[img:$uid]http://img825.i.../img:$uid]

dag said:

Never seen this pic before. Is that Debbie Rowe? Ha! Just kidding!

So I was purusing that famously "accurate" site, Wikipedia, when I was looking at the genres that some of MJ's song were labeled as and I came across these interesting ones:

Bad - Gothic rock, darkwave

The Way You Make me Feel - Pop, R&B, rock and roll, funk

Speed Demon - Funk rock

Dirty Diana - hard rock, gothic metal, darkwave,Pop

Leave Me Alone - Pop rock, funk

Give in to ME - Hard rock, alternative metal

They Don't Really Care About Us - Hard rock, hip-hop, R&B

Childhood & Earth Song - Operatic Pop

Blood on the Dancefloor - New jack swing, house, R&B, rock, dance-pop

Is It Scary - Gothic, Soul, Operatic pop, Funk rock

I remember for a long time I didn't really know WTF to label his music as, especially HIStory. They say it's r&b, but...it never really felt like it, maybe except for the fact that he was black and singing. I do think that his music, content, and lyrics, in retrospect, feel borderline emo only that MJ sings a lot better than a huge portion of the singers from the genre, imho. I also would go so far as to say that starting with This Place Hotel it seemed that MJ was going in a pretty gothy direction.

Even for their catchy/danceable beats, a lot of his songs seem to be pretty dark, especially in content. Like, I didn't realize how sad Billie Jean could sound until I heard Chris Cornell's cover of the song. To me, it was just more like a dark and haunting dance/pop song. (Could it be classified as post-disco as well?) I know that many times the art and artist seem to contradict each other. Kind of like how comedians are renowned for being some of the depressed people you'll ever meet and horror writers are some of the happiest people on earth.

Whatever though, do you feel that these are correct labels for these songs or do you think that they are really stretching this one? Like Bad, for example. Blood on the Dancefloor never really struck me as sharing elements from house music though. Is it the techniques/machines that were utilized to create the song? Then again, I was just listening to it and I put on some other house songs I had, and now I can hear it. If that's the case too bad he didn't release it back in 1991. He would have, definitely, been leading the pack, especially since it seems to be some strange hybrid of New Jack Swing/House/Goth/Pop/Funk.

If what is posted here is true, then we can safely assume that when it came to genres MJ really didn't give a shit. I like that in an artist.

[Edited 10/7/10 11:46am]

NaughtyKitty said:

dag said:

Never seen this pic before. Is that Debbie Rowe? Ha! Just kidding!

He´s hot, isn´t he?

Unholyalliance said:

So I was purusing that famously "accurate" site, Wikipedia, when I was looking at the genres that some of MJ's song were labeled as and I came across these interesting ones:

Bad - Gothic rock, darkwave

The Way You Make me Feel - Pop, R&B, rock and roll, funk

Speed Demon - Funk rock

Dirty Diana - hard rock, gothic metal, darkwave,Pop

Leave Me Alone - Pop rock, funk

Give in to ME - Hard rock, alternative metal

They Don't Really Care About Us - Hard rock, hip-hop, R&B

Childhood & Earth Song - Operatic Pop

Blood on the Dancefloor - New jack swing, house, R&B, rock, dance-pop

Is It Scary - Gothic, Soul, Operatic pop, Funk rock

I remember for a long time I didn't really know WTF to label his music as, especially HIStory. They say it's r&b, but...it never really felt like it, maybe except for the fact that he was black and singing. I do think that his music, content, and lyrics, in retrospect, feel borderline emo only that MJ sings a lot better than a huge portion of the singers from the genre, imho. I also would go so far as to say that starting with This Place Hotel it seemed that MJ was going in a pretty gothy direction.

Even for their catchy/danceable beats, a lot of his songs seem to be pretty dark, especially in content. Like, I didn't realize how sad Billie Jean could sound until I heard Chris Cornell's cover of the song. To me, it was just more like a dark and haunting dance/pop song. (Could it be classified as post-disco as well?) I know that many times the art and artist seem to contradict each other. Kind of like how comedians are renowned for being some of the depressed people you'll ever meet and horror writers are some of the happiest people on earth.

