Yuku free message boards

Youtube is amazing Cindy ...isn't it? I also have been feeling the need to go back and see some of his performances. And by looking at number of "hits" some of his videos are getting (ie in the millions).....others have felt the need too. There was a time for about a 10-15 year stretch in 80's or 90's when you would see MJ perform on one award show or another quite often and be reminded of his brilliance.

For overall performance I strongly suggest you revisit his 1993 Superbowl performance part 1 & part 2

In terms of just dance.....I think this is his best performance IMO. His dancing moves were awesome and original. He just got better and better after the moonwalk.
He was the greatest entertainer in my lifetime.

Edited to add: The link to the song Cindy is referring to is here
I agree that a ballad is the best type of song to truly appreciate the quality of someones voice.
I think some of them are much more revealing of him on a personal level. Some of my favourite ballads that he did are songs were the ones he did with The Jacksons in the 70's. The ones that I like are "One Day In your Life" here (which now breaks my heart when I hear it, and "Destiny" here.

Here is The Panther Dance that Cindy is referring to. Cindy, I remember this because it was originally part of the Black or White video that was premiered.......but this sequence received such an uproar from the public, particularly parent groups that Jackson had to edit the video and this part was taken out of the version that was later shown on MTV. Some of this he seems to be also tipping his hat to Gene Kelly in that street scene with the lamp post. Although he was definitely representative of the 80's and 90's....there was a quality about him that echoed the entertainers of the 40's and 50's, particularly the song and dance men ie. Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire. Jackson himslf has named them as influences. He even said that one his proudest moments was when Fred Astaire called him to complement him the day after his famour moonwalk performance on Motown 25.
I love the song Smile....particularly the Nat King Cole version, but I agree MJ does a pretty good one too. I am sure you know that it was his favourite song.
I don't know if you have seen this Cindy, but there is a memorable performance ( which he was actually nominated for an Emmy for) when he
sang a song he wrote for a tribute show to Sammy Davis Jr, It is quite touching and moving. It's here .
And another one of my favourite performances which really showed where his heart was as a humanitarian was at the inauguration gala for Bill Clinton with his tribute to Ryan White here .

Edited to add: One of the saddest and most hauntingly beautiful songs he ever wrote was Stranger in Moscow. He wrote it when the first allegations came out in 1993 and he was in Moscow on his concert tour. The lyrics are so personal that is at times it's painful to listen/watch.

" I was wandering in the rain
Mask of life, feelin insane
Swift and sudden fall from grace
Sunny days seem far away"
.........
" How does it feel
When youre alone
And youre cold inside"
.........
"Here abandoned in my fame
Armageddon of the brain"

The themes expressed in the song .......I think he must have felt this way up until the day he died. The Stranger in Moscow video is also quite beautiful and makes me want to cry.

Cindy: I had written this rather lengthy reply to your reply post to me......and then accidently deleted it before posting a few days ago. It was kind of late and I was tired so instead of trying to rewrite everything....I logged out instead. So here I go again....
Anyway...in response to what you say above......
Regarding the Barbara Walters interview you are referring to.....my heart goes out to MJ in that interview. He seems so vulnerable.....and unhinged there....maybe he is medicated as well. I found him always in control prior to this interview. Only when he spoke about his son....did he seem to relax. I always hated these types of interviews....and the interviewers who do them. The focus ...particularly with Jackson was about his eccentricities...and hardly ever about his art. Diane Sawyers has done a lot of these types of interviews. Journalists seem to like to place themselves in a different category from gossip rags like The Enquirer or The Star...or some of the less reputable British tabloids......but when they stoop to this type of interviewing ....there really isn't a difference. The absolute worst example of this type ...is so-called "journalist" Martin Bashir. A man who went out of his way to paint the most unflattering portrait of Jackson in his documentary using the most manipulative techniques. A lot of info has come out since this infamous documentary....which incidently triggered the second allegations.......most of it paints an even less flattering portrait of Bashir. Bashir seems to now be backtracking from some his previous comments....and paints a far more sympathetic portrait of Jackson.
Too little too late! With regards to the private home videos of Jackson and his kids. I remember years ago...Jackson himself released some private home video to Fox....but in those the faces of the children were obscured to protect them. They may be the same videos...only now the media feel they can show them since the public knows what the children look like. I wonder though...what Michael would think about the children being exposed like that since the memorial?
Thanks for the info about Jackson giving Black artists the rights to their songs. I was not aware of that part of the backstory. It makes me even more angry that people like Bill O'Reilly have gone on record disputing the claim that Jackson was a Black Icon......based only on his changing appearance. What gives Bill O'Reilly or any white journalist the right to say who the Black community considers to be a Black Icon? Facts are facts......Jackson never distanced himself from the Black Community. He was always a strong supporter of the NAACP and the Negro College Fund. In fact I think Jackson supported a scholarship in his name for inner city kids. I think also Yoko was quite pleased that Jackson bought the rights to the songs. Yoko had a friendly relationship with Jackson and she thought in the end it was best because she thought that her and McCartneys partnership whould have ended in a dispute.
The changing appearance I think has more to do with his dissatisfaction in his own appearance ... then of being Black. It seems that there is a consensus amongst the psychiatrists that Jackson probably suffered from Body Dysmorphic Disorder , a disease in which someone is obsessively concerned with a perceived defect in their appearance. More info here . He seems to fit this profile....but I guess we will never really know. Maybe you have some thoughts on this Cindy?
There are so many aspects to Jacksons story that....people will be analyzing his life for years.

BTW: He is truly amazing in the Smooth Criminal video.

Hi Cindy: I meant to touch upon the name "Jacko" thing too.....but forgot. Thanks for reminding me. Yeah....they should stop using that term now.
Jon Stewart of The Daily Show remarked about it recently and basically he said that insulting terms or names people used to describe you when you were alive ...they should really stop using those terms once the person they used to mock is deceased. I find it so disrespectful. That man is dead...let him rest in peace. And he does have a family. It makes me so angry that publications are still using that term. Regarding the BDD, I agree that it is probably more complicated than that. What I find is ironic....is the fact that you would think someone who hated the way they looked so much....would retreat from public life enitirely. He constantly put himself out there...in concerts and videos. And regarding his social skills...he always said that he was always most comfortable on stage.....then anywhere else. There is a rather enlightening interview from 20/20 done just around the time MJ released his first solo album as an adult....and he was still with The Jacksons. The interview says it all and I think it is a truthful representation of who he was in his adult life. It's here . What I always found fascinating is that he was almost like 2 different people. Interviews and in awards show speeches....he always seemed so shy, timid and awkward...and childlike, but performances he was fearless and very sexual like he could hide behind a stage persona. In that respect he reminds me of RF.