Obit: Michael Jackson (1958-2009), age 50

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Steve from a few comments ago
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:53 PM

Hey Greg B,

"May he enjoy the full measure of the well deserved millstone
'round his neck (Luke 17:2) as it drags him to the depths!"

I hope Matthew 7:2 is a lot less literal than you made Luke 17:2 out to be... otherwise, there's a millstone waiting for you, too, buddy.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Little Hawk
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:55 PM

He did some great music and stage work in his prime, but he seems to have had a very sad life mostly from the time he was a small boy, and he's been looking terrible in recent years. Perhaps he is well out of it, and I don't mean anything negative toward the man when I say that. What I mean is, he may have found some peace now. I wish him well.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: bankley
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 10:55 PM

RIP 'BAD'

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Amergin
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 11:33 PM

The one thing he was good for was to provide some good material for Weird Al....and other comedians....

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,DonMeixner
Date: 25 Jun 09 - 11:37 PM

I was really afraid this was the guy who wrote the book on home Brewing beer.

I hope the family plans to leave his body to silence.

Don

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: VirginiaTam
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:51 AM

Beeb R 4 just played a montage of his 80's to present stuff with one detour to do Ben. All sounded the same with exception of Ben.

He/she/it was the same age as me. Enjoyed the early early stuff when I was a kid. Lost interest when the new MJ hit the eighties, but then I hated most pop music then.

Was initially shocked by his changed physical appearance. Later bored by all the media commentary.

Wonder what his fans will do without focus now? Become more frenzied or forget? Will Neverland become the Graceland of the West Coast?

Ho hum.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Jack Campin
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:19 AM

I was really afraid this was the guy who wrote the book on home Brewing beer.

I never had much use for his book on structured programming.

No doubt there will be a full investigation into actual cause of his cardia arresting.

A celebrity dying at 50 of heart trouble suggests long-term cocaine abuse.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: alison
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:31 AM

definately a stange man - but he gave us some great music.

Still remember, as a teenager, staying up late to see the first screening of the Thriller video.

can't help feeling sorry for Farrah though

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:43 AM

His life will probably go down as the ultimate argument against unnecessary surgery.

he was so beautiful as a little boy. I can remember walking up a school corridor behind two little eleven year olds (one black, one white) talking bout his appearance on TOTP singing Ben....

did you see his hair....?
Yes wow! wasn't it fantastic!

It can't have done him any good all that cutting up of his face.

He died more or less the same age as Jolson - another one who had a high energy act too long. Its a kids game.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Missesthepointutterly
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:50 AM

Sir Michael Jackson dead! I can't believe it. A bad day for the british army.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST, Sminky
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 04:58 AM

An easy target for ridicule, some of it doubtlessly deserved.

No arguing about his popularity though - he brought pleasure to millions for decades - and that's more than any of us can say.

A troubled soul now at rest.

RIP

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: bankley
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 05:11 AM

I like the Miles Davis version of 'Human Nature'

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 05:23 AM

A brilliant and extremely talented performer. Sadly, probably due to pain in his own childhood, he lost the plot in later life.
A sad loss to music but the overrididing sentiment of this thread is correct - he is at peace at last.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Bainbo
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 05:43 AM

Among the welter of media commentary, I think the most sensible I heard^* was from the presenter Paul Gambaccini, who drew parallels with the death of Judy Garland, just 40 years ago.

At the time, all the talk was of her wayward lifestyle and drug abuse. Now, with the distance of time, all of that is little more than a footnote, and what we remember is her artistry - the marvellous music and films. It will surely be the same with Michael Jackson.





^*There are plenty of candidates for the least sensible thing I heard. But I think the best was from the ever-fatuous BBC Radio Five Live, during the period of uncertainty before the bad news was confirmed, when one contributor was asked: "Can you remember where you were when you first heard this still-to-be-confirmed news?"

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Arnie
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 05:57 AM

What's going to happen to the 75,000 tickets sold for his July concerts in the O2 London? The organisers are going to have a massive hole in their finances paying all those refunds. I suppose that some fans will hang onto their tickets as momentoes, or maybe sell them on EBay. One thing is for sure, the ticket touts will be sitting on a load of vastly overpriced tickets that they won't now be able to shift. Never a fan myself, but I always recognised him as a true showman with an amazing act.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Dave Sutherland
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:05 AM

Seconded bankley.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: goatfell
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:09 AM

sad that he's dead but as somone said   One less paedophile preying on children, the children can sleep a we bit safer now in bed. I mean what grown man sleeps with chlidren in his bed which aren't his.
but sad all the same

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,6 months younger than MJ
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:11 AM

hmmm.. speculative hints of long term cocaine abuse leading to severe heart problems;

hmmm... fragile state of nasal bone structure popularly attributed to excessive cosmetic surgery..

hmmmmmm....???


oh well.. seriously, how many of us, if we ever considered the prospect,
genuinely expected MJ to survive to a ripe old age ?

