) Which non-musical Michael Jackson moment/situation do you think is most memorable (eg moonwalk dance, neverneverland, plastic surgery, pepsi ads, his kiss/marriage with Lisa Marie, his pedophile trials, his fatherhood (baby holding), etc.)
Any of them... all of them.
His children
What comes to mind is when he took Emmanuel Lewis to some big awards show..probably the Oscars or maybe the Grammys. Red jacket, one white glove, and one tiny little boy in a tux.
it's amazing how many non-musical things michael jackson is known for and kind of ashame that in some ways they overshadow his genius and musical gifts. I will go with the pedophile trials as being the thing that will stick out in people's mind the longest. But that hair-on-fire thing was certainly a huge story!
Blanket
btw, here's a fascinating page on what is surely one of the top non-musical Jackson stories - his addiction to plastic surgery and his ever-changing and, let's be honest, ever-worsening appearance.
6) Did you think Michael Jackson was guilty of pedophilia? If you think he was, as I do, do you also think, as I do, that he in some ways was as much of a victim as perpetrator given his unusual upbringing? Or do you think there can be no excuses for that kind of crime (pointing out that none of his siblings have ever been accused of similar behavior)
I didn't read much about that when it was happening, so I can't say for sure. But he clearly had some problems stemming from his childhood, and I wouldn't say it's unlikely to have manifested in that way. Although if it did, he was an adult and responsible for his behavior. So, like A-man said, no excuses.
Guilty, also a victim, but no excuses.
7) In the entertainment world, whose death do you think would generate more international attention and sadness than Michael Jackson?
I can't think of anyone. He's been a megastar since he was 11. Had he not had the personal troubles (and lost a significant part of his fanbase), I think there'd be a worldwide day of mourning.
Only Bob Marley ...
I can't think of anybody either. But there's always an outpouring of attention and public grief when somebody famous dies early (i.e., Heath Ledger). It makes me a little uncomfortable, frankly.
i hear you, O, but i can understand the outpouring of emotions better when we're talking about real lasting icons like Michael. most celebrity deaths i think are sad, but then you think about the thousands and thousands of people who die every day, who may have done more or loved harder than some of these celebrities, and it's tough to get overly emotional.
actually, for some reason 50 seems like a rather old age for a music icon. lennon, joplin, morrison, presley, cobain, - most of the great ones died young.
Elvis. He's not really dead, you know.
8) Give me the over/under in terms of months on how long it takes for a book publisher to take advantage of his death by coming out with a new Michael Jackson title? Will the book come out before the first posthumous record album? Will it be written by a Jackson family member, and if so, which one?
yeah ill go with 1 month. album out by end of year. the first posthumous Michael book will not be written by a family member, but one of them will publish something within the year, and I'm thinking Tito.
First book in under a month, and that one won't be by a family member. Those (and there will be more than one) won't come out until the end of the year. First posthumous record album might also wait until the end of the year. First posthumous record where he's been edited in singing with someone else might take as long as two years.
9) Play psychologist for a second: Why do you think Michael Jackson got all those plastic surgeries? Do you really believe it was medically necessary as he asserted once on Oprah (I think)? Couldn't he tell the damage he was doing?
Maybe because of all the racism he must have faced, or to look like Diana or Elizabeth
Maybe he hated himself so much that he thought if he looked different he could be a different person inside. But I hope not because that is soul-crushingly sad.
It's a sign of serious issues. The doctors who kept doing these surgeries - there should be a law against that or something. Isn't the first rule of medicine do no harm?
What Jen (I hope she sticks around), Orlando, and Dij said. When you have too much money, sometimes it's too easy to do things you really shouldn't.
10) Some dude on CNN just compared Michael Jackson to John Lennon. Whose death was the bigger shock? Which one was the better performer? Better musician? More impactful musician?
Michael!!!!!!
Wow, that is a tough question. Musically, they were both innovative and wildly popular. But John Lennon participated more in the world and was committed to social justice, while Michael Jackson withdrew and got weird.
So, I guess I'm going with John Lennon as more impactful in general. But Jackson was a better performer.
Lennon was more engaged in the world while MJ was reclusive. Lennon's death was a bigger shock because he was murdered. Michael was the better performer but Lennon had a bigger impact, more meaning to his songs.
This is a tough one. I think the Beatles as a whole probably accomplished more than Jackson did in terms of music innovation, and Lennon as the band's driving force must get much of the credit for that. Jackson seemed like an amazing live, entrancing live performer, though I never saw either one in concert. Lennon could play a guitar, and his lyrics generally had deeper meanings, so i give him more music cred.
Know one thing for sure, Jackson takes the dancing crown! what moves he had. very reminiscent of my own skills on the dance floor.