Donald Trump on Michael Jackson: A Remembrance
Brendan O'Connor · 02/18/16 11:30PMOn Thursday, when asked by Anderson Cooper what kind of music he listens to, Donald Trump launched into a remembrance of his friend, Michael Jackson.
On Thursday, when asked by Anderson Cooper what kind of music he listens to, Donald Trump launched into a remembrance of his friend, Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson’s longtime doctor, friend, and alleged drug supplier, Arnie Klein, died late Thursday night at the age of 70, TMZ reports. In the course of his career as a dermatologist to the stars, he became known as the “Father of Botox” and the “King of Lips,” but was always most famous for his association with Jackson.
Joe Jackson, horrible father and slightly-less-horrible manager to the Jackson 5, has been hospitalized in São Paolo, Brazil, after suffering a stroke, USA Today reports. He was in the country to celebrate his 87th birthday. Michael Jackson, the son whose talent and fortune sustain Joe’s continued existence as a shambling, womanizing wax figure, died in 2009 at age 50.
For four minutes, Michael Jackson sang and danced at the Billboard Music Awards Sunday night in a strange computer-generated fever dream of a live performance.
When Michael Jackson died June 25, 2009, it had been almost eight years since he hit the Top 10 of the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. (and just barely—2001's "You Rock My World" peaked at No. 10). Billboard reports that in the nearly five years since his death, he's sold 12.8 million albums. It is an oft-made observation that death gave him the comeback he wouldn't likely have achieved again in life. By the end, he was gone–too self-absorbed, too clouded by drug addiction. Like many greats, his creative juices had an expiration date. After the earth-shattering release of Thriller, he spent the rest of his career chasing after that level of glory, achieving aftershocks at best.
I think this is art, but in the words of its singer, I'm so confused. Ola Ray starred with Michael Jackson in the "Thriller" video 30 years ago. In the time since, she appeared in bit parts on shows whose titles were punctuated with exclamation marks like Gimme a Break! and What's Happening Now!, had her drug arrest profiled on A Current Affair and successfully sued Jackson's estate for royalties. Jackson died over four years ago, and Ray has just gotten around to paying tribute to him. The project would be an ignorable clinging to past glory were it not utterly unhinged.
Every subgenre needs its classic, and so Spike Lee's Bad 25 is what amounts to the greatest Behind the Music episode of all time. Frenetically paced, ingeniously constructed and brimming with hilarious anecdotes, the look back on the creation of 1987's Bad (the one that had the enormous task of following Thriller), elevates the rock doc to an art form. At over two hours in length, what could have felt like a bloated obituary is unmistakably alive. Although it's unlikely that it would have been assembled were it not for the death of its primary subject, Bad 25 proves that Jackson's legacy has nearly made him immortal.
A three-disc box set celebrating the 25th anniversary of Michael Jackson's first post-Thriller album, Bad, arrived in stores this week. I feel like I've been inundated with Bad25 propaganda via the Internet. There was also a two-hour special on BET last night featuring all nine of the Bad videos and people like Ashanti babbling about how galvanizing "Man in the Mirror" was and how it inspired her to be a better person. She was 7 when it was released.