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Schweiz (Deutsch)RIP Micheal Jackson
RIP Micheal Jackson
Posted: Thursday, June 25, 2009 - 20:09
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50.
The person said Jackson died in a Los Angeles hospital. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity.
The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper.
Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage.
His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — remains the biggest-selling album of all time, with more than 26 million copies.
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched voice punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks second only to his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance.
By some measures, he ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. In fact, he united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie.
As years went by, he became an increasingly freakish figure — a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grownup life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, often wore a germ mask while traveling and kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions.
In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him. The case took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble.
Jackson was preparing for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13. He was in rehearsals in Los Angeles for the concert, an extravaganza that was to capture the classic Jackson magic: showstopping dance moves, elaborate staging and throbbing dance beats.
Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital as word of his death spread. The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson's rented home, was roped off with police tape.
"Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson has just died," a woman boarding a Manhattan bus called out, shortly after the news was annunced. Immediately many riders reached for their cell phones.
In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone.
"No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend sent to his telephone. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."
Replies for this Board Topic
Such a sad, sad day.
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Last night, I dreamt the whole night long
I woke with a head full of songs
I spent the whole day, I wrote em down
but it's a shame
Tonight, I'll burn the lyrics
'cause every chorus was your name.
He's a legend. I loved young Michael as in Jackson Five. He was so adorable and the talent he had even at such a young age was astounding. Sad day indeed.
I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and then make that change
- MJ
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Myself I long for love and light,
but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright? - L Cohen
michael jackson was/is a bedrock of the music i grew up on...it seems like he kinda got lost at some point and slipped away with nobody to reel him back in...he was, among many, many other things (positive AND negative), musically talented and i acknowledge his place in my "musical development" as a child of the 80s....i can remember being 6 or 7 when "thriller" came out and actually being scared initially (i developed a love of horror movies later in adolescence)! blessings to the deceased and his family...
Where Did You Come From Lady/ And Ooh Won't You Take Me There/ Right Away Won't You Baby/ Tendoroni You've Got To Be/ Spark My Nature/ Sugar Fly With Me/ Don't You Know Now/ Is The Perfect Time/ We Can Make It Right/ Hit The City Lights/ Then Tonight Ease The Lovin' Pain/ Let Me Take You To The Max/
http://www.jacksonville.com/news/metro/2009-06-25/story/concert_rewind_j...
Victory Tour 1984
I actually caught this tour when it hit Cleveland... Still one of the best shows I've ever been to in my life....
God Bless Michael Jackson and God Bless his family in this trying time...
P.S. Mao ~ One of the classiest moves ever over on Tablive.net...
thanks...
--
"It costs nothing to be honest loyal and true"
Yes Mao, very repsectful & unexpected.
Travis told me about it at the merch table tonight in St. Louis. What a shock.
I grew up listening to this great perfomer and humanitarian. I never quite understood some of the things he did in his personal life, but as a leader of world peace and kindness to all, he was an amazing person. I never could believe that no matter where he played or what language the people spoke, they all knew ever word to all his songs. Definately the King of Pop. I will never forget the Moonwalk the first time I saw it. It was on TV when his concert was in Germany when the Berlin Wall came down. It looked like a force was pulling him. I just don't understand how he got his feet to move like that. All around great performer. I liked his early stuff in J5, but really like most of his stuff he put out. RIP MJ
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Team Avett #5
Such a part of my childhood! I remember being scared when the Thriller video would play. My mom bought my sister and me a MJ poster, that hung in our bedroom for years. It's in the background of most pictures taken in there.
I don't know how I feel about his entire life, and those around him, but it's undeniable that his life on this planet was unprecedented. What a shock, and what an impact.
Can't deny the talent that he had, even if you don't like the genre. I'm too young to remember much about his early stuff. Most of my memories center around the hoopla, the molestation charges, and all the negativity. Hard for me to feel a loss with his passing, but my condolences to the family and fans.
--
"Do the best you can and that won't go unseen."
I have fond memories of rollerskating with my best friend Becky Coffey in our basement for hours as a kid. My dad wired some extra speakers so we could listen to music down there while we skated (Thanks Dad, that was great). The Thriller album was on heavy rotation for awhile there and I distinctly remember having to carefully climb the stairs in my skates to flip the album over.
