Double Standards for Michael and his music?

[Forever_Mike]

Well like i said, MJ is MORE than just an 80's legend though. MJ has transcended the 80s. And deep down people recognize that and EXPECT him to be on top. I think generally people will always recognize him as being the solid king of the 80's, with Madonna and Prince. But MJ is just so good, and he's effectively broken out of being just an 80's artist so well that people feel and want him to continue for ever and ever as being a prominent figure NOW. I mean think about it, all of us GREW UP on michael jackson. He's been going since the 60's. There hasn't really been a time or a decade when MJ hasn't popped his head into the charts and made a solid impact. And although the 80s were his PEAK decade, he still ruled in every other decade as well :lol: So people want that consistency. And that may manifest itself in irrational expectations, but it's still good to know that people expect that out of him and haven't dismissed him as a strictly 80s act.

I totally agree with this!:yes: I also think that part of the double standard towards MJ is due to the fact that his career (and life) hasn't followed any 'familiar' path. By this I mean that no1 expected that little afro kid to be as good as he was, no1 expected him to then have the biggest selling album of all time at 25! No1 expected him to have such a great 'cross-over' in terms of influencing artists worldwide and fan-base etc etc.

In a way MJ makes a lot of folks 'nervous' coz no1 can really predict his next move. B4 him there was a kinda of a pattern with huge/successful people (child stars didn't get bigger later in years, mostly burnt out etc, famous people crumbled/lost it/lost their fan base etc etc). So MJ is kinda of an Enigma to most and as much as some folks will like to predict his fall etc they can't be really sure! In one hand they for example looked at this flair man facing the terrible allegation and thought yes there is no way he would get out of this (other starts gave up/commit suicide/were overwhelmed with much less), but then again they were wrong.

I think its the paradoxical nature of MJ that gives these confused analysis/expectation which leads to the double standard. They want/think he is over etc etc but then again they can't be sure. (imo)

 

[Tipareth]

There are double standards of course! You people already pointed out interesting points, I agree with you clasical and J5Master and even with you azza - you've pointed it out beautifully with Invincible numbers being large and this album still being called a flop.

Part of it comes with false expectations and comparisations syndrome - the XXI century large spreading disease.

Another important part comes with - Sony and other recording houses, too - not wanting to help building large stars again - those are complex and hard to deal of, they're asking large sums of money, they buy catalogues behind their bosses back, etc etc. Transform the artist in a complete slave and a product. Use the modern visual ways to do it. Built puppy artists instead of true ones, push the great ones in shadows, by transforming them in passive legends, or even worse destroy the stubborn ones. This is the spirit, the attitude that emerged during 90s, a bussiness attitude, a managerial attitude, a way to do money easy without complications, a way to get rid of carbon copy artists fast, and replace them with other ones fast.

 

[J5master]

i give up on this one j5master :lol: i want,& you except from michael 'in musical terms' & thats that i guess.i am not happy with constant re-re-releases & you are happy with anything & count your lucky stars i guess.

Did u even read my post? I guess not.
But i shall repeat. LOL You don't have to be happy with everything. You can expect and want things, but don't expect MJ to cater to everything that YOU want. Cuz for the last 30 years he's been in the business it's been, for the most part, what HE as wanted for his career and WE just happened to like what he's doing.

i love the man,the person.in musical terms,he's only relevent to me with new work.i love the old work.but its been & passed & life goes on.lifes way too short :lol:

Geez that's a messed up view on art/music then. So only stuff that's happening now is relevant and important? Even when MJ's past is POURED all over the present day's CRAPPY artists? But MJ's not relevant? Any CRAP artist that makes a hit i guess is MORE important and relevant than MJ, James Brown, or elvis, i guess right?

WHATEVER. lol

THRILLER 25 means nothing to me.it means everything to you.[25 years ago thriller ment everything to me though.

Ooookay. So that confirms it. You didn't read my post and now u're making stuff up :lol:

do i have an expectation for something new? yes! will i keep buying re-release after re-release? no! do i or should i care about what other fans think about my opinion in this regard? no.not at all:lol:

We ALL expect something new. And he's MAKING SOMETHING NEW AS WE SPEAK. So i don't see what the freakin PROBLEM is here and why you wanna moan and groan when MJ is working on a new album :lol: Like i said over and over again, MJ can release 50million re releases at any time during the 5-7 year hiatus he usually takes between album. Or he can release NOT ONE release during the 5-7 year hiatus....but that number of rereleases is NOT gonna make MJ work ANY faster on that album. So complaining about the rereleases is to no purpose (life's too short!). Especially when you've already stated you're not buying the releases.

But heh. If you don't care enough to read other people's opinions when they are not ur own and interpret them correctly i guess i am wasting my time.

 

[azza]

Did u even read my post? I guess not.
But i shall repeat. LOL You don't have to be happy with everything. You can expect and want things, but don't expect MJ to cater to everything that YOU want. Cuz for the last 30 years he's been in the business it's been, for the most part, what HE as wanted for his career and WE just happened to like what he's doing.


Geez that's a messed up view on art/music then. So only stuff that's happening now is relevant and important? Even when MJ's past is POURED all over the present day's CRAPPY artists? But MJ's not relevant? Any CRAP artist that makes a hit i guess is MORE important and relevant than MJ, James Brown, or elvis, i guess right?