Whatever though, do you feel that these are correct labels for these songs or do you think that they are really stretching this one? Like Bad, for example. Blood on the Dancefloor never really struck me as sharing elements from house music though. Is it the techniques/machines that were utilized to create the song? Then again, I was just listening to it and I put on some other house songs I had, and now I can hear it. If that's the case too bad he didn't release it back in 1991. He would have, definitely, been leading the pack, especially since it seems to be some strange hybrid of New Jack Swing/House/Goth/Pop/Funk.

If what is posted here is true, then we can safely assume that when it came to genres MJ really didn't give a shit. I like that in an artist.

[Edited 10/7/10 11:46am]

Me too. Yesterday, I came across a Prince video on youtube and some of the comments brought up Mike saying he´s only "pop" and therefore inferiour to Prince. That´s BS. They are both great.

dag said:

NaughtyKitty said:

Never seen this pic before. Is that Debbie Rowe? Ha! Just kidding!

He´s hot, isn´t he?

Always loved this one. So hot. I wish he wore short sleeves more often.

[img:$uid]http://img813.i.../img:$uid]

dag said:

[img:$uid]http://img825.i.../img:$uid]

I loved this look.

dag said:

Always loved this one. So hot. I wish he wore short sleeves more often.

[img:$uid]http://img813.i.../img:$uid]

zhare said:

dag said:

Always loved this one. So hot. I wish he wore short sleeves more often.

[img:$uid]http://img813.i.../img:$uid]

With many thanks to Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés – here is an exclusive look at what is going to become a very exciting Michael Jackson Auction for fans everywhere.

Next December 13th, auction house Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés will hold an exclusive auction to sell photos from a stunning session that Michael Jackson did for his Invincible album but that were never used or seen because his record company deemed them too daring!

The main attraction of this sensational auction will be the presentation of a photo called “The Sphinx” – which Michael wanted to use for the cover of Invincible.

A bunch of never-before-seen photos of Michael Jackson are going up for auction on December 13th via Pierre Bergé & Associés. The photos were taken by Arno Bani back in 1998 while MJ was making Invincible.

Bani photographed Michael over several days in Paris at a private warehouse.

But the results were "so bold that the singer's record company discarded the whole project and buried the pictures", according to the auction.

Revealed

Below is a rare photograph of the Sphinx shot from front & behind.

[Edited 10/7/10 14:38pm]

Timmy84 said:

And come hell or high water had Michael survived June 25th, he would've continued to put 110% into whatever he was doing (because rehearsals don't really show you everything).

Unholyalliance said:

So I was purusing that famously "accurate" site, Wikipedia, when I was looking at the genres that some of MJ's song were labeled as and I came across these interesting ones:

Bad - Gothic rock, darkwave

The Way You Make me Feel - Pop, R&B, rock and roll, funk

Speed Demon - Funk rock

Dirty Diana - hard rock, gothic metal, darkwave,Pop

Leave Me Alone - Pop rock, funk

Give in to ME - Hard rock, alternative metal

They Don't Really Care About Us - Hard rock, hip-hop, R&B

Childhood & Earth Song - Operatic Pop

Blood on the Dancefloor - New jack swing, house, R&B, rock, dance-pop

Is It Scary - Gothic, Soul, Operatic pop, Funk rock

I remember for a long time I didn't really know WTF to label his music as, especially HIStory. They say it's r&b, but...it never really felt like it, maybe except for the fact that he was black and singing. I do think that his music, content, and lyrics, in retrospect, feel borderline emo only that MJ sings a lot better than a huge portion of the singers from the genre, imho. I also would go so far as to say that starting with This Place Hotel it seemed that MJ was going in a pretty gothy direction.

Even for their catchy/danceable beats, a lot of his songs seem to be pretty dark, especially in content. Like, I didn't realize how sad Billie Jean could sound until I heard Chris Cornell's cover of the song. To me, it was just more like a dark and haunting dance/pop song. (Could it be classified as post-disco as well?) I know that many times the art and artist seem to contradict each other. Kind of like how comedians are renowned for being some of the depressed people you'll ever meet and horror writers are some of the happiest people on earth.

Whatever though, do you feel that these are correct labels for these songs or do you think that they are really stretching this one? Like Bad, for example. Blood on the Dancefloor never really struck me as sharing elements from house music though. Is it the techniques/machines that were utilized to create the song? Then again, I was just listening to it and I put on some other house songs I had, and now I can hear it. If that's the case too bad he didn't release it back in 1991. He would have, definitely, been leading the pack, especially since it seems to be some strange hybrid of New Jack Swing/House/Goth/Pop/Funk.

