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Michael Jackson's Birthday, Fave Song Thread

reydelaplaya

reydelaplaya

Super Member
I have just been reminded that August 29th (now yesterday for some of us) was Michael Jackson's birthday.

In honor of the late King of Pop, how about a favorite song by MJ thread?

I'll start, with a song that takes me back to the simpler time of rollerskates and disco balls. By far my favorite MJ song of all time:

Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

 
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This is the essence of Michael Jackson - an almost 12 yr old in his prime


i'm a year older than him and this came out the summer after my 7th grade year and was playing constantly at the swimming pool where i spent so much time - it's my soundtrack for that summer as it were.

so for me this will always be the my favorite Michael Jackson song
 
Audiofreak71 said:
Man I remember that night watching on TV and being blown away when he did that moonwalk, everyone was like how in the hell did he do that! Lol good times.
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When my mother saw Michael first do the moonwalk in 1983 she said, "That is old - Dick Van Dyke did that in the '50's!"
The only difference is that Dick walks on the spot and Michael enhanced the same move by walking backwards.
Bill Bailey did it and walked backwards before Dick. Marcel Marceau and Charlie Chaplin did it before that but Michael did it cooler than his forefathers.
Michael Jackson idolized Marceau and Chaplin and studied their moves for inspiration. He was likely well aware of Dick and Bill as much as all famous dancers.

Here's Dick in 1958

Here's Bill in 1955

Not to take anything away from Michael - with the hit Billie Jean he made it cooler than it ever was before! This is why Billie Jean is my favorite track - it's more than just the tune.
 
Dave_1962 said:
When my mother saw Michael first do the moonwalk in 1983 she said, "That is old - Dick Van Dyke did that in the '50's!"
The only difference is that Dick walks on the spot and Michael enhanced the same move by walking backwards.
Bill Bailey did it and walked backwards before Dick. Marcel Marceau and Charlie Chaplin did it before that but Michael did it cooler than his forefathers.
Michael Jackson idolized Marceau and Chaplin and studied their moves for inspiration. He was likely well aware of Dick and Bill as much as all famous dancers.

Here's Dick in 1958

Here's Bill in 1955

Not to take anything away from Michael - with the hit Billie Jean he made it cooler than it ever was before! This is why Billie Jean is my favorite track - it's more than just the tune.
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Oh I know about the ones that did it before Michael now but when I was 12 and saw that for the first time as a kid it was pretty amazing, as I'm sure when the others did it before Michael people probably had the same reaction of wow that's pretty cool. Thanks for posting those videos, it's great to see videos of the past entertainers doing there thing.

Audiofreak71
 
MJ was just another tragic waste of talent. His album "Off The Wall" was truly great....look at him on the cover and compare it to what he ended up looking like. I have so many conflicting feelings about him. But "Rock With You" was and is a truly great R&B song.
 
Bodyblue said:
MJ was just another tragic waste of talent. His album "Off The Wall" was truly great....look at him on the cover and compare it to what he ended up looking like. I have so many conflicting feelings about him. But "Rock With You" was and is a truly great R&B song.
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I wouldn't say he was a tragic waste of talent, I would say it was tragic in that he felt he needed to change himself into the unrecognizable thing he ended up being due to him being mentally messed up in the head, but as far as his music goes I believe he stayed pretty true to what he wanted to do until the end.

Audiofreak71
 
Audiofreak71 said:
I wouldn't say he was a tragic waste of talent, I would say it was tragic in that he felt he needed to change himself into the unrecognizable thing he ended up being due to him being mentally messed up in the head, but as far as his music goes I believe he stayed pretty true to what he wanted to do until the end.

Audiofreak71
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I agree with most of that but the "waste" as I see it is if he would have had even a halfway normal family to support him.......and to stop him from making some truly terrible and frankly criminal decisions. All that talent was wasted because he could have done so much more but instead fell into the drugs and booze and debauchery that performers often fall into. A sad story with a few musical high points scattered in between.
 
