There are some absolutely terrible Jackson covers including one sung with face expressions by Jessie J
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I think the best thing I can say about his music is that itās recognisable. If you ever watch any of the old TOTP from the mid 80s there always seems to be 1 MJ copyist but it is all instantly forgettable and interchangeable.
Some of the Jackson 5 tracks are joyous pop moments but we arenāt voting for that. Genuinely always found his popularity bemusing but then again I could say the same of many revered artists. Is it just that people liked the dancing and the spectacle of the videos?
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When i was little i was convinved he was a lady and people were pronouncing āMichelle Jacksonā incorrectly, and i would refer to him as āMichelle Jacksonā
I worked with a guy who was married to a mega fan and they sold their house to fund trips to stand outside LA courtrooms during his trial and watch get out of a car and back into a can many hours later. He would often ask for holiday at a drop of a hat and fly straight out to scream that Michael is Innocent (i dont know if they genuinely believed that or not)
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Heās never done anything for me or meant anything to me for some reason. He always seemed too slick, commercial and packaged somehow. I love a lot of Motown, but Jackson always seemed to exemplify the production line fantasies of Berry Gordy - the ultimate pop product without the troublesome individual genius of Stevie Wonder or Marvin Gaye. I can appreciate the brilliance of his best singles but I canāt really understand how they could ever be a truly important thing to anyone - it seems like music for people that donāt really like music.
Everything about him was creepy as well, obviously, which doesnāt help and his own awful life seems to be infused in his music - to me it seems like a simulcrum of the joy you find in real pop, an imitation of true desire or love when that is called for.
Struggled over a mark but in the end I gave him a 3 because for all that a handful of his singles are truly immortal.
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Absolutely no chance he goes higher than 1.01 or something.
Unless loads of people quietly go fives but darenāt say so in the thread
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There is no discussion to be had around his legacy, itās one thing and one thing alone.
I remember watching Moonwalker a lot as a kid. Even as a kid it didnāt make much sense. Jacko turning into a robot, Joe Pesci going around with a ponytail, the Smooth Criminal leaning bit.
Donāt think Iād want to listen to him these days though given everything thatās come to light since then
Still hear his songs playing on the radio in shops, cafes etc. Always makes me think really.
Just in isolation honestly donāt think his music stands up, think it was all about the videos.
I absolutely loved him when I was growing up. Would obsessively listen to him and the Jackson 5/Jacksons constantly and, like @RoverHendrix, I watched Moonwalker a lot. I still listen every now and then to the earlier stuff (Off The Wall and Triumph are stupidly good and are very nostalgic for me), but Iām very conflicted about doing so.
Have voted in albums and singles, but not going to put a score in, because it would be 4 for the music and 0 for the legacy and it would be wrong to average those out.
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Heās never made a song I enjoyed
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I dunno, while his MO was generally to do what other innovators were already doing at the time but BIGGER, some songs like Smooth Criminal would still sound fresh if released today.
Not as good as Janet.
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I really wish some evidence would come out and nail him for what he most probably was and we can get rid of him from the world.
My 11 year old daughter somehow got into him earlier this year and its very hard to stop it while the element of doubt remains and he still gets played on radio and in shops.
They still play Gary Glitter at sports events in the USA. If the invisible hand of the market demands it, it will last forever.
At least MJ wouldnāt profit from it at this stage.
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More interesting as a pop culture study than an artist. Growing up in the 90s, I knew the figure of Michael Jackson who was still the biggest star in the world, but his glory days as a musician were behind him, and he began to cut a more and more controversial and disturbing figure. It was a tiring saga and felt like a relief when he was gone. I hope since then his victims have managed to get some closure without being exposed to the weird media circus around him.
I always think thereās been a tendency to vastly overrate his music, and have never been able to really see what made Thriller one of the best albums of all time. Thereās 6 winners and 3 duffers on that record (cut Baby Be Mine, The Girl is Mine and The Lady in My Life for me). Theyāre some winners, no doubt, but rarely does an album with a 2/3 hit rate get fawned over so badly.
Then he pretty quickly descended into weird self-important saccharine Disney music for the rest of his career as he went fully nuts.
Dunno, for an honest assessment of the music, the undeniable all time hits he produced, as well as an awful lot of rubbish, Iāll give him a generous 3/5. For everything else he can get in the bin.
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Given him a one, partly because I hope he burns, but also because I donāt really like him musically either. When I first became aware of MJ it was the height of his Earth Song phase, ridiculous messianic nonsense and all anyone could do was mock his appearance and surgery etc, so it was always going to be hard to connect with his music after than.
Thriller is bit catchy at best, Billie Jean is actively annoyingā¦ his best work was probably with the Jackon 5 tbh.
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Just keep the far superior Alien Ant Farm version.
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Not that extreme, but I remember a guy at uni who was a massive Jackson fan, would shoe horn him in to conversations, always refer to āMJā, everyone used to indulge it is a humorous tic or something. Wonder if he still does it.
Pretty sure Iāve consistently been voting for what I think of the music/legacy rather than the person, so Iām not giving a 1. Obviously up to everyone to individually decide where they stand on voting though.
Had some massive tunes, totally changed the game on videos/visual accompaniments and probably what it meant to be a pop star, influenced pretty much every pop act from the 90s onwards, probably did good for diversity in mainstream pop music as well? (citation needed but there must be thinkpieces about this out there.) Obviously also had some incredibly naff stuff as well, though I was too young for his Earth Song madness and he was mostly a recluse by the time I was paying attention to music, so grew up more acquainted with the glory days stuff. Iāve gone for a 4.
I probably wouldnāt play him at a party or on a radio show because of his vile behaviour, but I donāt really have an issue listening to his stuff individually these days - heās dead, heās not really benefiting from streaming Ā£Ā£Ā£. Donāt listen very often in any case, but Thriller (especially towards the end) is magic and I canāt kick it.
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5/5
The thread is how good are they really, he was clearly next level good. Like, so stupidly good I can barely get my head around how talented he was.
Might as well move these threads onto the social board and rename them How Problematic Were they Really
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