Songs review : Michael Jackson and family books: “I think all he wanted was a provocative title, and ultimately he didn’t want the content of the song to live up to the title,” Madonna said at the time. “I said, ‘Look, Michael, if you want to do something with me, you have to be willing to go all the way or I’m not going to do it.’” His engineers remember her visiting him once at the studio, where they spent a little time in his private room in the back. “When I asked Michael later about her visit he said that she ‘scared’ him,” his engineer Rob Disner later said. “I think we all speculated that she tried to make a ‘move’ on him but Michael never said. In any event, we never saw her again.” The creative union most likely fizzled due to major stylistic divergences. Madonna imagined an extreme makeover: giving him a Caesar haircut, getting him out of his bedazzled military uniforms, taking him to New York and hanging out with the voguers, House of Xtravaganza. Michael wanted to go hip-hop and ultimately enlisted rappers Heavy D and Aqil Davidson of Wreckx N’ Effect as the principal guest vocalists.
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 french visitors: La deuxieme partie de l’autobiographie en trois parties de Mocienne Petit Jackson commence par une description detaillee de l’enlevement de Mocienne et de sa vie aux Pays-Bas (Michael Jackson Family Books in French). Par la suite, le recit nous devoile comment se deroule sa vie avec sa famille adoptive, chez qui elle reste en compagnie de la cousine Delivrance. Petit a petit, elle decouvre que son vrai pere est Michael Jackson. A l’age de 15 ans, elle quitte sa famille adoptive et vit dans un internat pendant 4 ans, avant de s’installer vivre toute seule. Nous la suivons tout au long de son adolescence et de son entree dans la maturite, ce qui n’a pas toujours ete facile. Mocienne rencontre un homme avec lequel elle a un enfant. Cependant, cet engagement ne dure pas. Nous en apprenons davantage sur les problemes qu’elle rencontre avec les Services de Protection de l’Enfance, suivis de nombreuses affaires judiciaires. Au debut, celles-ci portaient sur sa propre personne, plus tard, elles se transforment en bataille pour la garde de son fils. Une situation inacceptable prend le relais d’une autre situation inacceptable. Nous sommes egalement mis au courant de nombreux evenements traumatisants vecus par le personnage principal, de ses depressions et de ses nombreuses luttes pour faire face a la misere impregnee dans sa vie et a son combat pour s’en debarrasser. L’auteur explique clairement ces luttes a travers de vifs flashbacks.