If what is posted here is true, then we can safely assume that when it came to genres MJ really didn't give a shit. I like that in an artist.

[Edited 10/7/10 11:46am]

Very true, it's so easy to overlook all this about mike's music because of the success and the audience that has recieved so much of it. You have to call successful music pop don't yyou?? But I always thought mike was very dark and morbid in most of his writing and when grunge hit, it really was nothing darker or more alienated than what michael had out at the time. Mike, like all great artists, had the ability to create an alternate universe in his art which reflected his own worldview. Billy Jean was his greatest achievement and was full of doom, fear and paranoia. He was simply brilliant in how he disguised the blues roots (I could say R&B but it's blues) in his music. On Bad you hear lots of his motown influences, Keep on Truckin' for the title track, the way you make me feel had a unique for pop 6/8 time signature which is sort of jazzy, something which he exploited in some of the live performances of the song. Then, I think some of his later work was some of his very best, Ghost, Is It Scary, Morphine, Threatened all fulfill the prophecy which he feared so much in billy Jean, his life being turned into a living horror show. It made for great art and a hard, shortened life and here we are still contemplating the fallout.

mozfonky said:

Unholyalliance said:

So I was purusing that famously "accurate" site, Wikipedia, when I was looking at the genres that some of MJ's song were labeled as and I came across these interesting ones:

I remember for a long time I didn't really know WTF to label his music as, especially HIStory. They say it's r&b, but...it never really felt like it, maybe except for the fact that he was black and singing. I do think that his music, content, and lyrics, in retrospect, feel borderline emo only that MJ sings a lot better than a huge portion of the singers from the genre, imho. I also would go so far as to say that starting with This Place Hotel it seemed that MJ was going in a pretty gothy direction.

Even for their catchy/danceable beats, a lot of his songs seem to be pretty dark, especially in content. Like, I didn't realize how sad Billie Jean could sound until I heard Chris Cornell's cover of the song. To me, it was just more like a dark and haunting dance/pop song. (Could it be classified as post-disco as well?) I know that many times the art and artist seem to contradict each other. Kind of like how comedians are renowned for being some of the depressed people you'll ever meet and horror writers are some of the happiest people on earth.

Whatever though, do you feel that these are correct labels for these songs or do you think that they are really stretching this one? Like Bad, for example. Blood on the Dancefloor never really struck me as sharing elements from house music though. Is it the techniques/machines that were utilized to create the song? Then again, I was just listening to it and I put on some other house songs I had, and now I can hear it. If that's the case too bad he didn't release it back in 1991. He would have, definitely, been leading the pack, especially since it seems to be some strange hybrid of New Jack Swing/House/Goth/Pop/Funk.

If what is posted here is true, then we can safely assume that when it came to genres MJ really didn't give a shit. I like that in an artist.

[Edited 10/7/10 11:46am]

Very true, it's so easy to overlook all this about mike's music because of the success and the audience that has recieved so much of it. You have to call successful music pop don't yyou?? But I always thought mike was very dark and morbid in most of his writing and when grunge hit, it really was nothing darker or more alienated than what michael had out at the time. Mike, like all great artists, had the ability to create an alternate universe in his art which reflected his own worldview. Billy Jean was his greatest achievement and was full of doom, fear and paranoia. He was simply brilliant in how he disguised the blues roots (I could say R&B but it's blues) in his music. On Bad you hear lots of his motown influences, Keep on Truckin' for the title track, the way you make me feel had a unique for pop 6/8 time signature which is sort of jazzy, something which he exploited in some of the live performances of the song. Then, I think some of his later work was some of his very best, Ghost, Is It Scary, Morphine, Threatened all fulfill the prophecy which he feared so much in billy Jean, his life being turned into a living horror show. It made for great art and a hard, shortened life and here we are still contemplating the fallout.

Mike was always underrated when it came to his compositions. The whole "pop" "r&b" tag automatically makes people discount the writing as disposable or simple, but when you listen to his songs now most that were sole compositions (Don't Stop / Billie Jean - as examples) still hold up and sound fresh today. And when you look at his more epic songs such as Earth Song there are some complex arrangements there.

