MUSIC
Never Say Neverland: A Photo Tour of Michael Jackson’s Personal BelongingsLOS ANGELES, CA 19 April 2009 |
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Yesterday in L.A. was hot and bright. My wife and I had brunch with a friend first thing, and then afterward the three of us drove over to Beverly Hills to see Michael Jackson's personal effects.
It's all on display at the old Robinsons-May building. Julien's Auctions has converted an entire floor of the empty department store into a de facto Michael Jackson museum---an eerie, unsettling assemblage that grabs the imagination and spooks the soul. More than 1,400 items, artifacts extracted from Neverland Valley Ranch, Mr. Jackson's sprawling country estate in Santa Barbara County.
Neverland has long been one of the most fascinating places in the pop culture firmament---a home, a ranch, a vineyard, an amusement park, an alleged crime scene, and a zoo. It was Jackson's attempt at Xanadu, and now it is defunct---just an empty, rotting shell with its grasses overgrown.
The auction was scheduled to commence later this week, on April 22nd. The pop star had given his blessing and signed a contract. Then, as the wheels started turning and the process got underway, he began to have second thoughts. Representatives from his production company filed suit in L.A. Superior Court earlier this month, hoping to halt the sale. A judge denied the request, but now it appears that Mr. Jackson has cut a deal. He will retain control of his possessions, and Julien's, I assume, will receive a tidy cash settlement.
A statement from the King of Pop's representative, the curiously named Tohme Tohme:
"There was so much interest from so many of Jackson’s fans that instead of putting the items in the hands of private collectors, [we] have made arrangements that will allow the collection to be shared with and enjoyed by Jackson’s fans for many years to come...I think we are going to have a beautiful museum someday for Michael."
A beautiful museum.
In a way, I hope he's right. This stuff might deserve its own museum, but I don't think you could ever call it "beautiful," exactly. Beautiful is not the right word. Neverland's contents in their totality seem to function as a rude monument to a celebrity culture gone totally off the rails. An extreme example of the sickness and misery that often seem to reside in the dark, bloody heart of the American fame machine.
Jackson's talents as a performer have always been top-flight. His gift for self-enshrinement is equally staggering. Too weird for words, really, especially once you've see it up close. Much of the fun you have while looking at this stuff comes from trying to convince yourself that it's actually, seriously real.
As a friend of mine put it: "It's like a drunken eight-year-old was given a credit card with no spending limit, and he used it."
Lots of military-style jackets. Lots of glitter and sparkle. Lots of statues and paintings of rosy-cheeked children. Lots of Pinocchio and Peter Pan. Lots of those gloves, each one covered in the trademark iridescent crystals. Lots of humanoid sculpture---or whatever you wanna call it. Ultra-creepy renditions of human beings who look unnervingly real and ready to get animated at the drop of a hat. They seem to have been created to keep Mr. Jackson company.
You get out of your car and walk into Robinsons-May, and the first thing you hear is "Thriller" blaring throughout the store on a deluxe sound system. Scores of visitors milling about, a full three-quarters of them operating with laughter and a grim sense of irony. The remaining 25 percent you have to wonder about, as they seem to be hyper-obsessive fans who view this as a pilgrimage to some sort of glorious Mecca. They're wearing Michael Jackson T-shirts, Michael Jackson pins and hats. They're talking too fast, a mile a minute, and there's a faraway look in their eyes.
It's also important to get a proper sense of the scale. We're talking about a massive department store---a Sears, a Barney's, a Neiman's, a J.C. Penny---and an entire floor is filled with Michael Jackson's personal belongings. A room about the size of a city block.
And then outside you have his limousine, his statue garden, his many vehicles, his tour bus.
You can actually climb aboard the tour bus. Walk the aisle. Bear witness to the King's bidet. See the Kid Power magazine tucked away beside one of the seats. The refrigerator is filthy. Hasn't been cleaned in ages. My wife opened the door and was repulsed.
Expansive is a good word. The collection is expansive.
And dated.
And deeply freaky.
A while back I was reading an article in a magazine about bad reality television. The author was talking about the allure of bad reality shows and how we often watch them just to figure out why we're watching them.
On the one hand, we know that we despise these shows, and on the other hand we can't stop pondering them in spite of ourselves. We love watching them and we love hating them, and then we hate ourselves silently for enjoying them, for being captivated, for wanting to look.
It seems likely that a similar dynamic is at work with this temporary Jackson museum in Beverly Hills. No celebrity in my lifetime has traveled farther into the depths of his own cult of personality. It's almost as if he made a fictional character out of himself, built a parallel reality, and then lived in it. The man is a walking open wound. When it's all said and done, it's just dismally twisted and sad.
Below I've posted a slide show, more than 100 photos I took while perusing the collection. Behold the savage weirdness in all its wondrous glory.
Your comments, as always, are welcome on the board below.
