Michael Jackson ~ Hero or Zero
 

The World is shocked of the sad news that the king of pop has died, but was he all he was cracked up to be??

Take part in our debate, Michael Jackson ~ Hero or Zero

Arguement for Hero...

Jackson's death on Thursday might have taken his fans by surprise, but in any musical sense, the Michael Jackson who once mesmerised the world had died more than 20 years ago. At least now his deserved heroic status in popular music won't be further sabotaged by those ill- conceived ' comeback' concerts he was soon to give in Britain.
Because no matter how loyal his fans might have been in overlooking Jackson's own self- destruction, they were virtually certain to have been let down had he ever taken to the stage again.

Like so many other rock stars, Jacko's best work was done well before he was 30.
And like Elvis (who, had he survived, would briefly have been Jackson's father-in-law) his death was preceded by years of madness, reclusiveness, financial problems, scandal and ill-health.

But let us set aside the troubled personal life for one moment.
Who was Michael Jackson, the musician?
At his peak, in the late Seventies and early Eighties, when working with the legendary producer Quincy Jones on the magical albums Off The Wall, Thriller and Bad, Jackson was inspirational. And I mean that in the truest sense of that word. He literally inspired the following generation of rock stars to consider their music as part of a whole theatrical experience of dance, acting and costume.

Without him, the captivating stage performances of singers such as Madonna and Beyonce wouldn't have been the same. But then nor would TV music channels such as MTV, which, prior to Jackson, had aired far fewer black stars. His extraordinarily inventive dancing for his Billie Jean video, when he looked like a moonwalking vaudeville artist and spinning robot combined, changed the look of rock music on TV.

It was no longer enough just to stand there with a guitar and sing.
Stars had to give a show - in the old-fashioned movie musical sense, aided by modern digital techniques. And no one ever did this better than Jackson.
At the same time, reflecting the ever-growing change in cultural attitudes, the music Jackson performed was colourless.
It wasn't black or white.
It wasn't soul or rock.
It was Michael Jackson music.
Pop at its absolute pinnacle of expression, and timeless, as evidenced by the 38 million people who have looked at his Thriller video on the YouTube website in the past two years alone.
I don't go along with describing rock stars as geniuses - and I've known a few - but Jackson, perhaps because of his overall oddness, was a true original. Yet, deep down, he was also a real old-fashioned song and dance showman. In that sense, he always struck me as a leftover from another age of bornina-trunk travelling artists.
Ultimately, Jackson's is the saddest of stories.

Extraordinarily gifted, even as a child star singing Rockin' Robin and ABC as part of the Jackson 5, he outclassed all his musical peers - not least, his own siblings.
But the seeds of his self-destruction were sowed deep within him.
How much they were the result of his being famous since the age of 11, or how much his eccentricity was simply the other side of his creativity, we'll never know.
One thing is for sure. All those fans who bought tickets to go and see him this summer won't be going home disappointed having seen the sad reality of Jackson's lost talent.
And they'll always have their DVDs of happier times.

Arguement for Zero....

He made me 'believe in magic,' says P. Diddy. 'His wonderment and mystery make him legend,' gabbles Steven Spielberg. He was a 'genius', claims Justin Timberlake.
Really? What, like Shakespeare and Michelangelo? With the best will in the world, I don't think anything in Michael Jackson's back catalogue can quite compare with Hamlet or the Sistine Chapel.

As for those who are now comparing him to Mozart and Beethoven - the only explanation is that they have never actually listened to the great composers. Amid all the hysterical gush about Michael Joseph Jackson, some gentle reminders might be in order.

Back in the Seventies and Eighties, Jackson wrote some pitch-perfect dance pop songs which will never be surpassed. If you've never tapped your toes to Beat It then you must have no sense of rhythm, and if you've never hit the dancefloor to Billie Jean, you haven't lived. But let's keep things in proportion. For the past 20 years of his sad and tattered life, Jackson was a walking zombie, a ghastly realised version of the living dead in his Thriller video. Life imitates art and, in this case, it was a most gruesome fulfilment.

