squiddyren said:

Hell, yeah! That introduction made me a fan again. I'd almost forgotten how awesome his videos have been over the years. I'm going to be watching MJ videos on Youtube for the rest of the day now. That man has put out some of the best music videos in history IMO.

b3xy said:

OMG!!!! Thank you so very much for posting! That was so sweet of you! Much appreciated!!!!

That intro video was awesome! He looked pretty good and relaxed - a bit like the History era.

Its a shame he keeps going on about Thriller and its sales, if he just focused on the music without trying to be too commercial I'm sure the result would be good.

DarlingDiana said:

see you in november 2020 then, I definitely won't be surprised if the new material doesn't come out this year, though it would be dumb not to release it.

HamsterHuey said:

That's not a hard thing to do. You're talking about the most exciting performer to ever set foot on a stage. Any fool could make a great compilation out of old MJ footage.

alphastreet said:

I agree. I'm not expecting anything more from MJ this year other than the release of Thriller 25 and some appearances. Not shows. (There is a difference...)

bboy87 said:

Translation:

In the 2000s we've gotten

-Crap album
-Crap R. Kelly song with Michael singing on it
-Leftovers
-Leftovers
-Leftovers
-Leftovers
-Leftovers

DarlingDiana said:

You have no way of knowing that.

Vanilli said:

Mike is quite possibly gonna be playing the 02 this summer (for quite a hefty pay packet). I've already advised some curious friends of mine not to go. They say they just want to be able to say they've seen him, but after I gave them the low-down on what to expect, they're thinking about saving their money.

estelle81 said:

I know what you mean. His music videos (official and fan-made) on YouTube are addicting. I have spent a lot of time watching them when I should have been doing my homework!

that. mans. face. is. scary .

I noticed that here in USA, "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" is Number 34 on the most downloaded songs. It is also his most downloaded track to date.

That is really good considering...no promotion, no single, no music video, no live appearances, etc.

I'm hoping after the Grammy Awards, if MJ shows...it will be top 10. We'll see.
[Edited 1/27/08 7:46am]

oh yeah and you forgot to mention that mess We Be Ballin with shaquille o neal from 2005, ughhhh

midnightmover said:

Right, and while I love some of those leftovers ("Monkey Business" is one of my favorite MJ tracks of all time.) It is like, the "un-official leaks" had NOTHING to do with MJ.

A fanclub bought the rare MJ "Dangerous" 2 disc special edition, and decided to release the tracks, "She Got It" "Happy Birthday Lisa" and "Work That Body."

As for "Love Never Felt So Good" and "No Friend of Mine." Michael's spokesperson never even bothered to confirm it was MJ. As for the former, something tells me an engineer put it out.

So all Michael has given us is:
A crappy album
A great box-set
Thriller 25 (Coming soon.)

The new album will kinda be the tell-all for me. Here is to hoping for...

HIStory (Book 2)

Vanilli said:

That so-called crap of an album had several fantastic songs on it. Even old school MJ fans who have long been ex-fans loved "Break of Dawn," "Heaven Can Wait," "Butterflies," and "Whatever Happens."
[Edited 1/27/08 8:45am]

Rodya24 said:

2 words:
2000 Watts

Case closed

Vanilli said:

I disagree. Some people hate that song, but others think it is fantastic. Check out Robert Christgau's (a well-known rock critic who is a huge Prince fan) review of Invincible.

Rodya24 said:

How is Robert Christgau's opinion of "Invincible" gonna change anything? He didn't like many of Marvin, Donny and Curtis' albums only giving the slight edge to Marvin in that regards.

Break of Dawn >>>>>2000 Low Watts.

Timmy84 said:

Well, that just proves my point.

No one is universally loved. No one piece of art is universally acclaimed. You cannot satisfy everyone.

And Christgau did not argue that 2000 Watts is better than Break of Dawn. Quite the contrary.
[Edited 1/27/08 9:17am]

I don't know why people are singling out "2000 Watts" particularly. "Privacy" and "Threatened" are by far some of the worse things I've ever heard Michael sing, and most of the ballads on that album were generic in the extreme. By contrast "2000 Watts" sounds like "All Along The Watchtower". Most of the songs on that album you can imagine any random R&B artist of the time singing. The same could not have been said of classic Michael like "Billie Jean" or "Who Is It?".

midnightmover said:

He should never had recorded "Privacy" or "You Are My Life." *shudders* Two of the worst songs he ever recorded.

midnightmover said:

Whuuuuut? I'm sure you mean to make it seem LIKE "...The Watchtower" COMPARED to the other songs...right? But I agree, some of the ballads were ecch! And I agree about the songs you chose, lol.

