Jacko was only alive for five decades. He made his showbiz bones in the 70s as a child star who started to turn into a freak by the 80s. By the time the 90s came around he was more well known for sleeping with kids and ironically hinted at his infamy with albums like Bad and Dangerous.

Modern R&B pop in general appeals to the primitive taste of nutjob media sheep who think bad ass noise is cool. Sinatra was our true father of song, the king of civilized music. Artists of his generation sang to you while rock and pop sang at you.

To compare MJ to Sinatra is like comparing the screaming, yelling and dancing of a socially and sexually confused manchild to the audio vocal personification of God. Enough said.

Quite right Marc, which is why I clarified it, but obviously not to Randy’s liking.

I even went so far as to admit I was wrong about the number of tunes he penned on Thriller, and invited RB to do so re: his diatribe on that aspect of my post that he alone misinterpreted.

Still waiting.

Last point irrelevant though it might be,
“The J5 didn’t compose or arrange any of their tunes, MJ did.”
Randy B, in case you hadn’t already realized it, I’m pretty sure you misundertood JRs statement there (I think his sentence structure kinda skewed what he meant to get across) which was that he (MJ) was involved with the development of HIS tunes, whereas J5 was not doing that same level of development with THEIR tunes.

That miscommunication briefly turned this otherwise lively discussion into an adversarial event for a moment. (I really hate on-line ‘pissin’ contests, such a waste of energy) Other than that I am thoroughly enjoying everyones perspective and personal insight on the music of our times! Thanks!

That’s actually a piccolo, wielded by young Dayna Hartwick (who also played on the Four Tops’ “Reach Out-I’ll Be There” and “Bernadette”).

And it’s either 42 or 39 years, depending on who you ask. Stevie Wonder (!) wrote the melody and gave it to Smokey at a party. Smokey added lyrics and cut the tune with the Miracles in ‘66 or ‘67; it was released in August 1967 on the “Make It Happen” LP where it was buried.

In 1970 deejays in soul-crazed England discovered the track and started riding it like crazy. Tamla Motown (the company’s UK counterpart) put it out as a single, prompting Robinson and Berry Gordy to follow suit over here. The result was the Miracles’ only #1 Pop single with Smokey. (”Shop Around” made it to #2; “Love Machine,” with Smokey’s successor Billy Griffin, also hit the top spot.)

I don’t necessarily agree with that, but as to musicians taking up the mantle of those who preceded them, I previously said;

‘Music, like many art forms, is built on a foundation of those who went before.’

‘There is nothing new under the sun but there are lots of old things we don’t know.’

Ambrose Bierce

Which isn’t to say that you can’t use something already created as the basis for something new and innovative, but rather that everyone in the creative arts owes a debt to those who walked the path before them.

And the “bird groups”, patterned after the Mills Brothers and the Ink Spots, gave birth to the doowop sound in the late 40’s and early 50’s.

The first “Kiddie Groups” : the Castells, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, the Students, the Schoolboys, and Pearl McKinnon and the Kodoks, were all black.

While you’re at it, you can look up Sonny Boy Williamson and the Rolling Stones; John Lee Hooker and Canned Heat; and Eric Clapton and Robert Johnson. You will find that not only was there a very deep and wide connection between white and black musicians, but that many white musicians freely acknowledged that debt.

Even Hopalong Cassidy (!) refused to attend movie openings of his, or autograph sessions, where the children’s lines were segregated by race.
Whites and blacks worked together to secure civil and economic equality for blacks – most notably in entertainment — from the late 40’s to the early 60’s, when they began to drift apart after the first Watts Riots. Forced integration through School busing was the main culprit.

Some early integrated suppliers of recorded music by black groups: Savoy, Chess, Checker, Atco / Atlantic and Stax / Volt.

Here’s another take on that groundbreaking program Frank.

http://www.classictvinfo.com/TheNatKingColeShow/

Try replacing it with that organ solo in ‘House of the Rising Sun.’

I appreciate your support, and just to clarify, I wasn’t suggesting, as some have incorrectly claimed, that Black music was NEVER played on so called White radio, but rather that it wasn’t in as heavy rotation as White artists.

‘But… generally, I’m on your side. How anyone could be dismissive of Michael Jackson is beyond me. We’re talking about a guy whose death had a massive effect on the very structure of the internet. I mean… damn, can’t we agree on something?’

I couldn’t agree more; but get ready for a host of insulting and dismissive diatribes about how we’re both out of our minds from those who feel he was the Britney Spears of his age.

But… generally, I’m on your side. How anyone could be dismissive of Michael Jackson is beyond me. We’re talking about a guy whose death had a massive effect on the very structure of the internet. I mean… damn, can’t we agree on something?

Fine.

“The performers most inspired by and derivative of Lymon and the Teenagers’ style are The Jackson 5 and its lead singer and future superstar Michael Jackson. Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, Jr. based much of the Jackson 5’s sound on Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers’ recordings.” –Wikipedia

Interesting.

And Fred, you’re not the fred who got me to put the cap at the end, are you? How do you keep from duking it out with all the other freds out there?

Have it your way; radio has always been perfectly egalitarian.