What exactly did Morrissey say about Michael Jackson?

[Happy Maudlin]

I have been a Morrissey fan for a good four years now. I'm 18 years old and Morrissey came into my life at a time when I needed him most - this isn't a new story, I am certain that Morrissey, like all good artists, came into my life at a certain time when he spoke to me - like all good artists should and have done with me.

Michael Jackson represents something to me that, although I have grown away from as I have grown up, I refuse to let go. My earliest memories were of being four years old, sat infront of the television screen analysing and taking inspiration from every single component in Michael Jackson's live performance and vocal technique.

I have tried to explain my admiration and previous obsession with MJ to many people throughout my life - so I will try again now. I'm sure it'll meet criticism (this is Morrissey-Solo, after all!), but I hope it will make a few open minded scpetics understand his influence on at least one human being. This is, also, not a sop story - it is a recollection of fact and events that shaped who I am today - if i wanted sympathy I wouldn't broadcast my childhood to a website of strangers, I am solely interested in trying to convey my relationship with Michael Jackson's music.

I was sexually abused as a young child, from the ages of around four-six. This may seem highly ironic, but it was inevitably this abuse that led me to love Michael Jackson.

The abuse I went through left me, as it does many children, feeling completely powerless, insignificant, and disposable. However, the magic that Michael created through his movements and his undeniably amazing vocal skills inspired me immeasurably. The power that he commanded on stage and the confidence he had in his moves and his music inspired me to conjure up a confidence and power within myself.

It also, along with the divine Motown catalogue, formed the basis of music that I chose to grow up with.

I am now a musician myself, and I will be the first to say that the morals and ethics I as an artist strive to convey within myself, my life and my music, are as far removed from Michael Jackson's as possible - in heinsight I'd struggle to find any morals or ethics within Michael's music.

However, my adoration for the man as a weak and vulnerable child is something I will always be in debt to, and the gifts that the man as a performer ,and not a human being, gave to me have left me eternally in debt to Michael Jackson.

It is possible, in fact certain, that the controversies and speculation that hounded Michael Jackson were due to nothing but his own errors and mistakes. It is also certain that these will follow him well into his death.

But there was a time, around twenty years ago, when Michael Jackson was nothing but a fantastic, electrifying performer. I strongly feel that this gift should be taken gratuitously, yet with a pinch of salt.

Michael Jackson himself was abused as a child, so that connection is understandable. I find his music infectious, which on this website would be considered blasphemous to some: I don't only listen to The Smiths and Morrissey. The man was immmensely talented and tortured (sound familiar) and touched the world's hearts with his music. I was one of the Crashing Bores who cried during his memorial service.

 

[Happy Maudlin]

What is Michael Jackson's influence?

He (among other artists) opened the doors for black artists visibility particularly on MTV. He dominated pop in the 80's and the and while the indulgence of his memory was exploited by the very same who slagged him and sued him, cynicism does not outweigh humanity. I think the best tribute by far was his daughter Paris's, because it humanized him.

 

[Worm]

Michael Jackson himself was abused as a child, so that connection is understandable. I find his music infectious, which on this website would be considered blasphemous to some: I don't only listen to The Smiths and Morrissey. The man was immmensely talented and tortured (sound familiar) and touched the world's hearts with his music. I was one of the Crashing Bores who cried during his memorial service.

Personally I don't mind the adulation thrown Michael's way. He was a talented vocalist, arranger, and dancer. I'm sure many Morrissey fans like Michael's music; and certainly all of us like artists made "taboo" by the Official Rulebook Of Morrissey Fandom (which doesn't actually exist). Every one of us has skeletons in her closet.

However, you wrote that Michael "touched the world's hearts with his music". With all due respect, this is the kind of disgusting hyperbole that has made many people angry about the flood of wildly over-stated tributes to him in the wake of his death. Michael's music did not touch my heart. He didn't touch the hearts of a great many people I knew. Part of Michael's "talent" was to get vast numbers of pop consumers to buy into his weird Disneyfied fantasy of a "unified world" (a fantasy that had as much to do with fleeing from himself as it was a true panracial, Utopian vision of peace). Those of us who aren't fans of his music but are willing to accord the man some respect would feel so much better if ridiculous generalizations like "he touched the world's hearts" weren't uttered every five minutes. It's just not true.

 

[raincoated lover]

Part of Michael's "talent" was to get vast numbers of pop consumers to buy into his weird Disneyfied fantasy of a "unified world" (a fantasy that had as much to do with fleeing from himself as it was a true panracial, Utopian vision of peace). Those of us who aren't fans of his music but are willing to accord the man some respect would feel so much better if ridiculous generalizations like "he touched the world's hearts" weren't uttered every five minutes. It's just not true.

