Michael Jackson passed away a decade ago today

I was 14 years old and honestly I wasn't that sad at the time. I wasn't even shocked because he seemed like a shell of his former self in the years leading up to it.

Had I been a bit older, I think I'd be more sad since I became more familiar with his work and expanded my musical tastes beyond whatever I was into at the time (probably just hard rock and rap).

 

I remember the day well.

I was at work, an office job.. between tasks I'd sometimes go check the news online. As soon as I saw the headline, I got the attention of one of my workmates.. quietly saying to her "Hey, have a look at this..."

She took a brief gaze at my screen, then stood up on the spot and announced firmly and clearly to the whole open plan office "MICHAEL JACKSON IS DEAD."

 

Unfortunately he was gone long before he died

 

A great talent. A fan of his since childhood. Love his music, love his dancing. It was a sad day when he passed, I still remember going aroun for days after the news hit listening to his music. Watching "This Is It" was also emotional. So much talent and energe was left in him for his age. He stoll moved like a 19 year old and I could say the same about his voice.

 

Hm... can't tell if playing my copy of Off The Wall I got at the end of last year is a good or bad idea... it's in really nice shape too.

Still haven't seen an original Thriller.

 

I played a Jackson five record late last night.

Can’t believe it’s been 10 years.

 

Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad are all great albums. Say what you like about him, but Jackson ruled the eighties.

 

It's still great to hear the Quincy Jones-produced trilogy. However, his hobbies tarnish his legacy immeasurably.

 

I don't think Prince saw Michael as a rival. Michaels talent was selling loads of records, Prince was more about making great music.

 

I always found Off The Wall a bit inconsistent. The singles are killer, hence why I bought a copy...

 

Never found him appealing, especially when much better music from around the globe was being neglected due to his "superstar" fame. Then, when the reality came out about him, where did it leave the true talent. Hype was more than the music...

 

I think Off The Wall is generally considered his best album.

But all 3 titles I mentioned have their weaker moments.

 

Bad is a masterpiece

 

Yes yes but how can one still listen to his music after "Leaving Neverland"?

 

Such a bizarre, talented, rather sad individual. There are parallels with Elvis, but I feel like Elvis had it a bit better in that he didn't get famous until he was 20 or so, and his father wasn't a total leech.

Definitely Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982) are going to go down in history as his two essential album-length recordings. There's absolutely no doubt about that. Not only was Michael himself peaking as a writer and vocalist in exactly those periods, but also the Quincy Jones production is really timeless, bringing hints of jazz and subtle, tasteful elements that would be totally absent on all future recordings that were following trends and trying too hard to sell. Still some quite good pop tracks in 1987 and a couple in the very early 90s (I like "Remember the Time"), but he clearly losing the plot as early as 1983-84, and unfortunately his questionable taste bled into his music.

I wasn't in North America when he died, which was kind of a relief as I did not want to experience the American media overkill about it.

 

It was a real shock, he died the night before I was travelling to London to see AC/DC at Wembley stadium.

 

Such a needless death as well it really shows what can happen to an artist if they get too big and isolated. I think in the long run the music will return to being his legacy it's just too good to ignore. Admittedly though I only really have Bad as I don't think his albums really work very well as album listening experiences.

 

Yeah, for me, my personal reaction to his death was rather muted, despite the fact that I had loved some of his work in my 1980s adolescence -- partly because of the complicated personal life others on this thread have already alluded to (and which I found credible, with all the usual caveats of hearing these things nth hand in the media) but also because of the length of time that had passed since he had been a major player. He was one of the most famous people in the world 20 years before his death, but 10 years before his death there was an unambiguous sense (in my world) that his moment of cultural relevance was fading in the rearview mirror and it was hard to imagine that he'd ever again be more than a niche artist (though, of course, a continuing oddball media personality). So, there was an odd disconnect between someone whose main and most beautiful claim to fame (musical talent! with a heaping side of dance talent!) was understood to have peaked 20 years earlier, but also someone who had found a new, less savory claim to media attention (being weird!). And that was just transparently icky for everyone. For Jackson, of course, since he looked like he was whoring out his idiosyncrasies for cheap attention to whatever musical project he was promoting, but also for the media, whose interest in this aspect of Jackson's life doesn't bear much scrutiny, and then also for all of the big world of media consumers, whose attentions obviously gave media programmers the notion that we'd be more or less interested to hear about the weirdness of this deeply unhappy famous guy. And all that wrapped up in issues of race and celebrity and masculinity and alleged pedophilia. So: the lessons of the Jackson story were pretty much all unhappy by the time 2009 rolled around. He was a has-been and, plausibly, a monster -- and we were all sick for the roles we played (or failed to play) in his continuing media notoriety. Bleh. No wonder I went upstairs, not wanting to hear more, when my sister-in-law relayed the news from the downstairs tv room that day.

 

He was a very good singer who seemed to sing better on songs not written by him than ones he did write. Human Nature, She's Out Of My Life, Man In The Mirror and You Are Not Alone.
This may be because he felt he needed to bring more to the lyric.

 

I remember all the bandwagon fans who suddenly appeared all over YouTube with Michael pages and artwork and all the morons trolling Elvis and Beatles videos insulting the only other two acts perceived to be more impactful as him.

 

Do you still listen to Led Zeppelin and the Rolling Stones?

 

What does it have to do with Jackson raping children?

 

Both Bill Wyman and Jimmy Page are known to have had relationships with underage girls. So if you refuse to listen to mr Jackson for this reason there are some more acts you can remove from your playlist.

I can perfectly distinguish the artist and his music. Even sex offenders can make good records. Nevertheless, I don't like MJ's music anyway.

 

A melancholy Washington Post essay on the layers of musical pleasure, discomfort, and pain of hearing the man's voice tell years after his death and in the aftermath of Leaving Neverland.

Hearing a Michael Jackson song still feels good. Listening has become too painful.

 

Fantastic thoughtful and interesting contribution. What we always need on this forum is people who dislike the topic to barge in and lay into it.