God I feel old.

bboy87 said:

Let me add some too:















[Edited 12/2/07 0:52am]

25 yrs. to life.

My Body just got ruled
Kind of like a fist on the road
One more body for your car"

lowkey said:

You can tell those that were either too young or not around during the Thriller era; their ones that believe that Thriller was just big in America, or that the most exciting era was Bad. Bad was the most hyped up era.

I was listening to a documentary about the Thriller era over the net yesterday, and one of the things which was said is that Thriller was released with very little fanfare and look what it generated. You can't say that Bad, Dangerous and History were release with little fanfare and they didn't garner half the excitement that Thriller did.
[Edited 12/2/07 3:31am]

amit1234 said:

Go listen to any Maroon 5 record, and you'll hear someone who sounds much more like JT than Michael does. But it's good that you're so proud of Mike's influence on that musical genius known as Dustbin Timberfake. Who wouldn't be proud to have inspired the great man himself?

CUT THE CONDESCENDING CRAP

You hadn't explained yourself adequately in your earlier posts and you've only managed to clear things up a little this time. Let me b r e a k this down:

YOU: MJ's influence can't be heard in today's music; and he never had a unique sound.

ME: Wrong, his influence can be heard strongly through the likes of Timberlake; and he created a unique sound for HIStory.

YOU: Timberlake! That's a LEGACY to be proud of.

...OOPS! Looks like YOU is confusing legacy with influence here. Let's continue...

YOU: And HIStory had zero impact on the music industry.

...Here's where YOU lost it. ME had given an example of a MJ creating a unique sound but instead YOU began wittering on about HIStory's legacy, which really wasn't the point. Perhaps YOU was woefully confused. Keep reading...

YOU (again): Anyway, his LEGACY rests in his earlier albums.

ME (now muddled by YOU's logic): Right... so, what... what your point again?

Thanks for cleraing things up, midnightmover.

midnightmover said:

midnightmover said:

Yes, we do! We always spoil the fun, when it comes to Michael!

I was 15 when this cd came out. I remember liking, "Wanna be starting something", "Baby be mine", "Human Nature" and "Lady in my life". I also remember thinking just how contrived the album sounded, compared to "Off the wall". Thriller sounded like they were trying too hard to make a hit. "Off the wall", sounded like alot of fun and it showed. Years later, I have often wondered just how "Thriller", could have become the best selling album in history, when in my opinion it certain wasn't MJ's best album.

maroon 5 said in an interview that when they were recording their current album,they were inspired by motown, disco and 80's pop/rock, and listed mj's off the wall as one of their inspirations. Take that!

shorttrini said:

More promotion, more commercial push, the "moonwalk", the videos, all of that played an important role in "Thriller"'s sales. Michael released "Off the Wall" with sheer determination to prove himself and he did, it "just wasn't good enough" for him, that's why he went over the tilt with "Thriller".

Timmy84 said:

I also read that MJ created Thriller specifically with the goal of making it the best-selling album in the world. What determination! What drive!

Rodya24 said:

That's precisely the point he wanted to make anyways and he did that. I think he realizes he can't top it but he's done well for himself, ya know? Having an album sell between 70-100 million (depending on who you believe) is incredible because you know you made your greatest impact.

Rodya24 said:

"Thriller", was more a curse than it was a blessing. I say this because, everything that he has done after it, was done with the intention of topping the success of Thriller. I wonder if he were to really sit and look back, would he have done everything the same way?

shorttrini said:

I've always said that album was as much of a curse as it is a blessing but yeah I think you got a point there about the albums afterward. When you have the biggest-selling album in the world and you are the biggest-selling artist in the world (according to his people, lol), you try to get bigger and bigger and when things don't go the way you wanted, you get frustrated but I think Michael is starting to realize that if he didn't earlier.

Timmy84 said:

Whatever its impact might have been on MJ himself as a man and an artist, what I am grateful for is that it opened the doors for A LOT of other artists. Moreover, how often in history has a non-white person been that much loved and adored around the world like MJ was during the Thriller era? Not often. For that I am grateful for Thriller.
[Edited 12/2/07 8:59am]

Rodya24 said:

The ironic thing about that is this, MJ seems to be more acepted overseas than he is here in the states, especially by his own people. So, that impact that he has had can also be looked at as a curse. I say this because his behavior or should I say lack of it has been looked at very differently between the different races and different cultures. The people abroad seem to be more forgiving of his antics and lifestyle and just care about his music.Whereas, we here in the states, look at his actions as weird and just plain, off the wall, (no pun intended) and most of the time we let that overshadow the music that he has made.

shorttrini said:

I believe Thriller sounded alot more contrieved than Off The Wall but compared to subsequent albums it sounds organic! If you listen to Bad, Dangerous and History you can actually hear him trying too hard on the songs. At least with Thriller you can actually see there was lots of experimenting going on. With Bad he takes the same formula but over does it completely.
[Edited 12/2/07 9:29am]

papaaisaway said:

This is so boring. Let me just clarify something though. History is the only album on which MJ dictated the sound, except for the J&L and R. Kelly tracks, and I hate to break it to you, but that sound was utterly generic. Tell me what there is in the arrangements of "This Time Around", or "Money" that you think is unique to Michael. With Prince, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, The Beatles, you can pinpoint elements which they brought to the table and define what we think of as their sound. You can't say that about MJ. He simply does not belong in that category of musician. That's not taking anything away from him, but it's just being realistic. Also, when people speak of Jacko's music now they're referring to the Quincy produced stuff. Only major fans still care about History or even Dangerous. In fact his tracks with his brothers like "Blame It On The Boogie" are now far more widely known and respected than even the biggest hits on History.

