About The Browntable
2009
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When I was five, my folks took me to see the Jackson 5 in concert. I hardly remember the show—and I don’t remember life before Michael Jackson.
Generation X doesn’t really know life without him.
Michael was a musical bridge across decades. He took Smokey Robinson’s “Who’s Lovin’ You” and passed it on to Terence Trent D’Arby. When the country was besieged with rants of “Disco Sucks!” in the late ‘70s, a new Michael came out with “Off the Wall” and pretty much said, “No—disco rocks.”
I second Teresa Wiltz’s emotion that if you grew up “a lone raisin in a sea of oatmeal,” “P.Y.T.” was like a bat signal in the sky calling out to you from the rest of the world.
Like Jimi Izrael, I’m a “reluctant, conflicted Michael Jackson fan, because sadly, the last relevant take on Michael before his death was Katt Williams’ hilarious and biting revocation of Jackson’s ‘hood pass: “I don’t give a **** how good you can sing and dance—I got babies, you nasty mother******."
But more often than the dismay and discomfort he generated, Jackson was inspirational:
If you learned about the civil rights era from grainy 16mm film and you just missed out on the anti-apartheid movement, “We Are The World” was your first social protest song.
“Butterflies” is the kind of song a grown man doesn’t want to admit that he likes, but…
“I Can’t Help It” is one of the most underrated jams of all time—De La Soul thought so.
Here’s a few favorite moments that I haven’t seen much of on the cable news highlight reels:
Alien Ant Farm
How deep was Michael in the American psyche? This cover of “Smooth Criminal” tweaked the song’s R&B essence with crunching guitar notes. The scene in the video could have been a suburb in Anywhere, U.S.A.
The young skate rat pop-locking down the sidewalk?—maybe that kid is his son.
Beverly Hills Cop
Axel Foley name checks MJ when he drops the race card at the “Beverly Palm Hotel.”
Three Kings
John Ridley crystallized the Michael Jackson paradox in Three Kings, when an Iraqi soldier (Said Taghmaoui) angrily scolds his American prisoner (Mark Wahlberg):
Michael Jackson is pop king of sick ****ing country. It is obvious—a black man make the skin white and the hair straight, and you know why? You sick ****ing country make the black man hate hisself—just like the Arab and the children that you bomb over here.
In the end, Michael was a sad guy whose talent gave him everything except what he wanted most—to love Michael. I never really paid close attention to the words to “Ben” before, but now it seems to me that the boy pop king—called on at age nine to put voice to emotions that adults couldn’t express themselves—was singing a love song to himself:
I'm going to do my best to remember Michael as the soulful kid and not the tortured man—but in the end, they were the same person.
—David Swerdlick
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I think this is by far one of Michael Jackson's best songs. In all of the video/radio tributes after his death late last week, that was the one song I was flipping through all of the stations for, but either missed it or it just wasn't played. Granted, I own "Off the Wall," so I can listen anytime.
Also, thank you for your thoughtful writing.
I guess everybody knows this man. Who doesn’t? He was a great singer of pop music as he designated as Kin of Pop music. Fans mourning because of his recent loss, and they are eagerly awaiting results of the Michael Jackson autopsy. A death from heart attack does not befit a man of only 50 years of age, that’s why the autopsy is proving to be a point of intense interest and discussion. Michael suffered from vitiligo and lupus during the last 15 years of his life. Lupus is an autoimmune disease in which the cells of the body stop recognizing each other and attack themselves, and the condition is potentially lethal without treatment. Many fans ponder just what happened, and would give quick cash to see the results of his autopsy.
Researchers from the Department of Psychology at the University of Waterloo, Canada are looking for volunteers to take part in a survey about people’s circumstances (e.g., what they were doing, where they were) when they learned about Michael Jackson’s death.
To participate, you must be at least 18 years of age, and be willing to participate in a short online survey at this time, and be willing to take part in a short follow-up survey on the same topic within the next 12 months and to provide contact information for this purpose.
This survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. The survey will include questions that ask for specific details about your situation (e.g. what you were doing, where you were) at the time you heard about the death of Michael Jackson. We would like to assure you that the information you provide will be kept confidential and will only be accessed by the researchers involved in this study. Both surveys will be completed online on a secure website.
If you have any further comments or questions about this survey, please contact Martin Day (mvday@uwaterloo.ca) or Dr. Mike Ross (mross@uwaterloo.ca).
This survey has been reviewed and has received ethics clearance through the Office of Research Ethics, University of Waterloo.
To complete this survey, please copy and paste the following link into your web browser:
http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~mprofile/mnptc/
Micheals death was not pronounced right or just by his family. This IS indeed a real tragedy!
I dont believe that Micheal is resting in peace at all though. I do believe the Bible when its says that whatever is hidden in darkness will come to light. I believe if the Jackson family wants to find out what suddenly took Micheal from them so fast that they will find out even if it took 80 years from now, Because Micheals life means something Special to his family than from the Public. I do believe Micheal died with the media long before this tragedy. My lesson learned is that every person on this earth can go just as fast and faster just like Micheals life did. I would not want to die like that! So I pray and ask God that if i do go today or tomorrow that I can be with God so that My life can be celebrated and then I can Rest in Peace. Im not afraid to go suddenly. God is the most faithful being, not the world or anything in it.
Like all of us, he didn't have a perfect life — but, he was perfectly talented and among the greatest artistic gifts African America gave to the world. Most of his biggest fans are beyond American shores. There was more to Michael Jackson than we will be able to fathom in one news story or event. How ironic that he passes in June — Black Music Month.
Let's say it, and be honest about it: Jackson was one of the first Black artist who gained and sustained both inter-generational, multi-ethnic and global appeal — STILL to this moment. I for one, being that Michael Jackson was part of the soundtrack to many of our lives, will be doing my own personal retrospective about this genuinely phenomenal and gifted artist-entertainer.
How unfortunate, after he just turned 50, that too many of our best and brightest still die too young. I hope BET, TV One and other infotainment media get it right and do the right thing — a lengthy substantive (in depth) retrospective-documentary on the man, the music, the roots and his actual global impact on popular culture. We deserve to know and remember much more about this most remarkable "Man In the Mirror."
Dennis Moore — Publisher — http://www.POTUSworld.com — ppceo@potusworld.com
RELATED LINKS:
http://www.michaeljackson.com/
http://rockhall.com/inductee/michael-jackson
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_jackson
http://www.bmanetworks.com/
http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/michaeljackson