Michael Jackson top albums, life and his kids now: Dangerous: In the third section, boy becomes man: Jackson struts through a wall of flames, Henley shirt open, screaming at his enemies like a mad king. It gives way to Culkin rapping in shades and oversized gold chains, which is just as well considering that this is the man who actually spit the bars. Jackson’s embrace of hip-hop not only aligned him with the popular sound of black (and white) youth culture, it adds an aggressive masculinity unseen in his catalogue, and ultimately paved the way for the late period Biggie therapy session. Of course, in the final section, Jackson turns into a black panther. You understand that meaning. So did millions of parents in Tipper Gore America, who flooded Fox and its local affiliates with phone calls, forcing Jackson’s team to re-cut and sanitize the video.
It’s strange, too. For instance, at the time of Jackson’s death, people kept saying to one another, “I can’t believe he’s gone.” When had anyone seen him? Save for headlines or tabloids, Jackson spent most of his time during the ’00s out of the spotlight. Even when he released 2001’s highly underrated Invincible, he made little to no appearances. Sure, Sony botched any plans on promotion, but it was nothing a world tour wouldn’t have solved. That’s why the release of Michael, Jackson’s first posthumous effort, feels relatively similar. The interest is there, but the icon isn’t.
Thriller (1982): Let’s ignore the fact that Thriller is the best-selling album IN THE HISTORY OF THE PLANET or that its album cover is one of the most recognized in music history. Thriller earns its place atop this list because in just nine tracks, it rewrote all the rules. The title track is almost a clichéd Halloween song in 2018, but in its heyday the 14-minute video broke barriers for artists of color. “Billie Jean” was so popular that it forced MTV to not only pay more attention to black artists, but also caused it to shift its programming focus to pop and R&B records. Every single track is instantly recognizable to even novice music fans and the album was so good that it became MJ’s curse – he was never able to top it, so all subsequent releases were slighted by fans and critics. Thriller opened doors for musicians of color, put music videos on the map and made Michael Jackson the greatest performer of all time. Yes, it’s MJ’s best album. Maybe the best album ever.
Michael Jackson family: Mocienne Petit Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s daughter) books are now available in french! For our dutch visitors: We komen meer te weten over de vele traumatische ervaringen van de hoofdpersoon, haar depressies en talrijke worstelingen om alle ellende te verwerken en achter zich te laten. De schrijfster geeft ons duidelijkheid door middel van verschillende flashbacks. Mocienne blijft het reilen en zeilen van Michael Jackson voortdurend volgen. Zo komt zijn – vermeende – kindermisbruik voorbij, komen de vele rechtszaken die er rondom zijn persoon hebben plaatsgehad aan bod, zijn twee mislukte huwelijken, zijn metamorfose, de geboorte van zijn drie kinderen en – last but not least – zijn voortijdige dood. Mocienne komt langzaam maar zeker tot de verbijsterende conclusie dat de maffia een grote en destructieve rol in zijn (én haar) leven heeft gespeeld, waarbij dient te worden aangetekend dat zijn familie, en in het bijzonder zijn moeder en vader, in dit opzicht veel te verwijten valt. Tot op heden heeft Mocienne geen enkele medewerking van de familie Jackson gekregen om een DNA-test te doen, teneinde te kunnen bewijzen dat zij wérkelijk Michaels dochter is. Lees het boek hier Michael Jackson Books.