I'm starting to believe that's a destination; the next step in life once you get that title.
It seems we're living in a world where people build you up just so they can break you down. No one has ever really come back to the level that got them there in the first place.
So I ask you, was there a stage left big enough for Mike to moonwalk on that would have satisfied the hunger of someone who is beyond great? Honestly, I don't think so. I said it plenty of times to every artist I've worked with: if I were to produce a record that sold over 40 million, you people would never see me again in that light. Cause, after all the applause, award winning and love comes the hate, in all forms, sizes and shapes, and you can only ignore it for so long before the competitor in you is awakened. After a while, that hate starts making you think it's possible to outdo what's already been done. Mike had already achieved something that no one else could. That was his destiny.
When the media first started reporting on his death I was in New York. The minute I heard the news I was on the plane LA. As soon as I touched down the coverage started blowing up, and in all those reports they talked about "Thriller" being the biggest-selling album ever, then jumped right to, "But after that, he could never seem to top that and his legal problems, etc, etc."
First off, no one; I repeat NO ONE, has topped that and never will!!! Even in death he's done something no other artist has done before: He broke records by being the first artist eva to sell 2.5 million downloaded songs, and counting! As of today, he owns the entire top nine positions on Billboard's Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. No artist living today can match that.
But back to my original point: This being a world-stopping moment, I got a chance to view this world I live in for what it really is. I've felt that pressure cooker that the public puts you through when you've achieved a certain level of success and no one gives you props for what you've already done. Instead, they say, "So, whatchu got for us now? What's next?"
Don't let that small mindset take away from what a great artist has already given us. No one can touch what he did. We were blessed to have someone with his incredible talent living among us. God put Mike here to do what he did and wasn't gonna allow the devil and his helpers to destroy something so beautiful. He put him on the biggest stage of all. The whole world loved Mike, and Mike gave that love for his fans back tenfold. No one, not even President Obama, can top that.
Quincy Jones said it all the other day in his tribute to Mike on a blog post for the Los Angeles Times.
"This blessed artist commanded the stage with the grace of an antelope, shattered recording industry records and broke down cultural boundaries around the world, yet remained the gentlest of souls. Michael Jackson was a different kind of entertainer. A man-child in many ways, he was beyond professional and dedicated. Evoking Fred Astaire, Sammy Davis Jr. and James Brown all at once, he'd work for hours, perfecting every kick, gesture and movement so that they came together precisely the way they were intended to. Together we shared the '80s, achieving heights that I can humbly say may never be reached again and reshaped the music business forever."
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Charlie Gibson, next day morning said of Jackson, being the most famous person in the world....
Otherwise this online post is becoming a tabloid journal at its worst !
Outside it is different, today I went to Target and purchased two of the DVD available for $ 9.99....ea
It would be a treasure.
http://www
I guess you haven't been following politics before President Obama was elected.
George Bush is the most disrespect
Barack Obama is well respected and widely respected. Were you expecting pyramids to be constructe
I hope you teach your children better because "you people" have continued your hatred of people of color for too many years. Slavery is over, homey. We got this now.
The fact of the matter is: it was still pop music. And no amount of browbeatin
Unfortunat
I think that what he could have done, was to reinvent himself, rather than outdo himself, and in turn would have kept us, the public, guessing. Perhaps it wouldn't have sold as many records, but it would have made him stand somewhat above it all. Had he cared a little less...
I find it a bit hard to swallow, to see how the media still mistreats him and the memory of him. A man is innocent until proven guilty, unless you're famous, it seems.
I'm still fairly sure OJ did murder his ex wife. Only the LAPD did a marvellous job at messing up the evidence, crime scene and what not, which in turn gave him a "get-out-o
It is however most true, generally speaking, and something I would never deny, that minorities get treated most unfairly by the legal system in the US. Noone can dispute that!
(There is, however, a danger in seeing that in anything, and everything
His counter- tenor-ish quasi castr.ato singing had zero influence on folk, jazz, rock or contempora