One of the things on Mrs H's birthday list for Tuesday was a copy of Michael Jackson's Thriller and despite my best efforts to track the regular CD down ('Don't have any in at the moment'), I ended up getting her the all-new super sparkly record company profit-margin enhancing 25th anniversary commemorative DVD and bonus track-including gold letter-boasting remastered ooby-dooby.
This has occasioned great debate in our household, most of it led by my eldest daughter (8 and a half) and starting with her innocent assertion on perusing the famous cover that she (had) 'thought Michael Jackson was white'.
And why shouldn't she?
She and her sister belong to an entire generation who have grown up with an image of this man as a strange, Max Factored freak; a Willy Wonka-like weirdo who's in the news from time to time for strange parenting behaviour, complicated things involving money (or the lack of it) and sinister accusations relating to little children.
I mean, why would Mummy want a record by him?
Then we showed them this...
Quite rightly, they were rather impressed.
Now you and I know that Thriller is not even that good an album - for every 'Billie Jean' or 'Wanna Be Starting Something' there's a Macca duffer or 'Lady In My Life' (and I've never liked 'Beat It' much either) - but, call me a sentimental old fool if you will, it is a source of no small pride to me this week that in a tiny way two little girls have started to learn a little about how it used to be...
And hey! They've still got Off The Wall, 'ABC' and this to come....
This has occasioned great debate in our household, most of it led by my eldest daughter (8 and a half) and starting with her innocent assertion on perusing the famous cover that she (had) 'thought Michael Jackson was white'.
And why shouldn't she?
She and her sister belong to an entire generation who have grown up with an image of this man as a strange, Max Factored freak; a Willy Wonka-like weirdo who's in the news from time to time for strange parenting behaviour, complicated things involving money (or the lack of it) and sinister accusations relating to little children.
I mean, why would Mummy want a record by him?
Then we showed them this...
Quite rightly, they were rather impressed.
Now you and I know that Thriller is not even that good an album - for every 'Billie Jean' or 'Wanna Be Starting Something' there's a Macca duffer or 'Lady In My Life' (and I've never liked 'Beat It' much either) - but, call me a sentimental old fool if you will, it is a source of no small pride to me this week that in a tiny way two little girls have started to learn a little about how it used to be...
And hey! They've still got Off The Wall, 'ABC' and this to come....
I showed my two moonwalking (MJ via youtube - not me personally) and it became that weekends obsession for them.
ReplyDeleteHow about this 'Darling Dear' with clips from the 'toon show
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ND-iW51idC0
And check this clever clogs, showing how James Jamerson was so integral to the Motown sound
verification word was 'zwrdbfn' - so close to being a real word
Errmm that'll be this clever clogs
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BuDjVyHtLV8
Verification word - 'qhttm' - I like the sound of that one
Love the 'Darling Dear'.
ReplyDeleteYour two need this.
super super super. young gifted and black. those lucky lucky children - just don't play them ben if you want them to stay happy
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"Off The Wall" was a much better album.
ReplyDeleteWhat's that old joke about I knew Doris Day before she was a virgin? We knew MJ when he was black.
Spent a couple of hours digging thru lots of soul 45s in a shop yesterday. Plenty of Motown and felt sure I would sooner or later find the Jackson 5's "Looking Through The Windows" but no luck. Now that was a great record.
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