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Micheal Jackson passed away as we all know and here are my thoughts.
When I was growing up in my sheltered environment, I didn't really know who Michael Jackson was. In fact, I kept trying to remember if Jackson was the singer and Jordan was the basketball player, or the other way around. Think like 9 or 10 years old. What little I knew about Jackson I heard mostly from my friends, who made fun of him by twirling around and then grabbing their crotches and making a high pitched noise. I think I was also aware that he was a guy who was trying to look like a woman. I only knew two of his songs, and those were "Bad" and "Beat It". In 1993, Michael Jackson was in the Super Bowl halftime show. And this only confirmed that he was the guy who twirled around and grabbed his crotch, and looked like a woman.
Michael Jackson songs are never played on the radio. I don't know if that is because of copyright laws or because no one wants to hear his music. He had really good songs, but they didn't pass the test of time. Look at classic rock, on the other hand, which is still popular today.
I think he did influence music a lot, and I think his music was really good. And his dancing is really fun to watch. But when the media cites Justin Timberlake as the main person that he has influenced, I think that is a sad legacy. I hate Justin Timberlake's music, if you want to call it music.
I think the media coverage has been appropriate. It is the biggest celebrity death in my lifetime so far. For people who complain about cable media coverage, just turn your TV off, why are you watching news shows that you hate anyway?
But overall I do enjoy Michael Jackson's music and personality, that is, how he was in the 80s.
MJ's music is played all the time. Depends on the station and you also cannot say that because it is not on all the time that it is not good music. You don't hear Elvis or the Beatles unless it is a specific targeted audience. That is not to say those are not influential or good. I also don't think you can hold MJ up against a genre which spans numerous artists. I will say none of them are appreciated by today's youth. I will also say that only recently have I come to appreciate some of Elvis's music. I do appreciate what each of those have brought to music in general.
ReplyDeleteBack to MJ. While the music is good and the influence is tremendous that fact is I believe he is a child molester and with that belief I will not mourn nor celebrate his life.
His life was a tragedy and while I think I understand why he was what he was I will not forgive it. It is my belief that once an adult - childhood excuses are no longer forgivable.
We as society and especially as Americans have somewhat professed our greatest resource is our children but we are also the first to toss the innocence of a child to the side and trump it when fame, money and power come into play.
This is the greatest hypocrisy of recent generations and I hope someday we as a society will focus on what is important and that is the innocence of the children. We as a society create these monsters. Children are the foundation for the next generation and the generation after that.
All sounds good till it means we individuals have to sacrifice for our children.
I do believe that one day our generation will be looked upon and laughed at that we were so careless, naive and selfish.
MJ right now is the poster child for all that is wrong in America and many parts of the world. Only at this time would we cherish the talent of someone who stole the innocence of a child.
We feed the beast.
One last thing...this is not to throw a stone at you Dan because you enjoy his music. I too enjoy his music.
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, you. I have a few ideas of who this is. You are right that MJ's radio presence doesn't mean anything. I regretted writing that afterward, after thinking about it a while. I probably just don't listen the right stations.
ReplyDeleteAbout the child molestation, I assumed he was innocent..I guess I don't know many details about it. Is it like the OJ Simpson trial where he was acquitted unreasonably?
Finally, I thought I was critical of MJ in my post. I only said positive things repeatedly to appease people who might worship him. (But I do like the music). I guess there is a wide variance of opinion out there.
My rant was not so much about your opinion. Probably I more so hijacked your blog to show my own (yeah- sorry about that). MJ was acquitted but I do believe he was guilty. I also believe OJ was guilty.
ReplyDeleteI would challenge you with this....don't alter your message for those who would disagree (hence = appease). That might have been where I lost what you were really trying to say (well that and I am an idiot). You are one person who I look forward to your true thoughts even though there are times where I definately disagree with you on some points. I often appreciate your honesty and how well you express that. Your point of view challenges me to re-think my point of view. To date, after doing said review(s) you still ahve yet to win me over, but I appreciate that your POV challenges my thoughts.
If you are going to write in order to appease the weight of your thoughts weakens and I would find no value in considering your POW.
I'll take the raw and true Dan Gras. I like him.
Thanks, you don't even know how relevant that is to my life right now. "People pleasing" is a family trait that has been passed down, and i am breaking out of it!
ReplyDeleteI guess the overall point of my blog post was that I was too young to really be familiar with Michael Jackson, and my parents were not listeners of music, so I didn't even know the music. I basically knew him as a freak my whole life. And obviously I haven't become familiar with all of the other controversies, because I haven't really cared. But as an adult looking back, his music was good, but i like a lot of other music much better.
Thanks for your comments. I love it.