Dave_1962 said:
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Thanks everybody for getting in on this! I realise that Pop music isn't everybody's cup of tea. But for as influencial as he was, I figured most would at least have a song they liked of his. LOL

Audiofreak71 said:
Man I remember that night watching on TV and being blown away when he did that moonwalk, everyone was like how in the hell did he do that! Lol good times.
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I was in my teens by the time this came out, but I can't say specifically that I remember seeing that on TV. I mean, of course EVERYBODY knew the Moonwalk once that hit. It's a great song, and he was definitely a great performer.

SoCal Sam said:

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LOL! Jackson Five, but we'll allow it. I lean toward that era of MJ being better than his later stuff.

bobsvinyl said:
I was never a fan of Michael Jackson, but I did like Vincent Price, so I go with Thriller. The video was pretty wild, too.
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I remember getting Thriller on LP when it came out.

jrtrent said:
His greatest song, of course, was "Ben," from the movie of the same name.
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This I'll have to look up, I don't recall a song or movie by that name, but I kinda lost track of MJ after Thriller.

luxmaster said:
PYT pretty young thing

Whenever I hear this song brings me back to the early 80's. I remember looking at my thriller album and playing it on my dads 1960's dual stereo system
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Another classic! Great song!

portnoy said:
This is the essence of Michael Jackson - an almost 12 yr old in his prime


i'm a year older than him and this came out the summer after my 7th grade year and was playing constantly at the swimming pool where i spent so much time - it's my soundtrack for that summer as it were.

so for me this will always be the my favorite Michael Jackson song
Click to expand...

This is more the era of MJ that I remember hearing. I was born after that song came out, but I distinctly remember hearing it a lot.
 
Bodyblue said:
I agree with most of that but the "waste" as I see it is if he would have had even a halfway normal family to support him.......and to stop him from making some truly terrible and frankly criminal decisions. All that talent was wasted because he could have done so much more but instead fell into the drugs and booze and debauchery that performers often fall into. A sad story with a few musical high points scattered in between.
Click to expand...
That's just the thing, there was nothing normal about that family life, that family stopped being normal the day there dad Joe stopped working at the coal mine and started managing them full time, then all the fame came in and thats a life none of us (unless there's some celebrities here on this site) can relate to. That life is anything but normal at least by our definition of normal where we can go out and play with kids when we were young and go out in public without being bombarded by everyone. Then there's the endless rehearsals and then there's Joe, who by Michael's definition was the demon that walked the earth and is probably the reason why he changed his face,thought the way he did.

Unfortunately the drugs and the booze comes along with most entertainers and when there's also that pressure on them that's unfortunately the way they escape from the world there in so they can in there minds be normal.
 
A side story:

When I was a junior in high school, I was a member of the yearbook/prom committee. We went with the Vice-Principal (VP) to DC to audition bands to play for prom at The Cellar Door. Upon entering, each of us was given a door ticket stub to be used in a raffle later on that afternoon. The Vice-Principal and the other teacher that was with us left early, and each gave their ticket - VP to me, and teacher to another student.

When it came time for the drawing, I had already remembered which was my original ticket, and which was the VP's. The VP's ticket won.


I went into school on Monday and met with the VP in her office. As she asked me how the rest of the bands were, I pulled the envelope containing her prize and handed it to her, congratulating her on her win. She looked at me like 'what? I don't get it.'

I told her, 'your ticket won - this is your prize.'

She's was like I don't want it, I gave the stub to you. I told her it was her ticket that won, not mine, and that she should at least open the envelope to see what it was and make sure before she declines because I really didn't want them if she might.

A pair of front row seats to Michael Jackson's concert at the Capitol Center sometime later that semester.

She went to the concert with her husband and had a really great time.

There were no hard feelings on my end, I didn't really want to go anyway - that was my Beatles/Classic Rock phase LOL

Besides, she did me right earlier in my attendance there - once, I had lent my car to a friend of mine during school (she had an excused pass to leave BTW) and it broke down on the other side of town. I had to sneak past the guards and off school grounds in the trunk of a Volvo 240 to go get it during lunchtime. LOL It took longer to get back than I anticipated, and I ended up missing a few classes in the process. (Also had to leave the car idling in the teachers' lot for a couple hours because I couldn't shut it off LOL.)

The next day, I had to produce a signed excused pass to get back into the classes I missed. I explained the whole story truthfully to her, even the Volvo LOL, so she cut me some slack and wrote me the pass I needed. She was cool.
 
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