I completely agree with this comment.

 

[Worm]

He (among other artists) opened the doors for black artists visibility particularly on MTV. He dominated pop in the 80's and the and while the indulgence of his memory was exploited by the very same who slagged him and sued him, cynicism does not outweigh humanity. I think the best tribute by far was his daughter Paris's, because it humanized him.

Classics though "Off The Wall" and "Thriller" may be, Michael's success on MTV had as much to do with chance as it did his unique talent. Like others who benefited from MTV, he was at the right place and the right time to catch the wave of a new cutural trend. That's all*. Some thrived, some didn't. Michael certainly opened some doors, but not as many as we are led to believe. I see him as part of the same explosion of video artists that included Madonna, Duran Duran, Bruce Springsteen, and others.

Looking back, rap music impacted the culture far more than Jackson's music. It's not even close, actually. And I don't think you can argue that Jackson paved the way for rap, given the negative stigma surrounding that form of music as it emerged on a wider scale in the mid to late Eighties.

Jackson was a unique talent, to be sure, and he probably did a lot of things better than others did. Dancing, arranging, singing, spectacular live shows. He was just an entertainer, though, not a revolutionary influence. More importantly, the influence he had lasted only a few short years. By the time "Bad" and "Dangerous" came out, he was already passe; in the many years since that era he's been little more than a minor presence in the tabloids.

Again, I'm not saying Michael is talentless or horrible. He was good. I just think we need some perspective here.

_________________________________

*As an example, ask yourself how exciting or cool the "epic" video for "Thriller" looks in 2009. It's rubbish. (It was always rubbish, actually.) The video deserves a modicum of praise because Michael was one of the first to use the medium in a new, expansive, and more 'serious' way as a small piece of filmmaking rather than a throwaway commercial. Other artists were doing the same, though. Jackson just happened to be the one who scaled it up-- but surely nobody believes only he could have done it.

 

[bored]

He sang Cemetry Gates and changed the lyrics...

He sang..
"There's a black guy with no afro and no nose who knows...
Who'll touch your butt if you're a boy and you fall"

 

[lnathan]

I have to admit that I have been very sad about Michael Jacksons death. I think there are two reasons for this. The first one is that somehow the death of MJ feels like the death of part of my childhood. As a child in the 80's I grew up with Bad (which was certainly not passe where I come from) and there are so many memories related to him and his music. The thing is, when an artist have got to you in your childhood they never really leave.

The other reason is the absolute tragdy that his life and death was. Although he had some fantastic songs his popularity was to a great extend a result of the slightly weird image he created around himself, and it must be clear to most people that he had some serious psychological issues - he was basically a child trapped in a grown mans body. This is why he was such an easy target for the media and greedy people who ultimately ruined his career and turned him into a bit of a joke. It seems to me like he was surrounded by leeches (the ones who have stumbled over each other to sell their stories after his death) who used him for money, prescribed all sorts of drugs to him and persuaded him to sign contracts that he didn't fully understand. He signed up for 50 dates at the 02, thinking it was only 10!
Basically, because of vicious acccusations his career was ruined and he ended up having to do this massive come back tour which he was not physically fit to do, and that ended up killing him. I do not believe he was a paedophile - all he ever did wrong was trying to be popular. The whole thing is just so sad.

 

[Worm]

I have to admit that I have been very sad about Michael Jacksons death. I think there are two reasons for this. The first one is that somehow the death of MJ feels like the death of part of my childhood. As a child in the 80's I grew up with Bad (which was certainly not passe where I come from) and there are so many memories related to him and his music. The thing is, when an artist have got to you in your childhood they never really leave.

The other reason is the absolute tragdy that his life and death was. Although he had some fantastic songs his popularity was to a great extend a result of the slightly weird image he created around himself, and it must be clear to most people that he had some serious psychological issues - he was basically a child trapped in a grown mans body. This is why he was such an easy target for the media and greedy people who ultimately ruined his career and turned him into a bit of a joke. It seems to me like he was surrounded by leeches (the ones who have stumbled over each other to sell their stories after his death) who used him for money, prescribed all sorts of drugs to him and persuaded him to sign contracts that he didn't fully understand. He signed up for 50 dates at the 02, thinking it was only 10!
Basically, because of vicious acccusations his career was ruined and he ended up having to do this massive come back tour which he was not physically fit to do, and that ended up killing him. I do not believe he was a paedophile - all he ever did wrong was trying to be popular. The whole thing is just so sad.

