I am watching the Michael Jackson memorial. I had it recorded on my DVR because I was at work not able to watch live.
Michael Jackson. An entertainer. An innovator. A philanthropist. A polarizing figure. Everything he was for the 50 years of his life, if he wasn't anything else, he was a spectacle. In the many songs he wrote, the many dance moves he made, the millions of records he sold, Jackson touched the soul and inspired greatness. Yes, he was strange. Yes, he was controversial. But even with all the madness that surrounded the latter years of his life, you can't discount the impact the man had on music and popular culture.
There are so many words that can describe Jackson. I have one: remembered. Every once in a while I'll roll to his tunes and every now and then a contemporary song will remind me of one of his songs. During his turbulent years in the 1990s and 2000s, I chose to remember Jackson as the guy who leaned so far forward in the Smooth Criminal/Moonwalker video or the guy who danced on the lit sidewalk in the Billie Jean video instead of the guy pleading his innocence on national TV or strolled into a courtroom in pajama pants.
There was no one like him before, and although immitated, no one in the next 50 years will be like him. So instead of remembering when he held his kid off the balcony window, remember the Motown special he first moonwalked to. Remember the first time you tried to do the Thriller dance or remember when you sang along to The Way You Make Me Feel just for fun one night with your friends.
Remember MJ.
It has been a crazy summer with all the celebrities who have passed on. I'd also like to say goodbye Steve McNair, I'll always remember playing for the Titans in Madden 2001 for PS2 and cheering you on with 1:48 left on the clock on that last drive in Super Bowl XXXIV.
Michael Jackson. An entertainer. An innovator. A philanthropist. A polarizing figure. Everything he was for the 50 years of his life, if he wasn't anything else, he was a spectacle. In the many songs he wrote, the many dance moves he made, the millions of records he sold, Jackson touched the soul and inspired greatness. Yes, he was strange. Yes, he was controversial. But even with all the madness that surrounded the latter years of his life, you can't discount the impact the man had on music and popular culture.
There are so many words that can describe Jackson. I have one: remembered. Every once in a while I'll roll to his tunes and every now and then a contemporary song will remind me of one of his songs. During his turbulent years in the 1990s and 2000s, I chose to remember Jackson as the guy who leaned so far forward in the Smooth Criminal/Moonwalker video or the guy who danced on the lit sidewalk in the Billie Jean video instead of the guy pleading his innocence on national TV or strolled into a courtroom in pajama pants.
There was no one like him before, and although immitated, no one in the next 50 years will be like him. So instead of remembering when he held his kid off the balcony window, remember the Motown special he first moonwalked to. Remember the first time you tried to do the Thriller dance or remember when you sang along to The Way You Make Me Feel just for fun one night with your friends.
Remember MJ.
It has been a crazy summer with all the celebrities who have passed on. I'd also like to say goodbye Steve McNair, I'll always remember playing for the Titans in Madden 2001 for PS2 and cheering you on with 1:48 left on the clock on that last drive in Super Bowl XXXIV.
MeatTracks of the Decade: Deluxe Edition
I had a busy month last month with my birthday and all the doctors appointments for my wife, so I'm playing catch up a little bit on this segment. Again if you haven't already known, this is chronicling my favorite tracks this decade. We'll first start this edition out with a few artists that were inspired by Michael Jackson.
-Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal” (2001)
I had a busy month last month with my birthday and all the doctors appointments for my wife, so I'm playing catch up a little bit on this segment. Again if you haven't already known, this is chronicling my favorite tracks this decade. We'll first start this edition out with a few artists that were inspired by Michael Jackson.
-Alien Ant Farm’s “Smooth Criminal” (2001)
One of the few good Michael Jackson covers. I love the kid in the mask in this video. This song along with Blackstreet's "Billie Jean" cover and Mariah Carey's "I'll Be There" cover are probably my favorite MJ covers. Fall Out Boy's cover of "Beat It" did not move me, their lead singer's voice kind of annoyed me in that song.
-Usher’s “U Got It Bad” (2001)
Probably my favorite Usher song. You can see the influence of Jackson throughout Usher's music and dance style.
-Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” (2002)
I gotta say one thing about this song...this is SO about Britney. Now, I'll admit, I listened to a little *NSync...not much but enough. I always thought Justin was the Michael of *NSync. And this song set Justin apart from his former group.
-Ne-Yo’s “Sexy Love” (2006)
When I first heard this song, I said to my brother, "Wow, this reminds me a lot of Michael Jackson." Well, a Michael Jackson with less range. That summer I jammed out to this song so much in my car.
-Chris Brown’s “Kiss Kiss (featuring T-Pain)” (2007)
Now, since Chris Brown is younger, his influence is more Usher. But Usher was inspired by Jackson, so Chris Brown is indirectly influenced by Jackson, especially in his dance style. That and I love this video.
And now more tracks. These are anthems of some sort. Anthems in clubs and in my car stereo. These are some songs I rock out to and sing along to almost every word.
-Jimmy Eat World’s “Sweetness” (2002)
-Nelly’s “Hot in Herre” (2002)
Awesome to hear in the club. At first I didn't like this song, that is until I heard it in the club. A lot of songs actually end up like that during college.
