Enough Already

[shipperx]

Michael Jackson died.  It was a surprise.  We didn't see it coming.  He used to be a megastar and then he grew progressively... odd.  We get it.  Enough. We don't need to hear about it 24/7 on every freaking channel or have tickets to his FUNERAL auctioned off.  It's morbid and bizarre (albeit, he may have liked it).  But, ENOUGH!  Move along.  Nothing left to see here.

Comments

[silverusagi]

Amen. I'm sick to death of hearing about it.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's just too much, you know. I mean, whenever I've flipped on the TV for a week, it's been all Michael all the time. At some point it really starts to become surreal.

[silverusagi]

And EVERY major channel was broadcasting his funeral. Really? Celebrity funerals are now as important as the President speaking? Maybe I'm blanking, but I can't remember the last time that every channel broadcasted the same thing unless it was breaking news. (And I don't consider a funeral to be breaking news.)

[cy-girl.livejournal.com]

I feel kind of bad at how they're dragging his poor casket around LA. Let the man rest in peace!

I never bought an album, either, because I was too cool to admit that I liked him.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, my Southern thing is "Good grief, give the guy dignity in death!" On the other hand, I tend to feel he'd probably love the complete OTT of all of this.

And it really wasn't a matter of feeling 'too cool'. I owned an Air Supply LP. Air. Supply. (::dies a little inside with shame::) I just distinctly remember thinking that I wouldn't buy the LP because I heard Thriller all the time anyway, even without owning it, and I couldn't imagine needing to hear it yet more.

[cindergal.livejournal.com]

It's like some head of state died or something, the coverage it's been getting. I've been avoiding it and watching HGTV. :-)

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

With summer TV (or rather the lack therof) I've been watching way too much HGTV as well.

[paratti.livejournal.com]

You're not the only one. My LP collection is Jackson free and the same can be said for the other formats.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It wasn't that I disliked his music or anything. I just never felt compelled to buy. And even if I wanted to buy, I really didn't need to. His stuff was on ultra-heavy rotation on every radio station.

[salymander.livejournal.com]

It got tired after the first few hours the day of. Still, its not going to go away for a whiiiiile what with the whole child custody thing. It's like the media are sharks and the celeb info is chum.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Oh lord, I know. I do feel very sorry for those kids (but then, I've felt that way most of their lives.) Poor things must feel like they've been set loose in a precarious world.

[rahirah]

No albums here. I liked some of his songs, but overall... just not my idiom.

[wildrider.livejournal.com]

Well, if you indeed are part-owner of all of my collection, you are half-owner of Thriller on both vinyl and CD... (As well as "The Best of the Jackson 5") But that's it.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah. It's not that I didn't like or enjoy his music on "Off the Wall" and "Thriller". I just never felt particularly compelled to buy it.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

Word! In addition to being grotesquely OTT, I just don't get it. I've lived in this world for decades without knowing that Michael Jackson was Very Very Important.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

See, I don't know how really, truly important he is.

Yes, it was very influential in the music industry in the mid 1980s. And he was uber-influential in the whole TV video format (but isn't that format mostly irrelevant these days?) As a cultural touchstone of the 80s, I understand how and why memories of him evoke nostalgia. And, certainly, for a good stretch there he was really popular and a huge celebrity. But I think they're overdoing it in regards to him on several fronts. I think they're overplaying the thing when they're comparing him to the likes of Martin Luthur King. Yeah... no. Not really.

I think it's good to honor his place in pop culture, but this spectacle is just OTT in my opinion.

[2maggie2.livejournal.com]

He isn't. That's what's so weird. I'd never have guessed that so many people thought he was given that he wasn't.

[molliemole.livejournal.com]

I live in Memphis, and I swear it wasn't this bad when Elvis died. The networks sure didn't cover it wall-to-wall like they're doing for Michael Jackson. The only person whose funeral got this much coverage was JFK.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I vaguely remember when Elvis died. And, yeah, this is reaching Princess Diana fervor... which was also way overdone.