Michael was an artist who came to define cross genre pollination, and once he did that on Thriller it became par for the course on future releases and again under appreciated.

And whilst some might argue his melodies are simple, I challenge anyone to create hooks that simple that still hold up and sound full.

tangerine7 said:

With many thanks to Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés – here is an exclusive look at what is going to become a very exciting Michael Jackson Auction for fans everywhere.

Next December 13th, auction house Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés will hold an exclusive auction to sell photos from a stunning session that Michael Jackson did for his Invincible album but that were never used or seen because his record company deemed them too daring!

The main attraction of this sensational auction will be the presentation of a photo called “The Sphinx” – which Michael wanted to use for the cover of Invincible.

A bunch of never-before-seen photos of Michael Jackson are going up for auction on December 13th via Pierre Bergé & Associés. The photos were taken by Arno Bani back in 1998 while MJ was making Invincible.

Bani photographed Michael over several days in Paris at a private warehouse.

But the results were "so bold that the singer's record company discarded the whole project and buried the pictures", according to the auction.

Revealed

Below is a rare photograph of the Sphinx shot from front & behind.

[Edited 10/7/10 14:38pm]

I love the blue eye shot - but not a fan of this one. I think the record company was right on this one. If this was the cover of invincible he would have been savaged by critics for his plastic look - it looks way too mannequin like.

I didn't know what they were thinking. He looks like an extra from a Hype Williams video from '97, '98 lol

His David Bowie-inspired pictures, from '99, were much better IMHO.

I love how Michael just made music you know he had songs that were all in different genres I love when artist like to take chances and do different styles. I don’t listen to one specific genre my taste is all over the place. Michael had something for everybody.

tangerine7 said:

With many thanks to Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés – here is an exclusive look at what is going to become a very exciting Michael Jackson Auction for fans everywhere.

Next December 13th, auction house Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés will hold an exclusive auction to sell photos from a stunning session that Michael Jackson did for his Invincible album but that were never used or seen because his record company deemed them too daring!

The main attraction of this sensational auction will be the presentation of a photo called “The Sphinx” – which Michael wanted to use for the cover of Invincible.

A bunch of never-before-seen photos of Michael Jackson are going up for auction on December 13th via Pierre Bergé & Associés. The photos were taken by Arno Bani back in 1998 while MJ was making Invincible.

Bani photographed Michael over several days in Paris at a private warehouse.

But the results were "so bold that the singer's record company discarded the whole project and buried the pictures", according to the auction.

Revealed

Below is a rare photograph of the Sphinx shot from front & behind.

[Edited 10/7/10 14:38pm]

Sorry, but this is totally awful. Nothng is good about it. For a second there, I thought it was Prince

dag said:

Always loved this one. So hot. I wish he wore short sleeves more often.

[img:$uid]http://img813.i.../img:$uid]

HOT DAMN LORD HAVE MERCY JESUS CHRIST ALLAH-HU-AKBAR AMEN AMEN AMEEEEEEEN!!!!!

That totally undid the damage caused by the awful sphinx picture

Don't tell me some of y'all hadn't seen that pic before of him with the short sleeved shirt?

Timmy84 said:

Don't tell me some of y'all hadn't seen that pic before of him with the short sleeved shirt?

Not that one. Or maybe I'm noticing the cuts in his biceps this time around

tangerine7 said:

With many thanks to Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés – here is an exclusive look at what is going to become a very exciting Michael Jackson Auction for fans everywhere.

Next December 13th, auction house Paris, Pierre Bergé & Associés will hold an exclusive auction to sell photos from a stunning session that Michael Jackson did for his Invincible album but that were never used or seen because his record company deemed them too daring!

The main attraction of this sensational auction will be the presentation of a photo called “The Sphinx” – which Michael wanted to use for the cover of Invincible.

A bunch of never-before-seen photos of Michael Jackson are going up for auction on December 13th via Pierre Bergé & Associés. The photos were taken by Arno Bani back in 1998 while MJ was making Invincible.

Bani photographed Michael over several days in Paris at a private warehouse.

But the results were "so bold that the singer's record company discarded the whole project and buried the pictures", according to the auction.

Revealed

Below is a rare photograph of the Sphinx shot from front & behind.

[Edited 10/7/10 14:38pm]

What the hell is it? It doesn´t even look real to me.

