Interesting article on MJ's career:

Jackson's racism claim sets career low
By Ben Rayner
Toronto Star


It was obvious to the casual observer years ago that Michael Jackson — Neverland rancher, bone collector, cosmetic-surgery enthusiast, friend to chimps and children — had lost it, but who could have predicted that he would continue losing it so spectacularly to this day?

Last week's tabloid tantrum over alleged mistreatment by his record company was it, though. Whatever creative and commercial heights he might have scaled in the past, the puttied grotesque now known even to the staid BBC as "Wacko Jacko" is done.

Assuming Jackson gets what he's after and disentangles himself from his contract with Sony Music — or vice versa, as music-industry scuttlebutt suggests — no right-thinking record exec is going to invest in attempting to resurrect the career of a surely certifiable loony recently given to parading about the streets of New York with a placard depicting his current boss as the devil.

Used to be Jackson was a reasonably pitiable figure, a victim of stardom who mythologized his own Peter Pan complex and his eerie affinity for the company of young children as attempts to reclaim a childhood stolen away by showbiz. The last vestiges of whatever approximation of a normal, private life vanished when Thriller put him on lunchboxes and pillowcases around the globe, and he has since become perhaps the most infamous example we have of a "prisoner of celebrity."

These days, however, Jackson just comes off as a spoiled, whiny has-been with serious delusions about his flagging cachet. To suggest Sony failed to adequately support his 2001 "comeback" stinker, Invincible, when the label reportedly spent as much as $65 million to make the record and promote it around the world, is one of the more ludicrous instances of artist blame-shifting in the history of popular music.

Everyone with even cursory access to the media was well aware that a new Michael Jackson record came out last year. Everyone stayed away because Jackson, for all his high-priced collaborators and perfectionist tendencies, couldn't muster one decent single to rope record buyers in and remind us that — before the allegations of child molestation, the oxygen suits and the wholesale bleaching and reconstruction of his features became something of a distraction — Freak Boy was a pretty good singer.

Jackson's tirades against Sony and its head honcho, Tommy Mottola, display an amount of ego and a sense of entitlement completely out of touch with the realities of the modern music industry. No one is selling records like they used to, and Invincible's performance — two million sold in North America, four million more overseas — would be fairly respectable were it not for the staggering price tag, the media's insistence on measuring the success of every Jackson album against the once-in-a-lifetime 45 million copies Thriller sold in 1982, and Jackson's craving for world domination. Remember, this is a man who dubbed himself the King of Pop.

And then it gets worse. The sight of a multi-millionaire pop star staging street protests because he has, according to numerous reports, pissed away his fortune and would like to sell a few more records is despicable enough. But Jackson's decision to air his petty gripes during an otherwise legitimate forum on minorities in the music industry, hosted by black activist Rev. Al Sharpton, is pure, hateful, race-baiting opportunism.

"If you fight for me, you're fighting for all black people, dead and alive," he announced in Manhattan. "We have to put a stop to this incredible injustice."

Is Jackson — who's spent the past 15 years slowly morphing into a white woman — really self-absorbed enough to cast his personal crusade for a couple more platinum awards as a race issue? Or is he so deluded that he actually believes the tripe he spewed in New York last week about being the victim of a racially motivated "conspiracy" to destroy his career that began when he usurped Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the planet's biggest-selling artist? Either way, with those words a new low in making excuses for one's artistic shortcomings has been set.

Enough already. If ever there was an argument against pushing your children into the entertainment industry, it's right here.

I'm the first to admit that MJ is a crazy freak, but putting this up will only hurt the feelings of any of his fans that frequent this site.

and...?

they make us miserable by bringing the MJ shit here in the first place...

twonabomber said:

theC
AMEN

theC said:

I say AMEN to that 2!!!

Every article, that makes MJ looks bad is a good article.

sorry - didn't mean to offend anyone - if you want to read what the music industry is saying about MJ, velvetrope.com have a great news thread on the subject - great site as well btw...

twonabomber said:

I know there are a few MJ fans who constantly start new mj related threads but most threads i have read were started by people who are not mj fans. Personally i dont see the point of starting an MJ thread on a Prince board, especially MJ questions, unless the poster honestly believes that a Prince fan may find it of interest or if they believe that someone can answer their question just as well or better than an mj fan.

"It was obvious to the casual observer years ago that Michael Jackson — Neverland rancher, bone collector, cosmetic-surgery enthusiast, friend to chimps and children — had lost it, but who could have predicted that he would continue losing it so spectacularly to this day? "--

Shane thanks for posting this...had me rolling on the floor.