Entertainment For Lively Minds
Quincy Jones, who ought to know, strikes a note of realism about Michael Jackson
There's a very illuminating interview with Quincy Jones here where he talks about his reaction to Michael Jackson's death, the time he tried to get Michael to sing about a human being rather than a rat, his encounters with Muscles the snake, his unwillingness to attend a funeral which is likely to be a crowd scene and his insistence that Michael had a problem with being black. Asked about the purported skin disease he says..
"I don't believe in any of that bullshit, no. No. Never. I've been around junkies and stuff all my life. I've heard every excuse. It's like smokers—"I only smoke when I drink" and all that stuff. But it's bullshit. You're justifying something that's destructive to your existence. It's crazy. I mean, I came up with Ray Charles, man. You know, nobody gonna pull no wool over my eyes."
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Quincy Jones
is defintively his own man. He is clear-sighted and tough-minded about MJ - but he clearly feels his loss deeply too.
It is interesting to draw a comparison between MJ and Madonna. The one extraordinarily thick-skinnned, seemingly impervious to the court of public opinion. The other thin-skinned to the point of a fatal neurosis.
Honest
In a week when the hyperbole reigns very refreshing to hear him speak honestly.
Th other side of the coin is Tippi Hendren who seems to have been permanently crazed by Hitchcock's attentions.
Here's her reaction to MJ:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/jul/01/tippi-hedren-michael-jackson-...
Crikey
Former screen beauty turns her back on the world of humans and goes to talk to the animals. There's a whole book in that.
Brigitte Bardot...
fits the bill nicely
Doris Day too...
... any males other than MJ?
Michael Jackson got bored with it....
...which made him a typical male, I suppose.
See also Sigourney Weaver
Turned her back on the world of aliens and went to talk to the gorillas. There's a whole career in that.
Carla Lane
Loretta Swit, Alicia Silverstone
animals are so much more reliable
than humans aren't they?
So that's what happened to Alicia Silverstone.
From "Movie Idols", John Wrathall and Mick Molloy, 2005: "The talk of the town after starring in 'Clueless' (1995), Alicia Silverstone was still in her teens when she set up First Kiss Productions to make her much-anticipated follow-up. But 'Excess Baggage' (1997) flopped, and her producing days were over. A has-been at 21, she was last glimpsed in a bit part in 'Scooby-Doo 2'. I believe her initial career move was spoofed in 'Arrested Development'.
You could say
she reached a Tippi point.
Such a shame that..
the MJ family have announced that his body will not now go on display. Embalming bills would have been larger than Lenin's.
he looked
like the only man to be embalmed before he died
*ahem*
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_week/7574701.stm
good
to read some honesty about Jackson in light of the last week's hysteria and if anyone should be able to speak the truth Quincy is surely one of them.
Is it too soon to suggest that Mr Jones was the true genius of the records he's going to be remembered for?
Yes, it is too early to say that....
....because since Michael Jackson wrote the songs and sang them I think calling the producer "the true genius" is overstating his contribution. You only have to look at the number of deeply ordinary records he's produced over the years to realise that.
Hear also. . .
This 1978 demo* for "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", featuring Randy and Janet hitting things with gusto.
So, yes, QJ slapped some strings on it, but the core groove was seriously fun-kay before he was allowed anywhere near the thing.
Claims that QJ deserves all the credit for Off The Wall and Thriller stand up about as much as the claim, still occasionally heard, that George Martin deserves all the credit for Revolver and Abbey Road. You can't make a silk purse, etc.
(*Spotify link.)
Quincy? Pah! It was Vincent Price
that was the key player that made Thriller!
As he says in the clip below
"The shrieking of mutilated victims became the music of his life.."
Vincent also starred in The Fall of the House of Usher...
So MJ's copyists beware...
Cue demonic laughter
BAD...
is the only album that Jackson wrote the majority of the songs...he only wrote 3 on "Off The Wall" and 4 off "Thriller" [albeit in my opinion the best ones]...
Rod Temperton being the main contributor over the rest.
and Michael..
didn't produce any deeply ordinary records? most of which were released when he seemed to have sole songwriting/arranging/producing credit ie. Post Bad.
Oh c'mon ....
'Invincible' was groundbreaking. :)
Quincy knows he was the reason for MJ's success
HA HA !!
I'm not letting it go ;)
What's the definition of genius?
A person who finds the cure for debilitating disease, cracks some mathematical formula, or someone who can write a toe tapping tune? Whoever invented Ritz crackers, definitely
I'd have more faith in Quincy being a voice of reason
if he didn't ascribe MJ's willfulness to his being a "Virgo".
Has to be the...
Peanut Butter inventor(this thread has taken a bit of a handbrake turn!!)
*tried to post under the Ritz comment but didn't work!
Triumph produced by the Jacksons
One of my favourites, very Quincy-eque. the only thing in common with the MJ solo albums that come to mind being the presence of members of Toto
Speaking of "the voice of reason"...
Or not
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/deadlineusa/2009/jul/02/rush-limbaugh-mi...
This will offend some delight many
Nobody's mentioned the elephant in the room
What the flip is Quincy going to Wales for?
Caravan holiday? Bit part in the new series of Gavin & Stacey? Mixing the Eisteddfodd?
Staying...
with Michael Douglas
He's going to...
...try and pull the wool over his own eyes.