-BL
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All amusement parks depress me. They seem to encapsulate American culture at its worst. Overpriced french fries and forced merriment. There’s always some kid crying- wailing, really- and his parents shaking him, throttling him to have fun.
Neverland Ranch makes me feel much the same way. You capture that perfectly. The “humanoid sculpture[s]” that “seem to have been created to keep Mr. Jackson company.” Creepy and strange and all-too-sad.
The whole exhibit had the sinister feel of a kid trap, if you wanna know the truth. You walk around looking at all that stuff—the video games, the life-sized Spiderman, the go-karts, the Star Wars memorabilia, and you can’t help but think to yourself: What 8-year-old kid wouldn’t want to hang out around here? One hopes this wasn’t the case, but….
And: Marni, where is your gravatar? http://www.gravatar.com (This is how you get your photo to show up beside your comments.)
that place looks terrifying, it looks like some sort of pop culture themed nightmare.
seriously, couldn’t they use that stuff in court? almost every item screams ‘GUILTY!’
I forgot to photograph two finger paintings—one by Macaulay Culkin, one by Michael.
Poignant. Disturbing.
Culkin, for the record, has always claimed that nothing sketchy happened between he and the King.
You can’t hold the Star Wars stuff against him. That was pretty cool.
He is (or was) a man with the will, money, and relative power to escape entirely. How many things do we all face on a daily basis that we would not if we had much of a choice at all?
Like, what makes this any more bizarre or less admirable than burning everything you own to move to the Alaskan wilderness and abandon yourself to starvation and eventual poisoning?
Honestly, people coo on and on about that guy, and I think he was a shithead. Or a self-destructive, neurotic escapist at best. So many cocktail party conversations I’ve had to walk away from because of it.
Anyway, Jackson’s strikes me as a similar, though variant form of escapism. And, to be fair (if you believe some of his accounts of his childhood), at least Jackson has something worth escaping from.
Of course, I’m looking at this from a perspective in which he was exonerated for charges of pedophilia. Trying not to take that into account.
Just the objects, the idea of having your own amusement park. Totally creating a new reality for yourself, or rejecting the reality you’ve otherwise been handed…devil’s advocate, maybe.
I’m not suggesting it’s normal or untroubling, but given a gazillion dollars and the option to choose your own reality, would you really pick the one you have now?
Honestly, I don’t actually think the guy is guilty.
He’s fucking weird, for sure, but I think he’s just kind of stuck in a state of childhood. I mean look at all the stuff he’s got there, it’s a child’s dream come true.
It’s either a pedophiles ultimate weapon or massively making up for something he never had as a child himself…
Really seems like overkill for plain old pedophilia. I mean, imagine his shock and dismay when he discovered that others were pulling it off with an old van and some snickers bars.
Yeah but, if this guy was doing some shady shit I’m sure it would be way beyond “plain old pedophilia”, don’t ya think?
You can hold the Star Wars stuff against him if he was using it to play a game of Good Touch / Bad Touch with Cub Scout Troop #153.
I meant it’s not particularly weird for an adult human to have those kinds of things, kids or no kids. If my husband had the kind of money Jackson does/did, I’m sure I’d have a life-size replica of the Millennium Falcon in my backyard.
In all honesty, though, I agree with Irwin. My gut feeling is that he is a deeply weird and potentially dissociative or insane individual, but I’m not convinced that he was the pedophile people make him out to be.
Ya know what Becky, if my husband and I had the money Michael had/has my house would also be filled with life sized replicas of all kinds of crap!
Starwars
Where the wild things are
Wolverine
Ironman
Wait…ANY COMIC BOOK HERO
Seriously, my hubby is a big kid and an even bigger nerd and we would definitely be judged. What a scary thought.
I was coveting Jacko’s Edward Scissorhands hands.
My husband would also happily give some of those arcade games a home.
Yep. Mine too.
Yes, the museum is strange, twisted, and multi-layered. Collectables, statues of children, dolls, and whatnot.
I would gladly have the Yoda statue in my house. The arcade games, too.
All the kiddie stuff puts me on edge, though.
It’s not just that Michael likes to make kids happy, he thinks he is one. A real Peter Pan. He has spent millions on his body and his estate to establish that he is a little boy. That’s how he wants to be viewed and treated by other children. Just one of the gang.
Creepy. Very dangerous mentality for an adult to have.
Anakin Sywalker kills the younglings in episode 3 ….just sayin’ kids
If I had the money, I think I would also have an amusement park. Ooh! And I would definitely have a full zoo with lots of giraffes and wild cats!
But I don’t think I would let just anybody in. Only close friends and family. Maybe I’ll have a “Listi Day” where we can all let loose and enjoy childhood once more.
Only, instead of french fries, acid.
Yes. Childhood.
But with LSD and (I hope) light beer and BBQ.
Well…yes.
