Michael Jackson suffers cardiac arrest - Dead at the age of 50

[the crispy badger]

Originally Posted by Reggie Dunlop

His music was over-rated dreck.

and your 750+ million selling albums are better?

[icarus]

How long until we start hearing the inevitable Elvisesque "he faked his own death" theories..?

[ikaris]

One of the greatest musicians in history. RIP.

[the crispy badger]

Originally Posted by Smell My Finger

well said

Best post in the thread bro..thank you! I remember being a little Badger in 1984 sitting in my dad's big chair with his huge headphones on listening to "The Girl is Mine" over and over again, I have so many good memories of his music, and hopefully he can get the peace that he deserves.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by IgiTang

As for Music appreciation, it comes down to an individuals likes and interests. Most people who are music LOVERS would agree that Bob Marley, Led Zeplin, Lou Reed and so on were better musicians but their exposer is limited to north america for the most part.

Hmm, I would argue that you have to be pretty out of it to state that any of those were somehow clearly better musicians. Actually I would say that you came up with a really bad list. (Also your claim that they mostly affected North America is pretty ridiculous, especially considering that Zeppelin was a British band.)

All of those artists are quite widely debated, and the issue is very much their originality (except for Marley, on whom the issue is actually more about is there much value to him commercializing reggae). I don't actually know anyone who listens to a lot of reggae who speaks highly of Bob Marley, but that might be just me. Lou Reeds solo efforts are in my and many others opinion strong competitors for "most overrated records ever", and generally speaking Velvet Underground isn't exactly the pinnacle of
musicality. Calling Velvet Underground the cooler version of The Doors is quite accurate. They were both highly influential bands, but not really because of their musical greatness.

Led Zeppelin is well known to blatantly rip of stuff other people had done and claiming it as their own, which makes the question of "what did THEY come up with" a complicated one. (Read for example here if you don't know what I'm talking about: http://www.furious.com/perfect/jimmypage.html)
While their influence is unquestionable, their originality is certainly very much debatable.

Jacksons contributions to pop are quite undeniable, his style is still instantly recognizable and it's quite easy to spot the influences both in dancing and in the music in the works of many of the biggest pop artists, like Britney Spears and Backstreet Boys (you propably hate both of those, but that's not an argument).

When you make claims like "most people would agree", you better come up with musicians who have a pretty much unassailable position in the history of music. Like say, Stevie Wonder, Pink Floyd, or even Kraftwerk.

[stang]

Originally Posted by Itse

Pedophilia is one of those charges which some people will always believe in, regardless of any amount of proof otherwise.

I hate it when people think they somehow have some better knowledge of what actually happened (if anything) than the people in the jury who put a lot of effort into going through everything that could actually be proven.

To disregard "innocent until proven guilty" is to throw away the basics of justice. It always scares me how easily people do that, especially when it comes to the worst crimes, which should require the most solid evidence.

Originally Posted by schteve_d

When I hear people who are just so convinced of his guilt regarding the abuse of children, I can't help but think of the story recently of the cab driver being accused of sexually assaulting those three girls. <snip>

You know I really dont want to get into this whole thing, we each have our own opinions of MJ.

However the court cases on both sides are publicly available (google is your friend) and from my viewpoint, it seems like the only reason he wasnt convicted it because he had could through massive amounts of money at the problem to make it go away.

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/michael...onsplotch.html

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/010605jackson.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Jackson

I know the last one is wiki, but I go to the notes part and like to explore the links given.

Originally Posted by Rathji

Found this very interesting.

How the fake Michael Jackson news scooped everyone.

Wasnt he pronouced dead at his house, or on his way to the hospital? Story broke at like 3:20 pm and wasnt his TOD something like 3:26?

[transplant99]

Wasnt he pronouced dead at his house, or on his way to the hospital?

No...doctors worked on him for an hour before making that proclamation. He was not breathing when paramedics arrived (as far as news reports go) but was still alive and they did CPR at the house which got him going again. Then he lapsed into a coma at the hospital and went full CA once again.

[Itse]

Originally Posted by stang

However the court cases on both sides are publicly available (google is your friend) and from my viewpoint, it seems like the only reason he wasnt convicted it because he had could through massive amounts of money at the problem to make it go away.

And from my viewpoint he wasn't convicted because the evidence was hardly convincing, the only solidly proven things being that Jackson was a weird guy, which we already knew. And it's not like the prosecution didn't throw money at the issue too.

But let's put this another way. It's widely known that the accusations devastated Jackson mentally and had a crushing effect on him professionally (and financially). Despite being acquitted it's obvious he suffered greatly. And now he's dead.

The point of continued internet vigilantism escapes me.
What the hell do people want at this point?

