RIP Michael Jackson 1958 - 2009

[chipsman]

Singer, dancer, songwriter, record producer, financier, musical icon. The King of Pop is dead. I grew up with him. From "I Want You Back" to Thriller to "We Are the World" there will never be a talent that will come into this world again. This Hoosier mourns the death of another Hoosier today.

[Kurt/Yukki]

Well, John, to some degree I did come up in an R& B world, as the grade school I went to was 90% black, but all that aside, I think that MJ's contribution and influence transcended the color and racial lines, and that's part of what made him so huge; that crossover. Those are some of the doors that he walked through that others had broken down, I spoke of before, probably most notably the early Motown records and artists. They sort of paved the way for him to have such monumental success.

Again, I think I'm straying away from the point...My point anyway...And that is that he achieved iconic status, like "heal the sick with a touch of his hand" status, (also a sign of the times in which he lived. That kind of availability, and access to global media, didn't exist before.) that was on a global scale...So, I can see a far-reaching "influence" from him that will only grow over the years (and this is, indeed, akin to Elvis. He was kind of the first pop star to never die), but I think that Elvis was a pioneer and MJ traveled on a road that had been cleared. That's really all I'm saying.

[Bill Zink]

Chuck D - "Elvis was hero to most, but he never meant shit to me."

Not to be a hater, but are we really going to say that he created (as opposed to popularized) rockabilly?

[Jbarge]

Sorry, but the idea that MJ transformed the Music Industry and popular culture to the same degree as the Beatles is ludicrous, no matter if I'm from the seventies, the eighties, twenties, or what have you.
I actually prefer the story of the Beatles to their music, FYI.
That MJ was a great song and dance man, no doubt - he danced so fast from his roots that he darn near wore out his shoes.

[BURD]

"Elvis is everywhere." - Mojo Nixon

Not to be a double hater---Elvis was there at the beginning of Rockabilly-whether you credit it to him or Carl Perkins or Bill Haley etc...he was their contemporary. Undeniable. He paved that road. Like Kurt said-MJ was several generations removed from R&B-even going back to his Jackson 5 days. So, I believe Elvis deserves props waaay before MJ. Bigger props too.

[Kurt/Yukki]

"Not to be a hater, but are we really going to say that he created (as opposed to popularized) rockabilly?"

There were antecedents, to be sure; precursors, but Elvis invented Rockabilly. He is the first to do that one, very specific, thing. That particular morphing of Country, Blues and the hiccuping vocal. He invented it. It was not there before.

I just want everyone to realize that I am not hating on Michael Jackson, nor am I praising Elvis or The Beatles. This has absolutely nothing to do with my personal preferences of any of them, or their music. This is just commentary on their contributions, as objective as I can possibly be. I'm not saying whether I like any of them, or not.

[John Scot Sheets]

Reply by BURD 3 hours ago
"Elvis is everywhere." - Mojo Nixon

"Elvis needs boats, Elvis needs boats"

[BURD]

[Jbarge]

You're right.

Kurt/Yukki said:

"Not to be a hater, but are we really going to say that he created (as opposed to popularized) rockabilly?"

There were antecedents, to be sure; precursors, but Elvis invented Rockabilly. He is the first to do that one, very specific, thing. That particular morphing of Country, Blues and the hiccuping vocal. He invented it. It was not there before.

I just want everyone to realize that I am not hating on Michael Jackson, nor am I praising Elvis or The Beatles. This has absolutely nothing to do with my personal preferences of any of them, or their music. This is just commentary on their contributions, as objective as I can possibly be. I'm not saying whether I like any of them, or not.

[BURD]

You're right too...

Jbarge said:

You're right.

Kurt/Yukki said:

"Not to be a hater, but are we really going to say that he created (as opposed to popularized) rockabilly?"

There were antecedents, to be sure; precursors, but Elvis invented Rockabilly. He is the first to do that one, very specific, thing. That particular morphing of Country, Blues and the hiccuping vocal. He invented it. It was not there before.

I just want everyone to realize that I am not hating on Michael Jackson, nor am I praising Elvis or The Beatles. This has absolutely nothing to do with my personal preferences of any of them, or their music. This is just commentary on their contributions, as objective as I can possibly be. I'm not saying whether I like any of them, or not.

[BURD]

"Elvis had an influence on everybody with his musical approach. He broke the ice for all of us."

-Al Green

Me thinks we need an Elvis blog...