Michael Jackson: King of Pop Artist Spotlight

DecastRadio .com presents Decast Radio Special

Episode Artist Spotlight Michael Jackson Rose,

Mike TFUM Blanchard, and Dion the Music Man Walker.

And welcome to GeekCaster Radio. This is the

start of the 80s artist spotlight episodes, continuing

the great music spotlight that I have planned

here for GCR. I am TFG and Mike and joining me

is Dion the Music Man. Hello. Hello. How are

you? Pretty good. Pretty good. And today we are

going to be talking about the King of Pop. That's

right. Michael Jackson I Had to do that just

for the hell of it yeah, it's I Don't know why

I I expect anything less from any of the hosts

on on a music spotlight because every single

person has tried to sing so far Yeah, but the

sad thing is I can actually do it The way we're

going to do this is we're going to be doing four

separate topics. The first is how we each grew

up with listening to Michael, the fact that he

is still the king of pop even today. We're going

to spend a brief time on the controversies and

then we're going to talk about his death memorial

and the remembrance. But before we get into those,

I guess background should be given as far as

he goes. He actually started with his brothers

and sisters. in the jackson five yes he did uh...

he actually started actually was a brother group

uh... the jackson five started in sixty -nine

signed to motown records uh... very gordy signed

them and his sister telo doing signing michael

jackson you said very gordon sorry Okay, now

it sounded like you said Barry Gordon. I'm like

no second What's the voice actor for Donatello

from the Ninja Turtles doing something very very

Gordy from my Motown he signed them Joe Jackson

their father was his was their manager for a

long time and um His sister Janet did not get

involved with the Jackson five until years later

Okay, see Always thought it was I didn't realize

it was Michael and the four brothers. I thought

it was no it was Michael and the four brothers,

okay, and then Jermaine left later right and

then Then Janet came in right no Janet Janet

didn't come in Jermaine left and I one of them

Randy Randy replaced remain Randy replaced Jermaine,

and when they got on the TV, then you saw Janet

Jackson as Mae West. Oh, okay. So that's how

that worked. Yeah. Honestly, I think the only

song I remember from them is ABC. Are you serious?

Really? Yes. Huh. I am you're probably not a

big fan, but maybe a couple of the things you

might want to check out is the ultimate collection

Which has you know, some of his older stuff.

It does have ABC the love you save and then it's

got I think I think it's got some other stuff

from the Jackson 5. I don't really remember now

because Actually, it's kind of funny. I just

spent the other day ripping 12 albums onto my

computer for a friend of mine who wanted them

so I think it's more so I might the thing with

the music is sometimes you remember the artist

but not the song and vice versa so I might have

heard other Jackson 5 songs I just don't remember

them at this time but ABC was that was one of

their big ones that was the biggest actually

at least I think it was it was one of their biggest

ones it was the one that got played a lot I guess

getting into how we each grew up listening to

him for me. It was you know Bad and and beat

it and Billie Jean and I loved man in the mirror.

I I love this man I listen to man in the mirror

like on repeat all the time. That's a group.

That's a really good song. Yeah, I think that's

You know, they had, you know, he got Andre Crouch

and, you know, his and his wife's choir to back

them up on that song, back him up on that song.

And actually, you know, Syeda Garrett and Glenn

Ballard had written that tune for Michael. So

that was a really good anthem for Bad. Oh, yeah.

Yeah. I mean, you know, I was going through because

it's mainly because I'm broke. And I haven't

bought really any music lately. I've bought a

couple things, but I haven't ventured out into

entire catalog of music. And for this episode,

I basically went out and I got iTunes previews

of songs. And listening to the iTunes previews

of some of the songs, I didn't even remember

half of them. I know that they're his songs.

I think the one... The way you make me feel I

was like wait a second he did this song Yeah,

yeah, it was I don't know it because it's because

he's not Michael Jackson sadly he's not an artist

because I don't actually have any of his songs

in my iTunes yet He's not someone I've listened

to in a very long time. He's someone that I listened

to as I grew up And I think Oh, I'm growing up

now, so I'm not gonna listen to him anymore I'm

done with him. That's not what I mean. Oh, I

know no no no some people Some people know seriously

some people just feel that way. They're like,

okay. I'm done with this artist I'm not I'm not

gonna listen to this artist anymore. I'm not

a fan and it's not that at all. It's just You

listen to certain songs in there you're like

This person did this track. Yeah, seriously.

Yeah I I think really where I dropped off of

listening to Michael was Really when he did you

are not alone. Yeah from history. It's it's not

a bad song. I don't dislike the song It's it

was just with the criticisms again I'm not criticizing.