Despite the Peter Pan image, Jackson's lonely death in an LA hospital was a pure rock 'n' roll cliche. Where were his celebrity friends then?
And the painkiller that he seems to have been taking just before his death, Demerol, is no junior aspirin. It's an immensely powerful synthetic morphine, chemically similar to heroin, and known to be potentially lethal. What on earth was going on?

Unfortunately, a miasma of squalor, mystery and downright dishonesty has swirled about Jackson for years. Despite the weirdest and most implausible denials, we all know the star long ago set out to look like a white man - or even a white woman.

Yet he and his croneys always insisted his changing skin tone was due to the condition vitiligo - this causes patchy depigmentation. It does not turn black people white.
Jackson was an influential example of that terrible form of self-loathing called cosmetic skin whitening, and his contribution to the cause of black equality was wholly negative.
Comparing the crumbling, ravaged pseudo-features of the middle-aged recluse with the happy, smiling little black boy of the early Jackson 5 is heartbreaking. But in Jackson's childhood, glittering with early fame and fortune but sadly lacking in the normal pleasures of careless play and anonymity, the seeds of his later ruin were sown.
He spent the rest of his life trying to avoid adulthood through gross self-indulgence and vapid fantasy. Even creepier than the plastic surgery were the rumours from the Neverland ranch, the 'sleepovers' with barely pubescent boys, which he described as 'a beautiful thing'.

Jackson was acquitted of child abuse in 2005, but after previous allegations in 1993, he paid out a vast $22 million to the boy's father in exchange for their silence.
These uncomfortable facts have conveniently been forgotten in the Niagara of celebrity twitter, grotesque exaggeration and false sentiment that's scaling heights of mawkish sentimentality not seen since the death of Princess Diana. Madonna, Demi Moore and Britney Spears have made their feelings known - not in private, to Jackson's family, of course, but to the world. And the basic dishonesty continues.

Geller, the famous spoon-bender, says his close friend Jackson had recently been 'terribly fit and basically in good shape'. No he wasn't. He had a chicken bone for a nose, was in and out of a wheelchair, and looked increasingly like Bette Davis in Whatever Happened To Baby Jane? Black civil rights campaigner Rev. Al Sharpton has hailed him as a 'historic figure', like Abraham Lincoln or Martin Luther King, and said he 'made culture accept a person of colour way before Tiger Woods'. Didn't the Rev. Al ever notice anything funny about Jackson's colour?

Enough of this delusional postmortem hype, please. A handful of Jackson's tunes will last as long as people love pop music - that's no mean achievement - and at his peak he could dance like Fred Astaire.
But he was also a deeply flawed individual who lived a life of consistent and cowardly denial and evasion. For whatever messy psychological reasons, Jackson could never be honest about himself. At least we should be.

Let the Debate continue....

I say both Hero AND Zero

2 sides of the same coin i say ;)

Poll added.

Thanks Paul ;)

I loved his music growing up and I still don't find myself changing the station when it comes on. Man in the Mirror is one of my favorites because of how true the words are. My problem with him is his legal issues with the little boys. Sadly, a lot of people can't separate the two, including myself, causing me to vote both Hero and Zero.

I feel that this is gonna be the same for most people too, Whislt Michael was problably on of the Best Entertainers of my lifetime, The Problems with his personal life has also come into play and ultimately still caused him problems up till his death.

I feel that he will be remembered for both in the long run

For me I do not think that he did what they say he did. I think it was a ruse for these people to try and bleed him for money really. So I voted hero. :(

ditto
and don't forget "Weirdo"

He was defiantly a hero due to his music and dance skills's changing the music business for centeruys to come although on the other hand was a very lonely and insane man.

I feel thats how we're gonna remember him by a bit of good and a bit of bad :erm:

I'd say Hero. I loved his music, and I was sad when I heard about his death. :(

Hero of course!

p.s. how can you make 'funny' polls and don't get grunts from the staff? :confused:

Whats funny about it??

