I don’t particularly have a lot to say about Michael Jackson. I was a pretty big fan of his in the 80s (who wasn’t?) and it’s safe to say that he played a pretty big part in my life for a long time. I wasn’t that big into Thriller when it came out, I was very young and the video scared me, but I thought Bad was the shit. Smooth Criminal is one of my favorite Jackson songs, and the video remains one of the best ever made.
His death does make me think about the superstars I grew up worshipping in the 80s, and looking back at many of them is just depressing now. Michael Jackson is the most obvious tragedy, but don’t forget the downfalls and tribulations of artists like Prince, Axl Rose, Whitney Houston, George Michael, and Michael Hutchence. That decade ate its young. When Madonna is the most sane and rational of the bunch that’s fucked up.
Sometimes I feel like we slipped into an alternate mirror world (ala Star Trek) where everything went horribly wrong. In the “real” world Prince is still sane(ish) Axl Rose and Slash are still tearing it up, Whitney Houston isn’t schooling Diane Sawyer on crack, George Michael isn’t offering to blow dudes in public restrooms (or at least not getting caught) and INXS never had to go on a reality show to find a new lead singer. In that world Michael Jackson was never accused of molesting children, his skin never faded away and his plastic surgery obsession stopped around the “kinda weird” phase of Bad. It may sound like I want time to stand still and celebrities to never change, that’s not true. I know that time marches on and people change, but damn, these guys didn’t fade they imploded into black holes of insanity and drug abuse.
So yeah, it sucks that Michael Jackson is dead now, and while I’m sure I’m just one of dozens of blogs that will be offering tribute to him over the next few days, I think I have some unique tracks that others definitely won’t be offering.
Scream (Classic Club Mix)
Scream (Pressurized Dub Pt. 1)
Scream (Naughty Main Mix)
Scream (Dave “Jam” Hall’s Extended Urban Remix)
I remember the hoopla surrounding this song and the video when it first came out. Both because it was his first single since the abuse allegations and because the video cost something like 80 bazillion dollars to make. I dug the song when it came out, and was especially stoked with the video, which featured some references to Akira, my favorite move at the time. These remixes are pretty good, the best being the Classic Club Mix, not just for its funky beats, but because Michael and Janet say “stop fucking with me” about a hundred times.
The Way You Make Me Feel (Dance Extended Mix)
The Way You Make Me Feel (A Cappella)
Not much for me to say about this one other than that it’s another classic tune. The extended mix is good, but the a cappella is classic and it transforms the tune into the sexiest babershop quartet song in the history of the world.
Will You Hurt My World
A bootleg/mash-up mix of “You Rock My World,” “Will You Be There” and Johnny Cash’s cover of “Hurt.” This shit is haunting, reforming the original into something far more poignant and touching, especially after today. I know very little about this mix, it’s by a guy who called himself DoKs (I think) and I downloaded it years ago off of a mash-up message board. If anyone can give me more information about this one and the guy who did it I would appreciate it. I really can’t downplay how damn good this mix is, you have to hear it.
Enjoyed your post. I too was thinking about how odd it is that alot of these 80's folks are now "old" and getting abit nutty.
Madonna and her shopping spree of children, Bono shopping with Oprah one minute and singing Sunday Bloody Sunday the next. Either way all of the 80's artists are trailblazers- much so that we havent seen anything even close to the greatness of MichaelJackson/Bruce/Madonna/Prince/Bono/George Michael/Axel in the last 20 years or so. Whatever..at the end of the day MJ really changed the status quo of black artists and of music in general. His thriller video is still the best.
I was quite saddened by his death this morning. I saw the Thriller video when I was about 8 and it scared the pants off me, mum had to sit with me while I went to sleep for about 6 months!
The Smooth Criminal video is my favorite. Throws a quarter into the jukebox from across the room, crushes a cue ball with his bare hands, and shoots a man through a wall. What a baddass.
I liked the mashup you posted, it's pretty seamless. I'm hosting a few more at http://tinyurl.com/obcgcr
RIP
i have been a fan of the lost turntable for a couple of years and after what happened, i wanted to know your opinion. you speak with such frankness and sometimes with a 'i don't give a s*** but reading what you had to say about michael was really profound and yr thoughts teared me up because it's so very true. i'm a little older than you but i grew up watching mj and the jackson 5
i'm still in disbelief but you are right, these people that had such great success in the 80s and we so admired them, what happened, anyway??