P.S. He did occasionally do more experimental sounding tracks like TDCAU, but take Michael's voice off that and there's not much of interest there. Judged strictly as a producer Mike was good, but limited.
[Edited 12/2/07 9:27am]

When it comes to tracks like "Money", it might not have been a new sound to us, but it was a NEW sound for Michael. "Money" had more of a "street", hip-hop vibe to it. As for this time around, he used one of the biggest rapper if not the best of that time, Biggie. This was something that was unheard of when it came to Michael. Up until that point, the most edgy thing that he did was using his own heartbeat for "Smooth Criminal". So, I would have to say I disagree with you when you say that it was not unique to Michael, becuase it was.

HIStory had some good moments but if you don't like too many genres or don't like the way he sounded on the record, it was definitely not an album that you'd enjoy. I loved TDCAU too. Still do. I think the MAIN reason people dig HIStory is because Michael called one of his songs on there the most autobiographical piece of music he ever recorded and that if you hate it, you either don't like music or don't like Michael, at least that's how SOME people would look at it.

Least with Thriller, you can find something that pertained to you as well as the artist itself. Like "Billie Jean", everybody has been accused either rightly so or unfairly by women who say a man is her son or daughter's father (matter of fact I blame "Billie Jean" for the "You Are Not the Father" shows ). "Beat It" - everybody has gone through a situation where they've been coerced into a fight and sometimes the best defense is no offense. "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" - everybody have heard rumors being spread around the bend. "The Girl Is Mine" - a lot of guys do be fighting over girls now, lol. "Human Nature", I think, is about personal liberation to be yourself rather than be what people make you and when you do something they deem outrageous, you just put it up to 'human nature'. Everybody has known of a "P.Y.T." and "The Lady in My Life". "Baby Be Mine", you could be talking to a girl that you wanted to be yours but was too scared to until you finally decide to speak up. The only song in the album that wasn't as personally related was "Thriller" but if you think it's personal than make it how you want it.

With "HIStory", it was more about what HE was going through and while that's good and all, I think it turned people off from Michael because they were used to Michael singing about personal stuff that mattered to them.

"Off the Wall" is still the ultimate Michael Jackson album in terms of sound quality, the joy you can hear in Michael's voice and the instrumentalists, and the sheer overall talent of Michael Jackson was revealed in many ways on "Off the Wall". You saw Mike the dancing machine, Mike the lover man, Mike the begotten lover and Mike the hard-at-work man who's fed up and wants to leave his cares behind. That's the "Michael I miss". I love Michael but damn, back in the '70s, he could do no wrong and he didn't do wrong in "Thriller" either. That album does stick out for a reason even after 25 years.

shorttrini said:

This really has nothing to do with my post. I'm talking about distinctive elements in Mike's production that distinguish it. There is nothing distinctive in the arrangement of "Money". Who cares if it was new to him? The Rodney Jerkins beats on Invincible were new to him too. What does that have to do with him having a distinctive sound?
[Edited 12/2/07 9:45am]

midnightmover said:

Good but limited? you obviously don't know what you are talking about,some of you guys need a reality check, stop treating MJ like a puppet who has a zero talent when he is in the studio, I don't care what anyone says MJ was at his peak as songwriter during the History era and prime example is stranger in moscow , check the lyrics and the melody , MJ created and prodcued this tune,the lyrics , the beat and melody and sorry to this to you but a limited producer would never produce a track like this ,Stanger in moscow is the best Mj's song, lyricaly its his most complex work...Not to mention the unquie beat and composition of TDCAU..I say that History is Mj's most artistic album ,its a shame that his works after thriller especially history are overlooked.
[Edited 12/2/07 9:45am]

midnightmover said:

For some reason the music of "Money" reminded me of one of his songs from "Bad". He just never "rapped" before, that was the difference... well... I wouldn't necessarily call "Money" a "rap" song, it sounded more "spoken word" than anything else but Wikipedia called it a "rap" song. So the only thing unique was Michael speaking the lyrics rather than singing it. And Invincible was so 1999 but I still enjoyed some of the songs on there.

seeingvoices12 said:

Stanger in Moscow was a beautiful song, both lyrically and vocally. Unfortunatley, by the time History came along classics like Stranger in Moscow were far and few between. I guess if you were hang up on Michael personal problems you probably think History was a brilliant album, otherwise it was on the bland side.
[Edited 12/2/07 11:23am]

whatsgoingon said:

I loved that song now but I'm gonna be honest when I first heard it, I was like "WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS!?! 'Stranger in Moscow'? Is he fucking kidding me?!" But I got what it meant and I like it. But he should've called it "Stranger in Harlem". Just playing.

Timmy84 said:

Do you the story behind the song? I think the story makes the song much more meaningful. I love both the song and the music video.

seeingvoices12 said:

The beat on TDCAU was cool, although it could have used some beefing up sonically. The track would also have really benefited from an outside producer adding some extra touches and making it sound bigger. Still, Mike's voice and lyrics work well over the army beat. SIM is one of his best songs, but it would have been even better if he'd had an outside producer to give it some more organic touches. Again, I feel Mike knows how to lay down the essential elements and of course his voice can make anything sound good, but he's best when working with a serious producer who can flesh it out and beef it up. Please understand, I'm not talking about songwriting here, so melodies and lyrics are not the issue. I'm talking about production. The History tracks sound small.

Rodya24 said:

Yeah I did. Remember I didn't get the internet until 2002. So when I finally saw what Michael had to say about it, I finally understood it.

midnightmover said:

I understand what you are writing: that Michael Jackson is a good producer but other producers often bring out the best in him and his songs. It makes sense.