[Edited 10/7/10 22:41pm]

Timmy84 said:

I didn't know what they were thinking. He looks like an extra from a Hype Williams video from '97, '98 lol

His David Bowie-inspired pictures, from '99, were much better IMHO.

Which pictures?

dag said:

Timmy84 said:

I didn't know what they were thinking. He looks like an extra from a Hype Williams video from '97, '98 lol

His David Bowie-inspired pictures, from '99, were much better IMHO.

Which pictures?

I think the ones where he has his hair, short and slicked back, dressed in all black and he has his eyes closed with a big blue dot over one of his eyes. It reminded me of David's Aladdin Sane cover. It was posted a while back.

Swa said:

mozfonky said:

Very true, it's so easy to overlook all this about mike's music because of the success and the audience that has recieved so much of it. You have to call successful music pop don't yyou?? But I always thought mike was very dark and morbid in most of his writing and when grunge hit, it really was nothing darker or more alienated than what michael had out at the time. Mike, like all great artists, had the ability to create an alternate universe in his art which reflected his own worldview. Billy Jean was his greatest achievement and was full of doom, fear and paranoia. He was simply brilliant in how he disguised the blues roots (I could say R&B but it's blues) in his music. On Bad you hear lots of his motown influences, Keep on Truckin' for the title track, the way you make me feel had a unique for pop 6/8 time signature which is sort of jazzy, something which he exploited in some of the live performances of the song. Then, I think some of his later work was some of his very best, Ghost, Is It Scary, Morphine, Threatened all fulfill the prophecy which he feared so much in billy Jean, his life being turned into a living horror show. It made for great art and a hard, shortened life and here we are still contemplating the fallout.

Mike was always underrated when it came to his compositions. The whole "pop" "r&b" tag automatically makes people discount the writing as disposable or simple, but when you listen to his songs now most that were sole compositions (Don't Stop / Billie Jean - as examples) still hold up and sound fresh today. And when you look at his more epic songs such as Earth Song there are some complex arrangements there.

Michael was an artist who came to define cross genre pollination, and once he did that on Thriller it became par for the course on future releases and again under appreciated.

And whilst some might argue his melodies are simple, I challenge anyone to create hooks that simple that still hold up and sound full.

a truly great songwriter, you can just listen to his demos, before the input of Quincy and see how the core parts of the song came from him, the rest was just polish, strings, horns, we have to give Q his due on some things but Mike was a genius. If only he had played an instrument some people would have taken him more seriously, but maybe he just didn't want to, and needed all his time to work on other things. We have to take peoples gifts as they are, some may write well but sing and perform badly, others sing and perform well but can't write. I'd hate to have missed out on many people who could only do one thing well in exchange for musicians who were capable of doing more things with less proficiency.

dag said:

Timmy84 said:

I didn't know what they were thinking. He looks like an extra from a Hype Williams video from '97, '98 lol

His David Bowie-inspired pictures, from '99, were much better IMHO.

Which pictures?

This one-

[img:$uid]http://lisawallerrogers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/michael-jacksons-blue-eye.jpg[/img:$uid]

Claire73 said:

dag said:

Which pictures?

This one-

[img:$uid]http://lisawallerrogers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/michael-jacksons-blue-eye.jpg[/img:$uid]

Yep when I first looked at it, I was like Aladdin Sane album cover.

Timmy84 said:

Claire73 said:

This one-

[img:$uid]http://lisawallerrogers.files.wordpress.com/2010/06/michael-jacksons-blue-eye.jpg[/img:$uid]

Yep when I first looked at it, I was like Aladdin Sane album cover.

These are cool. I actually love these, but the swinga one is horrendous.

[Edited 10/8/10 0:55am]

dag said:

Timmy84 said:

Yep when I first looked at it, I was like Aladdin Sane album cover.

These are cool. I actually love these, but this one´s horrendous.

Wait... you love it but it's horrendous? There's only one picture posted.

Timmy84 said:

dag said:

These are cool. I actually love these, but this one´s horrendous.

Wait... you love it but it's horrendous? There's only one picture posted.

Sorry, when i read that I realized it didn´t make sense. I mean the swinga one. I don´t like that. It doesn look real. His ears, nose, lips look weird, just everything. It doesn´t even look like him. I´ll have to get used to it, I guess.

[Edited 10/8/10 1:00am]