See the ‘Kid Power’ magazine tucked away beside one of the seats.
** snicker **
ps - the photo of you between ‘The Shining’ twins is my fave…
Me too!
The thing I find stranger than anything are all the statues, likenesses and photos of him. I just flat out can’t imagine what that would be about. Yipes.
Speaking of freaks of nature, I don’t even remember now how I ended up at this link today but I got a good chuckle - hope someone else enjoys:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qgmtD_JYmic
Woah, that had to have been made in the 80’s right??
Those are the shining kids…are they? I thought thry were from Annie.
I’m not even joking about the Kid Power magazine. (There is a photo of it in the slide show.)
Brother Listi:
You are a far braver man than I ever will be. I have such an aversion to visiting Michael’s museum. Call it the creeps. Call it cold feet. Call it me fearing that I’ll find a copy of Kid Power magazine tucked away behind my driver seat when I get back out to my car.
Woof.
You should definitely go, Rich. And it’s really too bad that this auction couldn’t coincide with Halloween. Haunted houses have nothing on this place.
That was a great tour BL, thanks. It explains some things, like I saw the Zoltar machine in the back so we now can see that he really is just a boy in a man’s body. But the unexpected part for me was all those life sized human replicas. That’s just so…. weird. I mean there are so many. You musta been freaked when you saw he even had one of you as an over excited fan attempting but to touch the hem of his garment.
Seriously you cover some deep stuff in here. The cult of personality and the level at which MJ created a fictional character of himself is an exaggerated example of what many of us do in life. Sorta where our society seems to be headed. I think everyone should take a pilgrimage to that museum as a lesson for us all.
A giant WARNING sign should be above the entrance.
Thriller still works for the entry music tho’.
I haven’t read anyone else’s comments yet so I might be stepping on someones toes….but I doubt it.
I love Michael.
Yes, I think he’s weird.
Yes, I believe he has issues.
(but who among us is able to cast out that first stone)
Do I think he is a child molester? No.
I think people have taken advantage of him. His sweetness. His….weirdness. His MONEY! I feel bad for him. It’s obvious that he’s lonely. He has millions trying to get to him and he’s still lonely. That has to be a weird feeling.
I wish nothing but good things for Michael.
Unless, of coarse, he IS guilty. Then he needs to burn in hell.
hey everyone!
i have been an avid reader for the past year but too chicken to bust in on y’alls party and start posting.
however, i felt so sad looking at this stuff i just had to comment…
i grew up on thriller.
i had the making of thriller on vhs which i watched pretty much every day for a year.
as a kid, i would practice the dance moves, like everyone else i am sure.
there was always something amiss though… the crotch grabbing. the fake tough guy costumes even before bad came out.
as i got older and michael got weirder it became obvious the man was not right in the head.
much like elvis, his fame overwhelmed him i think, but even worse because he was never anything but a celebrity.
from day one when he started singing at, what, age 5?
we can see how child stars that never make it past the hump of adolescence turn to drugs, alcohol, and number of self destructive behaviors to deal with the loss of that celebrity before they even had a chance to do it “their” way.
but michael, he reinvented…he kept plugging away and i guess eventually lost himself entirely to the disease of super stardom.
i don’t know if he could even be classified as a pedophile. i think the man must be stuck in his mind as a child himself.
there are pictures of kids, all kinds of kids, and he is lovingly embraced as “one of them” not an outsider peering at them through slitted blinds.
i think if the man ever tried to seduce a kid, it was most likely a sad and confusing moment of reality clashing with fantasy. how awful it must feel to only relate to children, and be trapped in the body of an aging freak.
all the peter pan stuff, the disney memorabilia.
we’ll be studying this guy for centuries as evidence of what super stardom can do to the fragile human psyche.
thriller is still a great album tho…
This was a GREAT COMMENT! Keep ‘em coming!
But I must warn you, if you don’t get an avatar soon, Listi will hunt you down and kill you. Seriously.
http://Www.gravatar.com
Hey brad, I should get a prize for this!
Yes, a savage and thorough creeping out was exactly what I needed this Monday morning.
Thanks, Listi.
ps. i have a gravatar, brad… it just isn’t showing up for some reason.
most likely because i am a total retard when it comes to that sort of high tech tom foolery…
Make sure that the e-mail address that you use when you comment here is the same one you used when you set up your gravatar account. That’s how gravatar knows where to feed your photo—based on e-mail addresses. They have to sync up.
thanks n.o. lady.
it’s hard to jump into such a tight and very, very intelligent group of people.
Oh, I’m not one of them. I just pretend to be on a daily basis.
In any case, WELCOME!
yup, the emails are the same… i just think gravatar dislikes me.
HA! i had it set to pg like an idiot.
okay..gravatar issue solved… um… thanks for holding my hand guys.
