August 21, 2009 Earworm

Jackie DeShannon turned 65 today so I have to give a shout to my first pop star
crush. With that in mind, not that I need a reason, I've been humming "Be Good Baby", one of those of those fluffy confections she whipped up with Jack Nitzsche back in '65.

Have some cake, a great weekend, and be good.

August 19, 2009 Earworm

Following a busy year that brought five top twenty singles as a recording artist and a number one and two as a writer, Neil Diamond decided to leave Bang Records for greener pastures and artistic freedom. What the world did to deserve this is still unclear but we do know that his first three singles for UNI, the wonderful Chip Taylor production "Brooklyn Roads", the also wonderful but not Chipped "Two-Bit Manchild", and the merely okay "Sunday Sun" got trapped in the bottom half of the Hot 100. The debut album that followed didn't help, saddled with the exploitative (and unintentionally funny) "The Pot Smoker's Song" and the schmaltz of "Knackleflerg" and the better tracks finding Neil stuck somewhere between folk pop and Jimmy Webb without the depth to match either. Then, in 1969, a divine plan sent Neil to Chips Moman's American Sound Studios in Memphis and that is how "Brother Love's Traveling Salvation Show" ended up being a (Neil Diamond version of a) butt kicking record.

"Hot August night and the leaves hangin’ down and the grass on the ground smellin’ sweet" and a great church piano lick set the scene beautifully, with the bass providing just enough sin to draw you in and before you know it, you've packed up the babies and grabbed the old ladies and fans are attempting to cut through the heat of revelation. "Cherry, Cherry" it isn't yet the same energy is there and soul it ain't, but it's not quite anything else either. One thing is certain, it wouldn't have worked if it had been recorded anywhere else. Once again, the single mix, heavy with reverb, a bit of double tracked vocal, and a tambourine on the edge of a nervous breakdown blows the album mix away yet that mono mix still remains outside the digital domain.

Sticking with their preferred theme of persecution, southern evangelicals cried that they were being mocked - by a Jewish boy from Brooklyn no less. Neil's story has changed a bit over the years so who knows what the intention was but, if he started out as a non-believer, as he passed the three minute mark he had clearly been moved - just listen to that yelp!

Being a little ahead of the God/Jesus pop curve that was to come, it wasn't a smash hit - it just missed the top twenty - but it, and the album that shared its name, paved the way for a return to Memphis a few months later to lay down the iconic groove that became "Sweet Caroline". Sequined shirts below unfortunate hair would follow and "Cracklin' Rosie" aside, "The Jewish Elvis" would never be the same or as good*.

*I don't care if he was on "The Last Waltz" and I still say "Beautiful Noise" wasn't that good even though it was pretty good.

August 18, 2009 Earworm

In an attempt to answer the musical question, what would Jesus chew, I offer up Teegarden and Van Winkle's "God, Love and Rock and Roll", a chunk of bubblegum from the stacks of 1970 when it had already become a cliche to point out that Jesus had long hair, too. When compared to tracks like "Spirit In The Sky" or "Oh, Happy Day" it comes up lacking but I clearly recall seeing some sort of light coming from its grooves way back then. Although, it may have been only a sugar high.

August 17, 2009 Earworm

The one hit wonder label is as subjective as any other form of reality even if the historical facts found in the charts of Billboard - Cashbox, even - are to be noted. For the buckets of acts handed the title, I can usually agree with only a few cans and even then, someone else will usually be more than happy to kick that around. Songs like "Antartica", "I Got The Message" "Where Do The Boys Go" and "I Like" might not be familiar to everyone - and that last one charted - who loved or despised Men Without Hats' "The Safety Dance" but all three were hits of some sort, somewhere, and the kids of Charles Village and Mt. Vernon danced ourselves silly to them all between '82 and '84.

By 1987, they were laughing referred to as "Men Without Hits", if they were mentioned at all. But, the laugh was on them when, along with cold winter weather, came "Pop Goes The World", a summer single if there ever was one. The silly Zeus B. Held produced thing hit the top twenty with it's giddy fizz about everything and nothing that fuels the world and it was no surprise to most of us that the point (non point) was that we couldn't take it, or anything else, too seriously because "...every time I wonder if the world is right, I end up in some disco dancin all night".

I uncork this for the birthday girl who bubbled up along with me whenever it hit the turntable. Happy birthday, Squirrelfriend.

August 13, 2009 Earworm

A quick check confirms that it's been almost three months since any song involving Paul Weller has been mentioned so, after a minutiae filled conversation regarding the various release formats of Style Council tracks with someone I didn't know at the time that the minutiae was being created, I offer up "You're The Best Thing". Keeping within the spirit of that conversation, I note that I'm not referring to the version that was on "Cafe Bleu" and/or "My Ever Changing Moods" and not the version issued as a single on Geffen in the US and not the UK seven inch "Groovin'" version. I'm referring to the long version of the single mix found on the UK twelve inch version of "Groovin'".

If you're looking for this version, go directly to Universal/Polydor/Chronicles 2003 20th Century Masters compilation, "The Millenium Collection: The Best of The Style Council". The liner notes will inform you that it contains the version found on TSC6, implying that it's the UK 7" edit. It's not.

Okay. Now, who wants to slow dance to one of the best things to ever happen?

