This is a sad day for American popular culture. A sad week. First we lost Ed McMahon, then earlier today Farrah Fawcett, and now Michael.

He's been called many things - EVERYthing actually - but there's no denying his impact on the music industry. "Thriller" was the first album I ever bought. I played it 20 times in a row, literally, which drove my parents insane that weekend, but that was the weekend, and the very group of songs which hooked me onto, and eventually into, music. Today, it's my occupation, consuming about 80% of my life.

Sadly, it often takes a person's death before understanding the true impact that he or she had on your own life. I didn't know what I was going to write when I began this post - only that I wanted to say something - but I'm realizing now, not much sooner than this very moment, that I owe much of my passion for music and related successes to the feeling I first had that weekend in Chicago listening to Michael's music, over and over and over again.

Like him or not, he was an entertainer unlike any we've seen before, captivating the masses, many of which became infatuated with his life. I can't begin to imagine what that kind of existence would be like. Horrible, I imagine. I certainly wouldn't wish the whole thing upon anyone.

Nothing much else to say tonight.

I probably watched the "Making of Thriller" videotape 50 times in the upstairs lair of my best high school friend in 1984/1985.

It never got old.

I'm with you, E ...

I remember seeing him on tv performing ABC, I think it was 1968/9, he was just a little kid but I loved how he sang. Then he came out years later and did that moonwalk dance on some awards show that totally blew me away. He was a very gifted man...God bless him.

That was the Motown anniversary show. I still remember everything about that particular part of the show - where I was standing while I was watching, what I was holding, what I talked about afterward, what people said the next day.

I just went and played my old vinyl copy of Got To Be There, Michael's first-ever solo single from 1972. It's got one of the best basslines of all time, plus an outrageous modulation coming out of the chorus, and of course those other-worldly helium vocals.

YouTube live TV show clip, mimed but live vocal

YouTube no vocal version, audio only. Dig the bass

This message has been edited. Last edited by: peghead,

I remember slow dancing to that song with a cutey at the very last sockhop dance they ever had at my old highschool. What a wonderful sounding song...those were the days.

A phenomenal talent, a sad end. Those songs from the late seventies into the mid eighties were, well, thrillers.
I don't know that I ever owned a Michael Jackson record. My daughters did, and I thoroughly approved.
Elambo, I know what you mean about an album, or a tv clip, changing your life. For me February 9, 1964; the freewheeling Bob Dylan; Rubber Soul; June 1, 1967 (the release of Sgt. Pepper). On that Sunday evening in '64, we were at a church group meeting, but everything came to a complete halt when Ed Sullivan introduced the Beatles. Of course, we couldn't anticipate the magnitude, but we knew- all of us 15, 16, 17- that something fundamental had just changed. Somehow, I doubt the Jonas Brothers will be viewed that way in retrospect, forty years on. tom

If I may chime in,
I was also quite saddened by the news of Michaels passing. At my age of 42, I realized he had been around my entire life. He was a brilliant talent. The sad part was that he had no life. I don't know that he chose to live the life he lived, my guess is that it was all he knew. Didn't he start at 4 years old? Probably a little young to make his own decisions. I have always believed that his kind of fame was more a curse than a blessing.I hope God has mercy on his soul.

That's correct. He was never allowed to have a childhood, and so he spent much of his life trying to recreate what, in his mind, it should have been. He was a fabricated and controlled product, a product from which many of us have benefited, but it must have taken an incredible toll on him. Certainly none of us could begin to understand it.

No, that level of fame starting at that age.... there's no way to relate. I worked for a very famous actor for years, but he was in his early thirties by the time he got his break. It was still kinda nuts, but nothing at all like Michael had to endure. tom

The BBC has an interesting article entitled “Can Michael Jackson's demons be explained?” which examines his childhood and how it affected him at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_...magazine/8121599.stm

Peace,
Rip

Here are some random thoughts written by one on Michael's long time engineers, a guy I know to be pretty humble and always honest. Only a few people on the planet are privy to this kind of info, which he was kind enough to share:

_______________________________________

One morning MJ came in with a new song he had written overnight. We called in a guitar player, and Michael sang every note of every chord to him. "here's the first chord first note, second note, third note. Here's the second chord first note, second note, third note", etc., etc. We then witnessed him giving the most heartfelt and profound vocal performance, live in the control room through an SM57.

He would sing us an entire string arrangement, every part. Steve Porcaro once told me he witnessed MJ doing that with the string section in the room. Had it all in his head, harmony and everything. Not just little eight bar loop ideas. he would actually sing the entire arrangement into a micro-cassette recorder complete with stops and fills.

