Michael Jackson rushed to hospital - He was not breathing / Michael Jackson is dead

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I think you can tell the age of people by posting in this thread. If anyone gets my drift. :wink:

Absolutely. When I first heard the news (some random guy told me on the street as I cycled home yesterday), until I turned on the telly a half hour later, all I could think of was the music, the videos, the 80s MJ, the glove and posters on my walls, etc. I only remembered the *other* stuff when I was reminded of it later on the news.
 
It's interesting that he was such a phenomenon through different eras.

It's kind of like "Grease." I mean, that was popular when I was in junior high, even though it had come out years earlier. And then as I get older, I still see the same age group discover and love it.

Same as with MJ. I've seen tributes from those who watched him grow up, then my age group, who were just getting into music when Thriller came out, and then people younger than I am, who got into him as young people, even though his output had slowed down and he wasn't necessarily as huge as he was in the early-mid 80s.
 
^ I wasn't born until a year after Bad came out, and my earliest memories of him are the first trial. I was around 5 when that happened. I remember my mom and dad often talking about how weird he was now and how they missed the Michael Jackson of the 80s and even just a couple years earlier, but they didn't think he actually hurt a child. They played his music a lot, and I've loved it from the time I was little. Fast forward to 2005 when the second trial and accusations began. I was 17 and had seen the Martin Bashir documentary a couple years prior. When I watched it I realized how sick mentally Michael was, but it was easy to see why he was that way. I still didn't and don't believe he ever did anything inappropriate to children. It's always been about the music for me, even though I wasn't alive during the phenomenon that was Michael Jackson. I know a lot of my friends who are all my age or right around it, tend to know more about the freak show Michael's life became thanks to to scrutiny and the media, but all of them will still get up and dance if someone throws a song on. So, while I think age definitely has much to do with the biggest perception some might have of him, in the end it's his music that will stand the test of time. Even people my age that tend to make fun of the plastic surgery, the child rumors, and whatnot forget about all that the minute "Billie Jean" comes on, for example. That to me, is the genius of Michael and that will be his legacy.
 
...who got into him as young people, even though his output had slowed down and he wasn't necessarily as huge as he was in the early-mid 80s.

:wave:

My parents, specifically my mom, were huuuge 80s fans. Of anything '80s. I remember jamming to Rick Astley (way before /b/ found out about him and Never Gonna Give You Up) on the way to elementary school. I rejected freestyle and Miami bass and thrived on Madonna, Michael and '80s one-hit wonders. No wonder kids made fun of me when I couldn't identify the members of TLC, but could sing Tears for Fears at the drop of a hat!
First cassette, however: Duran Duran. :heart::heart::heart:
 
Just wanted to give a big :hug: to all who have shared their personal memories over the last few hours. Mark - I never realized (or maybe forgot) that your first live experience was the Jacksons - HeartlandGirl, JanuaryStar, Elizabeth, Lila, VP, U2isthebest, MrPryck2U, Katherine, all of ya...and especially thatsnotmypuppy who was open to admit as a grown man tearing up a bit:

:hug:

Cause in reality some/most of us aren't simply anonymous posters...we're real people some of us who know each other in real life also who were really touched for the better part of their lives by the brilliant, special, and tragically conflicted genius who was Michael Jackson. Michael truly did make the world a better place by giving us a gift that will last forever: the gift of amazing music. :up:

This. :hug:

Just a few thoughts from me [...]

Tonight I had a ticket to see Simon and Garfunkel at Rod Laver Arena here in Melbourne. I didn't feel like going - but wasn't going to throw away a ticket. The show was good - and then Art Garfunkel did a solo set. He sang 'Bright Eyes'. At the end of the song he sat on his stool, put his head down and said "That was for Michael - and all the broken hearts in the room tonight '. Again I was a mess. And the huge cheer of approval is something that will stay with me forever. At the end of the show as they started 'Bridge Over Troubled Water' Paul Simon stated "I sing to heaven tonight". The roar at the end of that song was one of the loudest roars I ever heard.

I'm sorry this went on for so long - but I felt I needed to share and put this out there. Tonight I'll go to sleep listening to 'Bad' and hope that whatever version of heaven exists there is room for Michael Jackson.

I think you've put your emotions/thoughts in words very well. Especially this last bit really got to me. You must have had such a strange and mixed feeling being at that concert. And that last sentence, I strongly agree with you :hug:
 
First cassette, however: Duran Duran. :heart::heart::heart:

Duran Duran - the real loves of my teenaged life!

Michael Jackson was my first musical love. Then came Prince (my parents were less than thrilled :lol: ), and then Duran Duran, and that was The Big Teenaged Obsession.
 
