A Tiny, Yet Tasty, Curated Tour of MJ Vids

Today, the day of MJ’s big public memorial and private funeral, we will join the legions of fans ignoring his dark side, as the New York Times puts it, and just focus on the jams. We will not link to People’s video timeline of MJ’s changing face (insert conspicuous lack of link here) nor will we discuss his legal troubles, except to note that the guy was — ahem — never actually convicted of anything. (Besides, you can read about all that junk in the Rolling Stone MJ commemorative issue that comes out on Friday) But we WILL link to this hilarious recent interview with Quincy Jones who answers intriguing questions like, “You were there to witness the strange evolution in Michael’s appearance. Did you ever step in and say anything about it?”

So here it is, ladies and ferns, a short, curated, compilation of the choicest Michael Jackson videos. Most are live videos and I omit Thriller and the rest of the 80′s classics that scream LOTS OF MONEY WAS SPENT MAKING THIS SO PAY ATTENTION!!! We’ve already seen them a billion times. Enjoy and feel free to leave your own recs as well…

1973:  The little boy prodigy. His voice is so pure it’s like gold stars are streaming out of his mouth. And he’s got all the moves. Michael Jackson with The Jackson 5 on Soul Train performing “Get It Together Or Leave It Alone”

1979: A grown up Michael, radiating joy in this disco classic against a backdrop of cheesy Powerpoint dissolves, continues to stab us in the face with his adorableness Don’t stop til you get enough

1983: Which is more awesome, Micheal performing Billie Jean live with the Jackson 5 or Michael’s icon-making performance of Billie Jean at Motown’s 25th anniversary?

1993: For sheer spectacle, you can’t beat MJ’s superbowl performance.

1995: Okay, his face is getting a little hard to look at by now, but this performance of ‘Dangerous’ at Soul Train’s 25th anniversary show is a dazzling piece of choreography. The man’s moves are still like buttah.

2001: I am really and truly a big Britney Spears fan, but unfortunately, she is the ultimate loser in this particular celebrity smackdown — a duet between Britney (then 21) and Michael (then 41) of “The way you make me feel” at the”Michael Jackson 30th Anniversary Celebration”. Both are really singing, not lipsyncing, and the contrast between the two pretty much takes your breath away. Basically, MJ comes off as still ass-kicking and Britney as merely blonde. Sorry, Brit.

2001: Did you know that Micheal Jackson and sister Janet earned a Grammy nomination for their collaboration, ‘Scream‘? I didn’t!

2009: How can a person be so alive one day and so dead the next? Rehearsal footage for his upcoming series of comeback concerts shot two days before MJ died. How many of us will be this fleet-footed at fifty?

R.I.P. Michael Jackson. I will always cherish my vinyl copy of Thriller from the 4th grade.

~ by alina on July 2009.