I think [Michael] Jackson’s music is too woven into the fabric of American and British life, and others around the world, to just rip it out [with a hashtag]. Do you want your children’s party soundtrack to be MJ songs? I don’t know. I wouldn’t. But should it be banned? I don’t think so. It’s great music, he was a great artist and entertainer. He was also a pedophile. | | | | Michael Jackson (center) at age 13, with the Jackson 5. He stands accused of molesting children who were significantly younger.
(Bettmann/Getty Images) | | | | | | “I think [Michael] Jackson’s music is too woven into the fabric of American and British life, and others around the world, to just rip it out [with a hashtag]. Do you want your children’s party soundtrack to be MJ songs? I don’t know. I wouldn’t. But should it be banned? I don’t think so. It’s great music, he was a great artist and entertainer. He was also a pedophile.”
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| | rantnrave:// I find myself struggling to say something about LEAVING NEVERLAND beyond the obvious: It's a strange documentary about an even stranger world, it's incredibly hard not to believe the two men at the heart of the story (and I do), it's a painful and heartbreaking four hours of television, and it may or may not help bring an end to MICHAEL JACKSON's half-century-long pop music reign—if that's even possible. Like LIFETIME's SURVIVING R. KELLY, it moves a horrifying story, many of whose details you already knew, from your brain to your heart simply by putting it on television. It's one thing to read newspaper stories or books about Michael Jackson's legal cases; it's quite another to hear two men stare into a camera for four hours and tell you, in graphic detail, what Michael Jackson allegedly did to them when they were children. One of them, WADE ROBSON, was 5 when he met Jackson and 7 when he says the abuse started. Seven. Years. Old. There were toys, candy, popcorn, a cardboard cutout of PETER PAN and other such amenities in the numerous rooms at Neverland and elsewhere where Robson and JAMES SAFECHUCK say Jackson repeatedly molested them. You will not be able to shake that image anytime you hear—or don't hear—"ABC" or "LEAVE ME ALONE" for the rest of your life. Nor should you be able to shake that image. But it's also hard not to shake off the fact that director DAN REED chose to film a four-hour prosecution with no defense and little context. No one speaks on Jackson's behalf, and his estate's denial of Robson's and Safechuck's stories are never mentioned. (The estate is suing HBO, and counterprogrammed against the documentary Sunday night by posting a two-hour Jackson concert film to YOUTUBE.) Also left untouched by the filmmaker is the same-sex nature of the allegations, and the racial overtones. Writer, musician and cultural theorist GREG TATE notes that "many Blackfolk learned to compartmentalise Jackson the moment they saw the cover of THRILLER," and goes on to ask: "Would the brown-skinned, big-lipped, wide-nosed MJ who appears on the cover of OFF THE WALL have been allowed by white parents to have as much unsupervised time with their pre-tweens? Would he have been trusted to disappear into his mansion for hours days and nights with them?" And so, perhaps, the question isn't simply what does—and doesn't—Reed's explosive documentary say about the King of Pop, but also what does—and doesn't—it say about us? And could we cancel Michael Jackson's music even if we wanted to? MusicSET: "Leaving Michael Jackson"?... In other cancellation news: RYAN ADAMS' UK tour... How would EBAY selling STUBHUB work? Does a bot buy it on eBay and then mark it up and resell it on StubHub? Does StubHub take a cut out of both ends of the transaction? What is eBay's seller's rating?... The ACLU is asking COACHELLA to make its bathrooms accessible to transgender festivalgoers... GLASTONBURY is saying no to single-use plastic bottles... RIP TOM GOODKIND, STEPHAN ELLIS, JANICE FREEMAN and ED BICKERT. | | | - Matty Karas, curator |
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| What does—and doesn't—Dan Reed's explosive documentary "Leaving Neverland" say about the King of Pop, and what does it say about us? And could we cancel Michael Jackson's music even if we wanted to? | | |
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| Lindsey Jordan, lead singer and mastermind of Maryland-based rising indie rock act Snail Mail, played to the biggest crowd of her young career to date this February. It’s just that the venue was around 10 percent full when she hit the stage. | | |
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| iLOVEFRiDAY, Ava Max, & CalBoy have all blown up thanks in part to apps like TikTok & Dubsmash. | | |
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| Solange's latest album feels like Houston. Why? Because it utilizes the techniques of the late DJ Screw and honors the rappers that shaped the city's sound. | | |
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| Channelling a sophisticated honesty, the genre today conveys the soulless disconnect of our hyperconnected lives. | | |
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| “Not only will Spotify bring Indian artists to the world, we’ll also bring the world’s music to fans across India,” said Daniel Ek. | | |
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| "Would we prefer a path to control? Usually in life we do." | | |
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| "I'm tired of him being gone," says Benmont Tench, who helped assemble a new best-of arriving in stores. | | |
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| Don't underestimate ritual and tactility. | | |
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| Los Angeles Review Of Books |
| Seth Kaufman on rock's secret weapon - audacity - and what Philip Roth can teach us about it. | | |
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| The R&B singer-songwriter was first accused of sexual misconduct more than two decades ago. Why did he have to become musically irrelevant for public opinion to swing so definitively? | | |
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| Jessie Woo just wanted to sing. So when the budding vocalist met a successful music producer who told her he wanted to help her with her music, she believed him. | | |
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| Late in the evening of Feb. 13, European Union policymakers hammered out the final version of the new Copyright Directive -- the subject of a fierce four-year battle between media businesses and tech giants like Google over how creators will be compensated in the digital age. | | |
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| Over the past few years I've watched many indie music blogs and independent radio come and go like the wind. We often hear about supporting the artists, which is exactly what these independent platforms do. | | |
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| What the folk? Marc Maron, podcast king, has taken on a new role: record curator. For Record Store Day on April 13, he’s putting out “In The Garage: Live Music from WTF with Marc Maron -- Vol. 1,” a limited edition LP. | | |
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| A brilliant new show at New York’s Museum of Sex reveals a creative, rebellious culture that rewrote the rules about a lot more than just music. | | |
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| As the beloved Mexican festival approaches its 10th anniversary, artists and organizers look back on its transformative impact within Latin indie. | | |
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| To mark its 60th anniversary, Martin Chilton tells the story of how the trumpeter created a multimillion-selling masterpiece that still ranks as one of the greatest albums of all time. | | |
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| In Los Angeles, some Latinx artists are pushing the artistic frontiers of homo hop-a musical subgenre of hip hop that blurs the boundaries between sexuality, queer identity, and gangster rap. | | |
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| The brutal shooting of McCoy, who loved ones describe as a rising star and loyal friend, has devastated a community: ‘We lost a king.’ | | |
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| © Copyright 2019, The REDEF Group |
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