Michael Jackson encyclopedia : albums, career and family: On the whole, Michael feels rather dull. Vocally, he’s on target the majority of the time, with the exception of the still manufactured-sounding, “Breaking News”, but musically it’s far from impressive. So many of the beats sound so derivative that it lacks any evolution, which is what Jackson was always about. Look at the transition between Off the Wall and Thriller, or better yet, Bad to Dangerous. He went from disco to ’80s synth, from hair metal aesthetics to New jack swing. What’s more, he always surrounded himself with the most top notch, key players in any industry. Do you think it was by chance that Jackson hired the likes of Macaulay Culkin or Michael Jordan for his videos? Remember, it was the early ’90s, those guys were just as much royalty as he was. The same went for Slash, or Eddie Van Halen, or Martin Scorcese, or Teddy Riley. That’s what’s missing on Michael.
With “Black or White,” Jackson lashed out at his public perception. In the interim since 1987’s Bad, he’d grappled with both outlandish rumors (buying the Elephant Man’s bones, sleeping in a hyperbaric chamber) and some that drew blood (allegations of bleaching his skin). The innocent popcorn-eating Michael of Thriller was gone, but calling him “Wacko Jacko” was slander. He wanted us to know he was a man, an eccentric sure, but an adult with deeply rooted beliefs. Released only five months before the LA Riots, the Rodney King beating and murder of Latasha Harlins almost certainly factored into Jackson’s increasingly political slant. “Black or White” articulated a utopian vision of a post-racial future while acknowledging the sins of contemporary bigotry. He demands equality, shouting that he “ain’t second to none.” He growls, “I ain’t scared of no sheets” (presumably Klansmen). Its hook offers his dream of a color-blind society, echoing Martin Luther King.
When Michael Jackson was alive, I received anonymous phone calls that my son Joshua would be kidnapped. Therefore I had to bring him to his father in 2003. Unfortunately, when I felt the situation had calmed down sufficiently, my ex-husband did not want my son to return to me. This led to a lengthy court case, where my ex abused his knowledge of Michael Jackson being my father by describing me as delusional. This lead to a mental examination, which showed my sanity was fine, but also revealed that I was seriously traumatized. The court ruled that Joshua should return to me. However, due to many delays and postponements the whole case dragged on for some 4 years! After that, a new judge decided that Joshua had already stayed so long with his father that he would stay there. The hell that my ex Charat Graafland put my child and me through because of the situation between me and Michael Jackson has made me lost a lots of time with my son Joshua. Discover extra information at Michael Jackson Daughter.
Still, it seems there is no respect or understanding that he could have been a part of my life, because he is the illusionist Michael Jackson and the King of Pop. What do people know about that? Is there proof he was not? It is easy to talk bad about a person you do not know. Because, after all, it is about Michael Jackson.
Bad (1987): And now, we get to the heavy hitters. Bad is one of the defining albums of my childhood – one of my earliest memories is “proving” to my parents that I knew every word of the title track by singing it at the dinner table. Equal parts rock, pop and soul, Bad may have suffered from the Thriller curse in the 80s – pundits recognized it was good, but not AS GOOD as one of the best albums ever made, always an unfair criticism – but the album’s cavalcade of hits, and its influence on pop and R&B at the time, cannot be denied. Bad may not have aged as well as some of MJ’s other top-shelf releases but that doesn’t make it any less groundbreaking. Forgotten Favorites: “Speed Demon,” “Just Good Friends,” “Another Part of Me”.