For all of us who were born in 1958, its definitely a moment for contemplation and reflection.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Jack Blandiver
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:15 AM

I will remember him for a genius best manifest in monolithic masterpieces like this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cupnsUDyjuA

Cha'mone motherf*cker!

Respect.

RIP.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Mrr elsewhere
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:26 AM

Man, this is huge. I'm sorry now I didn't really believe he was sick.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Mooh
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:32 AM

Lots of folks wished him dead. They got their wish.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 06:49 AM

Sadly the footnote to his life may be bigger than his music in some folks' eyes.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Midchuck
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 07:03 AM

Sandy McLean said it all.

P.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Ron Davies
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 07:15 AM

I loved the very first bouncy, upbeat hits with the Jackson 5--ABC; Stop, the Love You Save: I Want You Back. Even fun to sing. Will never forget (10 year old?)   Michael squeaking: "Come on, girl, show me what you can do.". Good tight pop music--even with a sense of humor.

Everything else he did from then on was downhill--Thriller didn't, etc. And his personal life went from bad to worse.   If anybody needed proof that money isn't everything, he was Exhibit A.   

It annoyed me that at one point he owned a large portion of the Beatles' catalogue--it seemed he really didn't deserve it--wasn't in the same league in talent.

Then came the really precipitous slide--even financially.

It's amazing somebody with absolutely everything could so totally and senselessly throw it away.

Child molester?-- well, whatever he was doing, it sure didn't look good.   Who knows, maybe it wasn't--just more incredibly stupid behavior.

I figured I could do my bit to express disapproval by just not buying his stuff.

Tortured soul?   For sure. Hope he didn't wreck anybody else's life.

I agree Farrah Fawcett deserved a lot more sympathy than he did.   After all, she did nothing to cause her own death. Did Michael?   Unclear. We'll probably hear a lot of speculation on that.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Dani
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 07:23 AM

It's a dark road to go down to throw out the art with the dark speculations about an artist's life. Though, the temptation is great to judge, based on the products of the great American media circus.

However:

His (and all the Jackson!) music was and is great fun, and we're going to have a dance party to remember it all Sunday evening. Join us if you are in NC!

My best memory is from the 80's when his brothers joined him onstage in Philadelphia during what I think was the Thriller tour, for a few old-school Jackson 5 tunes. Rocked the house.

Dani

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Ron Davies
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 07:23 AM

As far as "De mortuis..."--sorry, Michael was a controversial figure--through his own actions.   Anybody who doesn't like the comments is always free withhold their own--including the admonition above--or not even read the thread. Or you could always ask Joe to ban Obit threads--he's already not very enthusiastic about them.

I always think it's interesting to hear the range of opinion.

---

Hey, it's not that I don't like obituary threads. The informative ones, especially those about folk music figures, are wonderful. It's just that I lost my left testicle over Jade Goody, and I have but one more to lose....
-Joe-

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:01 AM

"I always think it's interesting to hear the range of opinion"

Me too Ron. Mine is that he was a tortured genius, a product of his abused and misdirected childhood, who surrounded himself with hugely talented musicians and writers to produce several of the greatest pop records ever, and who, by the sometimes corrosive nature of stardom, lost touch with reality and his responsibilities to 'his' public.

It's a sad end, much like those of Judy, Marilyn and Elvis.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Stu
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:26 AM

He's not dead, I've just seen him stacking shelves in the tinned fish section of Tesco's in Macclesfield.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Gedi
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:41 AM

I too was not a great fan, but whenever I saw him interviewed on TV he always struck me as being a very gentle soul. Tortured and haunted by his past, I don't believe he ever found true happiness despite his wealth.

As for the allegations I don't really believe them - there are a lot of people out there looking to make a fast buck no matter who they drag through the dirt.

I only hope that he now finds the peace he was denied while on this planet.

