mozfonky said:

Frank drank alot = don't let anyone tell you drink is not a drug it is....nuff said.

Hollywood / Fame / media is a drug that can knock the biggest star - that's why it's good for stars to hide to get away from LA / London / any big city drugs are everywhere go to the hills or remote places - get away from it!

LondonStyle said:

That's true, I'm a major fan of Bruce Springsteen, Elvis, Prince and Michael and there have been several times when i've been teased over all of them. Who cares? Those guys are giants of american music. When it comes down to just music, the music is great. Mike at his best is certainly in the class of the greats.

Something (besides all the obvious bullshit) has been bugging me about the coverage of Michael's passing, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it, until now...Where is Smokey Robinson in the lists of people who influenced MJ? I keep hearing about James B, Fred Astaire, etc but unless I missed it, no mentions of Smokey...seems kind of sad to me.

Right on @ mozfonky. Anyway:



From "Forever, Michael"...
[Edited 7/7/09 1:08am]

kalelvisj said:

You're right, the media never mentions him. I don't think Marvin or Stevie were mentioned either but all three clearly influenced him vocally and musically. They only focus on him as a dancer and singer in his later years. I forgot to mention, I think Sam Cooke also influenced him in some way (like Marvin, Stevie & Smokey) and Ron Isley of the Isley Brothers (some of MJ's grunting vocals can be linked to the Isleys and James).
[Edited 7/7/09 1:11am]

Timmy84 said:

Then why the fuck are they even doing this shit?? Somebody needs to pony up just like any other event. AND people are gonna be emotional?? AND hella folks want to attend??? Ooh... TRAGIC

LondonStyle said:

Oh yes, I don't dispute that. I am completely aware, it's another arguement whether alcohol is any better or worse than Heroin or coke. Point is, he would never touch anything like those drugs, never. I'm sure the reasoning was what they did to people. Sad thing is, Mike was pure and clean in the 80's or at least that was one of his biggest publicated facets of his lifestyle. He used to say the most sensible stuff when it came to drugs, people would push it on him and he'd throw it away. Those sex abuse charges broke him, i think i will always believe that. That kind of vilification is about the worst kind you can think of. It's just history repeating itself, powerful black men are almost always hounded and destroyed. Powerful white men often fare no better, the system see to it that people are kept in their place and made examples of. Just the way it is.

Copycat said:

Well thank da Lawid!

Timmy84 said:

I'm still waiting ....

A friend of mine in LA just emailed me and said the are planning on having the body at the memorial now...God, I hope his info is wrong. It is as if the people behind the memorial won't be happy unless it is total pandemonium. What part of honoring the deceased are they not getting? Sorry to throw this serious note into a surprisingly "light" night of musings.

kalelvisj said:

Well, that's a great question. Smokey was an earlier version of Mike, pretty boy, high voice. Even the way mike would bite his lower lip was a favorite expression of the great sam cooke, mike was a superb historian. Marvin Gaye was also another one that is easily overlooked as an influence.

To get our minds off those morbid streams from ET, and all this Moonwalk madness, a good interview clip:

SPIKE LEE REFLECTS ON MICHAEL JACKSON





Spikes laughter is infectious in this clip. He brings a lot of lightness to a really sad moment in pop music history. Odd to notice how he's aging in this...

mozfonky said:

Well the sad fact of the matter is that Marvin has always been overlooked as a major influence as far as the mainstream fandom and press.

LondonStyle said:

You're on your own. buddy.

kalelvisj said:

I read a review of Marvin's Midnight Love album (which is brilliant and was also released in '82 like Thriller) and they called him "one of music's underrated forces". Sadly I agree.

Marvin, Sam & Smokey were the foundations of his balladry, he also links with Marvin because both of them sung lead and background vocals real well, both of them had a doo-wop flair to them. Michael even mentions he was in Marvin's studio seeing him create music, he had to have influenced MJ in some way anyways.

News flash...Michael Jackson invented the "spin"....film at 11..

In all seriousness, no one could spin like Michael, just wanted to poke fun at the great "moonwalk" debate of 2009. I'm done now!

kalelvisj said:

Yes, and reflecting on Mike and Marvin, I can't think of any two artists who seemed to contain so much pain in their lives. I read Marvin's bio many years ago and it was just so depressing, only michael's story comes close. With Frank you had comebacks, with Elvis, he was often in good spirits and even good form in his later years. Hell, his voice was at it's peak when he died. I never got the feeling Elvis was really wounded like Michael or Marvin. Also, I think genius is usually self-destructive, look at the classical greats, they were just as troubled as any of our guys.

kalelvisj said:

Also Michael had better moves than the moonwalk (shit I can moonwalk too, no biggie ). He had the sidewalk, the circular moonwalk (which is when you pivot your feet to go backwards, Jeffrey said that the real moonwalk was the circular one, lol), and those spins that seemed as if he was a little spinning top.

Timmy84 said:

I was always positive that Marvin's "Trouble Man" was the basis for Michael's "The Way You Make Me Feel" Marvin also thought Michael stole the idea of wearing the same type of sunglasses. Michael did plenty of stealing, his "Bad" was taken largely from Eddie Kendrick's "Keep on Truckin'" complete with the "shamon"s.

GoldenDreds said:

Damn, this must be a pretty good forum, huh?

matthewgrant said:

I hope so, otherwise they just wanna see the body go into the ground. Good God...

mozfonky said:

Yeah Michael had a lot of Motown-influenced material AFTER he left. I definitely think "The Way You Make Me Feel" was based on the melody of "Trouble Man". Hell, when Marvin performed "Come Get to This" onstage, MJ lifted that performance bit for the beginning of his performances of "The Way You Make Me Feel" and yeah "Bad" sounded like "Keep on Truckin'". Michael got his "shamon"s from Mavis Staples.

It's believed Michael was influenced by "Got to Give It Up" to do "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" (percussion-led beat, people talking in the background, the falsetto leads).
[Edited 7/7/09 1:32am]

Timmy84 said:

Yeah Sure .... and I can play the guitar like Prince.....

CalhounSq said:

I didn't wanna ask but I'm glad you did. That's a weird thing to wanna join this forum.