So, to sum up: you have a soft spot for Michael Jackson because he was a part of your early childhood (like picture books or a favorite blanket) and because he was a victim of the music industry.

What about the music?

I ask not because I'm making fun of your reaction but because I find it very typical of the things people are saying, not just here on this site but everywhere. Our childhoods are gone. Michael was a victim. The whole affair was a sad media circus. Etc.

People keep forgetting to mention that nobody in the entire world seems to have cared that it's been nearly two decades since this genius gave us any real songs. Never mind "cared"-- I don't think anyone noticed.

 

[Jones]

He "had" to do the 50 dates because he spent all his many many millions on tat and couldn't face living a more reduced lifestyle (still a lifestyle that was beyond the dreams of all of us).

 

[bored]

People keep forgetting to mention that nobody in the entire world seems to have cared that it's been nearly two decades since this genius gave us any real songs. Never mind "cared"-- I don't think anyone noticed.

I noticed. I posted on the main boards in a thread about his death that it didn't make sense to me that people were turning him into some hero when the only thing he's done in the past 25 years is turn into a white guy, have his hair catch on fire, touch little boys, hang a baby out a window and have his nose fall off.

Someone modded me down as "redundant" even though it was the only post going in that direction. Someone then modded me up for underrated. Thank modder #2.

 

[Worm]

He "had" to do the 50 dates because he spent all his many many millions on tat and couldn't face living a more reduced lifestyle (still a lifestyle that was beyond the dreams of all of us).

True.

I couldn't help laughing the first time I read that, though. The old, "I signed up for X but devious concert promoters actually enslaved me to do Y" excuse sounds strikingly similar to another pop star we all know and love...

 

[Worm]

Someone modded me down as "redundant" even though it was the only post going in that direction. Someone then modded me up for underrated. Thank modder #2.

The world is a maddeningly fickle place, bored. It's better than the alternative, though.

And no, I don't mean Neverland Ranch.

I wonder, though. If Neverland was his version of heaven, I hope he was able to leave his worldly troubles behind. Gotta be hard to do, though, considering what he's been through. When Michael got up to St. Peter, and walked through the pearly gates, did he immediately look around at heaven and think, "Shit, I hope the bank doesn't foreclose on this place"?

Jesus: Welcome, my son.

Michael: Thanks.

Jesus: You will find peace and love here.

Michael: Oh good, good. But hey, Jesus, before I get comfortable, can you tell me-- you have a good tax attorney, right?

Jesus: He's not bad.

Michael: What a relief! Hee hee hee. Where's the rollercoaster?​

 

[lnathan]

So, to sum up: you have a soft spot for Michael Jackson because he was a part of your early childhood (like picture books or a favorite blanket) and because he was a victim of the music industry.

What about the music?

I ask not because I'm making fun of your reaction but because I find it very typical of the things people are saying, not just here on this site but everywhere. Our childhoods are gone. Michael was a victim. The whole affair was a sad media circus. Etc.

People keep forgetting to mention that nobody in the entire world seems to have cared that it's been nearly two decades since this genius gave us any real songs. Never mind "cared"-- I don't think anyone noticed.

Off The Wall and Thriller were brilliant pop albums, and when I listen to Bad and Dangerous today I still think there are som really great songs there. Of course, you can't judge music objectively, especially not the music you loved as a child, but he has written some truly brilliant pop songs. The fact that he didn't have a hit in the past 15 years doesn't really take away from what he did do. And it doesn't make the whole thing any less sad.

I don't want to hail him as a saint or "the most influential artist on the planet" but I do understand why so many people are shocked and saddened by his death.

 

[Worm]

Off The Wall and Thriller were brilliant pop albums, and when I listen to Bad and Dangerous today I still think there are som really great songs there. Of course, you can't judge music objectively, especially not the music you loved as a child, but he has written some truly brilliant pop songs. The fact that he didn't have a hit in the past 15 years doesn't really take away from what he did do. And it doesn't make the whole thing any less sad.

I don't want to hail him as a saint or "the most influential artist on the planet" but I do understand why so many people are shocked and saddened by his death.

I completely understand your point of view. As I said above, I'm not hating on Michael Jackson. I'm merely questioning the praise thrown his way.

And yes, you can't objectively argue music. I know that. I do think you can fix somebody's place in the history of pop music, though, and on that score I feel pretty strongly that Michael was great for a span of time that wasn't a whole lot longer than many pop stars' brief, flickering eras of popularity. I realize the Jackson 5 were popular in the Seventies, and he deserves credit for that, but in reality when people talk about Michael Jackson's "genius" they're talking about "Off The Wall" and "Thriller", with "Bad" and "Dangerous" coming in as solid, occasionally great, but generally inferior efforts that mark a downward trajectory.

