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Nelson George's The Michael Jackson Story

Love.him

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Hi Everyone:

I just wondered if anyone here has ever read Nelson George's MJ Biography The Michael Jackson Story? It's a book I have wondered about because it's by a good music critic and I know it would have sold well back in 1984.

Look forward to learning more about this book if possible. I know it's out of print now.


Lh
 
Could there really have been much in it that we dont know? I mean, we've all saw a 100 shows and read tons of stuff about him, and they all seem to be regurgitating the same stuff about him... I doubt any interesting info that was in that book would have been missed and not passed on to other sources of info about him... you know what I mean?

Specially since it was a big seller, so other people writing and talking about him would probably have read it themselves.
 
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from what Nelson George said on the new Thrillercast.. its an artist prespective...how Michael creates music.. now this is what interest me.. and even as a fan of many many years.. it would be news to me .. since we get so saturated with so much :bs about Mike
 
When it comes to books on Michael, I prefer to wait on him to release his own biography. That would be way more interesting to me.
 
It sold brilliantly back then!

It's a small bio- it talks about the early years, OTW, The Wiz, Thriller, making music, etc. I have to read it again to refresh my memory- I have soooo many Thriller era bios!
 
Yeah, that's where I'm coming from too, Rasta, though I do see your point too, ahmadnat. It may be that this book was the kind you could read in 2hrs but I wonder if at that time it had a fair amount of info about Michael & his music that we would not have known back then.

Hi Marni, haven't noticed you around much lately. Good to see you. So, you actually have the book: did you buy it close to when it was first published? Do you learn much from it? Did it have any rare pictures? I'm quite interested to see the reactions from someone who has actually read this book. As I said before it's by Nelson George, and I've enjoyed things he has written. He did make some negative comments about MJ in more recent years, but he is obviously able to separate them from the quality of Michael's work.
 
I've had Nelson George's book The Michael Jackson Story since it was first published, and I'm sure it was released in 1984 as that's when I remember my mum buying it for me.

I haven't read the book since around 1984-85, and from what I remember the book is just a basic biography of mainly about Michael's career and nothing too insightful or speculative about Michael's personal life. And the book doesn't contain any rare pictures of Michael, and they were all black & white.

I really enjoyed Nelson George's podcast about Michael. But to be honest, even though he really rates Michael as a huge talent he doesn't come across as someone who would say Michael is the King Of Pop etc. I wasn't to impressed when I heard he was writing the notes for the Ultimate Collection box set booklet, and I thought him saying at the end of the booklet something like "Is Michael Jackson the King Of Pop, you decided" when Michael is the King Of Pop if you get what I mean.

As Nelson George is around the same age as Michael (he's a year older than MJ), I would presume he's a bigger fan of the likes of James Brown than he would be of Michael Jackson etc. In a 1991 documentary Nelson George say's Prince is the most talented artist of "his generation" (meaning he see's artists from older generation as more talented than MJ and Prince), and that Prince can "take out Michael Jackson in concert". At Michael's peak as a live artist from 1979's Destiny Tour through to the Bad Tour no one could come close to how amazing Michael Jackson was live. Anyway, I don't want to turn this in to a Michael Jackson vs Prince debate because I they are both geniuses, and I hate comparing them even though Michael is my favorite of the two.

I haven't heard Nelson George make any comments about Michael for years, and I've only ever heard him comment about Michael's music and a bit about his surgery in 1988.
 
You have reminded me of what Nelson George wrote in Post Soul Nation (2005) about Michael and Prince. The book was about African Americans and the eighties. That book did give me one of the first impressions that George may not rate Michael as high as he did in the 80s. I think he does makes some comments in that book like what you mentioned in regards to Michael's & Prince's concerts. However, I don't think he is someone who thinks Michael has necessarily lost his ability to create strong songs. Maybe George just doesn't like the "king of Pop" label. I think some fans aren't too keen on the label either.
 
i bought that book back in 1983 and a sidenote, nelson George back then was a up and coming young writer who was sharing a Apartment with Spike Lee. this Book got Nelson George through the door. check out Nelson george's book the death of Rhythm and Blues which came out in 1989 and he has given MJ respect,but doesn't like the Pop tag.
 
Nelson George is on crack thinking Prince is a better live performer. But anyway, he's iffy if you ask me. He's gotten in to more personal talk about Michael then a music critic should. That book he wrote is generic, similar to basically every other book written about Michael at that time, nothig special or revealing. Nobody really knew much about Michael's personal life back then, because he never talked. A more interesting book in the same vein is Michael Jackson: Thrill by Caroline Lathem. It doesn't offer any new info. from George's book, but her observations of Michael as a person and his talent is more interesting and insightful then George's.
 
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