[spikewriter]

Spoke to the husband on my way to lunch - he counted 17 channels here in Los Angeles carrying the Jackson funeral. Seventeen. We've got the networks, of course, but all of the local channels are running it as well – save for two small indies that don't have news crews. They are running I Love Lucy and Perry Mason.

The husband is appalled, and I had to ask if he's ever looked at the coverage given Valentino's death and funeral and the William Desmond Taylor murder back in the 1920's. Proportionally, it really was as bad as this, which just goes to show that, sadly, the public market for gossip has not diminished over the years. The stuff is just more accessible now to a broader audience.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think it's human nature to make a spectacle of things. It just seems that with close to 100 tv channels, his death shouldn't be dominating 70 of them.

[kitmarlowescot2.livejournal.com]

I loved Michael Jackson as a kid. But yes their has been to much done about his death. I don't even think Princess Diana got this much coverage. And though I am glad on fact they are playing his older music again. I have rediscovered his music myself.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, sometimes it's like the TV producers loose all sense of perspective. With this, with the OJ Trial, and with Princess Diana, it just got far larger than it really needed to be. It's sad that he died too early and so needlessly. But it didn't demand round the clock coverage for a week.

[bogwitch.livejournal.com]

I never liked him and my feelings on him got progressive worse.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I have to admit that I find the near-deification of him this week to be sort of disconcerting. He had talent, but he was also flawed. Let's not deify him, m'kay?

[zanthinegirl.livejournal.com]

Amen! No, you/re not the only child of the 80s who never bought a Michael Jackson album. I didn't I either; my dad was a fan. I remember thinking the thriller video was cool (this was on Friday Night Videos; we lived so far out in the boonies we only got 1 1/2 TV stations; much too far away for cable!) and watching everyone in the middle school talent show try and moonwalk that year!

We play music via pandora at work at night; once the families have mostly gone home. Apparently there's an All Michael Jackson station because it's been playing in every room Every Night for a week now. My coworker keeps going on and on about how she never did think he was molesting little boys...

He was clearly culturally important, but it's been a long time since he was better know for his music than his weirdness. I wonder if some of the obsessive coverage is guilt for mocking him for years?

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I think 'guilt for mocking' may be playing into it. They really shouldn't need to go to such opposite extremes.

[spacedoutlooney.livejournal.com]

I'm also a child of the 80s and I've also never really cared for him.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed "Thriller" and "Off the Wall." And he did have the best videos of the time. But, yeah, he wasn't even my favorite musical artist.

He was a cultural touchstone, but he was also a troubled person. And, really, did his passing deman a week of 24/7 coverage? It's just too much.

[spike4anna.livejournal.com]

I love his songs and his dancing is one of the best, but I never owned any of his albums or songs.

Even though I was one of the million people who watched his memorial, the media is over doing and over analyzing everything. The sad thing is that not so long ago everyone of those people were talking crap about him. Now I don't know what is true and what os not, but enough is enough. it's getting to the point when I just don't want to watch TV anymore.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

He was a wonderful dancer. And a cultural touchstone. But, yeah, media has gone overboard on this. I'm just hoping they aren't going to be quite so obsessive over the custody issues (I know. That's hopelessly naive, isn't it?)

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

Heck, the 24x7 news cycle makes me feel that way just about almost every story, but...

He used to be a megastar in the 1980s and then he grew progressively... odd.

I guess this is the crux of it. If this is how you see him, then it's not surprising that you're saying 'enough!'.

I'm six years younger than Michael Jackson. The first songs I remember singing were by the Jackson 5. While my friends were googly-eyed over Donny Osmond, I was carrying a Jackson 5 lunchbox. I remember getting Thriller as a present from my mom. And drunkenly dancing in fraternities to Michael Jackson (and the B52s and the Clash and Madonna and Squeeze and Bowie; the crazy 80s!). I remember waiting to see what video he would unveil next. Even when I grew into my late 20s and early 30s and my musical tastes changed, his songs still wove their way into the background of my life.

