Excellent piece. The day the news broke, I saw the aforementioned You Tube clip on an LA Times article and watched it. Your comments are dead-on.

Jackson's death is undeniably tragic and sad. This guy never had a real childhood. Consider his overbearing and reportedly abusive father and being subject to the rigors of the Motown hit-making machine at a young age. You start to get a sense of not only the drive toward surpassing overwhelming expectations but the crushing nature of those expectations when he passed the peak of his career.

No denying Jackson's talent and gifts for irresistably infectious pop back in the late 70s and early to mid-80s.After Thriller though, where could you go but down? Gradually, we saw the strong commercial emphasis supersede the grooves and songwriting. Much of Jackson's music in this period has a dated sound. His music was of that time of course but is it necessarily timeless? Other than say “Man In The Mirror,” what MJ songs have a truly timeless quality? Nowadays, hits like “Beat It,” “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” are not exactly the songs you turn up on your car stereo but are more of the sheepish grin and guilty pleasure variety when they're discovered on an Ipod. Yes, sales of MJ product are going through the roof but that is more attributable to sentiment than anything else.

Dunphy pointed out in his piece that MJ couldn't adapt with the times as Prince and Madonna did. I concur. Prince's contributions to the pop music lexicon are more substantial and long-lasting. Interestingly, Prince was reportedly asked to duet with MJ on the title cut to the “Bad” album but Prince declined. For Prince, it would have been superfluous. For MJ, “Bad” was a feeble attempt to demonstrate some kind of street cred in the hip-hop era. Another self proclaimed declaration in addition to the “King of Pop” moniker.

We saw thwarted comeback attempts. Outside of MJ's music, we saw the sad effects of racial assimilation and plastic surgery gone wrong. We saw the childlike behavior, read about the stunning descent into dire financial straits, and heard about the troubling accusations.

I just wonder if MJ had a different beginning that would have facilitated more of an ease with musical and life transitions, would we have seen a more sustained, long-lasting career?

Excellent piece. The day the news broke, I saw the aforementioned You Tube clip on an LA Times article and watched it. Your comments are dead-on.

Jackson's death is undeniably tragic and sad. This guy never had a real childhood. Consider his overbearing and reportedly abusive father and being subject to the rigors of the Motown hit-making machine at a young age. You start to get a sense of not only the drive toward surpassing overwhelming expectations but the crushing nature of those expectations when he passed the peak of his career.

No denying Jackson's talent and gifts for irresistably infectious pop back in the late 70s and early to mid-80s.After Thriller though, where could you go but down? Gradually, we saw the strong commercial emphasis supersede the grooves and songwriting. Much of Jackson's music in this period has a dated sound. His music was of that time of course but is it necessarily timeless? Other than say “Man In The Mirror,” what MJ songs have a truly timeless quality? Nowadays, hits like “Beat It,” “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” are not exactly the songs you turn up on your car stereo but are more of the sheepish grin and guilty pleasure variety when they're discovered on an Ipod. Yes, sales of MJ product are going through the roof but that is more attributable to sentiment than anything else.

Dunphy pointed out in his piece that MJ couldn't adapt with the times as Prince and Madonna did. I concur. Prince's contributions to the pop music lexicon are more substantial and long-lasting. Interestingly, Prince was reportedly asked to duet with MJ on the title cut to the “Bad” album but Prince declined. For Prince, it would have been superfluous. For MJ, “Bad” was a feeble attempt to demonstrate some kind of street cred in the hip-hop era. Another self proclaimed declaration in addition to the “King of Pop” moniker.

We saw thwarted comeback attempts. Outside of MJ's music, we saw the sad effects of racial assimilation and plastic surgery gone wrong. We saw the childlike behavior, read about the stunning descent into dire financial straits, and heard about the troubling accusations.

I just wonder if MJ had a different beginning that would have facilitated more of an ease with musical and life transitions, would we have seen a more sustained, long-lasting career?

Again, thank you.