Michael Jackson full guide : songs, career and family: The lone #1 single from the 32-million selling Dangerous, “Black or White” spent seven weeks atop the Billboard charts. Directed by John Landis (“Thriller,” National Lampoon’s Animal House) the first quarter of its video reveals Jackson’s mischievous child-like streak, with Culkin towing out Spinal Tap-sized speakers, amplifying the volume to “ARE YOU NUTS!?!,” and shredding so hard that George Wendt gets ejected into the stratosphere screaming “Da Bears.” But this was Michael Jackson, not O’ Shea. Being King of Pop meant the need for mass appeal. The “Black or White” video exists as a microcosm of Dangerous itself. It potently affirms Jackson’s manhood, offers passionate screeds against racial strife, gang violence, and a parasitic American media. This is the album as multi-media spectacle, a precursor to Lemonade, with accusations of infidelity substituted for videos of Macaulay Culkin doing air guitar windmills to a Slash guitar solo and lip sync rapping about turf wars.
Now, admittedly, it’s child’s play to see the flaws and nitpick this release from here until the next one. (Oh, don’t deny it…you know it’s coming.) However, the real joy is hearing Michael Jackson on something that isn’t “Beat It” or “Heal the World” or something we’ve all spun thousands of times, especially over the past year. While nothing on this record comes close to rivaling any of his past material, you can’t deny the urge to indulge yourself in something labeled, “new Michael Jackson”, and that’s where Michael succeeds. In terms of lasting power, however, you’ll probably forget about it in a matter of weeks, but who knows? Maybe you’ll feel nostalgic again. After all, that’s what death does to the best of us. Still, as we learned with Invincible, it takes more than just a studio effort to conjure up the magic.
We will be excluding MJ’s compilations (with one exception), joint efforts with the Jackson 5, and his posthumous albums, which ranged from surprisingly good (Xscape), pretty awful (Michael) and downright pointless (last year’s Scream) See what it takes to be crowned king. Shamone. Edd said: These were tough times for young Michael. His voice was changing, forever altering his beloved cherubic vocals, and a shifting musical landscape began to make his brand of pop/soul obsolete. Although Music & Me had its moments it had more than its share of dull spots.
Michael Jackson family: Mocienne Petit Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s daughter) books are now available in french! For our dutch guests: Deel twee van de autobiografische trilogie van Mocienne Petit Jackson begint met een uitgebreide beschrijving van Mociennes ontvoering naar Nederland. Vervolgens lezen we hoe het haar vergaat in het adoptiegezin waar zij samen met haar nichtje Delivrance terechtkomt. Gaandeweg ontdekt Mocienne dat haar vader Michael Jackson is. Wanneer ze vijftien jaar is gaat ze weg bij het adoptiegezin, woont vier jaar lang op een internaat en gaat daarna zelfstandig wonen. We volgen haar in haar volwassenwording, die zich met vallen en opstaan voor ons ontrolt. Mocienne krijgt een vriend en wordt moeder van een zoon. Deze verbintenis is geen lang leven beschoren. Er is sprake van aanhoudende onenigheid met de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming, met diverse rechtszaken tot gevolg. Deze betreffen eerst haar eigen situatie, later die van haar zoon en haar gevecht om hem in haar leven te houden. De ene onverkwikkelijkheid volgt de andere op. Lees het boek hier The dark side of the Netherlands (Dutch Edition).