What struck me the most, is the lack of African-American humanoids, art, etc…I realize that I have not seen the entire collection, but only 100 photos of Brad’s choice. Still, my curiosity with him, psychologically, is his attempt to escape the fact that he was born a black male. As a parent of bi-racial kids…racial differences and all the complexities of race are topics which we rarely have a choice to ignore, and as a family we often have discussions about it. When my son was around 8 yrs old, his nightmares consisted of being chased by Michael Jackson. It had nothing to do with a conscious knowledge of MJ’s alleged pedophilia, but the fact that MJ had altered his appearance so drastically, that my son viewed him as a monster.
Just two days ago, we were driving in the car, and a great ol’ MJ song came on…my son asked, “Is this Michael Jackson?” I said, “Yes, he was good wasn’t he? No doubt he made good music, he just got too weird.” My son’s greater concern and question was, “Why doesn’t he want to be black?” I tried to scratch the surface in answering that, but it is a question I think my son will ponder for quite a long time.
On another note, I didn’t realize he was so into Star Wars, and that he owned all that cool SW stuff. Star Wars was definitely my thing at age 13, I wouldn’t mind having all those Droids and Yoda in my house! I might even give them their own room!
I have to say my feelings toward Michael Jackson are those of extreme sadness…He is such a lost, deeply disturbed, but incredibly gifted soul…
Worth pointing out that a lot of those white humanoid sculptures were servants or staff-level type folks. Maids. Butlers. Security. Not sure if that improves the psychology of the situation, but there you have it…
I wonder if I (or you or whoever) would ever be criticized for a lack of Aryan representation among our neurotic belongings.
Probably not. But then again, if we had nothing but black humanoids around the house, and we were working hard to turn our skin brown, and we were wearing afro wigs everywhere, it might be a more legitimate issue. People would probably wonder.
Hahaha! I knew if I got criticism for my comment from anyone, it would definitely come from Becky! Thanks for being so predictable!
And great reply Brad…that’s my point.
It’s a legitimate question, Laura. You don’t know me nearly as well as you think, so, as John would say, “Let’s not pretend.”
I learned a fair amount of Hawaiian and am, at this point, better versed in my husband’s heritage and ethnic history than he is. I’m not some kind of buck toothed Aryan asshole here. But I do wonder why it’s incumbent upon me and not him, and he has asked me the same thing. So now I’m asking you. Or anyone, really, who is willing to actually answer the question rather than dismiss it with a sarcastic and poorly veiled insult.
It would raise eyebrows, Brad, I agree. But not for the same reasons, I don’t think.
Well, to be fair, Becky, you are the resident contrarian around here. And Laura isn’t the type to sling insults, so I imagine this is a rhetorical misunderstanding more than anything.
As to the issue at hand, I would say it’s a tough comparison because Michael Jackson is such an unusual case. Holding him as the baseline standard and then comparing oneself against him is a mighty leap. For me, anyway.
It seems there is a subset among black and white people, respectively, who are trying to become a different color. Black people who “act white” or “dress white” or “talk white.” White people who “act black” or “dress black” or “talk black.” And surely there are similarities among them in terms of why they do what they do. All those young white boys who adopt the vernacular of hip-hop culture and wear baggie jeans and baseball caps to the side—I’m sure they probably do it for a lot of the same reasons. And vice versa.
I’m equally sure that they have individual reasons as well.
Michael Jackson? He doesn’t seem to fit a particular pattern. Or maybe he does, but then he expands on it. He’s such an unusual case, psychologically speaking, that it’s hard to even think of him in a normal, ordinary person context.
I think just having a humanoid collection of any kind is frikking weird, but people with lots of dough do weird things.
I’d expect a Caucasian to receive more criticism if his humanoid collection did not represent a variety of other races, and to be called into question as a “racist”…
Heh. Right. If I had a humanoid collection, and it didn’t include multi-hued people of varying nationalities, I’d be an insular white supremacist with quasi-fascist leanings. I’m sure that the rich eccentrics in San Francisco who have humanoid collections are kaleidoscopic in their PC tastes.
Issues of race can make even the nicest people reactive and defensive. I’m not saying that Laura meant to do that, but it is definitely one topic on which you can’t trust or assume that people will maintain their prevailing level of cool.
Anyway, I was thinking more in terms of the notion that when white people “try to be black,” it is more likely to be seen (with the exception of a small minority of white power-type groups) as negative or harmful in that is a co-opting or perversion of “black culture” rather than a denial of “white culture.” Because, as we all know, culture is completely homogeneous across each skin color.
Anyway, a white person is not likely to be criticized for failing to acknowledge his Caucasian roots so much as pilfering of someone else’s roots. It’s a nuance, but a significant one, I think.
If I had a humanoid collection, and it didn’t include multi-hued people of varying nationalities, I’d be an insular white supremacist with quasi-fascist leanings. I’m sure that the rich eccentrics in San Francisco who have humanoid collections are kaleidoscopic in their PC tastes.
