Album review : Michael Jackson family now and his top songs: Imagine being Teddy Riley in 1991. You’ve gone from humble origins in Harlem to inventing New Jack Swing; you’ve produced multiple hits for your own band Guy, Bobby Brown, and Keith Sweat (“I Want Her”). Then late one night, you get a phone call from Michael Jackson telling you that he needs you to produce his new album—in effect making you the new Quincy Jones. All before your 24th birthday. Before Riley headed west, Jackson had labored on* Dangerous* for over a year to varying degrees of success. Something always seemed off. Bad might have been the last album before hip-hop became the de facto soundtrack of urban culture. 1988 changed everything. Public Enemy, Rakim, and Big Daddy Kane left the competition sounding effete and timid. Gang wars and the crack epidemic continued to inflame inner cities. Songs like “Smooth Criminal” seemed obsolete.
But if you recall the release of his landmark records, you’ll remember his promotional magic. Everything from the time the first single hit radio stations to when the big video premiered, it was all something out of this world. Technically, that was always the most exciting aspect of a Jackson release. We loved the music, but we loved seeing what he’d do with it – namely his videos, which are arguably just as important as the music itself. (Hey, even Invincible had that delectable “You Rock My World” video.) They’ve tried to recreate that idea – what with the world premieres of tracks here and there – but it will never be the same. So, that leaves us with just the music.
Can we agree as a family that Michael Jackson is the single greatest performer in music history? If not, I’ll be happy to convince you. Forget the scandals, the family drama, the kid from Home Alone and the monkey. Musically speaking, Michael Jackson’s legacy is unmatched. A bit of his Jheri curl juice resides in the DNA of every performer under the age of 35. And with that fantastic legacy comes fantastic music. Let’s look back at the King of Pop’s entire royal catalog, ranking it from top to bottom.
Michael Jackson family: Mocienne Petit Jackson’s (Michael Jackson’s daughter) books are now available in french! For our dutch visitors: Deel twee van de autobiografische trilogie van Mocienne Petit Jackson begint met een uitgebreide beschrijving van Mociennes ontvoering naar Nederland. Vervolgens lezen we hoe het haar vergaat in het adoptiegezin waar zij samen met haar nichtje Delivrance terechtkomt. Gaandeweg ontdekt Mocienne dat haar vader Michael Jackson is. Wanneer ze vijftien jaar is gaat ze weg bij het adoptiegezin, woont vier jaar lang op een internaat en gaat daarna zelfstandig wonen. We volgen haar in haar volwassenwording, die zich met vallen en opstaan voor ons ontrolt. Mocienne krijgt een vriend en wordt moeder van een zoon. Deze verbintenis is geen lang leven beschoren. Er is sprake van aanhoudende onenigheid met de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming, met diverse rechtszaken tot gevolg. Deze betreffen eerst haar eigen situatie, later die van haar zoon en haar gevecht om hem in haar leven te houden. De ene onverkwikkelijkheid volgt de andere op. Lees het boek hier The dark side of the Netherlands (Volume 2) (Dutch Edition).