I know I'm not criticizing him or the song. It

was probably something It was such a departure

from what I knew Yeah, well It was him trying

to change and evolve and I just didn't take to

it One of the reasons why I didn't take to it

was again as I said You know Billie Jean and

all those tracks, you know ABC. ABC was so, you

know, you get songs all the time that get so

much radio play that you get sick of them. You

Are Not Alone was one of the ones that the radio

stations played. It got a lot of airplay. Constantly.

Yes, it got a lot of airplay. But that's what

you do with a popular song. No, I understand

that. I understand that. But because at that

time, we didn't have iTunes. We didn't have digital

medium to where we could pick and choose and

listen. We had to listen to whatever was on the

radio. Right. And if whatever was on the radio,

like if they played You Are Not Alone once every

two hours or once every hour, obviously... Unless

you choose to change the radio station to listen

to something else. You're gonna get sick of that

song Yeah, and that goes with any song. I'm not

just picking on you are not alone I don't say

anybody in the in the genre. It doesn't matter

what genre it is. Yeah. Yeah, and I just That

was the song that really Made me take the white

glove off because I was done i'm sorry i had

to do that joke i told you he didn't like my

music at all that really depresses me oh my god

fox should hire you michael jackson reincarnated

on the simpsons yet again that really bothers

me that he doesn't like you are not alone that

was a really sad song I wrote that song for people

who are really, you know, just sad and, you know,

I wrote that song for a reason. Didn't that song

go along with one of the Free Willy movies? No.

I could have sworn it did. To help you out here,

and I'm actually going to be nice. Will You Be

There was the first Free Willy movie. then childhood

from the history album past present and future

book one the double disc set childhood was actually

for the second free willy movie so he actually

did two songs they used two of his songs for

the two free willy movies okay well I guess he

really jumped the whale there God. Well, I couldn't

give the jump the shark jump. Aw! Making waves,

that's all I wanted to say. Oh, God. Why are

you two doing this? No, but like, alright, so...

So for me, as I said, looking at the songs that

I listened to most as a kid, Bad, Beat It, Billie

Jean, Black or White. Good video. Oh, yeah. That's

the other thing. You know, he was not only the

king of pop, but he knew how to do a music video.

Other ones that I really remember is Do You Remember

the Time? Yes. As I said, Man in the Mirror,

The Way You Make Me Feel, Thriller. Oh, that

was good. Oh, yeah now here's okay, and I'm going

to Kind of shed a little bit of light on this.

Okay. Okay when thriller first came out not the

album Right video the video People in the Jehovah's

Witness community got really pissed off I can

see why because obviously he was a Jehovah's

Witness and Here he is doing this Song about

horror and the genre of horror. Okay, so he actually

had they to to to satisfy them I Mean he obviously

knew look this is make -believe, but people were

really thinking in in the Jehovah's Witness community

You know, he's he's changed. He's he's doing

something that worships Satan and you know, no,

that's not what I'm about So he put this disclaimer

on the video. I don't remember it word for word.

So, you know, we'd have to look that up. The

point is, is that he put the disclaimer on the

video before, you know, before the video starts,

right now saying that this is make believe this

is not, you know, this is not real. This is just

for, you know, you know, film intense purposes

only this is make -believe you know that that's

it and I'm just like okay are you happy now I

mean that's like Tipper Gore getting mad at her

daughter because she heard darling Nikki by Prince

and oh my god you know Lord yeah, that's uh,

that's yeah, that's so bad. But what about you

growing up? How did you listen to Michael stuff?

I grew up with You know when I first heard Michael

off the wall when I was about two years old And

then of course Thriller everybody knew about

Thriller and if you didn't know about Thriller

what rock were you living under? Of course, let's

see everybody knew him in the yellow shirt I

actually and this is kind of funny had a microphone

that worked with a 9 -volt battery and If you

put it if you what did you have to do with it?