Oh yeah.
Hey Brad, the little bookstore in my town is ordering your book for me
I was thinking more in terms of the notion that when white people “try to be black,” it is more likely to be seen (with the exception of a small minority of white power-type groups) as negative or harmful in that is a co-opting or perversion of “black culture” rather than a denial of “white culture.”
Interesting points… I see more the opposite ’round here.
Thank you kindly, Michelle. And thanks to your bookstore as well.
Well, it depends, Michelle.
I should have qualified that better.
My perception is certainly tainted by the fact that I spend a good 90% of my time in a liberal academic environment in which Elvis is a fiend for “stealing” black music and white interest in black culture is characterized as a kind of trivialization of the realities that underlie it. Rampant runaway racial theory everywhere you look and almost exclusively of a radical revisionist nature.
This is, in part, what I’m calling into question. This in particular and general pop-sociological thinking that has stemmed from it.
But I think it’s true that, on the whole, white people are not encouraged to be more ethnocentric and more focused on their own race and culture in the way that other races or ethnic groups are. And certainly, or at least this has been my experience, non-white parents of mixed kids aren’t expected to brush up on, say, their Norse Mythology and Irish Gaelic in order to be responsible teachers to their children. To do so might even raise eyebrows.
I, personally, have no interest in making my husband learn the lineage of Norse Gods, but it’s an interesting thing to encounter. I’m not convinced that, say, ethnic Swedish traditions aren’t just as in danger of dying out in this country as others are, but it is safe to say that some are considered more worthy of protection than others.
Hey Becky
I can see where you get that, given the environment you’re in the majority of the time. Far, far different than what I’m around usually.
And, generally, I agree.
I could even say that, being half Asian, I personally experienced that myself growing up to an extent.
p.s.
Just got home from work or I would have responded sooner!
I was about 5 or so when the video for Thriller made its premier. My parents were out, and I remember my babysitter being so excited about it that she got permission to have one of her friends over to watch it. I had not context for the experience whatsoever; at that age my life revolved entirely around dinosaurs, Transformers, and Star Wars, and while I had the vague idea that Michael Jackson was some sort of Famous Person, that was as far as the notion went.
My sitter apparently didn’t consider what the content of that video might entail, as she let me stay up to watch it with them (I had no real idea, mind; I was just wanted in on the excitement). I made it through about five minutes, fleeing the room well before the zombie dance number. For years afterwards I honestly believed Jackson to be an actual werewolf, and was hugely disturbed by images of him.
Looking at those slides, all that stuff….just brought that feeling back.
lol!
yeah, the thriller video freaked me out too when i first saw it.
i think that’s why my folks taped the making of…so i could see it was all fake.
the part where all the black stuff comes out of the one zombies mouth. brrr.
but then in the making of you found out it was just chocolate syrup.
babysitters are jerks, man.
when i was 6 i had a sitter that thought “the exorcist” was appropriate to watch before bed.
i still recall the nightmare i had that night.
Looking back, I’m pretty sure the 5 minutes of that video I was exposed to are the reason I insisted on the presence of a night light until I was eight. I didn’t see it again until I was sixteen, and it still gave me the shivers. Were I a child hanging out with Michael Jackson, I’d be more afraid he’d eat my brain then try to touch me in my special area.
My parents wouldn’t let me watch it for a couple of years because they were convinced it would give me nightmares.
I remember telling them, “I know it’s just Michael Jackson! It’s make believe! It’s just pretend! It’s a halloween costume! It’s not scary!”
Finally, after hundreds and hundreds of days of relentless nagging, at age 6 or 7, I was allowed to watch it. And I watched it. Over and over and over. I remember it came with a “making of” show attached to it. I loved that, too (maybe more than the actual video). I was fascinated by the scenes where they showed how his makeup went on…with the air bladders and yellow contacts and everything. My recollection is that he seemed pretty normal and funny and friendly in that behind-the-scenes footage…
Anyway, I never did have a nightmare about it. That did begin a brief fascination with werewolves and an obsession with the 50s, 50s movies, and poodles skirts that hasn’t entirely left me, though. Also probably has something to do with my love of educational programming…
I never had nightmares about it, but I was pretty disturbed. I honestly believed he was a shape-changing monster, to the point where I was still made very uneasy when my sister brought home a copy of the BAD album a few years later. I didn’t see the video again until well after he’d begun his descent into the wierdness we associate with him now, and the normal-seeming guy in the behind-the-scenes footage seemed like some sort of abberation.
It is, ultimately a cool video though. Life would be better with more zombie dance numbers.
The Thriller video was released in 1983. I was 20. Man I’m old.
I think that a replica of Neverland should be built in Las Vegas complete with a zoo and all this memorabilia. It would be a huge casino! WHat? They’ve already got Paris, New York, etc. One big fat Ka Ching.
