No one had ever come even close to selling 36 MILLION records before Mickael
Jackson, and he was the first truly GLOBAL superstar. Nowdays we see cases
of worldwide celebrity more often, but before Michael Jackson no one had
been a huge star in japan and europe and the us and everywhere else ALL AT
THE SAME TIME. Considering the supremely weird childhood the guy had, its
not much wonder he ended up hanging out with chimps and emmanuel lewis and
putting llamas in his backyard. Off The Wall is his Guernica.
Prince yes.
Stevie Wonder yes.
Marvin Gaye yes.
George Clinton yes.
Michael Jackson yes.
Dr. Dre yes.
jns
posting like mad with her new iMac...yay!
----------
>From: "\"Doug Young aka \\\"The Iceman\\\"\"" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: "passenger side" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Re: Be Like Mike (no, the other Mike)
>Date: Thu, Feb 11, 1999, 1:40 PM
>
>Jesus, I find myself agreeing with Don. I realize that Mike has not been the
>most lovable of characters and probably has some major personality defects but
>he could definitely put out enjoyable well crafted pop/rock soul at least
>until the HIStory fiasco. Yes, he sold lots but sometimes that happens to
>good stuff. I would rank him as one of the three most influentail black
>artists of the last 20 years. The others would be Stevie Wonder who just
>plain never ceases to amaze me. The third one would be his royal pain in the
>ass over- egoed TAFKAP (the artist formerly known as Prince). And for the
>most part I don't like his stuff but he too has done some brilliant stuff even
>if I try not to like him or it. And Sign of the Times ends up being in my top
>100 albums of rock as does Thriller.
>
>Iceman
>
>Don Yates wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 10 Feb 1999, lance davis wrote:
>>
>> > But, now that you've brought it up, I am thinking about it, and my
>> > hackles are raised. OK, fine, let's put Mike in the club. In fact, let's
>> > put him in the Top Ten. No, no: Top Three. After all, his influence
>> > alone, would, indeed justify it.
>>
>> Well, that *was* what the list was about, right?<g>
>>
>> > The mass-market-shackled, lowest-common-denominating drivel that Jackson
>> > has ridden into Swiss Bank Accounts and the Beatles back catalog is so
>> > influential that modern R&B still suffers by and for it. If disco put
>> > the pop in funk, Mike put the pop into disco--like that needed to
>> > happen--and almost single-handedly ruined black music.
>>
>> I like Mike just fine -- particularly from "I Want You Back" through
>> Thriller, which is a mighty long stretch of time. The bubblegum soul of
>> the J5 always puts a smile on my face, and jesus, that kid could sing.
>> Furthermore, I'll stand on David Cantwell's coffeetable and say that Off
>> The Wall and Thriller are two of the finest pop albums of the past 20
>> years.--don
>