You had to tune your stereo to an AM frequency

or find the correct AM frequency and you would

push the button and you would talk into the microphone

and you could hear yourself and it was the it

was a Michael Jackson microphone and he had the

yellow shirt on you know on the box and he had

the yellow shirt on the mic and I really wish

to this day I still had that thing I can guarantee

you that would probably be a collector's item

today Let's see. I grew up with bad, of course

You know all the stuff from bad All the videos

from the bad album that were released and things

like that I recently speaking of thriller as

well. I recently saw on YouTube an interview

with James Ingram one of the co -writers of PYT

pretty young thing and James was talking about

how they collaborated and the fact of you know

you see James Ingram kind of imitating Michael

Jackson not so much singing but the dancing and

you know they take a break and you know Michael

looks at James and he's like am I singing it

right and you know James is like oh you got it

man you're singing it right you have the right

words and it was just really funny to see that

you know I happen to see that the other day on

YouTube so I thought that was kind of cool but

yeah bad like I said I grew up with that Dangerous,

you know history past present and future book

one There's a bit of controversy that we'll discuss

on that album as well Yes as far as thriller

going back to it. I did find it due to my strong

personal convictions I wish to stress that this

film in no way endorses a belief in the occult

Michael Jackson Yeah, so there you go. I like

I I knew it had to do something You know how

to do like that. Yeah, yes, because he was a

strong believer in Jehovah, you know, he was

raised around that Yeah, um, I think To kind

of I think that you know people just got real

upset like okay, he's doing something Satanic

yeah, and it wasn't that but I could see why

they got a little upset about that Yeah Yeah,

like I said history, you know past present future

the you know all that blood on the dance floor

from 97 You know and and all the other stuff

we'll get into you know from the you know You

know the blood on the dance floor was like his

last album of the 90s, you know And then like

you said, you know, he started changing in the

90s I think though, but oh, yeah the second disc

of history. Let's clarify Yeah, it's really towards

the tabloids Oh boy. There were songs aimed at

the tabloids because it got so annoyed with them.

Like you said, we would talk about the controversy.

Obviously everyone remembers the child molestation

trial in 93. Yeah. In 95, Scream with his sister

Janet, they actually did record a song together.

That was kind of aimed towards the media Yeah,

he got he got real sick and tired of it, you

know, he got tired of it Another song that I

can bring to mind is this time around He was

again that was aimed at the media and the song

DS, you know Delta Sierra was aimed at Tom Sneddon

Obviously, he didn't use his initials, so he

changed it to DS. I'm sure that was for legal

reasons as well. He made up this fictional character,

but the point is that it was aimed at the DEA

of Los Angeles at the time for that reason. He

was getting his anger out through music, and

I think that's why a lot of people liked that

particular album. There are times when people

can write good, you know feel good songs and

dance songs and and and even romantic ballads

But then there is a period that if you piss an

artist off They will go into the studio and write

a song about it and you can and you'll listen

to it and you're like Wow Yeah, and it may be

you know, you're I'm I wasn't expecting this.

Well, you know what? You pushed me to that limit,

so I'm now going to tell you how I feel. Yeah.

So. Yeah, I mean, see, you've you've really kept

up with his entire career, though. I mean, you

followed him throughout the entire career, because

I know you you were talking about the This Is

It film when it came out and all this and all

that. I have it. I have it. And I just want to

point that out. You're like an obsessed fanboy

It makes me feel good that I watch myself on

on camera because You're just going all creeper

All right, so let's go I do have that film. It's

a good film. Yeah, anyone hasn't seen that film

You should watch that. I mean no disrespect to

any of the jackson family so if they hear this

uh... you know i i i'm not i i i don't want to

make fun he was that you know that's an excellent

fun we we we love him as an artist uh... i don't

know disrespect serious yeah here on you know

i mean no disrespect so that you have the jackson's

here this you know i i don't want Don't want

tweets coming at me your disrespect. No. No,

it's not that I I have grown up with Michael's

music for years I have watched his films. I've

seen his ups and downs Good and bad. So, you

know, and he's just like everyone else. He was

just like everyone else a human being. Yeah You

know, this is all in fun, you know, I know, you

know, he was on the Simpsons You know and surprisingly

speaking of the Simpsons because you did mention

that earlier He wrote do the Bartman as he did

along with Brian Lauren. However, he could not

get credit for that song The reason he was him,

huh? Everybody knows it was him. Well, actually

what it was was that he was a fan of the Simpsons

yeah could not get credit for doing for doing

that song for writing it with Brian because He

was on Epic Records. And The Simpsons were on

Geffen Records, a completely different label.

So you couldn't, at that time, I guess they couldn't

have him going to a different label and writing

a different song, although I don't see why not,

because everyone else has done it, but that's

beside the point. He wrote that song, and I thought

that was pretty cool. And he's actually in that

song, though. The remixes, he is. No, not the

remix, the original. Yeah, doing the backups.

Yeah. Yeah, doing the backup vocals. Yeah. And

then he, you know, obviously there is a remix

version. I don't pay attention to remixes. There

are several remixes that obviously he wrote.

And of course he puts his famous trademark scream.