In comparison Charles Chaplin had publicly well-known and trivially provable thing for underage girls, but I don't see people shouting "pedophile, pedophile" every time his name is mentioned.

[Regulator75]

[Traditional_Ale]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

The context I was referring to is how some people defending the gimmicks that are used to sell pop music to the masses point to things like moonwalking dance moves as a defense... when really, it is the gimmick and is exactly the point I was making. I made comments about Michael Jackson and pop music in general as being shallow and was told to watch the moonwalker video as a counter to that... so I asked; what does that have to do with music?

I think if people say they loved Michael Jackson as an entertainer and performer, then fine. He is probably the most influential entertainer and performer of my generation for sure... but I think his contribution to music is being overstated. I'm not saying it's not there, but just that it's not everything it is promoted as being.

The moonwalk was one of many many moves in that video, yes, but the idea was there was no lights, smoke, mirrors, whores, group dancers, acrobats, or hell, even a band on stage.

Where is the gimmick of which you speak?

[North East Goon]

Thriller was the first album I ever bought. I remember just being dazzled by his performance at the Motown 25th anniversary bash, for a 6 year old kid watching the moonwalk was amazing. R.I.P Michael Jackson.

[Cowperson]

The jokes are already coming out:

"This is horrible. Why, I saw him just the other day at Wal-Mart under a sign that said: 'Boys Pants, Half Off.'"

Or

They say he choked on a small bone.

The Billie Jean video really made the young, upstart network MTV work in the early 80's. Some interesting history of the song:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean

His album "Off The Wall," from 1979, was probably my favourite.

Still, you can't help but be left with the impression he got away with something regarding charges he was a pedophile. If he suffered later in life then I would say "good."

Elizabeth Taylor outlived him. That's amazing. But his death is hardly surprising.

Cowperson

[fatso]

I haven't read through all of the thread and I don't really care about Michael Jackson or the kids he allegedly molested. That said, I'm not sure I'm buying the argument that he wasn't all that influential or innovative.

Sure, people always say nice things about the deceased (unless they're trying to prove a point, as in this thread), but when you see Dick Clark of all people say:

"I knew Michael as a child and watched him grow over the years. Of all the thousands of entertainers I have worked with, Michael was THE most outstanding. Many have tried and will try to copy him, but his talent will never be matched." - Dick Clark, host of the old "American Bandstand

you have to stop and think about that. I know Dick is a pop pusher and all, but the guy knows the industry and its members better than pretty much anyone. It's hard to argue his opinion. Anyway, as you were...

(link: http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/0...jackson_quotes)

[the crispy badger]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

The jokes are already coming out:

"This is horrible. Why, I saw him just the other day at Wal-Mart under a sign that said: 'Boys Pants, Half Off.'"

Or

They say he choked on a small bone.

The Billie Jean video really made the young, upstart network MTV work in the early 80's. Some interesting history of the song:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billie_Jean

His album "Off The Wall," from 1979, was probably my favourite.

Still, you can't help but be left with the impression he got away with something regarding charges he was a pedophile. If he suffered later in life then I would say "good."

Elizabeth Taylor outlived him. That's amazing. But his death is hardly surprising.

Cowperson

Those jokes are offensive...i'm suprised you Cow of all people would put them on here.

[Gozer]

If we've learned anything from Thriller, Jacko will be back as a zombie.

[Table 5]

There are very few people out there who's deaths need to be celebrated or mocked right after they die. I was never a huge fan of the guy, but I'm pretty sure Michael Jackson is not one of those people.

[stang]

Originally Posted by Cowperson

The jokes are already coming out:

"This is horrible. Why, I saw him just the other day at Wal-Mart under a sign that said: 'Boys Pants, Half Off.'"

Or

They say he choked on a small bone.

....
Cowperson

I got some BAD ones... in white. Dont complain to me about them, they were both texted to me, and I am putting them in white so you dont have to read them.

Due to the fact that Micheal is 99% plastic, he will be melted down into lego blocks so children can play with him for a change

OR

That he died of food poisoning, he has been eating 4 year old weiners

[GreenTeaFrapp]

Originally Posted by the crispy badger

Those jokes are offensive...i'm suprised you Cow of all people would put them on here.

They're not as offensive as saying he hasn't been this stiff since Macauley Culkin stayed the night.

[Hevishot]

Since when is it ok to mourn the death of a pedofile? War the adult alarm on Jim Rome Today!

[the crispy badger]

Originally Posted by GreenTeaFrapp

They not as offensive as saying he hasn't been this stiff since Macauley Culkin stayed the night.

Garbage posts like yours make me wish there was a thumbs down option on here..