| Michael Jackson's effect on my musical development |
[Jun. 26th, 2009|03:04 pm] |
When I was a kid -- and so was he -- Michael Jackson's voice had a strong effect on me.
It was visceral. It was like an icepick to the ear. Not until the 1980s and Geddy Lee's stuff with Rush did I have such an immediate, "Please stop that immediately or I may have to kill somebody!" reaction to a voice coming over the radio.
Thanks to Michael Jackson, I developed a foolish dislike for "soul" music that stunted my musical tastes for decades. I should have realized that the Jacksons' true genre was the same one occupied by the Osmonds and the Archies. |
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No joke.
In high school, in an early 1970s precursor to rickrolling, Rick Whitesell (later of Goldmine magazine) would tell me, "You have to hear this! I just got it!" and then play "Rockin' Robin," because he knew it would have such an effect on me.
In the spirit of full disclosure I have to say I had a horrible boy-crush on Michael up until he grew up and went insane. As it may.
What I admire is your resistance to the climate of deification that now surrounds what was never more than a novelty act/ freak show.
I used up the deification thing already, with John Lennon's murder and Frank Zappa's death.
I'll say this in MJ's favor, that I hadn't considered back then: At the time we're talking about, he was a minor, so it WASN'T HIS FAULT!
But as for more recently, I keep hearing how it's gonna take a long time to find out what killed him. I think the bigger mystery was what was keeping him alive.
Edited at 2009-06-27 04:17 pm (UTC)
I recall your dismay at finding that you were the same age, or older, than Billy Idol. Yet you've now outlived millionaires (Vaughn, Zappa) and at least one sick billionaire! | |
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