on the remixes uh... so of course i have that

thank you amazon uh... uh... but uh... you know

i i have that and uh... i've played that on my

internet broadcast shows that i do uh... i haven't

played in a while but yeah he wrote that he's

got a lot of stuff uh... you know there isn't

pop star since him that will ever earn the title

of king of pop he will always be the king of

pop uh you know from all the stuff in the 80s

to the stuff in the 90s even the stuff with Jackson

5 and his early solo career he he's a guy that

knew how to make a video he's a guy that knew

how to write a song and and make people love

it you know the interesting thing is um i i know

this is kind of There's something I wanted to

point out. When Thriller was released, re -released,

not released, but re -released in 2001, when

they were doing the I think 20th anniversary

or something like that, there was an interview

with Quincy Jones and it's on the CD. So if you

get the 2001 version, you'll hear these different

tracks. But Quincy Jones had spoken at the end

of the disc and he said, anybody who knows anybody

who tells me they know how to make a record like

this, they're lying. He actually said that because

Quincy has worked with a lot of them. He's worked

with Michael Jackson. He's worked on his own

projects with different artists. And I know this

is an episode about Michael Jackson. but you

know he's worked you know quincey's worked with

a lot of artists and quincey worked with michael

on the first three solo albums off the wall thriller

and bad yeah and you know i really wish even

through his later career you know dangerous and

things like that i wish that they had still um

kept that going i'm not exactly sure what went

on i've heard different Stories about Quincy

and Michael having a bad relationship from the

80s into the 90s I really don't you know, I really

haven't you know researched that I really haven't

but For the first three albums, you know, it

was it was gold. They were gold You know, I mean

you had six singles or seven singles from bad

you had most of the singles from Thriller off

the wall, some people ignored off the wall. They

didn't think he would do good with that album.

They were expecting this cute little boy from

Gary, Indiana. And what he was saying was to

the world, look, I'm still Michael Jackson. I'm

still here. I've just changed my style. And you

guys should listen to this. And once people knew

that, It was like, OK, we can't go back. I mean,

we can if we don't want to go forward. We can

just stay with the Jackson 5. And that's it.

We're not going to listen to any of his other

stuff. But people actually got into Off the Wall

and actually said, that's not a bad album. When

Thriller came out, that was an extraordinary

album. And it still is to this day. As a matter

of fact, Pete, The Guinness Book of World Records

all time, because it was the biggest selling

album of all time. Yep. Yeah, you know, we might

as well transfer over into the controversies.

We're not going to spend too much time on this

stuff, because honestly, for me, when I like

an artist... I try to ignore the controversy.

To a certain extent, I will ignore the controversies

because I like their work and... Because they

are involved in any kind of controversy, it still

doesn't take... To me, it still doesn't take

away from what they produced before said controversies

happened. Right. There's been controversies of,

you know, child sexual abuse allegations, uh,

you know... God. The whole Macaulay -Kulkin thing

and everything else, it just... This guy has

had a hard life he has Obviously and I know we're

not gonna spend too much time on this, but I

will just kind of sum it up. Yes There was a

trial in 93 I've actually and this kind of ties

into a little bit of it If you guys really want

to know the truth Behind everything read the

book unmasked by Ian Halperin It does discuss

the 93 trial and it does discuss the 2005 trial,

right? 93 he was acquitted 2005 he was acquitted.

Yeah, that's all that needs to be said now I

you know going back to 93 I was 15 or 16 then

so I really didn't understand the law, you know

the court system whatever you want to call it

But I researched it years later and like I said,

I read stuff from the 93 case and I'm thinking,

all right, Michael, I understand you like helping

children. There's nothing wrong with that. But

don't you think you should stay away from them

for a while because it kind of makes you look

guilty if you're continually doing this. And

there were things that Just really kind of bothered

me about that, especially his attorney at the

time Johnny Cochran, um If you're not guilty,

why would you make someone pay them to go away?

Yeah, that was the same now I'm not going to

blame Michael for that. He was following his

attorney's advice Okay, he was following his

attorney's advice his attorney said look pay

them just you're not guilty we know this but

it got out into the media you know they he settled

they settled everybody walked away happy and

you know he went on like i said as i've mentioned

before history past present future book one everybody

you know he put that behind him because they

thought all right you know he's back out into

the music world and this and that and people

flocked to him that were fans that were true

fans like myself you know i thought you know

what okay he's got this with him but he's going

to go into the studio and he's going to start

producing songs he's going to start writing songs

and i you know he may not mention the trial which

he didn't but he may mention his feelings in

these songs and a few of the songs he did The

ones I mentioned earlier scream DS I didn't mention

money, but that was another one. He mentioned

his feelings in they don't care about us and

I'm going to talk about that one for just a second

because When that song first came out There's

a there were some lyrics that were very offensive

I will not I will not speak those lyrics, because

I do respect those that may be Jewish. You will

know exactly what I'm talking about. But Michael

got a lot of flack for that song, They Don't

Care About Us, and it raised a big controversy.

And so he said, you know publicly I do apologize

for this I did you know I did not mean to offend

anyone uh so what he did was he went back into

the studio and he recorded the song he re -recorded

it but he edited those offensive lyrics so anytime

you get the history past present and future book

one disc set the double disc set you will find

that they don't care about us is edited uh Because

of that makes sense. I mean because they want

to obviously market it I mean and obviously he

doesn't want to offend anyone either Well, he

didn't mean to offend anyone, right? That was

the thing He didn't mean to offend anyone a lot

of people got upset and I don't blame them. I

don't blame them at all I don't blame them at

all. They had a right to be upset even you know,

I Think you know, maybe Michael just wasn't thinking

I don't know you know because sometimes you can

write a lyric and it could just be a lyric but

it could be the way that people view those lyrics

yeah yeah I uh this is like I'm not sure if I

ever want to become have any kind of celebrity

status because it seems like every single celebrity

that was in the 80s for the most part some of

them either made bad choices or Ended up in huge

amounts of debt because in 2006 they were threatening

to foreclose on Neverland and I I Think I totally

missed this news. I mean, I knew that they were

I knew that it was closing its doors, but I didn't

know exactly why oh Yeah, he was in serious.

