Isn't it surreal that Michael Jackson is dead? I've been painting all morning with the news on in the background, and every now and then a Michael Jackson childhood memory will spring up from way back when. Remember this...
...At St. John's Church in Liverpool, during the consecration of the Eucharist I believe, when Geoff yelled out at the top of his lungs "MICHAEL JACKSON!" for reasons still unknown. Hilarious!
...a bunch of us trying to moonwalk on the kitchen floor wearing socks. Eric was the only one who mastered that.
...having MTV banned from the house because I was scared to death by the Weird Al Yankovic video "Eat it", a take on Michael Jackson's "Beat it". At the end, his eyes turned yellow. I used to try to hide under the coffee table, the same coffee table my feet are resting on now. :) It was still pretty scary.
...It wasn't really halloween until the radio stations played Thriller.
Remember Ryan White, the kid he "befriended" who died of AIDS? Or how about when his hair was light on fire while filming a Pepsi Commercial?
Eric said about 3 hours later
I remember when Steve got the Thriller album. Ugh! Did I hate listening to that!
I don't have too many other memories of him, though. I pretty much tried to ignore him.
GJ said about 4 hours later
MTV got banned due to Def Leppard's Rock of Ages video. You guys must have gotten it reinstated at some point to have gotten it banned again. I do recall someone freaking out due to the eyes at the end of the original Thriller video, but I don't recall the Weird Al sendoff causing a similar effect. Of course, by then I think I was off in college land and had pretty much stopped watching TV by then.
Steve got Thriller?? I thought that was you, dude. I could be wrong, though--my memory has more holes than swiss cheese these days.
I'm gonna have to post the video now. You may wish to avert your eyes, I know I will. :)
Steve said about 10 hours later
I got thriller? I don't remember that. I remember getting Jefferson Starship, but not MJ. MTV got banned because of Wierd Al as I remember it.
Steve said about 11 hours later
So how many people really think he was the king of Pop? Parsla and I were just discussing this. We reviewed all of his hits, and I counted 9 that I recognize. How about Madonna? Billy Joel? Gwen Stefani? All have more hits than Michael Jackson. Heck, even Rush has more hits than Michael Jackson....
GJ said about 12 hours later
It Weird Al, bud. No one else comes close.
Marc said about 13 hours later
I dunno the numbers, but I would bet MJ's hits lasted on the charts much longer than most of the others'. Not to mention they are immediately recognizable. His stage performance is pretty close to unmatched. The moonwalk was sweet. Oh and he was black. Not being racist, just honest. It was a big deal to be such an influential black person at that period in time. I think King of Pop makes sense being so good at all aspects. Madonna has some good songs, dancing...maybe, certainly not likable to all audiences. Billy Joel has awesome music, but I imagine this stage performance is pretty dull being behind that piano a lot.
I think I'm gonna go practice up on my moonwalk. I remember Eric doing it, it was pretty awesome. I've never been able to get it to look decent.
GJ said about 20 hours later
Top selling artists, 1 billion records or more:
The Beatles, Elvis Presley
Next: 500-999 million
Bing Crosby, Michael Jackson
Next: 200-499 million includes
Madonna, Bob Marley, Celine Dion, Elton John, Julio Iglesiasm, Maria Carey, Pink Floyd, Led Zep, Queen, Rolling Stones, Drifters, Bee Gees, ABBA, and a few more.
So, strictly speaking, if we're talking pop sales, Elvis was the king. Jackson wasn't far behind.
Some other rankings of interest:
Billy Joel: 100-199 million
Gwen Stefani: less than 50 million
Rush: less than 50 million
Britney Spears: 75 to 99 million
U2: 100 to 199 million
Aerosmith: 100 to 199 million
New Kids on the Block: 50-74 million
Van Halen: 75 to 99 million
Kristen said 1 day later
Hey Steve--remember our parachute pants? We (at least I) called them our Michael jackson pants. They were like vinyl and had zippers all over them. I think I had a red pair and you had a black pair, or vice versa.
I was just browsing iTunes, and out of the top 100 songs today, 46 of them are Michael Jackson songs. Wow!
You know, I can't name a single Bing Crosby song. Whodat? LOL
I think he is the King of Pop--and I think this is easier to conceptualize when you consider the impact he has had on places like Japan. We mass produce pop icons here in the States, but very few have the long-lasting global impact that Michael Jackson has had. I doubt that anyone 20 years from now is going to say, "Gosh, that Britney Spears, her amazing talents are the reason I am now a superstar!" Plus like Marc said, he broke some serious racial barriers. It was a perfect storm for someone like him to be launched into a worldwide star.
So who do you think will do the big tribute, a la Elton John's "Candle in the Wind" tribute to Princess Di?
Kristen said 1 day later
Personally, I'm ready for a Stevie Wonder come-back, maybe with a Justin Timberlake guest spot.
GJ said 1 day later
Bing Crosby, eh? White Christmas....
He was a bit before your time, and also not a pop dude. The Beatles and Elvis were definitely pop, but also not of MJ's era. So, realistically, while he reigned from the early 80s to the early 90s, he was the king. Today, the market is so fractured, it's likely we'll never see someone that big again.
Eric said 3 days later
Continuing on the fractured market, if American Idol keeps churning out new "stars" every year there will certainly never be another king or queen of anything.
And yes Steve, you got Thriller. I DEFINITELY remember it. You don't have to admit it though. I understand.
The problem with looking at record sales to determine who is the king is that they comprise worldwide sales. MJ was extrememly popular outside of the US. So is U2. It may be different if you look at US sales. Any way you look at it, he was one of a kind and made a huge impact in the music industry. But that was in the 80's. A LONG time ago, really. His reign was pretty short, but not much different than Elvis' stint.
GJ said 4 days later
It's not just American Idol. These days, recording your own music isn't that hard and doesn't require super-expensive equipment as in years past. With the continued expansion of information dissemination on the Web, it's not hard to get noticed if you know anything about marketing and have a quality product. This serves to dilute the pool--but you'll also find some diamonds that would never have made it with the music industry 30 years ago.
Additionally, pop music itself has greatly matured over the past 50 years. There are main family branches (rock, R&B, folk, country, etc.) and many sub-genres (metal, bluegrass, rap, contemporary, etc.) that serve to allocate artists to particular pigeonholes. Music fans often identify with only a few of these sub-genres--and so, unless an artist bridges across many differing sub-genres and is equally talented across each, it's very unlikely that they'll reach the market penetration that Elvis and later MJ enjoyed.
Regarding the whole "King" title--nobody said this was American-only sales, or this was King of the US Pop Charts. Given the influence Great Britain has had on the US pop scene, I think it makes little sense to limit the scope to the US. Now, you could make the argument that album sales doesn't work, since album sales have plummeted in the past ten years with the advent of digital online music. Radio play hits are also tough to use since radio is not only fracturing but finding itself losing out in a video-centric world (but if you do, MJ kicks ass here too).
Concert sales? Maybe--but these are driven as much by concert talent (not every band/singer is a good live show) as the pull of the artist's music in the first place.
I think in this day and age, we can't even begin to agree on how to measure a new King/Queen of Pop--meaning, of course, there won't be another one anytime soon, if ever.
