I hear he died.

It's true. Sad.

I appreciate. Dangerous was great and I think Bad was, but I haven't heard it since I was about 10. Thriller is obviously great too. Fucking great dancing, in general.

Thriller FTW. Anyone who doesn't appreciate can get fucked. Including those greedy little arseholes who claimed he touched them.

he was a paedophile and a drug addict. many artists have been one, both or worse.

so what?

i can't say i like his music, apart from one track here or there.

Might watch the memorial tonight if I can't sleep. Hear all these people who don't know him wank on about how great he was/is....pretend he's white, forget the drugs and the kiddie fiddlin'

telecast details?

The memorial sounds like it was sad. It seems kind of weird that his body was on stage the whole time while people sang his own songs to him.

OK...it was sad. Yes I watched it. It was pretty tasteful for the most part.

Did anyone else watch it?

Cause I wanna know was it just me or did practically everyone that spoke or perform give Joe the big cold shoulder???

In the footage I've seen of it, Joe's nowhere to be seen, so I assumed he wasn't there and was busy with his new record label.

He was there.

Was Joe Jackson there ! Awesome

Fucking Joe. The old cunt. Was he dressed like a big pimp, as per usual?

Yep.

We taped it so I'm gonna watch tonight.

Everyone is saying that the Usher song was sad - what did he sing?

OK...it was sad. Yes I watched it. It was pretty tasteful for the most part.
Did anyone else watch it?
Cause I wanna know was it just me or did practically everyone that spoke or perform give Joe the big cold shoulder???

It was sad, and yeah, I watched the whole thing. Joe did get a massive cold shoulder from everyone. The best he got was the occasional passing reference/condolence to 'Mr and Mrs Jackson'. He seemed to be smiling every time the family got up and hugged the speakers, while all the Jackson kids looked really upset. Total creepy weirdo. Michael's eldest son also was chewing gum the whole time - not a very good look, kid.

I cried a few times. I know celebrity deaths are naff at best, but death is universal and likewise mourning. It upsets me to see people mourn a person they spent time with, grew up with, shared things with. It upsets me to see people surprised to outlive those a generation younger than them. And of course it was upsetting to hear his daughter speak (briefly, before crying), and to see his brothers struggle to maintain their composure. Jermaine sang 'Smile' (according to Brooke Shields - whose speech was really down to earth and affecting - his favourite song) in front of MJ's coffin. A lot of poignant moments like that.

Everyone is saying that the Usher song was sad - what did he sing?

I think it was called 'Gone too soon', but I don't know MJ's back catalogue that well (I was watching it as a cultural event, not really as a die hard fan or anything). Usher's introductory words were of the variety seen occasionally throughout the ceremony - a bit oddly phrased, with passages similar to (and I paraphrase): ''Everybody will miss Michael - family, friends, fans - but especially me.''

I didn't think it was that sad compared to some of the other stuff, though.

and to see his brothers struggle to maintain their composure. Jermaine sang 'Smile'

I have been finding the various interviews with Jermaine quite upsetting - he has been doing a pretty good job being the family spokesman considering he is clearly absolutely devastated.

I've read in a few places that they were the two bothers that were always the closest.

One of the best runners in my high school was a skinny well-to-do white guy called Michael Jackson. I don't think I ever got bored of hearing about MJ winning the 100m sprint. Playing those mind games.

I think it was called 'Gone too soon'

Oh fuck, that is literally the saddest Michael Jackson song of all time.

Gone Too Soon was great. Brooke Shields' speech was nice.

No it was worse. I saw a picture in a magazine a long time ago of him with a goatee and it was wrong. It looked like it had been stiched onto his face, you could see the stiches around the edge of it.

I know the stubble photos you mean and that wasn't it.

I wonder why it looked so odd. In lots of the pictures in the Thriller cd, he has a bit of a fluffy moustache, so he was capable of growing one. Maybe it just looks weird with his more recent face and lipstick on.

Yeah...I wish I could find the photos. Seeing is believing.

the quincy jones interview on the 25th anniversary is AWESOME

I couldn't hear that too well as I was doing the washing up at the time and wondering what had happened to the music.

For fuck's sake! Why are I Just Can't Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal all noticably shorter on the special edition of Bad? Well annoying.

no they're not!

original lengths on mine....

Hmmm, this is odd. I just noticed I don't have Speed Demon too, but that's just a weird iPod mistake. I must've not dragged it across with t'others. Annoying. I fancy listening to that right now. Speed d'monnnnnnn!

Speed Demon is a fave of mine.

An oft neglected MJ song too....

''Speed Demon! ...pull over boy and get your ticket right!''

The harmonies are outstanding in Speed Demon. Now I'm up to Dangerous, but it seems to just be highlights of Dangerous on my iPod. Probably for the best....

I just realised that must have I learnt how to spell the word Dangerous and Michael from loving Michael Jackson as a kid.

And, when listening to Why You Wanna Trip On Me just now, I had a really weird flashback to Christmas 1991. I'd received Dangerous on cassette from a relative before Christmas Day. I got up really early, like 3 or 4 in the morning to open the presents in my Christmas stocking and listened to Dangerous as I was doing so and remember thinking how weird Why You Wanna Trip On Me was. I swear I could even smell the chocolate and tangerine in the stocking and completely remember exactly how the light was in my bedroom. Really weird.

wow, i feel old now... i was 17 when Dangerous came out

I was 11.

I got a request to play In The Closet the other week whilst DJing, so I did. It was the last song of the night and the staff looked a bit appalled, but I was drunk, so I thought, fuck 'em. All 6 or 7 minutes of it!

My iPod appreciates him, clearly. It appears to only be able to play ''Can You Feel It'' now.

shit, another record.

I'm not sold on it. Plus a bunch people are coming forward and moaning about it and saying it’s definitely not his vocals and that he would’ve been appalled by the release. Katherine, crazy La Toya, the two eldest kids, nephews T.J. and Taryll all say it’s fake and Joe and Will.i.am are saying it’s terrible to release the album without Michael’s blessing. Awkward.

what would tupac do?

Shoot someone?

The single has too much referring to himself in the third person and not enough ows, woo-hoos, chicka-chickas, sheowmons and shit like that. And the album cover is vomit inducing, but to be fair, it was commisioned before he died and he would have loved it, as it's the tackiest thing of all time.

Anyone else excited about the new album? It's all mash-ups, like the Beatles Love album.