I was struck by the innocence portrait in all the child statues. He had to have been craving to have felt innocent. Arrested development.
The lack of African Americaness is sad and disturbing.
I feel most sorry for his children.
‘83? Hell, that would make me about 4 when it came out. I would have sworn at gunpoint it was more like ‘85. No wonder it had such a deep effect on me.
Really? 1983? I thought it was later than that.
I was born in 1983. LOL.
you’re only 6 years older than me!
portrayed
Wow. This was utterly fascinating and absolutely chilling. The freaky-eyed, waxy-looking statues especially creeped me out. Thanks for sharing your photos of the collection with us.
Love the pic, Tawni! Very retro with those red lips! Beautiful!
Thanks. I have a pin-up girl, pearl necklaces, short bangs and red lipstick style fetish. Women had the coolest style in the fifties.
*waits patiently for someone to make “pearl necklace” or “short bangs” into a dirty joke*
Sadly there isn’t really anywhere to go with the material on offer… (and I’ve tried really hard!)
I love the 50s. Probably because I watch Happy Days too much. I wish I lived in the 50s.
Maybe the ’50s visual aesthetic as it pertains to women’s fashion, but not ’50s music. ’50s music gives me the creeps. ’50s pop music anyway. The sock hop / malt shop stuff makes my skin crawl.
my mum got chuck berry confused with chuck norris yesterday.
I like a bit of old fashioned rock and roll.
Chuck Berry I enjoy. There’s your exception.
I think rock and roll differs slightly from 50s pop; 50s pop on the whole is freaky, shiny and so goddamn all-american you can smell the apple pie.
It is the music that plays on a loop in Hell, I am sure of it.
Purely visual, my fifties style appreciation. Fifties music makes my skin crawl too. Especially the do-woppy and overly sappy stuff.
You guys are so melodramatic.
You have hurt me for the LAST TIME, Becky!! I AM NOT MELODRAMATIC! NOT, NOT, NOT!!!! *stomps foot and huffs out of the room*
Okay, I think that’s just regular dramatic.
Darn. Me = FAIL.
Look at that smiling face! You look so happy, Tawni. (I assume that photo was taken right after you finished reading my book?)
I decided I needed a more recent photo. Having a four-years-younger photo as my gravatar pic felt like cheating. This picture was taken after I ingested an Easter basket full of candy, about a week ago. That smile is pure sugar rush, baby.
Oh, and then I read your book again, for like, the sixth time, Brad. Don’t worry.
I figured as much.
My theory is that the REAL Michael Jackson has been locked away in a basement since about 1986. I don’t know who this other guy is.. but he ain’t human.
He’s the gimp.
That was a really nice slide show, thanks for sharing.
It’s interesting to see the magnitude of incredibly bizarre things that are available to a person with gobs of money.
I remember my family going over to my aunt & cousins’ house to watch the Thriller video premiere because we didn’t have cable. It really ended up being quite an event. heh.
i made it half way through the slide show…
but then i wanted to die so i stopped.
beat it and pyt are great songs, i have to remember that.
PYT!
I loved that song…probably still do.
A little music wouldn’t hurt. You can listen to it while you watch the slideshow:
And here’s “PYT.” Sorry. Should’ve posted it first.
that is awesome.
my husband and i just went through many of his classics online…
they are-so-good. they make-you-dance.
wha-da-f?
michael jackson is one of the biggest mind benders…
That’s the sad thing. I’m a Michael Jackson fan, music-wise.
(Who isn’t?)
The guy is spectacular. But…
I would also add that watching the slide show with musical accompaniment is really the way to go. Push PLAY on one of the YouTube videos, then go watch. Better effect.
If the sentiment here is any indication, you may be unwittingly contributing to rising pro-Jacko sentiment in the general population.
I’m going to go home tonight and begin resurrecting my once formidable MJ music library.
And when the museum opens, I’m going. Just like I went to Graceland. And I’m going to get a moonwalking clock and hang it right next to my swinging-legs Elvis clock.
I would have preferred “ABC” blaring through the sound system than “Thriller”. Also would have made it feel even weirder, I bet.
The Jackson 5 was great. And he was so cute then.
Ooh…Jackson 5. Yes.
Makes me want to do the office chair boogie.
lol
Office chair boogie– awesome. (DO IT)
I was thinking of writing something about the MJ auction, Brad, but you beat me to it.
What I don’t think anyone has mentioned so far is how MJ’s tastes mirror those of fascist (or in any case totalitarian) dictators. That kind of portraiture, in which MJ is being crowned by laurel by goddesses or dressed in the attire of antique nobility or leading a parade of happy followers, is very similar to what you’d find at the palaces and/or collections of a Ceauşescu or a Kim Jong. (Here, for example, is a link to a portrait of Hitler from 1938, attired as a knight: http://urban-archology.blogspot.com/2009/03/art-and-design-in-third-reich-overview.html.) Then, too, MJ’s stage dress was militaristic, and there’s an inherent fascism to the synchronized dancing that MJ’s videos helped to bring back into fashion in the early 80s.