Four albums. Four. Only two of which are considered true classics. Over a span of about one decade.

(That's about the same legacy as The Smiths, but never mind.)

There are so many other performers, before Michael and since, who have a better track record as artists. Not commercially: none sold as many albums as "Thriller", but that album, deserving of its status as one of the all-time classics, was still kind of a fluke. Artistically speaking, trying to take the widest possible view, he's second-tier, in my book. I wouldn't even rate him as high as (say) Kraftwerk or Bob Marley. Compared to Elvis, Lennon/McCartney, Dylan, Springsteen and others, he's not even in the conversation.

As a cultural phenomenon, he was perhaps unequalled, or at least as "big" as Elvis or The Beatles, but you can just as easily put that down to random fluctuations in consumer spending, no different than sales of Cabbage Patch Kids, Rubik's Cubes or-- ahem-- Pepsi.

If you take away the hype, he was just another megapopstar who shone brightly for a few years and fizzled out. We should give the man his due, but let's not go overboard and call him a transcendant godlike figure. I know you aren't saying that, but lots of people are.

 

[Happy Maudlin]

Personally I don't mind the adulation thrown Michael's way. He was a talented vocalist, arranger, and dancer. I'm sure many Morrissey fans like Michael's music; and certainly all of us like artists made "taboo" by the Official Rulebook Of Morrissey Fandom (which doesn't actually exist). Every one of us has skeletons in her closet.

However, you wrote that Michael "touched the world's hearts with his music". With all due respect, this is the kind of disgusting hyperbole that has made many people angry about the flood of wildly over-stated tributes to him in the wake of his death. Michael's music did not touch my heart. He didn't touch the hearts of a great many people I knew. Part of Michael's "talent" was to get vast numbers of pop consumers to buy into his weird Disneyfied fantasy of a "unified world" (a fantasy that had as much to do with fleeing from himself as it was a true panracial, Utopian vision of peace). Those of us who aren't fans of his music but are willing to accord the man some respect would feel so much better if ridiculous generalizations like "he touched the world's hearts" weren't uttered every five minutes. It's just not true.

I agree with your statement. I wish not to make overstatements, that kind of unabashed sentimentality is attributed to laziness, those not wahting to properly state the truth that while this man had legions of fans and a faint effect on the less fanatic, there was a backlash against his meteoric fame. But of course I didn't want to explain this. I just got lazy and use a gross generalization instead. I have been watching too much CNN.

 

[Billtwasreallynowt]

He sang Cemetry Gates and changed the lyrics...

He sang..
"There's a black guy with no afro and no nose who knows...
Who'll touch your butt if you're a boy and you fall"

Too much, but I like it

 

[Worm]

I agree with your statement. I wish not to make overstatements, that kind of unabashed sentimentality is attributed to laziness, those not wahting to properly state the truth that while this man had legions of fans and a faint effect on the less fanatic, there was a backlash against his meteoric fame. But of course I didn't want to explain this. I just got lazy and use a gross generalization instead. I have been watching too much CNN.

I wish that you had been unreasonable, refused to back away from your statement, and proceeded to abuse me with colorfully foul language. But, anyway: thanks. And stay away from CNN.

I guess, if I think about it, his death did affect me somewhat. I find myself doing the strangest things these days without even realizing it. I'll be walking down the street and start humming "Beat It", or I'll see a red leather jacket out of the corner of my eye and look over as if I might catch one more glimpse of the King. Just this morning in the elevator I got a little tear in my eye and suddenly, without thinking about what I was doing, grabbed my crotch and yelped "HEE-HEE".

I guess the old lady who shrieked and sprayed me with mace hadn't come to grips with her emotions yet.

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

I was touched at how This American Life renamed each segment of its first show after his death to one of his song titles. Then they played a song on the lead out.

But the bastards still rejected my story.

Anyway, MJ is one of those inexplicable joys of childhood, like... pet rocks, hula hoops, and slinkies. They make no sense whatever, but they're very fun. I'll never forget staging a play with my sister and some friends to "Thriller." We did the dance and everything. It was the coolest damn thing we had ever seen, and I still can't hear Vincent Price's voice without hearing the sound of a stone crypt sliding open... RIP, MJ. Keep your hands off the Cherubs. No Bad touch in heaven, hear?

 

[Worm]

But the bastards still rejected my story.

Lots of eligible females were approached to have his baby, Pregs.

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

Lots of eligible females were approached to have his baby, Pregs.

Ira Glass? I don't think so. He is the sexiest effeminate man ever.