“Jewels, I'd not have called that particular track of ICP's thrash metal. It's quite poppy, although some of their stuff is pretty thrashy. Have you ever heard Ramstein? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doTBT46wMvA “

Not knowing the words was driving me nuts but I liked the music. Words seem to mean a lot to me in a song. I didn’t think that ICP song was particularly thrash like either but until I was told that I don’t think I could have spotted thrash metal in a lineup. Hubby says he was exaggerating to annoy me… I am read like a book.

RobP, love love love Queen, it is my vacuuming music. Mopping the floor and I go for Faith No More.

“Max, this particular sock-puppet is a spectacularly dopey one, I agree. She was just the same in her previous incarnations. Some people are incapable of learning, the poor things.”

Anti for the love of god don’t go back to the NRL thread. Pop song for you and Max: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8ATwgpuXY and RobP as anyone who likes Freddy Mercury should enjoy Mika’s voice.

I wrote somewhere recently in reference to mr jackson that "the freak show is over". How wrong I was. His fans are an awful parody and the circus that was/is wacko jacko has only gotten more and more bizarre as every hour ticks by.
To all those praising his talent and musical genius I say look to Mr Quincy Jones. The real genius behind all those hit songs. A man unacknowledged and treated contemptuously by the gloved idiot and his supporters.
Let us not forget the media and their not so long ago feeding frenzy when mr jackson was accused of pedophilia. Now they laud him as a long held saint and the greatest deceased musician? (has anyone actually seen him play any instrument) since Elvis. Who can forget the images of his ugly botched plastic surgery. Gleefully bought to us (and lapped up by the public just as gleefully) by the same trash rags and vapid talking (air)heads that are now in raptures about how committed to him they have always been and how thriller has never been out of their cd players since the day they bought it.
Makes me want to vomit.

Michael Jackson according to Music Historian
Glen A. Baker:
"...was a remarkably instinctive and intuitive
performer. From the first time we saw him, he
was totally in command. He had such charm and
charisma; something about him was absolutely
compelling..."

"Remarkable though he was as a child, who would
have thought he'd grow up to make the biggest
selling album in the history of recorded music..."

Continues Glen:

"Michael Jackson was a remarkable innovator who
brought together disco and pop: he took white guitar
hard rock and black funk soul and wove them together
into music that was so popular, he broke down barriers.
Before him, MTV didn't play black acts, they thought
their audience was not interested in black music.
Michael Jackson changed all that, with one wave of
that white glove..."

Michael Jackson was never free of controversy - and
I guess that's why there's so much heated debate
about him now.

He may have sold 750 million albums and
had more No. 1 singles than any other male artist - its
the accusations of sexual abuse against him
(plus his later bizarre
physical appearance) that sullied his reputation,
and although he was acquitted of all charges - his
health and reputation never recovered.

To some, Michael Jackson will be a global superstar -
to others, he'll remain an enigma. It may be many years
before the truth about the man will be revealed.
(Or not). The cause of his death is still being investigated,
and its likely to be sometime before the toxicology
reports shed any light on what really happened.

In the meatime, as a poster stated - the circus goes on.

TS Elliot probably summed up Michael Jackson and much of our humanity in Preludes,

" I am moved by fancies that are curled,
Around these images and cling,
The notion of some infinitely gentle,
Some infinitely suffering thing."

There is a price for everything and most of us would not swap the fame,wealth,loneliness,pain and degradation that he endured in the end.It was a whimper and not a bang,unlike the exuberance of the Jackson Five.As a teenager Michael and his family were extremely good looking and talented.It did not have to end this way if Michael had listened to those who knew the reality.

Arjay - great opening post and ideas; I'm enjoying thinking about it -thank you.

I see we're sharing a few Utubes so here's a couple that I like:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxpblnsJEWM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1pgqOvLKh4

Anyway one of the things I see happening is a muddled commentary of loathing MJ for his personal quirks, lifestyle and alleged behaviours and assessing his music. People seem unable to separate the two.

I'm not a huge MJ fan, especially of his earlier work, but I am of Thriller and a few other pieces and I can see his genius. His dance, singing, lyrics and visuals are together like a sculpture.

Like Master I find the idea of being glad that someone has died repulsive. If MJ (who was by all accounts a peace loving, if naive, individual) can be the target of such vitriol, how much more hatred could be expressed for someone like Idi Amin ?

If you - whomever - don't/didn't like the guy change the damned channel.

I prefer the sentiments of John Donne, "No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main; if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind..."

Thanks to Michael for his gift to the world; RIP Michael.