He was up to his ears up to it. He was up to

his eyeballs in debt I mean Wow, that's really

just doing things outlandishly he had all this

money and then you know he goes and spends all

this money on unnecessary stuff and i know that

people can do outlandish things when you get

money but you gotta watch a bank account you've

got people to pay you know you've got you know

your manage you know your your management company

you know uh... if not that uh... you know if

you if you have a band that you tour with you've

got to pay them you've got to pay all the special

effects people any anything any any merchandising

that comes out of it you know they've got to

get paid you know so he was up to his eyeballs

in debt and it really hurt my heart it really

broke my heart to see him in debt like that um

It really hurt my heart to see him in debt like

that When he came out with blood on the dance

floor in 97 a lot of people were like, okay And

it was almost like this album was completely

ignored But it's not even listed on Wikipedia

under his discography. I don't think I Looked

at initial one. Are you sure when you When you

look at his, because I'm on his Wikipedia page,

if you just look at the initial album releases

without seeing the full list, it's not listed.

I wonder if that's an error or if they meant

to do that. I'm not sure because it says main

articles, Michael Jackson albums, discography,

Jackson singles, discography and videography.

but just under the discography thing in general

it goes from gotta be there in 72 to invincible

in 2001 and it skips over it goes from history

to invincible it skips over it skips over blood

on the dance floor now that's very odd because

blood on the dance floor was an actual official

release it had five new songs plus uh eight remixes

i do believe no 13 years was 13 tracks so Yeah,

it I'm even looking at the individual The actual

discography article it does not list it at all.

Oh, wow Yeah, well now it does look hold on it

It lists it under other albums remix and soundtracks

blood on the dance floor history in the mix.

That's probably why Yeah, but it doesn't list

it in actual studio albums Now that is odd because

he did do at least You know five new songs for

that album yeah, but you know the rest were remixes,

you know tracks 6 through 13 That's probably

why that's probably why cuz though the rest of

them were remixes but the first five were studio

tracks Yeah, that well the last The last eight

is probably why it's listed under remixes and

other because it's mostly, I mean, even on the

first five original studio tracks, the others

are all remixed. They're all, they're all remixed.

So, you know, um, it's, you know, like, like

you said, you know, TFG, we're not going to spend

a lot on the controversies and stuff like that.

I will just say this. I read. Because I belong

to the Michael Jackson fan club email newsletter

Mm -hmm. I did read an article that they actually

got from somewhere I forget now and I'd have

to go find it through my mounds of email that

The authorities actually admitted To his mother

that there were no child pornography pictures

on any of Michael's hard drives. And I thought,

all right, if that's the case, why did you raid

his house? Yeah. It's... It's all messed up.

You know, if you guys knew that... You know.

So... Let's go to 2009 where he held a press

conference in London's I think it's Oz or O2

Arena. O2 Arena. Yes. And he announced a series

of comeback concerts titled This Is It. The shows

would be Jackson's first major series of concerts

since the history world tour finished in 97.

