MJ exclusive thread

[app_engine]

He has to have his own thread

Question - why do I care now?

Well, a few days back my 21 year old was driving and playing his favorites from phone / spotify in the car and I was வேற வழியில்லாம listening to them

Then suddenly one song totally matched my sensibilities, right at the start - no vocals yet, even though I was hearing it for the first time!

I wasn't surprised when I heard MJ's voice   

அது எனக்குப்பிடிக்காமல் இருந்தால் தான் ஆச்சரியம்

In any case, it immediately got registered in my mind - though I could not google and watch the video until this AN.

If someone does not feel like dancing when they are listening to this number / watching this youtube...well, I should not be judging people
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNJL6nfu__Q



#TheyDontCareAboutUs

[crimson king]

My favourite MJ song, written by S Wonder (and it would have sounded great had he sung it too).




MJ could have been a fantastic R&B singer standalone.  He had an incredible range and an impossibly supple voice.  But with him started the process of always building up a new music star as a mega 'event'.  So dancing took precedence and he didn't do full justice to his musical potential imo.

[V_S]

To me it will always be "Thriller" as this is the first ever western album I've ever listened. There is everything in this album one could ask for. It opened a whole new world of music to me. The craze for MJ steadily rose each and every day (that I went back to to hear his earlier albums) and it can't be better during college days and that's when he released his "Bad" album. When Joshua Tree (U2) was released and nominated along with Bad for Grammy, even though we loved that album so much, somehow we hated that just because we wanted MJ to win Grammy for the Record of the year, album of the year, single all as we were in mad love with that. U2 as we know is a classic, nothing comes closer as it won. I am happy now U2 won, but not that time.

No one in youth can ignore this number (from Thriller). There is everything in this. The Lady in my Life. Soft and tender. Not many western contemporary songs made me in tears, but this whole album did, but this one did so more. It always kindles lots of school/college memories in me.

[app_engine]

Drove my son's Dodge Charger today and it does not have a CD player or HDD. (You got to bluetooth your phone or have USB / Memory card kind of stuff to play your own music).

Makes one feel old that I cannot quickly do any of that - i.e. within my 15 minute ride to work.

Well, I found there is Sirius-XM (the digital radio). While it may not offer Ilayaraja, it does have a lot of options.

After fiddling around the LCD panel's FF / RW buttons, settled on a channel called "80s hits"

What a waste - the music of 80's is so boring  That is, if one excludes any "familiar" song or artist like MJ / GM / SW / Madonna et al, it is just unbearable.

Then this song got played that gave a huge spark of nostalgia and loved increasing the volume and playing it really loud!

Somebody's watching me (the song is by Rockwell - son of the Motown company founder - but it has MJ singing one line repeatedly)...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YvAYIJSSZY



Not an extraordinary song or anything like that but still listenable

[V_S]

What a waste - the music of 80's is so boring  That is, if one excludes any "familiar" song or artist like MJ / GM / SW / Madonna et al, it is just unbearable.

என்ன சார் இப்படி சொல்லிட்டீங்க Most of the songs I listen today is from that period, or to say exactly, only up to that period. In fact, I have to thanks my college friends who introduced me to the new world of western music,  as I was only listening to MJ, Wham (George Michael), Madonna, Stevie Wonder till my college days. I even believed (so immaturely) that western music started and ended with them. When I got exposed to that world, I should say that was an breath-taking experience. Right from Billy Joel, Kiss, The Cars, Huey Lewis and the News, Lionel Ritchie, Foreigner, Motley Crue, Prince, U2, Cyndi Lauper, Eagles, Whitney Houston, Bangles, Tears for Fears, A-ha, Fleetwood Mac, Depeche Mode, Rush, Smiths, Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Queen, Police (Sting), Peter Gabriel, Kenny Loggins, Michael Bolton, Santana, Paul Young, Goerge Bensen, Anita Baker, Paul Simon, Cliff Richard, Luther Vandross, Smokey Robinson, Barry Mannilow, Heart, Bryan Adams, Duran Duran, Elton John, Kool & the Gang, Guns n Roses, AC/DC, Van Halen, Def Leppard, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran, Metallica, R.E.M, Bruce Springsteen, Dire Straits, Genesis (Phil Collins), Pet Shop Boys, Eurythmics, Culture Club (Boy George), Judas Priest, Spandau Ballet, ZZ Top, Billy Idol, Air Supply, Smashing Pumpkins, Curiosity Killed the cat, Pink Floyd, Sade, Smashin' Pumpkins, Scorpions, Baltimora, Salt N Pepper, Bon Jovi.... ufff!!! and the list goes on and on. It is a vast ocean.

To be honest I typed everyone by heart. I listen to each one of them even now, and recall everyone of them fondly. May be some of them started their career in 70s, but they were all much talked about during our college days. I could not believe how many songs I recorded just during that time. The joy in listening to them is just inexplicable. Such was the sheer seductive power of that music. That is also one of the main reasons I could not enjoy the recent Indian film songs which mostly follow these formats and style.

If time permits and in case you haven't listened to them, please listen to them, you'll certainly like them.

[app_engine]

That radiowAlA of this morning sure didn't have good taste

Me too love a number of artists whom you've listed and get thrilled whenever I listen to many of such songs. 

SXM fellow played some really dull numbers and irritated me. 

So much so that "Somebody's watching me" (not a great number) had to be the best pick

[crimson king]

80s has a lot of good music but it is either (a) not VERY mainstream (stuff like Prefab Sprout or Aztec Camera) or (b) heavy metal based which is not going to be everybody's liking. Among very mainstream names, the best musician  of all was probably Stevie Ray Vaughan and he was a blues rock guitarist.  Enough said.

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