First record I bought as a kid with my own money was The Jackson Five's 3rd album. I grew up watching MJ grow up. I used to try to do his dance moves on the front porch when no one was looking. :sad:
 
Mine actually snapped (the actual tape) close to the beginning of The Girl Is Mine and I carefully spliced it back together with scotch tape...I think it was cause I would always rewind back to Wanna Be Startin Something so many times
:lol:

:hmm:

This reminded me of a video copy of "Fast Times At Tidgemont High" I had, the Phoebe Cates part :shifty: .....that part was rewinded to many times and the tracking was off. :shifty:
 
I absolutely do not believe anything about being anywhere close to reunion with the Beatles

I agree - I went through a big John Lennon kick last year and read many books on him and not one of them even hints at this, in fact, it was usually the opposite - reuniting with the Beatles was the last thing he wanted to do.
 
damn people

who the hell cares if I get a nickname of MJ in MSN Messenger?
why the hell do you ask me if I'm mourning him?
what the hell do you care?
why do you say "I'm happy, he was a pedophile"?

I hope my "friends" parents, never kill anybody, and then,m when they die somebody comes an tell them "good, he was a murderer"



whatever Michael was... he still meant A LOT to millions of people


RIP, you damn entertainment genius :cute:
 
First record I bought as a kid with my own money was The Jackson Five's 3rd album. I grew up watching MJ grow up. I used to try to do his dance moves on the front porch when no one was looking. :sad:



When I was 5 or 6, my mom took me to Zody's to by a 45 of ABC (could that sentence be any more 70's?)

I also remember having a brutal argument with some neighbor kids over who was better, the Jackson 5 or the Osmonds! :lol:
 
Considering the 2 were big rivals in the 80's and very early 90's, I wonder if they've gotten a statement from Prince. If it weren't for Mike, Prince wouldn't have been on MTV.

I like Michael's music, but lets be clear here. A 45 year old man sleeping in the same bed with a child that is not his son or daughter or even a relative is ... inappropriate to say the least. I realize he was a manchild and all, but Michael should NOT have been doing this.


Now, that he's gone, I will choose to remember his music and his dancing and forget about his personal shortcomings.
 
When I was 5 or 6, my mom took me to Zody's to by a 45 of ABC (could that sentence be any more 70's?)

I also remember having a brutal argument with some neighbor kids over who was better, the Jackson 5 or the Osmonds! :lol:

Oh dear lord, The Osmonds were so white bread they made the Jackson 5 look like Zeppelin.:lol:
 
I'm pretty sure when most people hear "MJ" they think of

jordan%20(api.ning.com).jpg

You're kidding, right? Maybe some in the United States but not outside your borders.
 
I think it's because Farrah Fawcett and Ed McMahon never had the air of immortality that Michael Jackson had and that the few other celebrities of Michael Jackson's stature have. Michael Jackson is looked at as a god in the music business, despite his personal eccentricities and shortcomings, and gods don't die.

Farrah Fawcett's story, on the other hand, was the exact opposite - hers was a story about her mortality, about her fight with her disease, and the strength, courage, and love that she exuded in that fight, and how her illness and Ryan O'Neal's illness brought them back together and their love, and what a beautiful and loving and optimistic person she was.

Ed McMahon was loved for his kind, jovial, and inherently warm nature, for making people laugh with Johnny Carson every night for three decades and for his own infectious laugh, for being a comforting personality, like Johnny, for people to watch every night for those three decades. These are very human characteristics and attributes.

But neither were ever seen as this god-like figure the way Michael Jackson has been for decades.

I think you missed the point of my original question.
 
I also remember having a brutal argument with some neighbor kids over who was better, the Jackson 5 or the Osmonds! :lol:

Back then the parallels were uncanny, 5 brothers, the youngest (until Jimmy tried to join the OB's)with the most talent, both on Saturday morning cartoons, and later a sister (or 2 if you count Latoya) getting into the business.

The big difference seems to be in family upbringing. The Mormon Osmonds have had a few issues, but are all pretty much OK, whereas controlling/domineering Joseph Jackson may have had a hand in Michael reaching much greater heights of success and fame, but look at the price.
 
Michael Jordan is the MOST recognizable athlete on the planet, next to Muhammed Ali. :shrug:

Not to argue but I think her point is that in say Australia or Japan or Europe, if someone used the initials MJ in a sentence about a famous person, the first name that comes to mind would be Michael Jackson. And she's absolutely right, but I'll let our friends in other countries concur (or correct) on that.
 
When I hear "MJ" I assume someone's talking to me. Those are my initials and I have been called "MJ" by a handful of people my whole life, lol.
 
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