WHATEVER. lol

Ooookay. So that confirms it. You didn't read my post and now u're making stuff up :lol:

We ALL expect something new. And he's MAKING SOMETHING NEW AS WE SPEAK. So i don't see what the freakin PROBLEM is here and why you wanna moan and groan when MJ is working on a new album :lol: Like i said over and over again, MJ can release 50million re releases at any time during the 5-7 year hiatus he usually takes between album. Or he can release NOT ONE release during the 5-7 year hiatus....but that number of rereleases is NOT gonna make MJ work ANY faster on that album. So complaining about the rereleases is to no purpose (life's too short!). Especially when you've already stated you're not buying the releases.

But heh. If you don't care enough to read other people's opinions when they are not ur own and interpret them correctly i guess i am wasting my time.

when i say he's only relevant to me with 'new work' what i mean is i dont consider re-releases to be relevant.you've got to move forward with your art.in other words 'i like the original albums as they are.perhaps you didn't read my post?!

i am not under the impression that by not releasing re-releases its gonna make mj work any faster.i don't care if it takes michael 20 years to make an album.what annoys me is mj's music being exploited by sony in so much that its the same songs time & time again.to me thats wrong.

no other artist that i know would except their work being re-released & constantly repackaged as a new product.bono,springsteen,madonna,prince whoever.they would have war with the label.

this was my point & that was my beef! perhaps take a leaf out of your own book & read 'my posts

 

[J5master]

Well there are a lot of artists, like i said, who re release their work. Almost every record company does it, especially with legendary artists. Almost all the artists above mentioned has made a best of their back cataloge album. And that's just how record companies milk money. Like i said, give/take. There were no wars (except maybe with Prince). Generally thats just more money for the artist. And again, u don't have to buy it (which u've already said u don't).

And we ALL judge on his 'new work'. No one really counts BOTDF or Number ones or T25 as proper albums. So I still don't understand 'ur beef'. If this thriller 25 thing isn't relevant to u, then that's great! If it's not relevant don't get so worked up about it and wait for the new material.

 

[144000]

Do you think that fans and the media hold double standards when it comes to Michael and his music?

For example, I do not hear insinuations that Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, etc. must have top ten "hits" on the charts today or else they are has beens. When these others make music that doesn't sound like what is on the radio, they are holding true to their roots and "real" music; however, for Michael the same becomes his music sounds dated. When others re-release music it is a celebration of their great work; for Michael it is clinging to the past. When others re-release CD's in a matter of months by adding two new songs or such, they are being aggressive in business; when Michael re-releases a CD after 25 years, he is being greedy and taking advantage of fans. When others record with the current popular acts, they are keeping up to date; with Michael, he is selling out or trying to "ride the backs" of others.

What do you think? Do you yourself hold these double standards (and willing to admit it)? Will such double standards by the media and fans hurt Michael's future projects?

i agree with you. this always happens to the one who is the biggest artist.

 

[Bee.]

Do you think that fans and the media hold double standards when it comes to Michael and his music?

For example, I do not hear insinuations that Stevie Wonder, Patti LaBelle, Gladys Knight, etc. must have top ten "hits" on the charts today or else they are has beens. When these others make music that doesn't sound like what is on the radio, they are holding true to their roots and "real" music; however, for Michael the same becomes his music sounds dated. When others re-release music it is a celebration of their great work; for Michael it is clinging to the past. When others re-release CD's in a matter of months by adding two new songs or such, they are being aggressive in business; when Michael re-releases a CD after 25 years, he is being greedy and taking advantage of fans. When others record with the current popular acts, they are keeping up to date; with Michael, he is selling out or trying to "ride the backs" of others.

What do you think? Do you yourself hold these double standards (and willing to admit it)? Will such double standards by the media and fans hurt Michael's future projects?

Great topic, classic.

Well, I do think there is a double standard when it comes to MJ and his music. The media would say that MJ needs Kanye or Akon to return to the pop scene. However, if Janet or Prince even Madonna uses them, the media does not really say that. They call MJ's return to music a "comeback" but not Madonna. They call all of MJ's cds after Thriller "flops" but Madonna had more "flop" CDs than MJ will ever have. She had hit singles, but most of her CDs were flops. Prince can diss his fans and have "flop" cds and does not really get damned for it. If MJ were to do that, the media would say that his career is over. MJ is "always broke" but the media never mentions how Madonna or Prince is spending their money.

Some fans like to be nasty when they see MJ working with hip hop procuders/performers/entertainers. They do not understand thatat the end of the day, it is all music. If Janet or Whitney were working with the same people, MJ fans would not even give a damn. However, put MJ and Akon in the same sentence and all hell would break loose. So, the double standards are straight up obvious.

I doubt if the double standards would hurt MJ. MJ's work will always sell and he has a huge fan base. The media and some of the fans will always huff and puff. People want the MJ of the OTW/Thriller days. They want the days when it was "cool" to love MJ. However, that is the root of the problem, anyway.

 

[LovelyOne]

Michael is held up to very high standards, yes. He has never settled, and has always aimed for greatness.

I personally don't think that most of the CRAP that hits #1 these days is even worthy of any recognition whatsoever, so really, it's all about who's "hot" at the time. Michael could make a masterpiece and could still not be at #1...because these days people are into crap like T-pain, Ciara, Justin Timberfake, Timbaland, and Good Charlotte. lol.

Sorry if I offended anyone who likes those artists, but I just see it as half-arsed crapola.

 

[Bee.]

Michael is held up to very high standards, yes. He has never settled, and has always aimed for greatness.

I personally don't think that most of the CRAP that hits #1 these days is even worthy of any recognition whatsoever, so really, it's all about who's "hot" at the time. Michael could make a masterpiece and could still not be at #1...because these days people are into crap like T-pain, Ciara, Justin Timberfake, Timbaland, and Good Charlotte. lol.

Sorry if I offended anyone who likes those artists, but I just see it as half-arsed crapola.

Your apology was accepted.