RIP Michael.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:49 AM

50 years old. What a shame. I was in the doctor's waiting room last week reading an article on Lulu in SAGA magazine. To think we'll never see Michael Jackson on the front cover.

Seriously, though, it's very sad to contrast the 10-year old in the Jackson 5 with the rather pathetic figure he became, at least in the public arena. I wouldn't say it could only happen in America, but it certainly couldn't have happened anywhere else first.

As far as his personal life is concerned, we will probably never know the truth. There are probably too many people with a vested interest in their version of events. What seems likely, though, is that if any of the allegations were true a lot of people would have colluded in making it possible for these things to happen. I can't see any of them coming clean anytime soon.

One thing's for certain - my 9-year old will be gutted. And telling her that lots of people think he was a bad person won't make her feel any better.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: skarpi
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 08:59 AM

so he died .

so do many thousands of children every year , and still people
dont gather to their funaral or places where they die .

I dont think that he get a special floor in gods heaven just becouse he´s mr . Jackson .

sorry its just me , and I hope sometime soon I can do something
for those children out there , witch I feel so sorry for.

I know ABC , I will talk to them .

all the best Skarpi Iceland .
P.s

if you dont like what I wrote here , then tell me about it .

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Charley Noble
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 09:08 AM

There's a major problem when someone becomes such a celebrity. Not everyone can handle the attention and the inevitable distortion.

Whatever impact Jackson had on pop music made little impression on me but I certainly couldn't avoid hearing or reading about his "life story."

May he find some peace.

Charley Noble, who evidently feels a need to comment as well

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: glueman
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 09:10 AM

A gentle, misguided soul who became everyone's cash-cow for far too long. We were born two days apart but I never got to perform one of the best 4-square foot stompers ever made...

I Want You Back

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: ard mhacha
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 09:29 AM

Have to agree with you Skarpi, a weirdo child molester should have been put away years ago, the noise abatement society will not shed any tears, nor will I.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 10:23 AM

Shame for anyone who dies young. And their family more so. I was another who could not see the attraction but he obviously meant a lot to a lot of people. What is realy getting on my nerves is the talk that he was a victim. Many people suffered far worse than he did and have lived lives helping other people without seeking the attention he did. Talent? Yes. Even though I could not see it. Showman? Absolutely top notch but without realising that when you put your life on show you must expect people to take an interest. Even if it is not the sort you wanted. Child molester? I dunno. Never proven and I will give anyone the benefit of the doubt, but sharing a bed with children, no matter how innocently done, is far from normal behaviour.

All that said, I do hope his family, particulary his children, are shielded from the more obnoxious of our media. May he, and they, be in peace.

DeG

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Andy Jackson
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 10:45 AM

SKARPI: Yes many innocents die every day, but to mourn the passing of one individual shows our humanity and doesn't make the innoccents deaths any less important.

DeG: Yes many victims of abuse recover and lead meningful lives. One the other hand many VICTIMS do not and their life and those near them are blighted forever.

He was indeed "weird" towards the end, but mental instability manifests in many ways. He loved his children and they must be suffering dreadfully without seeing the dirt dug up again.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:11 AM

Bloody hell.

Anyone'd think he was a priest.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: katlaughing
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:12 AM


It's amazing somebody with absolutely everything could so totally and senselessly throw it away.

He certainly wasn't the only one to do so, as per earlier references to Elvis and others. Maybe it is they get burnt up too fast by the genius within. It would be a lot to handle for anyone in such short time spans.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:16 AM

Celebrity trials are such a circus. A Lab tech who testified in the O.J. Simpson trial was seen gushing and shaking O.J.'s hand after he left the witness stand. There were problems with the evidence, and after seeing that exchange, one wonders at the attention the lab paid to processing it correctly. As presented, it looks pretty clear O.J. did it and escaped that justice on a technicality. The following civil trial found him clearly guilty of the crime. Since then he has done nothing to redeem himself in the public eye.

The trial against Michael Jackson appears to have been an extortion scheme gone wrong, orchestrated by a mentally ill mother and her passive puppet child. Once it was picked up by the courts, they were working with hear-say and bad actors as if they were true evidence (The boy was old enough to understand the questions and be clear in his answers, but was never called to testify. Jackson's folks would have had to show that he was coerced, which might have been difficult to prove.) A civil trial never followed the criminal one because they clearly had no good case to pursue. He was making an effort to move past all of that and pick up his career. Too bad it was cut short. One hopes he found pleasure in his family, in raising his children, and that they can avoid the intense scrutiny that will be directed their way.