My brother used to try to creep us out by turning the lights out when the song Thriller came on. We'd get stuck down there in the dark while Vincent Price's voice cackled "ah ha ha ha" at the end. Much to my brother's disappointment, we'd just laugh along with it.
I still have that album (somewhere).
And that's just one MJ-related memory that I'll never forget, despite anything that occurred in his later years to alienate him from the world. The music is what he leaves behind, and it shines brighter than any of that other crap.
I know I had his poster on my wall. I wanted his glove, his jacket, his moves. RIP Micheal Jackson
angi! glad to know my sister and i weren't the only girls roller-skating in the basement! that cement slab floor couldn't be matched...
Much like most of you MJ was a staple on the soundtrack to my life and childhood. I can remember dressing up as him in my red thriller leather jacket. Running home with my brother to watch the 3:30 Thriller video on Mtv.
You can't deny how directly influenced musicians and changed music forever.
However I am disgusted by all the attention this is getting. Its one thing to honor the dead and pay your respects to the passing of a musical genius. I had very close friends that died on the Cole, on 9/11 in NYC and the Pentagon, in the sand box in Iraq and Afghanistan... Yet a odd guy that was probably a pedofile is on 24/7 loop by the media machine that has incessant need to spoon feed the misled automatons.
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Team Avett #102
"..It’s not where I am…it’s who I’m with.."
I am fine with his immense talent being recognized, but that is not his only legacy. He leaves behind a wake of destruction and pain, also, and it is bothersome that he is being lifted up as some sort of hero.
--
Things change and get strange with the movement of time.
It's happening right now to you.
If the Beatles were from Appalachia instead of Liverpool, they might sound like the Avett Brothers – they were that good.
He did a nice album with Thriller and helped with "We Are The World." I read elsewhere on the Internet about a real hero who died last week, a Vietnam vet who piloted a helicopter to save some of his wounded buddies. Where are his headlines?
The media has blown MJ out of proportion. I'm not sure who his target audience is. Musically, for me at least, pre-plane crash Lynyrd Skynyrd had a bigger impact than he did. Their music is played constantly, and opened the door for countless southern-flavored acts.
It is tragic, but he had reported health issues, self-induced "freakishness," and may have succumbed to accidental drug misuse. The 1982 version of MJ was memorable, but that was closing in on 30 years ago.
--
"Ronnie and Neil, Ronnie and Neil
Rock stars today ain't half as real
Speaking there minds on how they feel
Let them guitars blast for Ronnie and Neil"
I won't bother to hurt anybody's feelings with the whole reality versus dumbass comments post here, but besides the last three comments being disrespectful to the dead (which those who cling to social norms regularly revile), the comparisons made me laugh.
It is unfortunate that MJ's personal life couldn't be just that. Not condoning any of the more unseemly things he's been accused of but I definitely think he's been the victim of greed, envy, and other people's unscrupulousness wants and desires. He made every effort to keep his life private and I think that only contributed to people's misunderstanding of him. Maybe he was a less than perfect parent, but I submit so are most parents.
A little weird? I commend whomever can stand in a mirror and point that finger.
I love Lynyrd Skynyrd and have long defended their honor as a great band. They had not one but THREE of the greatest guitarist rock music has ever seen, but to think they even came CLOSE to the contributions that MJ made on music is just ridiculous.
To compare his death and say it's no greater of a loss than somebody in the wrong place at the wrong time, regardless of how noble YOU think their cause was, is repugnant on so many levels I don't have time to go into it.
I will try to break it down in a simple way for ya though. If you seriously think that somebody who, maybe not even by there own choice, died in service to a cause YOU deem important is more tragic than the death of a man who affected THE ENTIRE WORLD IN A POSITIVE WAY then I don't think I can afford you enough respect to continue this conversation.
Here's what I suggest.....You wear a shirt with an American flag on it, I'll wear one with a picture of Michael....let's see who get's further around the world.
Real heroes, indeed.
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Myself I long for love and light,
but must it come so cruel, and oh so bright? - L Cohen
Oh, it's Sunday and I haven't had any breakfast yet, let's not go there!
MJ's impact on the world cannot be denied. It's good to recognize that and even mourn it a bit.
But I don't think it needs to monopolize the news media forever. Sure, maybe they're just giving the people what they wanna watch, but there are serious issues going on in this world of ours, and it's a shame people won't sit up and take notice and care, much less mourn those sad facts, too.