Michael Jackson and Bad Spotlight of Upcoming Spike Lee Doc
Say what you will about Michael Jackson. He was the self-anointed King of Pop, but legions of fans around the world were his willing subjects for decades, crossing generations. So there is at least a reasonable in-house audience just itching for more about the moon-walker and Spike Lee is just the man to deliver. Lee and Jackson were friends in life and the filmmaker, whose Red Hook Summer opens next month, is working on a documentary tied to the 25th anniversary of the release of Jackson's Bad album.
And Lee has apparently come across a lot of material for the film-in-progress. He told the A.P. it's a "treasure chest of findings" including footage the star shot himself from behind-the-scenes. "We had complete access to the vaults of Michael Jackson," Lee said. "He wrote 60 demos for the Bad record. Only 11 made it. So we got to hear a lot of that stuff, too, so it was just a great experience."
Still untitled, Lee said that the film will be appealing to those who are not Michael Jackson fans. The doc will also show a personal side of the pop legend. "He had a great sense of humor and he was funny," said Lee who interviewed Kanye West and Mariah Carey for the film. He also spoke to Sheryl Crow who was a background singer during Jackson's Bad tour. "We really divided it into two things: Artists today who were influenced by Michael and then people who worked side by side…"
Loyalists and new converts have been gobbling up Michael Jackson's music since his death in 2009 at age 50 and the powers-that-be are very happy to oblige. The follow-up to the singer's Thriller album, Bad includes hits "Smooth Criminal" and "The Way You Make Me Feel." It will be re-released with additional tracks, a DVD and other goodies September 18th. Jackson would have turned 54 on August 29th.
[Source: A.P.]
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Mr. Brian Brooks. It would be really nice (and an indication that you are doing your job) if you and the rest of the media would stop saying "the self-anointed King of Pop". It is a veiled attack at Michael Jackson and has no basis in any fact whatsoever. Michael Jackson, in fact, never, ever, anointed himself the king of pop even though it would have been justified by all the records he broke and still breaks if he had. Michael Jackson, whether you love him or hate him, factually was a very humble man. It is not in his make-up and no one can ever produce anything where Michael is self aggrandizing. The amazing thing is that the media can attempt to turn such a public figure into something else that he was not is shameful. Michael goes out of his way to address this misstatement in an interview saying, that he would perform at his concerts and the fans would hold up signs that read, "King of Pop" and chant the same. He never said this about himself. How do you sleep at night reporting untruths that does nothing to better the world that you live in Mr. Brooks? Unlike Michael who did everything in his power to make the world a better place through positive, uplifting music and charity work in which he was put in the Guinness Book of World Records for his contributions here too. One really needs to look at the factor of race that underlies this. Michael Jackson breaks virtually every musical and video record known and the mainstream (white) media decides to say he was "self-anointed" whereas Elvis Presley brings music stolen from black musicians such as Chuck Berry and Little Richard, etc. to white Americans and he is automatically named "The King" no one ever questions the fact that Otis Blackwell, a black man, who wrote songs and provided demos for Elvis was precisely who Elvis stole his sound from. Elvis literally used every inflection and nuance of Otis Blackwell. In fact, it could be argued that Otis Blackwell sounds more like Elvis than Elvis does. Don't believe me? Look up Otis Blackwell, you will be shocked that it's not Elvis! Little Richard gets hoping mad over Elvis being titled "the King". He's on record saying, i"f Elvis is the King I want to know who crowned him and why wasn't I invited"! There, Mr. Brooks, I've just done your job for you! I submit actual facts out for all to see. Please do better research next time Mr. Brooks. Also for our brain washed masses who actually believe that Michael was guilty of child molestation they need to read the book "Conspiracy" by Aphrodite Jones who confesses her guilt in that she as a news journalist and her fellow journalist covering the molestation trial knew that the allegations were false against Michael but admitted that the papers were making so much money reporting lies that they refused to report the actual damaging facts against the accusers. Shame on you Mr. Brooks and shame on the American media.
Just wanted to say that Michael Jackson did not call himself 'King of Pop'.
Elizabeth Taylor first called him 'King of Rock, Pop, and Soul' at an awards show. Bob Jones, Michael Jackson's manager at the time realised this could be used as a tool and reduced it to the shorter title 'King of Pop'. Sony also proliferated it's use through marketing campaigns, appreciating that at the time Michael Jackson was by far the biggest star in the world and had signed a record breaking contract with them.