There’s also, of course, an obvious, persistent theme of royalty at work. This can also be seen in the name MJ gave to one of his children—Prince—and his insistence that he be referred to as the King of Pop, and even his desire to wed the daughter of the King of Rock & Roll and so accomplish a kind of merging of two great royal houses (as I think he saw it). This obsession with royalty is, of course, still more demagoguery of the fascist kind; but it also suggests a fundamental insecurity that probably has to do with MJ’s obvious desire to change race, or in any case to make himself less black. I mean, a black king is (again, as I think MJ may have seen it) going to be far less powerful than a white king, with fewer throngs at his feet. And, actually, I can’t help but wonder if MJ’s true desire is to be a white *queen*, since, in addition to his race, his gender seems to have been somewhat reassigned.
Sorry if I’ve wandered too far afield. I can’t help it. MJ, like few other public figures, brings out my inner Freud.
Not mentioned, but totally noticed.
For sure.
Great analysis, D.R. Royalty (fascist royalty?) is definitely a theme in Jackson’s life. Royalty, Peter Pan/kids, and sparkly stuff.
The white queen?
The white witch?
Take your pick.
I think equating synchronized dancing with fascism is a bit of a stretch.
And since when is all political extremism, including dictatorial communism, called fascism?
Socialism too. Boogey man words.
Er, with MJ in mind: boogie man words.
This is silly. Everyone knows that socialism is only a PRECURSOR of fascism. It isn’t the same thing.
Let’s see….
Radical. Authoritarian. Coporatist. Nationalist.
From wikipedia:
Have at it.
I was kidding. Needling.
I was alluding to the pre-Fascist socialist party identification of both Hitler and Mussolini. That’s it.
Besides, I think the racism/Caucasian penance/race shame/white (wo)man’s burden question above is more interesting. And more likely to become completely ridiculous.
Whatever works. As long as I get my 200 comments.
I did temper, or try to temper, the “fascist” comment by adding “totalitarian” in parenthesis afterwards — perhaps the latter word works better for you? But I was anyway speaking of dictators and not of “all political extremism,” and specifically of demagogic, militaristic dictators who, communist or not, I hope we can somewhat agree would generally be characterized as totalitarian.
It was clearly, by its sloppy composition, a hastily written note, as most comments on message boards tend to be, and so lacked the finesse and nuance to cinch the case. And since I’m stealing a moment to post this message, I can’t persuasively back up what I said about synchronized dancing, though I’m not alone in thinking so. Besides, where one person sees a stretch, another sees an obvious connection. Or haven’t you ever watched Court TV?
Well, I somehow failed to notice that this argument has been advanced by others, and that I’ve once again been scooped by Brad Listi in the matter of MJ.
Ah, well. I’ve at least added two more comments, Brad, toward your usual 200, even if I did come off like a pompous, pretentious ass in the first couple at least.
@D.R. -
This video seems apropos, in a way. Video of the grand finale to North Korea’s “Mass Games,” shot in 2001. This shit is all over YouTube. Über-creepy and visually stunning.
And here’s another clip, this one from 2007:
Yes, that’s exactly what I had in mind. And it *is* visually stunning, I’ll have to agree, even though it speaks of of the renunciation of the self to the “greater good.” Man in his “natural” state — i.e., “savages” — could never have conceived of such a thing. This kind of synchronization only came about after the rise of institutional monoliths, such as the Roman army. In fact, it may very well have begun in Rome, since I seem to recall that Greek armies weren’t uniformly clad, and Rome looked to Greece for inspiration in aesthetic matters, as well as a few others.
But, as I’m only an eager student of history and far from being an expert, I’ll leave it to others to correct me.
Still, MJ is a latent fascist, damnit — or in any case a latent dictator! And I think that relates to his never-having-grown-up thing, since children have to be taught to outgrow their inborn egomania. But here I’m surely inviting another bite from the tiger.
She loves to bite people. It’s what she does.
I must say, D.R., you’re having an unusually strong reaction.
Practically anaphylactic.
Duly noted.
I can see why he identifies with Peter Pan and Pinocchio. I want to be a real boy! I never want to grow up!
New to the blog… And addicted after two days. Ordered your book today. So excited to read it I almost paid for expedited shipping… Alas, I’m too much of a cheap bastard, so I’ll have to wait the few extra days. Sad.
MJ is a freak, but I really don’t know if he’s a pedophile. I think he does what he does to get friends… And then when they don’t stick around, he has them made. Strange to us, just another day on the ranch to him.
Thanks so much for reading! And thanks even more for ordering my book!
And: Welcome!
