Who's Next To Croak?

[tpfkabi]

It took the death of MJ to get MTV to start playing music videos again.

ain't that the truth (ruth)?

i was off recently and i thought MTV still played some videos during the work day, but not a single one. i guess when they stopped TRL they stopped all video play other than bits of videos during the credits of shows.

[Ravi]

I was a huge MJ fan when I was a kid and his older stuff is still amazing.  I was a kid when Dangerous came out, and that's when I went back and got his other albums, as well as the Moonwalker and Dangerous videotapes.  He was an incredible dancer, and his music was always impeccably produced.  He defined the music video era.  They don't make entertainers like him anymore.  I was obsessed with him when I was a kid, so this is especially sad.

[polkablues]

i've never been a huge fan of his, i don't think i've ever even met a huge fan of his, yet this is one of the most shocking celeb deaths i've ever heard, if not thee most.

Bernie Mac was shocking. This has zero effect on me.

[Pozer]

ghost of Carlin tribute..

[Fernando]

I'll share an anecdote that was told in a radio show here:

Back in 1993 right before all the sexual abuse accusations he was doing 5 or 6 show in Mexico city and was gonna perform one in Monterrey where I live, I think he only played three shows and when the accusations went public he canceled the rest of the shows. Anyway, he was staying at a luxury hotel in m.city and had rented two whole floors, there where odd things since the beginning of his stay because the cleaning service was not allowed to enter his suite, they were given the dirty sheets and what not at the door and left all clean stuff that was needed, food was order always as room service and again they took the meals and nobody ever entered the suite. Upon leaving when his staff payed everything they left an additional $10thou for 'damages that may had be done'.

When they finally left the admins of the hotel went to check the rooms and to their surprised the whole room was wrecked, bathrooms destroyed even toilets teared out of the floor, floor and bathroom tiles also teared down, furniture cut with knives, jars broken, every goddamn thing was totaled, the hotel had to contact his ppl because the damage done surpassed the ten thousend they left and asked for 36thou more.

The only explanation the admins found was that the guy not only had an eccentric life style but one of excess in every way.

[MacGuffin]

i've never been a huge fan of his, i don't think i've ever even met a huge fan of his, yet this is one of the most shocking celeb deaths i've ever heard, if not thee most.

Bernie Mac was shocking. This has zero effect on me.

I see your Bernie Mac, and raise you a Heath Ledger.

[picolas]

semi-meaningless fact: twice in my life have i gone to a particular movie theatre to see a horror movie because no one else was interested. first time i saw cloverfield, then drag me to hell. both times someone very famous has unexpectedly died. first heath, then jackson.

[Gamblour.]

I was a huge MJ fan when I was a kid and his older stuff is still amazing.  I was a kid when Dangerous came out, and that's when I went back and got his other albums, as well as the Moonwalker and Dangerous videotapes.  He was an incredible dancer, and his music was always impeccably produced.  He defined the music video era.  They don't make entertainers like him anymore.  I was obsessed with him when I was a kid, so this is especially sad.

Took the words out of my mouth. This was my childhood. My dad played Michael Jackson nonstop. I rented the Thriller video from Blockbuster dozens of times, watching the behind the scenes with John Landis tickling Michael's feet. That video got me into film, basically. I was about 8 at the time and rented dozens and dozens of horror movies, bought books on horror makeup. I loved it.

Dangerous was the first cassette I ever owned. I was glued to the TV when "Jam" debuted on MTV. I saw the Moonwalker movie everytime it came on VH1. And the "Scream" solidified one of my first director obsessions, Mark Romanek.

I listened to Dangerous today and I really do marvel at what a genius he was. Watch that clip of the Jackson 5 on Ed Sullivan and it'll make you miss him. I don't understand all this apathy towards his death.

[picolas]

i watched his simpsons ep last night. it made me smile. you can't not love him in that. along with being so obviously incredibly talented he was so.. soft. ebert did an amazing analysis/write-up which i agree with:

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090625/PEOPLE/906259982

i think the apathy has everything to do with who he was/had been when he died. that british doc where they follow him around vegas and he just walks into stores and buys everything he sees, unsure of what he owns and doesn't own is so effing sad.

[Stefen]

Nobody would be able to keep any sense of normalcy when you're dealing with that kind of fame. 

[picolas]

i know. you said that. i don't think fame was THE thing that made him sad and strange though. it just exaggerated the sadness he was already carrying around from no childhood/a horrible father and allowed him to manifest it in ways we'd never think of because we don't have $1 billion + legions of screaming fans around the world.

[Stefen]

i don't think fame was THE thing that made him sad and strange though.

There's tons of kids in this fucked up world dealing with shitty fathers. None of them are like Michael Jackson. The fame and the money definitely IS the reason he was the way he was.

[cine]

i don't think its possible for us to nail down precisely why he was how he was.

but if i had to speculate.. i'd say it was the body dysmorphic disorder...

[picolas]

The fame and the money definitely IS the reason he was the way he was.

it didn't help. but it wasn't the only ingredient. the seed of insanity was his childhood. i'm saying fame/money gave him license to exaggerate it to levels no normal person can know. i don't think we're saying very different things.

[jtm]

i've never been a huge fan of his, i don't think i've ever even met a huge fan of his, yet this is one of the most shocking celeb deaths i've ever heard, if not thee most.

Bernie Mac was shocking. This has zero effect on me.

no disrespect to Bernie, but his death comes nowhere near the vicinity of this.

Micheal was arguably the most famous celebrity on the planet. his death is up there with Elvis and Lennon. the difference here is we weren't around when those guys had their rise and fall. well, Lennon didn't really fall but you know what i mean.

like i said, i was never a big fan, but i was always mesmerized when i saw video of him performing onstage... looking back, i should have been a bigger fan.