This May Lose Me Some Friends

[poliphilo]

The music never dies. It goes on and on and on. Ad nauseum. Someone switch the bloody thing off.

Jackson's work is kitsch. Even the better stuff is slick and empty.

Fred Astaire said Jackson was the greatest dancer of the 20th century. I refuse to believe he meant it.

Bad? Not in the way he wanted us to think.

I find it shocking that people make excuses for Jackson that they wouldn't dream of making for other middle-aged men who like to share their beds with children.

By the time of his death he was a freeloading junkie who indulged himself in every little whim- but couldn't be bothered to pay his staff.

Celebrity turns men and women into monsters. The strong-minded get out before it destroys every last scrap of decency and truth.  Jackson wasn't strong-minded.

Comments

[oakmouse]

No unfriending here! I never "got" the Jackson phenomenon, but then I don't "get" pop music generally. I've always considered it the musical equivalent of the verses inside a greeting card, regardless of who the performer is: pallid, unmemorable, not worth bothering with. I found a couple of Jackson's songs tolerable to listen to, but no more.

He's seemed to me, for years, to be a profoundly troubled person who stumbled and fell under the twin burdens of child stardom (which seems to ruin nearly all those who experience it) and being a famous black man in a racist white society. He's not the first to have done so, nor will he be the last, I suspect.

I think he did have excuses made for him that would not have been made for anyone else. Equivalent to Jesus? Not even close (and I say that as a non-Christian). Tragic? Yes, but no more so than other people in a parallel situation; say, Gary Coleman, or Todd Bridges. Deserving of the incredible amounts of mixed tears and sticky sentimentality that are being poured out over his death? Not to me.

So thanks for having the guts to voice the other side of the coin.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Jackson's lyrics were peculiarly vacuuous. He had nothing to say and no skill with words. Like many pop stars he long outlived his slender talent. All this talk about about him being a genius annoys me because it's so obviously untrue.

Maybe he could have been a great dancer if his talent had been properly developed in that direction- if there'd been a bit more discipline in his life.

Thanks for your support. I thought I was going to cop a lot of flak- and there's been surprisingly little.

[oakmouse]

You're welcome!

Have you seen Jim Kunstler's response? http://www.kunstler.com/ and page down to the Daily Grunt for June 26, 2009.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

That's pretty good. I think I like this guy.

[oakmouse]

Apparently his weekly Clusterfuck Nation blog post is also about MJ (I haven't had a chance to read it yet) and is equally trenchant.

Kunstler is a bit of a curmudgeon, and he's not afraid to express his opinion honestly. Sometimes I disagree with him, but I appreciate his willingness to put himself out there.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think I need to bookmark him. I enjoy strong opinions.

[ingenious76.livejournal.com]

I'm not in the habit of defriending people because they have different views to me. Life would be very dull if we all thought the same, and kudos to you for writing this.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Cheers. I have chosen my LJ friends well. It seems to me that it's one of the strengths of LJ that it exposes us to view points we don't necessarily share.

[daisytells.livejournal.com]

Well, Tony, I think I made my feelings perfectly clear about MJ's demise and the publicity appertaining thereto. Ditto Elvis, Judy, Marilyn, and other such persons. I can enjoy some of their work, but certainly find none of them candidates for sainthood. In my opinion, Michael Jackson is hardly ideal icon material, and all this brouhaha makes me physically ill.
I also have other persons on my "anti-icon" list, among them former President Ronald Reagan, and there are still others. You get the idea.
I have not been watching TV at all since my neighbor Frankie told me that Jackson had died. I knew what was coming and did not wish to waste my time with it. Instead I have been enjoying DVD movies - old movies at that. I am also reading a couple of books, nothing deep, just for enjoyment.
I am surprised that there has been so much comment on LJ about MJ. For now I am mostly skimming over it, and maybe someday I will go back and read it thoroughly.
You have a friend here - for life, I hope. I find your posts very informative, well written, and most of the time you have something to say to me. I cannot imagine ever unfriending you.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

I thought I was going to catch a lot of flak for this post, but there's been very little negative feedback. I have chosen my friends well :)