Ladies and gentlemen possibly TNB’s finest moment right here.
Solid Gold Brad.
Man, I spent an hour looking at those pictures.
A month or so back , for a week, I really got into Off the Wall again. Better than Thriller for me.
Man, this was good.
Figured this one would be right up your alley.
He is the perfect example of a person who never had a chance of childhood. A child in a mans body. I would say I feel badly for him.. but I don’t. All that money has been wasted on child-luring toys. Yuggy.
Yeah, I don’t really buy his whole never-had-childhood bit. I mean, everybody has had one. Whether it’s the one you hoped for is another question. Otherwise, it’s just revisionist history, no?
This is all pretty fucked up. I wonder how history will remember him. Can’t say there are too many pop stars this fascinating though.
Still, none of these images creep me out as much as that “Human Nature” song. That, for whatever reason, gives me goosebumps.
I’m wondering, what time zone is this blog-message-board in anyhow?
For example, as I write this it is … 22:27 CST
I think it’s PST. But I could be mistaken.
For some reason I reduce almost all entertainment to drug dealing. MJ’s moonwalk was the highest grade product out there for a good long while. And I mean if you can reduce LOVE to serotonin, where it’s been proven that meaningful relationships provide better chemical bang in this department than random sex or masturbation—which is flattering to consider Nature intended love to be a higher grade, more addictive drug—it kinda lines up. But the weird thing for me about Michael is that as much as the world got hooked on him, he got hooked on us too. And I don’t know that he’s more weird than us. I think *that’s* the true draw of him in some warped way. Just like Borat—we laugh at the suckers but know we’d look just as bad in their place. Michael was as mainstream as you could ever get: Disneyland, Oprah, Heterosexual sex symbol, Pepsi, Beatles, Superbowl-mainstream while he’s singing shit like “keep it in the closet” with paintings of himself leading a pack of kids and impersonating Jesus on stage every show. Of all the people in world history you could make up, he seems the least likely somehow…
And Brad, the 200 comments doesn’t count if you just flood the message board with Kim Jong Il and MJ videos all by your lonesome.
Heh. I’ve restrained myself, Becky. I feel my self-commenting has been moderate here.
All this, and no “Smooth Criminal”– MJ, Alien Ant Farm, or otherwise.
The first time I saw the MJ version of that video, I was utterly amazed.
And it has some fascist boogeying for D.R.
So at 200 what happens? You get your own humanoid?
(This should make 125)
And also a great deal of…democratic boogeying, I guess.
And I never realized how uncommonly, HEAVILY sexed-up this song was for MJ…probably because I was in elementary school…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hg-IRZk4D0
I can’t believe he has like every fucking thing from star wars. Is that real? I am sharing your photoalbum with all my “friends” on facebook. Did you buy anything?
This is phenomenal. Thank you so much for sharing.
Brad — I did it! I signed up for the RSS feed. Now gimme some content!!
ps. This is funny: http://www.hulu.com/watch/68615/family-guy-bag-of-weed
and has a Michael Jackson reference.
I am sick of looking at stupid wax Jacko’s stupid wax face.
Gettin’ out the Cheese-its
I might have to waylay my plans to form my right-wing extremist militia and devote all of my artillery and firepower to the civil unrest that’s brewing here.
I have attracted funding from an undisclosed, alcoholic source and am proud to announce that I have upgraded to flaming Jack Daniels bottles.
Heads up!
*pitch*
If that’s the case then I, too, shall waylay my plans (of sitting around doing nothing). I’ve managed to acquire some hefty cognac bottles for the artillery.
Yippee-ki-yay…!!!
I find this whole exhibit so incredibly sad!!! Here is a person that was thrown into “the business” as a baby..Some handle this “make believe” plastic Hollywood world better than others. Michael has some serious issues , I think we can all agree on that. But, I am more than sure that his issues were pretty transpaerent as a child. What bothers me more than going through Michael Jackson’s parralel world filled with human like statues, crazy paintings, toys, and pinball games, is that NOT ONE single person in his family CHOSE to recognize that there was a problem and got him the help that he so needed and deserved. Or, if they did recognize there was a huge problem, than they swept it under the mat in hopes that it would go away. Michael Jackson is the product of really bad parenting..and like I said before, not everyone can handle this business, work the incredibly long and hard hours..which is required, make album after album ,live on buses, tour, have your home be the next hotel, or plane, and come out the other side unscathed. Had his parents recognized the fact that perhaps Michael’s personality wasn’t made for the business they pushed him into, we may have seen a very different man. Unfortunately, for Michael that didn’t happen. and he has become a “freak show” to all that view him, or his belongings..It is awful, and so so sad.
Gahhhhh!!!!!
“Thriller” is playing on the oldies station right now!!!!!!!
Totally.Frikking.Serious.
That’s it, I’m throwin’ the bottle!