Jackson suggested possible retirement after the

shows. He said it would be his final curtain

call. The initial plan was for 10 concerts in

London followed by shows in Paris, New York,

City and Mumbai. Randy Phillips, president and

chief executive of AEG Live, stated that the

first 10 dates alone would earn the singer approximately

50 million euros, because that's what it's listed

as. London residency was increased to 50 dates

after record breaking. Ticket sales over 1 million

were sold in less than two hours. He rehearsed

in Los Angeles in the weeks leading up to the

tour under the direction of choreographer Kenny

Ortega. Most of these rehearsals took place at

the Staples Center, which was owned by AEG. The

concerts would have commenced on July 13th, 2009

and finished on March 6th, 2010. Less than three

weeks before the show was due to begin in London,

with all concerts being sold out, Jackson died

after suffering cardiac arrest. was hard to watch

for six weeks yeah now before we get too far

into the the honoring and remembering of his

death i just have one little rant uh -oh you

have to write on my parade you just really do

no no no i i just have one little rant and this

is really has nothing to do with michael it has

to do with the media okay oh yay you're on my

side finally the day The day June 25th 2009 was

the date he died, right? Yes. Yes. Okay that

day I went to go see Was it dark night I don't

I was at the movies for some movie It was either

dark night or Iron Man or it was one of those

one of those superhero movies title those superhero

movies I might have been Iron Man 2 I don't know

what kind of man I don't know I was at the movies

the point is the point is This is after I got

out of the movie, I had to wait on my mom for

a ride to come pick me up. And I was sitting

there, and you know how in movie theater lobbies

or any kind of lobby like that, they'll have

news programs on? Yeah, it's a big TV, not stapled,

but they got it hanging from a wall. Right. Before

I went into the movie, that earlier afternoon,

Farrah Fawcett had just passed away. You know

I remember that right Farrah Fawcett had just

passed away one of the original Charlie's Angels

folks right after I came out of the movie at

like three o 'clock that afternoon they announced

that Michael had passed away and everything over

the next like Four or five days into three or

four weeks afterwards was not like what really

pissed me off about the media was that You had

fair dying that morning or the announcement of

her passing that morning that afternoon You had

the announcement of Michael passing away his

passing away Entirely eclipsed the news of fair

you didn't hear any fair news at all the rest

of that day on June 25th because of him passing

now My gripe is with the media you could they

could have at least mentioned Farrah Fawcett

at least one other time that day. Yeah, I agree

with you because I mean it did pass away and

You know, I mean, yeah, they said oh she she

was you know She was she played in Charlie's

Angels and this and that but they could have

at least done some little tribute to her You

know or a tribute but you know, and I'm sure

they did at some point But like once Michaels

news hit it was like it was my god. This is the

story of the century Yeah, talk about anything

else other than this I was just shocked. I didn't

know what to think. I was like, wait, he's he

passed away? Yeah. Was he even? Because, again,

I hadn't paid much attention to Michael in a

long time. I mean, yes, I I heard about all the

controversy stuff and I watched the trial stuff

and and all this and all that. But I mean, as

far as musically, I was so away from listening

to him at that point. And I didn't know the guy

was in bad health. Yeah, he was. He was in really

bad health. In 93, he even admitted he was addicted

to painkillers and he was seeking treatment.

And a lot of that... Stemmed from the 1982 burning

of his scalp if you were if you guys remember

the Pepsi commercial Yeah, you know he got burned

from that. I think it was 83 or 83 or 84 I forget

which but the point is it was in the 80s and

He got burned from that so he was on a lot of

painkillers and he eventually got addicted to

those and Then you know even years later. He

knew a lot about drugs and Like I said the trial

because I watched it on headline news for six

weeks from beginning to end and The prosecution

and the defense for both sides The trial took

a lot out of him I Mean it it took a toll on

who he was. Yeah, I know for the trial of his

death You know as a fan it took a lot out of

me just to watch Yes, there are things that here.

I am sitting here. You know Conrad Murray, you

know ordering 2 ,500 vials of propofol and It's

like all right what you know you're supposed

to be a doctor and have morals and ethics and

and things like this and You practice medicine

you have to say You know, no, I'm not going to

do this for you. I mean, I know you want to sleep.

That's fine We'll find some way to do it, but

drugs are not the answer Yeah, but you know and

I'm not going to spend too much time on that

except to say that I think the doctor Should

get life in prison without parole and He was

convicted wasn't he was convicted, but he's only

serving four years for involuntary manslaughter.

Oh That's a crock it now. Here's what makes this

worse because Los Angeles The prison system is

overcrowded He may only serve two years of that

four years in a in the state in the jail cell

He may only serve two years of that and then

the rest of it under house arrest Now, I don't

know if he'll be able to practice because of

his license. No. His license better be revoked.

Well, now, if he goes to another country, I don't

know if that... Well, if he goes to another country...

Okay, what I'm about to say, I don't want to

come off sounding bad, but it's going to. Oh,

God. If he goes to another country, that's their

problem. Yeah. You just really snap. One foot

in the grave. Come on. In all seriousness. One

foot in the grave, TFG. In all seriousness, though,

he should not be able to practice medicine anywhere.

No, seriously. Whatsoever. No. God. Yeah. I don't

like that either. I really don't. heard the word

guilty i was jumping out off my couch because

i was just like that's what he gets now unfortunately

the court that they were in he couldn't you know

the judge even said you know due to the to due

to the laws that i am you know responsible of

upholding i can't go any higher than that now

they did ask germaine jackson you know um how

do you feel about the decision and he said yes

we got justice it's you know four years is not

enough but it will have to do and i understand

his frustration because of the fact that you

kill a human being you know so you deserve life

yeah you deserve life in in a in a maximum state

penitentiary you deserve life unfortunately um

He's not gonna get that and already he's he's

trying to appeal the decision So With Michael's

death it There was an outcry from everyone. I

mean you had memorials all over the world that

especially that big one. Yeah, I mean even Believe

it says in here Mariah Carey Stevie Wonder limo

Richie John Mayer Jennifer Hudson Luthor usher

Jermaine Jackson in shelving ja I don't even

know how to say his name performed at the at

the event of his I think it was of his funeral.

