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Remembering Michael: A Video Tribute
Michael Jackson died Thursday of cardiac arrest at the age of 50. He was one of the best-selling recording artists of all time, a songwriter, and performer whose career spanned three decades, a man whose personal life fascinated the world. Here are some highlights from his remarkable career.
Thriller
Long considered the greatest video of all time, it was a triumph in so many ways: its choreography, as an homage to horror films, and of course the song itself.
The Moonwalk
It ranks up there with Elvis and The Beatles on Ed Sullivan: Michael Jackson, bringing the world the moonwalk.
We Are the World
Jackson was at the height of his fame when he recorded this 1985 single to benefit USA for Africa.
John Talks Joe
Lloyd Grove is editor at large for The Daily Beast. He is also a frequent contributor to New York magazine and was a contributing editor for Condé Nast Portfolio. He wrote a gossip column for the New York Daily News from 2003 to 2006. Prior to that, he wrote the Reliable Source column for the Washington Post, where he spent 23 years covering politics, the media, and other subjects.
Amateur Hour at the White House
Leslie H. Gelb, a former New York Times columnist and senior government official, is author of Power Rules: How Common Sense Can Rescue American Foreign Policy (HarperCollins 2009), a book that shows how to think about and use power in the 21st century. He is president emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Going Rogue: The Index
Christopher Buckley's books include Supreme Courtship, The White House Mess, Thank You for Smoking, Little Green Men, and Florence of Arabia. He was chief speechwriter for Vice President George H.W. Bush, and is editor-at-large of ForbesLife magazine. His new book is Losing Mum and Pup, a memoir. Buckley's Daily Beast column is the winner of an Online Journalism Award in the category of Online Commentary.
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sad day, for sure.... rest in peace, michael and farrah.
but it must be said - sanford owes mj a big one for knocking his story off the front pages.
Thanks for helping to re-live his joyous genius. And to think how horribly he was persecuted...
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I didn't like him.
sorry
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What amazes me is how young some of the hardcore mourners are. they would have been babies or not even born when he was at his peak before it was obvious he was a psycho.
When I contemplate the present-day Michael, I can't help but remember that amazing 8-year-old Michael. And I'm sad for that little boy. That Michael was youngest of a group of sons raised by a brutal, tyrannical "stage father" who often brought groupies back to the hotel room after concerts for both himself--and the older boys--to have sex with (while Michael was in the same room;a silent witness.). Then he'd return home to his mother--whose very strict religious beliefs seemed to prevent her from confronting Joe's infidelities and betrayals. So he watched his father cheat on his mother, only to come off the road and see his mother defer to this father. What a strange and jarring collision of worlds for a child.
It should surprise no one that he was damaged by this strange amalgam of fame, fear and dishonesty that was his "childhood." He was powerless as a child. Never really permitted to be a child. Then spent the rest of his adult life caught up in trying to live out some caricature of childhood.
He talent--and his demons--were always in contention.
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What an immense loss for all of us. His talent is HUGE and will continue to reverberate throughout the entertainment and music industry for many years to come. Our thoughts and prayers to his children and his family.
What a sad, weird day.
Thank you Michael for creating the soundtrack of my youth....
Right on.
Rest in Piece.
Your music was a soundtrack for my life for over 30 years.
I can trace back memories in my life in your music.
Thank You
Rest in Peace.
MORE THOUGHTS ON MICHAEL JACKSON
August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009
Who can forget the purchase of the bones of the Elephant Man, the hyperbaric chamber, the one glove, the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, the little boy friends and the big girl friends, the weird path to fatherhood, the child molestation trial...but through it all that genius shining through, that legacy for the world to enjoy forever, those dance moves, those deft lyrics, the fabulous videos, the associates, and that wonderful, dysfunctional, hard-striving family...It's a true American Dream story and to think, you and I lived it. I loved Michael Jackson profoundly, warts and all. He was a great entertainer and he will always be an important part of my personal and musical heritage.
And RIP to every single criminal who ever destroyed someone else's life permanently. Screw the moonwalk. I saw Rosie O'Donnell giving an interview several years ago during the height of the stupid trial he bought himself out of, and she said, to HER credit, "Think of the incredible painful world he lives in." Although I agree, he never had to pay the consequences for messing up the lives of all the young boys he slept with. I do not think it fitting to be paying and praying and 'funeralizing' that creep.
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Everyone is in shock and I understand that. But the man was an unrepentant pedophile. Anyone else who did what he did would have been thrown in jail, registered as a sex offender and never been allowed to be alone with children for the rest of their lives.
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/law/12/17/court.archive.jackson10/index.html
This link appears to be a list of evidence that was excluded because it didn't meet the evidenciary standards of the court...but I have a hard time publicly castigating a dead man who was never convicted of anything in court. Was he ever convicted of any of the charges that people are leveling at him? Or are we relying on tabloids to tell us the truth (which they often do...but often do not...)
I agree with you Jessica. And the excluded evidence was not a game thrower to the prosecutors by any matter of means openanderson.
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classy
Michael Jackson's death is sad, shocking, unbelievable.
Just wait for the exploitive "Exclusives" by the media.
Looks like ET (Entertainment Tonight) is first out of the gate,
with a photo of Michael Jackson apparently with an
oxygen mask, and a large LAST PHOTO "ET Exclusive" logo plastered over Michael's image.
Some Hollywood reporter appeared on Larry King
and seemed to promo the LAST PHOTO E.T.
Exclusive of Jackson.
How low will the media go?
Maybe I won't buy products from some of their
advertisers for awhile.
I'll make note of them during the show's commercials.
While nothing can completely excuse MJ's behavior over the years regarding his inappropriate behavior with boys; its very easy for people to forget that this grown boy himself was physically and psychologically abused for many years. Add to that the fact that he has been a worldwide super star since the age of 11 and had no way to live a "normal" life, and you get what we saw: A purely American story of success and fame followed by a tragic downfall; all trumpeted by the same people who built him up. Just ask Britney.
Michael, may you rest in PEACE and thank you for the gift of love you've given to the world.
Thriller is the greatest music video of all time. It defined a genre. Regardless of his personal issues, Jackson was an entertaining genius.
And I love his Jesus Juice.
He was only globalism's largest celebrity. Possibly the most famous person of the industrial era, for better or worse.
Michael was a musical genius, as was Phil Spector. Both had some problems. Only one had a good enough legal team to keep him out of jail.
He will be missed by all music lovers across the globe, he is dead but%uFEFF his music will never die.
RIP IN PEACE MJ.
We all have to die one day, but his contributions to the world has been emence.....respect
If any of you actually study the cases launched against Michael Jackson, it is painfully evident that both cases were lodged by families in dire economic debts that sought out to extort money from Jackson. Bottom line, if your kid is really the victim of pedophelia you don't cancel criminal charges. It is completely slanderous, after there was no proof whatsoever against this man, to make such charges. He was simply a man who found happiness with children in a very childlike way himself compensating in many ways for the lack of his own childhood.
He was also a brilliant artist who was single-handedly responsible for enabling dialogue between a racially divided country through is music and for making it "ok" for straight men to dance. His impact on American and world culture is immense and cannot be understated. The tragedy of his life is that even after cleared of all charges, there were sadly many people who despite their incredible ignorance of the facts, still labelled him a pedophile. I think it is time to put such myths to the side and embrace the true spirit of a man who could not hurt anyone.
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Thank you.
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