:confused:

Nothing is funny about Michael Jackson's death.

He can dance... Ill only give him props for that

He "could" dance :)

Jacquii.

Hero, of course...
Because his music has influenced many singers.
Because music is not what it is today if he had never sung

And because I like MJ :p

Neither.

Definitely wasn't a zero, he was an amazing performer.

Definitely wasn't a hero. Nothing he did was heroic, period. Calling him a hero is an insult to the word, or indicates you don't know what the word actually means. If you're calling him a hero because he inspired many young singers, no. That makes him a role model and an inspiration.

Everyone dies, live with it.

edit: I voted couldn't care less. sick of hearing and seeing anything related to michael jackson on the tv. becoming boring.

Are you serious...

Legend.

"Could" as in past tense - I'm absolutely serious - Why would I not be? :)

Jacquii.

He could def dance in the good ole days, I doubt he could nowadays. Hopefully, this is top notch debatable, speculative material.

People will debate most anything nowadays - I'm shocked there has not been any "conspiracy-theories" with ensuing debate of how Jackson has faked his death because he couldn't handle all the stress of super-hero status, opium pipes and Negro skin.. :P

Jacquii.

I guess he didn't beat it? :D

Best Dancer EVER, beats Chris Brown and others...

Did not like the last few years but that was all rumors so we can say we did not like it but until we walk a mile or.. moonwalk (yes I did) in someone elses shoes eh?

S-MAN

When he was black he was a Hero.. When he turned white he became a Zero. Both FTW!

He was so Bad some thought he was invincible and say he's Gone To Soon, others won't, but either way he seems to have moonwalked off into the Thriller paramesphere of god's metaphysical nothingness. Which is to say he is Off The Wall of earthly being, forever a PYT in the minds of many, a Smooth Criminal in the thoughts of others. I personally think HIStory will mark him as a Dirty Diana who Beat It right on time, because time & karma has an interesting way of making things right.

Jacquii.

Aren't Heros usually classified as Role Models? Humanitarian doesn't fall into the Hero classification?

Neither. He was:

• An amazing performer though not my cup of tea, at least not since the Jackson 5 days (showing my age).
  
• Probably a child molester.
  
• A very sad man who probably never had a true friend.

Fixed :D

Now now never proven!

But i guess everyone knows, I mean you don't buy silence at $22,000,000 if there was nothing going on $500 would suffice.

Then a few years later, he made an interview saying sleeping with Children was something Beautiful? Doesn't exactly help his cause.

then the trial a few years back, i think that was the last bit of credability down the drain.

Very sad to what was a very talented artist.

Innocent until proven guilty.

I heard stories, not sure if they're true, saying that the kids who made statements, saying they were abused, lived in poor families, and their parents had forced them to, so they'd get all of the money that MJ was willing to pay to make them shut up.

Again, not sure if it's true, but it is what I heard.

He dead simple as - lets move on.
No man (or woman) is that great to warrant discussion after discussion about them.
He sang songs and got payed for them - end of story.

And yes he was an abuser - and less of the innocent until proven guilty - it should be guilty till we say you innocent :) - to many people getting away with breaking the law these days.

ah good ole lasto doesn't mix his words. :D I won't go into the abusement speculation (I don't think that is allowed here and is frowned upon). what I will say, before his death people where slating him calling him every name under the sun and now that he as passed on they are saying what a wonderfull person he was. Hypocritical if you want my opinion. I agree with lasto, move on, people die everyday and they don't keep going on about it. People mocking him about his sudden change in skin colour. I call that two faced, I find being straight gives people the right impression so atleast they know where they stand. A touch of hypocrisy if I do say so myself flowing in abundance in this thread.

He had talent there's no escaping that and that where it ends.

i think he just did his thing and made good music

I look for a lot of stuff to come out about him. But in the long run, I expect that he will be looked at as a hero of pop music.