Yes, it was it was a Televised memorial service,

right? Very Gordian Smokey Robinson gave the

eulogies while Queen Latifah read we had him

a poem written for the occasion by Maya Angelou

You know magic Johnson was there I do believe

yeah, I mean You know there's no denying his

Icon status. I mean you know as we've said in

this episode. He is and always will be the king

of pop and his music will live on forever the

same as, you know, what, say the Beatles or,

you know, someone like that. Right. I mean, you

know, Michael Jackson, no matter what the controversy,

no matter what happened in his personal life,

you can always listen to a Michael Jackson song.

You just can. That's all there is to it. I mean,

that's just the way it is. You know, and with

his death and his aftermath, You know, I don't

know. I just feel sorry for his kids. I do too,

especially, and I don't know if you had a chance

to see this on YouTube, but his daughter gave

one of the best remembrances of Michael, of her

dad. And you could not. You you can't tell me

you didn't cry when you hurt her I mean here

she is at about I think nine or ten years old

You know at least that you know that that age

Eleven maybe we'll just say about eleven or twelve

somewhere in there. Yeah with with Janet Jackson

standing behind her Yeah, and and delivering

that wonderful wonderful thing that she said

about Michael And it it really tore my heart

apart, you know It tore everyone's you know,

it tore everyone's hearts apart, but it tore,

you know, it tore my heart apart because here

is someone who's not Going to have their dad

anymore. Yeah You know, they don't get to grow

up with a father Yeah And I don't know if this

was just to make money or if this was to get

his music heard everywhere, but both the record

labels that he had been with, Columbia, Epic.

Yeah, Epic is just part of Columbia. Yeah, yeah.

Sony Music. Let's see. Following the surge in

sales, Sony announced that they extended the

relationship with his... With his material, the

distribution rights held by Sony Music were due

to expire in 2015. On March 16, 2010, Sony Music

Entertainment, in a move spearheaded by its Columbia

Epic label group, Division, signed a new deal

with the Jackson Estate to extend the distribution

rights to his back catalog until at least 2017.

Basically what that means is you can find every

single one of his albums back catalog on iTunes

or Amazon instant or anything like that, right?

Um, I think that's great. I think that's what

they need to do is re -release the singles Yeah,

that's all they're doing is they're released

there. I mean, I don't mind the albums. Don't

get me wrong Yeah, but I think what they need

to do is they need to go and remaster all the

singles They need to go and re -release all of

those because I remember getting a lot of those

singles on CD and now I'm going up there and

finding maybe a few of them. There are other

places that I have found songs. I knew they were

Michael, but I never knew that they were on a

particular single. cd single or vinyl or whatever

the case may be right so uh... you know the albums

are great i have them all i mean there's always

number ones i mean number ones has eighteen tracks

of all of his number one singles so i mean there's

always that but i do agree it would be nice if

they did a remastery of Yeah, well number ones

is just that number ones but there are all there

are other songs that he did That people need

to really listen to um, I know I agree. Yeah

latest the latest album Yeah called immortal

Yeah, which is either in a single disc or a double

disc set. I think people should check out Yeah,

I really do. I I you know, and I'm not saying

I mean, okay I'm saying it because I'm a fan

I could say that I'm not saying it because I'm

a fan but that No, seriously people should check

that out The immortal, you know double disc set

I think would be your better pick and the reason

I say that is because it kind of not so much

more songs, but it kind of You know you buy the

single disc said well, okay, this is good But

you know are there other songs out there because

I actually had heard the single disc set and

then I Had heard some other songs, but it wasn't

listed in this they weren't listed in the single

disc set Yeah, and so I have found the immortal

double disc set and I'm like Well, I'm gonna

get this to even though I have the single disc

set because it has more songs on it not you know,

but yeah Think people should check out the immortal

double disc set and the reason I say double is

because if you get the single it's um just 20

tracks, I think it's 20 tracks 15 to 20 of them.

Um But if you get the double disc you're going

to have the same tracks as the single disc had

but you're gonna get a few more Yeah Overall

He you know He influenced music to what it is

today. Yes, he did I think he's probably rolling

over in his grave with all this auto -tune BS

I Will go and get my talk box, okay I will go

and get my talk box. No really no We are going

to take a quick break. We're going to come back

with some final thoughts after the break and

then that'll be it. So we'll be back after this.

This is Jesse from Rock Sugar and you're listening

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asking yourself, what could I be possibly doing

here of all places? Well, I'm laughing at the

fact that this new podcast presented by Geekcast

Radio is called Legends of the Dark Knight. Who

the heck knew the bat was so popular? Ugh! cartoon

to ever meet Gotham City. So join Moi for the

talk of the town, or I'll send Captain Clown

after you. He gets mighty angry when he doesn't

get to have his garbage skull. So put on a nice

big smile, and join us for the next Geekcast

Radio Network Popcast. Legends of the Dark Knight.

