TonyVanDam said:

Militant said:

We were discussing the UK channel, "The Box"....nothing to with what you're talking about.

This isn't the first time the two "Boxes" were confused with each other. My apologies.

LOL, no worries man.

Graycap23 said:

HuMpThAnG said:

Life was never the same once brotha' man put that hat on his head

This performance did it....yup

I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I saw this.

Not only was I blown away, I remember thinking 2 myself, "That was thee BEST performance I've ever seen on television".

We were all just sort of speechless after that.

the funny thing is, i don't. i don't even remember seeing this performance... even though i KNOW i watched motown 25 when it came on. i actually remember the supremes performance more, oddly enough.

go2theMax said:

novabrkr said:

There were millions of people of all ages that played his music all the time in their houses. Not everyone had an access to video channels in the 1980s, because you had to have cable TV. In fact, I didn't see "Thriller" myself until 1993. I think it's fair to say that his music - the melodies, the rhythms, what was essential MJ'ish about them - made a huge impact on people. It shaped up people's tastes and even the way they perceive music in general.

A senior musicologist once told me that he had traveled to the deepest of Amazon to make recordings of the songs the shamans living there were using during their rituals. To his amazement he found out that many of the songs were songs by Michael Jackson, but they had just changed the words. I'm pretty sure those guys didn't have cable TV.

oooooh...funny how people made these things up...in this case it's easy becuz it's hard 4 general people 2 check it out. I've worked in "the deepest amazon" 4 9 years with almost evey tribe there in a Medical Care program 4 natives and I can tell u, they have their own culture, and it's very rich and unique. It's been explored be4 for bands like Sepultura, a brazilian metal band in their best album called "Roots". I can tell u 4 sure, there's no MJ influence in those tribes...I actually laughed my ass out when I read that. But, that doesn't mean that MJ didn't have a great impact on the music/culture though, I believe that he did.

P.S.: oh, and I'm not saying that U novabrkr made it up...but whoever who told U, just 2 let it clear...not personal.

[Edited 4/5/11 8:38am]

Let me start out my response to you by stating that I find the tone of your comment childish. Perhaps you don't speak English too well, but the way you express yourself doesn't really make want to take your comment too seriously. You seem to have some insight on the issue, but that's not the way to lend it any credibility.

This was a musicologist trained in ethnomusicology and his research on the field has been well established. He is from South America himself and he has very little interest in Western pop music. He expressed personal disdain for what he had witnessed and and used it as an example of how Western culture has invaded everywhere and transformed indigenous habits. His comments certainly weren't meant to flatter Michael Jackson and it was clear that he wasn't a fan of his music to any degree. I'd take it that the individuals he stayed with had heard other type of pop music as well, but had taken a specific liking to Michael Jackson's songs. If I recall correctly, the shaman he was talking about in this case had acquired a tape player or a radio of some sort and was running it on batteries. My memory of the details of the story is getting even hazier here, but I think he sometimes made trips to towns to acquire whatever he needed for his rituals. Melodies from pop music being incorporated into indigenous music is nothing new on its own right though. It has happened everywhere.

Unless you are a musicologist yourself and have done similar research I'd strongly advise you to refrain making such comments. You can't have extensive knowledge on the issue by simply working on a Medical Care program. I don't know the exact geographical location this researcher was staying, so it's of course possible that these tribes weren't living as far removed from the more populated areas than some others. The expression I used myself, "the deepest of amazon", might have been an exaggeration in that respect. I didn't think the actual "depth" would matter that much when commenting on this very thread. It's just the absurdity of the anecdote that has made me bring it up on some occasions.