Michael Jackson's fans will push aside those of you who are doing your best to turn his death into one last indictment against him.

SRS

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 11:26 AM

Thanks, SRS.

Everybody should be aware that false accusations of child abuse are common. Whenever a person is accused of child abuse, our attitude should be "Let's wait and see what the facts show."

We should be especially cautious when greed or jealousy might be behind the accusation.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: The Sandman
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:12 PM

I dont think Jackson was a paedophile,I agree his behaviour was very unusual,has it never occurred to anyone,that he was trying to have some sort of child hood that he was never able to have,anyway innocent until proven guilty.
[imo]his music was crubbish

Subject: Abrazos: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: wysiwyg
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:15 PM

The Hug of the Week Award at OUR house goes to BARACK OBAMA-- the only Black Man I know of who could trump the incessant media drooling over the Jackson made-for-TV spectacle. Obama's on the teevee now-- making such SENSE, and about Iran of all things, that it stands as a living tribute and yardstick to Civil Rights. "Pick your cultural icon," he is NOT saying, but I am hearing. "Which one do you really want?"


Abrazos,

~Susan

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: GUEST
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:48 PM

Did he ever think back to this song, I wonder?


I Gotta Be Me on Youtube


Whether I'm right or whether I'm wrong
Whether I find a place in this world or never belong
I gotta be me, I've gotta be me
What else can I be but what I am

I want to live, not merely survive
And I won't give up this dream
Of life that keeps me alive
I gotta be me, I gotta be me
The dream that I see makes me what I am

That far-away prize, a world of success
Is waiting for me if I heed the call
I won't settle down, won't settle for less
As long as there's a chance that I can have it all

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I've gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I've gotta be me

I'll go it alone, that's how it must be
I can't be right for somebody else
If I'm not right for me
I gotta be free, I just gotta be free
Daring to try, to do it or die
I gotta be me

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Burke
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 12:52 PM

RIP.

His recent years have been so strange. Maybe now he'll become like Elvis, people will come to remember the early good part and forget or ignore the later.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: SINSULL
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 01:43 PM

There was a TV Special/documentary about Jackson while the paedophile charges were in the news. They followed him around (with his permission) as he "lived his life". One event stuck with me.

He went shopping in the tackiest crap store imaginable. The place was full of life size nudes and statues and gilded crap all imported from Italy. Michael went from piece to piece and asked the owner (sleeze personified) what it was called and how much it cost(owner always came back with a Greek name for the hideobilia). Then Jackson would say "I want two of those and one of these and do you have any more of those?" It was all pure crap.
Later in an interview the owner admitted his business had skyrocketed since Jackson stumbled in one day. The greedy little slimeball acted like a servant around Jackson and pushed all manner of junk his way. Jackson (and you could see he was trying to impress the camera with superb taste in art) bought it all. All that money and not a clue what had value. No taste whatsoever. It was very sad. Sadder too that there must have been a long line of creepy people ready to relieve him of his money.

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Pierre Le Chapeau
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:03 PM

I was no great fan of Michael Jackson"
but he was a great Showman and a great singer/songwriter. and will be sadly missed by his Fans and a great loss to the music world in general.
Shame his Heart attack was induced by his addiction to a drug.

May he rest in peace.
God bless him
Pierre

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:05 PM

Oh well. And so it goes. Threads like this on Mudsling often say more about ourselves - the posters - than the topic; such is the way of the world.

Meanwhile, on the subject of death: has anyone heard whether Neda's family have been allowed to see her body?

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Spot
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:49 PM

Allo everybody...

                Michael Jackson RIP.

He was everything I never wanted to be and so damned good at it!!

He was such a dancer. I canna dance for toffee.

I didn't particularly like what he did but he was an absolute master at it.

I can fully understand the high emotions of the fans. I openly shed tears at the passing of Derek Moffat of The McCalmans.... he was as big in my world as MJ was in his fans worlds.

I am upset that this has happpened. I'm sorry for his fans.

I'm also sorry his "private" life was a mess.It shouldn't have been.

                               Ok....Spot

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: Tim Leaning
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 02:53 PM

100 ?

Subject: RE: Obit: Michael Jackson -age 50- Jun 2009
From: michaelr
Date: 26 Jun 09 - 03:16 PM

The world is a less weird place.