Michael Jackson's career definitely falls into several discrete periods/personas. I remember when I discovered that he'd been professionally recording as a child and double-taking that the singer on the cover of 'Bad' was the same person as the little boy who recorded with Motown. He's been famous since the age of eleven, legendary since his twenties, and notorious since his thirties. He's a cultural icon while still alive and now in his forties he's well on his way to becoming infamous.
A legacy of my teenage Michael Jackson obsession is almost encyclopedic knowledge of the peculiar psychology that has brought him to this point. It's a sad story, a twisted version of the Peter Pan fable that holds particular meaning for him, and has resulted in a stunted and potentially warped sexuality, an classic case of body dismorphic disorder, almost entire emotional isolation, and an increasingly slippery hold on reality.
It's sad. As secondhand_rick mentions, Jackson is living his very own personal nightmare right now, accused of a crime that, if convicted, will destroy his career and his psyche. (And probably end his life - I see no likelihood of him serving jail time, he'd kill himself first.)
He's probably shafted career-wise anyway, from what I've heard debts are mounting and his running costs are fairly huge. For years the money was pouring in and it was assumed it always would but his record company are fairly sick of him now. I've heard Sony are demanding money back and putting much less into promoting him. And his music has become steadily less and less popular as the number of self-serving ballads increased, the production quality dropped and every track became subsumed by verbal ticks and tricks. (I have heard his music being played recently but generally Thriller/Bad era tracks.)
Over the last ten years Jackson=paedophile jokes have become more and more common. Even Terry Wogan makes them, which is rather a death knell for him ever escaping this taint. He'd hoped to rehabilitate his image with the Bashir interview that led to this current court case.
I suspect the older music is all the music there's ever going to be. I'd bet money Jackson won't record again.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-03-04 03:34 pm (UTC)A legacy of my teenage Michael Jackson obsession is almost encyclopedic knowledge of the peculiar psychology that has brought him to this point. It's a sad story, a twisted version of the Peter Pan fable that holds particular meaning for him, and has resulted in a stunted and potentially warped sexuality, an classic case of body dismorphic disorder, almost entire emotional isolation, and an increasingly slippery hold on reality.
It's sad. As
He's probably shafted career-wise anyway, from what I've heard debts are mounting and his running costs are fairly huge. For years the money was pouring in and it was assumed it always would but his record company are fairly sick of him now. I've heard Sony are demanding money back and putting much less into promoting him. And his music has become steadily less and less popular as the number of self-serving ballads increased, the production quality dropped and every track became subsumed by verbal ticks and tricks. (I have heard his music being played recently but generally Thriller/Bad era tracks.)
Over the last ten years Jackson=paedophile jokes have become more and more common. Even Terry Wogan makes them, which is rather a death knell for him ever escaping this taint. He'd hoped to rehabilitate his image with the Bashir interview that led to this current court case.
I suspect the older music is all the music there's ever going to be. I'd bet money Jackson won't record again.