He's tremendously important to the history of music as a singer, as a songwriter, and as a dancer. He remade popular music in his own sound and image, including elevating the music video to an art form (forcing MTV to put AA performers into steady rotation) and influencing legions of other performers. I have no doubt given the positive critical reception of tracks on his final solo album that he would still be musically relevant if not for his personal difficulties. There is still unreleased music created in collaboration with current artists that hopefully we'll get to hear at some point. And if these things aren't enough, he donated vast amounts of his time, talents, and personal fortune to charitable endeavors.

I think today's service was important to give the many people who needed it a time and space to grieve; given his cultural impact, I think it was an appropriate use of public airwaves and funds.

For me, while I'll remember his smooth and soulful voice, I think my most indelible memories will be of watching him glide effortlessly across a dance floor, leaning into space as if he could defy gravity, and moving as if he waswas the music.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

It's not that I think he doesn't deserve recognition for his artistic accomplishments, it's that I find that every channel devoting hours upon hours upon hours of coverage and specials over him to be OTT.

He was talented. He was a cultural touchstone of the 80s. But, I also don't see turning a blind eye to his foibles or some of the problematic things. I don't feel the need to speak ill of the dead, but I also don't think we need near diefication of him either.

He had talent. He had problems. He died too young. However, I think that every news channel covering this for over a week is too much.

[rowanswhimsy.livejournal.com]

Things seem to have died down considerably today now that the memorial service has concluded. I think what may have created a bit of a problem was the July 4th holiday causing things to be stretched out.

[kcarolj65.livejournal.com]

I bopped to his tunes in high school and college but never bought an album and never thought he was nearly as "all that" as everyone else seemed to do. Personally, I find Prince (under whatever name) to be both more talented and creative musically, and at least as good a dancer.

The posthumous near-deification of this very, very strange person is, IMO, nauseating. Al Sharpton calling him "a giant among civil rights leaders" is utterly ridiculous and incredible (as are most of the opinions Sharpton inflicts upon the public).

I get the whole escapism thing, really - as a source of entertainment. Not as a way of life. And not at the expense of innocents.

Au revoir, Michael. May you find more peace in the afterlife than you had here.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who thought of Prince. So many of the comments about his crossing the race line in the 1980s like he was the only one to do so kept making me think, "Prince, dude, you're being overlooked here."

Michael Jackson was a talented entertainer. He had top notch videos that out did everyone else's videos. He had great choreography. He had a lot of really catchy music. And he also had a lovely voice. But he isn't Martin Luther King, y'know.

There are many things to look at Michael Jackson and honor him over, but we need not deify him in death. It's sad that he died the way that he did. But, really, a little more decorun would be nice. The whole auctioning tickets to the funeral thing was really where I thought -- good grief, ENOUGH!

[tnmisery.livejournal.com]

I'm with you. Heard it so much? Never needed to buy. I stopped liking him at all after Thriller. As far as I'm concerned, he stayed famous because of all the WEIRD.

The funeral and all the frikkin' insane coverage? I'm quite SURE he'd be pleased as punch. I actually said at work, "Just a giant funeral procession? Just a big parade? I can't believe that's all." I don't know what the hell WOULD have surprised me or seemed too much when it comes to Michael, but this actually seemed way too tame. Sheesh.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, the only reason I haven't bitched more about the excessive OTT-ness of it all (other than my own aggravation) is that if there was any celeb who would have wanted this sort of OTT spectacle it was probably him. So as much as it sort of apalls me, at least he would have been pleased.

[txvoodoo.livejournal.com]

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you

The weirdest thing to me is that it seems to be the younger people who are so over the top about it - not those of us who grew up contemporaneously.

[shipperx.livejournal.com]

Dude, my Mom has been far more into it than I have. (Though she does agree that it's been too much).