At one point Michael was angry at one of the producers on the project because he was treating everyone terribly. Rather than create a scene or fire the guy, Michael called him to his office/lounge and one of the security guys threw a pie in his face. No further action was needed . . . . .

During the recording of "Smile" on HIStory, Bruce thought it would be great if Michael would sing live with the orchestra. But of course, we didn't tell the players that. We set him up in a vocal booth off to the side. They rehearsed a bit without vocals in, then during the first take Michael sang, just about knocked them out of their chairs.

His beatboxing was without parallel, and his time was ridiculous.

His sense of harmony was incredible. Never a bad note, no tuning, even his breathing was perfectly in time.

Once, while we were taking a break, I think we were actually watching the OJ chase on TV, there was a news program talking about him being in Europe with some little boy. I was sitting next to the guy while the news is making this crap up. He just looked at me and said this is what I have to deal with.

I spent close to 3 years working with him, and not once did I question his morals, or ever believe any of the allegations. I wasn't even a fan then. I saw him interact with his brothers kids, other people's children, and at one point my own girlfriend's kids. I got to spend a day at Neverland with them. A completely incredible human being, always looking for a way to make all children's lives better. Every weekend at Neverland was donated to a different children's group - children with AIDS, children cancer, etc., and most of the time he wasn't there.

He was simply living the childhood he never had. In many ways he never grew up.

I was assisting Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis while they recorded the background vocals for "Scream" with MJ and Janet. The two of them singing together was amazing. Super tight, no bad notes. One part after another. When they took a break they sang the showtunes they used to sing as kids. Again, perfect harmony. Mj refused to sing the "stop f*ckin' with me part" because he would NOT curse.

I was the tape op for the recording of the background vocals on "Stranger in Moscow". Scared the hell out me. Michael was dropping in and out on syllables, rearranging the notes and timing as he put it down. No Pro Tools at the time, just 2" tape, and my punches.

I erased a live keyboard overdub that he played one night. He came in the next morning, replaced it, and never uttered another word about it.

I was there when Lisa Marie was around. They acted like two kids in love. Held hands all the time, and she hung out at the studio for quite a while. I never questioned their love for each other.

We recorded a Christmas song during the summer of '94 that needed a children's choir. Michael insisted that the entire studio be decorated with xmas lights, tree, fake snow and a sled for their recording. And he bought presents for everyone.

The last weekend of recording on HIStory he came to me and Eddie Delena, and said "I'm sorry, but I don't think any of us are going to sleep this weekend. There's a lot to get done, and we have to go to Bernie on Monday morning". He stayed at the studio the entire time, singing, and mixing. I got to spend a couple quiet moments with him during that time. We talked about John Lennon one night as he was gearing up to sing the last vocal of the record - the huge ad libs at the end of "earth song". I told him the story of John singing "twist and shout" while being sick, and though most people think he was screaming for effect, it was actually his voice giving out. He loved it, and then went in to sing his heart out. . . .

Later that night, while mixing, everyone left the room so MJ could turn it up. This was a common occurrence during the mixes, and I was left in the room with ear plugs, and hands over my ears, in case he needed something. This particular night, all the lights were out and we noticed some blue flashes intermittently lighting up the room during playback. After a few moments we could see that one of the speakers (custom quad augspuergers) was shooting blue flames. Mj liked this and proceeded to push all the faders up . . . .

MJ liked hot water while he was singing. I mean really hot !!!!! It got to the point that I would melt plastic spoons to test it.

Bruce and I were talking about walking to the studio everyday in NYC, and what routes we took. Michael looked at us and said we were so lucky to be able to do that. He couldn't walk down the street without being harassed. It was a sad moment for all of us.

The studio crew got free tickets to the Janet show so we all went right from work one night. About halfway through the show we see this dude with a long beard, dressed in robes dancing in the aisle behind. I mean really dancing . . . it was Mj in disguise. Kind of like the costume Chevy Chase wears in Fletch while roller skating.

He got one of the first playstations from sony in his lounge . . . we snuck in late at night to play the games that hadn't been released yet.

A couple people on the session hadn't seen Jurassic Park while it was out, so MJ arranged a private screening for us at Sony.

He was a huge fan of Nine Inch Nails Downward Spiral . . . .

I was lucky enough over the course of 3 years to have access to the multitrack masters for tour prep, videos, and archive purposes. To be able to pull these tracks apart was a huge lesson in production, and songwriting. A chance to look into the minds of geniuses.

Of all the records I've worked on, MJJ was the only company to give platinum award records.

One day we just all sat in the studio listening to his catalog with him for inspiration. He loved the process, he loved the work.