If you're gonna make an album, don't make an assumption that it's like a past album and then it comes out and it sounds like a random R&B album, lol. Because mostly that's what ends up happening.
[Edited 1/27/08 9:27am]

Rodya24 said:

I like SOME of the stuff on Invincible, but I'd say 60% of it is garbage. It isn't that I don't like Michael, and I hate it when a lot of fans have this attitude, "If you don't like Invincible, you don't like Michael." That is some lame-o shit.

I remember the day I bought Invincible. I had high hopes for that record. "You Rock My World" was (second to "Scream") my favorite debut single in Michael's history. I loved it. I still do.

Then I got the album, and it kinda went like this, it had ups and downs. For me a listener, every album since Thriller, I've liked EVERY song. The words MJ and filler didn't go together. (Say what you will but I love "Childhood" and "Little Susie.")

Here is MY breakdown of Invincible


GREAT
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Speechless
Cry
Whatever Happens


TOLERABLE/BORDER-LINE CRAP
Unbreakable
Invincible
Break Of Dawn
You Are My Life
Privacy
Threatened



CRAP
Heartbreaker
Heaven Can Wait
2000 Watts
Don't Walk Away (Did this slow ass shit really get an appreciation thread on the org? What the hell?)
The Lost Children

Now for any other artist, that would make for a pretty decent record. But for me, MJ's albums have in the past, been EVERY song in the GREAT category. With this album, he tarnished his track record with me. I'm not saying Invincible didn't have its moments, but compared to his past, it is total crap.
[Edited 1/27/08 9:33am]

So in this sense "Invincible" was the first album you bought that MJ cracked, huh?

I actually would agree. I think Michael was going through a lot of stress to finish the album and near the end he got lost up in the fray of his own production. He tries TOO HARD to please fans - that's why I don't get why some are thinking he's doing "Thriller 25" to please a new fan base, no, he's desperate for people to look at what he accomplished because I think he thinks people FORGOT about it and focus on all the negativity and Sony was actually doing this to "convince" people of who he was.

But "Invincible" was the only album where he tried to go for a commercial R&B/pop sound and cracked. It did have its fine moments and some ok/so-so moments and then some "God what the hell" moments. I rate the album a B for effort, lol.

Here's my "rating" on the songs:

GREAT:
Break of Dawn
You Rock My World
Butterflies
Whatever Happens
Don't Walk Away (yeah I like it, so... )

OK:
Invincible
Heaven Can Wait
Speechless (there was something Sam Cooke about some of the song until it got to the ending, lol)
Unbreakable

WTF:
Heartbreaker
2000 Watts
Privacy
Threatened
Cry (IMHO, R. Kelly never gave him no good song after You Are Not Alone)
The Lost Children (and I don't care what you think about me NOT liking this shit )
You Are My Life (yeah I said it)



Ok, the rating could B-/C+ .
[Edited 1/27/08 16:53pm]

Rodya24 said:

I'm pleased to say I don't even know "You Are My Life". I borrowed the album from a friend at the time and just recorded the five decent songs on there. The rest was just shockingly bad. The History tour wiped out any remaining fire in MJ's belly, and that's why he sleepwalked into Invincible. Pile the 2003-5 trial on top of that and you have nothing more than a walking shell left. Personally I think Michael should make a clean break and announce his retirement from recording. He can still make money touring, but he's fooling no-one with all this talk about "my passion for making music".

Timmy84 said:

Yeah, that's what I said. "By contrast" to the other songs. Meaning "in comparison"

DarlingDiana said:

the first time people saw him go back in the studio was back in November 05 so he could have been making it since then no one really knows

midnightmover said:

midnightmover said:

That comment would get you in trouble if you were a MJ fan saying that. Other fans will think you're not "being a true fan and ish", lol.

But you're actually not missing anything with "You Are My Life" though. The lyrics are enough to actually cringe. Sure it's good if you like confetti candy pop with a cherry on top. If you're a fan of soul music or a fan of lyrically adept music, you wouldn't like this song ONE BIT. This was during Babyface's dark period, lol. He got so moronic and boring with his own compositions that he's now into singing cover songs (Playlist).

midnightmover said:

I also think the whole fiasco with SONY from 1999 on need to be taken into account when considering what he decided to leave on Invincible. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe he refused to give SONY some of his best tracks due to his struggle with the then head of SONY Music.