-50 Cent’s “In Da Club” (2002)
I'll have to admit, for all the hype before he debuted, I was a little underwhelmed by 50. Club anthem in any event. My favorite memory involving this song was when my cover band did part of this song. If you have the tape, give it to me...so I can watch it once then destroy it.
-R. Kelly’s “Ignition (Remix)” (2003)
Awesome song to sing along with. Definitely another club/party anthem. This came out back when all the remixes to songs were better than the original put out. That original Ignition song sucked balls.
-Jay-Z’s “Dirt Off Your Shoulder” (2004)
Instant classic. When I first heard this I thought "OH SHIT!" The beat hits you hard and his verse catchy. I played out this song on Winamp when I still had that program pre-meatPod.
-Franz Ferdinand’s “Take Me Out” (2004)
Rocked out this song one Winamp as well. No one memory attached to this one, just fun.
-Modest Mouse’s “Float On” (2004)
Great song to sing along to, especially on Rock Band. When I first heard this song when it came out, I was like "Wow this guy can't sing at all, maybe I have a chance to be famous..." Haha, yeah right.
-Fat Joe’s “Lean Back (Remix featuring Lil Jon, Eminem, & Mase) (2004)
I'll admit on this one...played out. But was awesome in the club and loved the remix. Eminem was great on this and it was funny that Mase came back that year.
-Green Day’s “Boulevard of Broken Dreams” (2004)
I think the album this song came off of marked the revival of Green Day. Earlier in the decade they were written off and to be honest their music was getting softer. Not necessarily a bad thing, but definitely different. Green Day's reinvention was complete and this song was awesome. Another song my cover band played.
-Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot (featuring Pharrell)” (2004)
Oh so classic on the dancefloor in the club or the front seat of the car cruising through town. Pharrell's peak in producing.
-The Dandy Warhols’s “We Used to Be Friends” (2005)
First heard this on the OC and then became the Veronica Mars. Love this song in the car.
-Kanye West’s “Gold Digger (featuring Jamie Foxx)” (2005)
Admit it, when you first heard it you thought it was crazy for Kanye to sample Ray Charles. Made sense to have Foxx since he just played Charles in Ray the year before. I remember this was on my playlist on my old mp3 player (pre-meatPod days) on the way to my summer class.
-The Killers’s “When You Were Young” (2006)
It is kind of odd, this reminds me of the summer before my son was born. Reminds me a lot of the month I lived at Thanh's house. It first came out then, so I guess that is probably why. Served as sort of a transition song of sorts, the end of one stage of my life and the beginning of the next.
-Rihanna’s “Umbrella (Remix featuring Jay-Z and Chris Brown)” (2007)
Probably the biggest song of that year. For some reason I like the version with Chris Brown better. The song works very well as a duet. Another song that I didn't like at first but then caught on.
-Kanye West’s “Stronger” (2007)
Another Kanye track where listen and go "how does he get the idea to sample Daft Punk?" Awesome song and still rock to ocassionally in the car.
And always to close out this segment, the previously covered MeatTracks of the Decade:
-Linkin Park’s “Pushing Me Away” (Original 2000, Remix 2002, Live 2007)
-Linkin Park’s “My December” (2000)
-Eve 6’s “Here’s To The Night” (2001)
-Fabolous's "Young'n (Holla Back)" (2001)
-Jagged Edge's "Where the Party At? (featuring Nelly)" (2001)
-Clipse's "Grindin'" (2002)
-Jimmy Eat World’s “A Praise Chorus” (2002)
-Coldplay’s “The Scientist” (2002)
-Jay-Z's "La La La (Excuse Me Miss Again)" (2003)
-Mae’s “Summertime” (2003)
-Blink 182’s “Miss You” (2004)
-Thrice’s “Stare at the Sun” (2004)
-Finley Quaye and William Orbit’s “Dice” (2004)
-Jimmy Eat World’s “23” (2004)
-Fall Out Boys’s “Sugar, We’re Going Down” (2005)
-The Foo Fighters’s “Best of You” (2005)
-The Killer’s “Smile Like You Mean It” (2005)
-Youngbloodz's "Presidential (featuring Lil Jon)" (2005)
-Acceptance’s “So Contagious” (2005)
-Fort Minor’s “Where’d You Go?” (2006)
-Justin Timberlake's "My Love (featuring T.I.)" (2006)
-Nelly Furtado’s “Say It Right” (2006)
-Taking Back Sunday’s “MakeDamnSure” (2006)
-T.I.'s "What You Know" (2006)
-Anberlin’s “Godspeed” (2007)
-Shop Boyz's "Party Like a Rockstar" (2007)
-One Republic’s “Apologize” (2007)
-The Starting Line’s “Island” (2007)
-Rick Ross's "The Boss (featuring T-Pain)" (2008)
-Lady Gaga's "Just Dance" (2008)
Next entry:
the beginning of theMeatLife's College Football Preview, featuring the Schools of the Decade
and Summer Movie Reviews continued!
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