Of course the main reason he is still referred to as 'King of Pop' some 20+ years after it was first used (and several years after he died) is because of the media and the fans. The title would have disappeared if the media and fans hadn't continued to use it.
Michael Jackson was always JEALOUS of Elvis Presley's success and was known to say 'Why do they call him King and not me? He also refused to give interviews to members of the media who refused to call him 'King Of Pop'. Just for the record, Elvis Presley NEVER stole anything from black or white musicians but fused many styles and came up with his own inimitable style which has never been surpassed. Elvis remains the KING of music and he is still the template for success in the music business. He sang in virtually every musical genre there was whereas other entertainers, including Michael Jackson, were limited to just a few. No MJ Country, No MJ Rock 'n' Roll, No MJ Bluegrass, No MJ Semi-Operatic, No MJ Blues, No MJ Calypso, No MJ Gospel - I could go on.
Suffice it to say that Elvis' record sales and film success are well documented and no other entertainer comes close.
He was truly 'sui generis'.
Brian you should correct yourself. Michael Jackson was REPORTED to have said "Why do they call him king etc" (unless he told you that personally in which case I stand corrected). As I said, Michael Jackson himself did not invent the term and he did not refer to himself as King of Pop either. Michael Jackson did in fact meet Elvis and admired him. The only jealous is from Elvis' fans who feel their icon is being pushed out of the spotlight (That happened a looong time ago, this is 2012 after all).
Also, it's false that he refused to do interviews unless he was called 'King of Pop'. This is easily proven. Just look on YouTube and you will almost certainly find examples that prove you wrong (they're definitely there). He not only did TV interviews but also magazine interviews without demanding to be called 'King of Pop'. He didn't do many interviews because he didn't like doing them, simple as that. The reason the "King of Pop" tag has endured is because the media keep using, even after he died. Simple.
It's well known that Elvis was a white man who sounded like a Black man - he used the black man's singing style and that's certainly no accident as he admitted to always liking that style. It's not a bad thing either, so it might as well be embraced. Elvis was certainly able to mix styles and had varying degrees of success doing it. Michael Jackson is widely accredited for fusing styles too. For example it was he who asked Eddie Van Halen to do the rock guiter on 'Beat It', and used slash on several tracks. He composed classical music that was never released. There are examples of Michael Jackson's Gospel style songs too (e.g.'Will You Be There'), so you're also wrong on that point. He also sang soul, disco, pop, R&B, Hip Hop, rap among others. There are genres that Elvis didn't sing too you know. It appears to me that you don't have a great awareness of Michael Jackson's catalogue or his life.
One thing's for certain though, unlike Elvis, once he went solo as an adult Michael Jackson was master of his own destiny and not just a puppet under the manipulation of his master. This obviously lead him to incredible heights and later in life great depths too. He was singer, songwriter, composer, dancer, choreographer, musician (although he rarely played on his released records), and business man. He was a visionary that changed the music scene through his large-scale, high budget, iconic music videos as well as stage performances. He broke records with his world tours. He has the biggest selling album of all time (Thriller as if you didn't know). He is officially the most awarded artist of all time.
Elvis had a good voice, changed the arrangement of many songs, and was in many films (many not very good) but that was about it. He's no longer relevant and hasn't been for a very long time.
There are so many stars these days clearly influenced by Michael Jackson but not so many by Elvis. E.g. Ne Yo, WIll.i.am, Cee Lo Green, Justin Bieber, Usher, Beyonce, Bruno Mars etc.
Thank you Bob!! I didn't want to have to write another book educating Brian. Brian Quinn is a 66 year old man from Caddington, England and a die hard Elvis Presley fan who traverses the internet and looks for ways to bash Michael whenever he is mentioned in conjunctions with Elvis. I find that sad. You've wrote some very salient points here which I couldn't have stated better myself. Thank you again because I really didn't have the time or energy to devote to responding to Brian's uneducated Michael Jackson remarks.
No matter how the Elvis fans try to destroy Michael Jackson - there's no stopping the world to love Michael more and more. Michael Jackson is BIGGER than Elvis and the Elvis fans just can't accept that. Elvis is passe.
Just take a look at facebook alone - Elvis has 6M fans and MJ has 51M fans. MJ is getting at least 20k fans per day in facebook and Elvis, hmmm never mind.
Michael Jackson is the no.1 GLOBAL ICON. The GREATEST ENTERTAINER OF ALL TIME.
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Jackson was nothing more than a filthy pedophile, and apart from a few wacko Jacko floons, the world knows this, rot in hell Jackson you filthy pedophile scum