2012 marks the 30th anniversary from Masters

of the Universe. We here at the GCRN are celebrating

with a brand new series of podcasts. The Powers

of Grayskull series will cover every episode

of every MOTU cartoon. Yes, even that crappy

new adventure stuff. Join Optimus Solo and TFU

and Mike as they tell tales of Eternia, discover

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and finally Masters of Grayskull. You can find

the POG's podcasts on iTunes and the web at www

.geekcastradio .com. Good journey! So there you

have it, folks. That's the GCR Music Spotlight,

the Artist Spotlight of Michael Jackson. As I

said, he is and forever will be the King of Pop.

He will never be forgotten. He might be no longer

with us, but his legacy will live on. I, you

know, will definitely agree with you, TFG, seriously,

and I think, you know, like you said, he would

probably be rolling over in his grave with the

autotune BS, and I'm sure he is, you know. Unfortunately,

That's where the music industry is headed, but

it is what it is, and I'm not going to spend

too much time on that. But except to say that

I will agree with you, he will forever be the

king of pop. There have been posters of This

Is It. I actually had one. I lost it in my move

back to Kansas City. I even had a poster of the

Thriller front cover. yeah and I lost that one

too but I'm gonna try and find that one again

as well but um he he did define he defined videos

he defined music I mean hell MTV were not playing

black artists yeah you know Michael broke that

barrier He broke that barrier and as soon as

she broke that barrier, you know other black

artists started showing up on MTV Prince and

a whole bunch of others But you know, it was

Michael Who who took risks in this music business

if you want my honest opinion Yeah, and a lot

of them worked a lot of them didn't but at least

he tried Well, you know as we said in the actual

episode, you know, he took a risks but as an

artist you have to take risks I mean, you can't

just be a machine and churn out albums. Well,

unless you're the Beals and you turn them, you

know, 12 albums out in a year. Anyways, you know,

as an artist, you have to take risks. You have

to go beyond the norm. I mean, that's just the

way it is. And when I say as an artist, I don't

just mean musician. I mean anything. You have

to be able to adapt. And I think that's something,

even though I wasn't into his music past, You

Are Not Alone, I think that's what he did. He

adapted to the times. I'm probably gonna have

to go back and listen to some of his later stuff

and just see how he adapted from what I knew

him as. in the eighties but i think you might

like it i think you might like a lot of that

stuff even you know maybe not the first time

around but give it give it a couple of listens

yeah you know uh you know past you are not alone

listen to the rest of disc two on history listen

to blood on the dance floor listen to invincible

you know The Ultimate Collection, there's unreleased

tracks. I won't say they're new. I guess they

would be new because they were never... They're

probably new to people that have never heard

them before, obviously, since they're unreleased.

They're unreleased, but there were new tracks

that have never been put on any album. Maybe

singles or something. And then you've got This

Is It, which unfortunately... You've got that

single there. There was a controversy we didn't

cover and I'm actually probably glad we didn't

Because I was so mad about it and that was when

the Michael album came out last year Yeah That

was just horrible. I mean the whole the album

is good But all I'm gonna say is if you guys

notice a difference in tracks three five and

seven, that's not Michael It's Jason Malachi

or whatever this guy's name is yeah But yeah,

and then of course, you've got the album that

came out. Like I said immortal. Um, so, you know

For those that have stopped in the 80s and have

not moved on to dangerous and beyond I think

you should I really I I really do I really think

you should and Even you know get the Michael

album despite the fact that there's a Michael

impersonator on three of the tracks You know

If you have to skip past them, thank God for

fast -forward buttons on CD players You know

G player. What's that? We live in the digital

age now. Yeah, I know right or you know, just

go on go in and purchase the The other tracks

from the Michael album just make sure they're

his voice, you know But and and you know when

that album came out I do want to I do want to

say this before we end when that album came out

his kids Paris blanket and Prince um When they

heard breaking news They knew immediately that

was not his dad they they knew they knew immediately

that that was not their dad's voice Yeah, but

epic marketed The voice you know marketed the

album as such and they had this so -called voice

experts say oh, this is him And I just thought

okay You know even I thought it was him because

you know, he like you said he adapted to the

times Yeah, and when I found out it later was

not him on breaking news and keep your head up

and monster I was quite upset but you know had

already purchased the album from Amazon mp3 so

it was like you know I'm like well I I just I

don't play those particular tracks yeah yeah

so there you go we hope you enjoyed this episode

of geek caster radio and wish you'll join us

next time when we will be continuing the artist

spotlight for the 80s here on the music spotlight

when we talk about that transforming great Stan

Bush For now, I am TFG1Mike with The Music Man.

Thank you for listening. Until next time. And

as Michael said it, it doesn't matter if you're...

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