August 12, 2009 Earworm

Is it just me or does it feel like all these people bellowing at health care town halls are very closely related to the South Park bus driver? The best part of the so called death panels supposedly up Obama's socialist sleeve is the idea that a lot of these ninnies screaming that they want their country back should be "of age" sometime soon. And then there's Katy Abram, gulping and screaming at Oren Hatch. Turns out she hasn't given much thought to what she thinks she might want but, damn it, she wants it. Congratulations, Mrs. Abram, you're Jessica Simpson. I hope you didn't take any Pell Grants.

I understand that change is scary but I would think one would want to understand what this country - and that confounded constitution you're bleating about - was and is before you start asking for scenarios that could lead to your kids spending eight hours a day in a sweat shop for a quarter and your granny slipping out her ill fitting wooden teeth before turning a trick for an influenza shot.

I can't be the only person seething on the sofa, wondering when the folks who try to be fair minded are going to snap and if it will be before or after some nutbag kills someone. And really, if all this white trash that's making the news is what democracy is supposed to be, I might be persuaded to give socialism a squeeze just to get some distance.

How can this lead to a song, you may be asking. Easy. It's REM's pulsating pile of getting sick of your bullshit, "Bang And Blame". In an interesting twist - at least to me, "Bang And Blame" was the bands biggest hit since "Shiny Happy People", three years earlier. It was also their last top twenty - and/or forty, for that matter - hit. That makes me wonder what we should think about a country that pushes "Shiny Happy People" to number ten while "Everybody Hurts" only makes it to number twenty-nine.

And heeeeeeeeere's Katy:

Collector's Choice: Jackie DeShannon re-issues

Self-titled debut lp, "Jackie DeShannon"

Two-fer containing 1968s "Me About You" and 1970s "To Be Free". Jackie's cover of Tim Hardin's "Reason To Believe" is included as a bonus track.

"New Arrangement", her lone lp for Columbia from 1975 containing the original version of "Bette Davis Eyes", the gorgeous "Boat To Sail". Three previously unreleased tracks, "Pure Natural Love", "Deep Into Paradise", and "Somebody Turn the Music On" provide an incentive to buy if you've already purchased the Japanese re-issue from a few years back. Take note that the single version of "Let The Sailors Dance", included in that Japanese release, is not included in this format although the Columbia singles "All Night Desire" and "Fire in the City" are.

Order all three cds as a 3-pack directly from Collectors' Choice and receive an autographed "New Arrangement" booklet from Jackie!

August 10, 2009 Earworm

First, the good news. Those who have waited for a Pete Yorn album that follows through on all that was promised on "Musicforthemorningafter" can stop waiting. "Back & Fourth" is the aptly titled album and not only is it better than the last two but, it's damn close to being as good as the first. With his day in the life - where the day got progressively duller, apparently - trilogy behind him, and Rick Rubin doing that sharp focus thing Rubin-esque thing he does, I'm finally finding myself with a new favorite track each time I listen. Right now, I'm stuck on "Close", the sort of romantic promises ballad that Yorn does so well.

And now, the bad news. Pete Yorn is supposedly working on an album with Scarlett Johansson.

August 7, 2009 Earworm

I've talked before about all those issues of Punk Magazine that would turn up in rural Maryland like divine gifts back in '77, providing glimpses of a world (CBGB's) I'd never seen and talk of music I'd yet to hear. But, I doubt that I've ever mentioned that Willy DeVille - and some fishnet clad, Ronettes revisit called Toots, his first wife, I would later learn - were the first people of that world I ever saw. They weren't attractive but I somehow knew that I'd like what they were doing. And, I was right because, if Springsteen had been Italian and had married a Puerto Rican girl from the Bronx, and loved black doo-wop and R&B more than anything else, he'd have been Willy DeVille. And, if Springsteen managed to reach Spectorian heights with "Born To Run", he couldn't top Willy because Willy got some of the finest brick layers of the wall of sound for not one, not two, but three of his albums.

Willy, with the Mink moniker, managed to work with Jack Nitzsche, Steve Douglas, and Doc Pomus but, even if I'd known this at the time, I would not have been savvy enough to connect them to the names that I may or may not have noticed on the labels of those forty-fives of my parents that meant so much to me. In fact, it mattered little because I didn't get around to a copy of those albums until the original Mink DeVille had already split up.

He'd never reach Springsteen heights, hampered with a heroin addiction and a face that lacked charm, but he had a slew of tracks that were far worthier and a Grammy nod of his own for "Storybook Love" from "The Princess Bride"(losing to "The Time of My Life" from "Dirty Dancing" must have hurt but losing to one of the Righteous Brothers probably made it hurt a little less). I've already mentioned "Something Beauty Dying", one of his finest moments with Doc Pomus and of his not so great mid-eighties output, so I'll put "Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl", from "Cabretta", on display instead. It was the first Mink DeVille song I ever heard and loved so it's a good way to start the end.

August 6, 2009 Earworm

According to IMDB, John Hughes wrote or contributed to thirty-seven movies. He is loved for most of them and revered for a few that include "Sixteen Candles","The Breakfast Club", and "Pretty In Pink". If you haven't seen them, your teenage years in no way crossed the eighties.

Critics have claimed that the endings tended to be a bit too forced and the intermingling amongst the types to be romanticized at best. After watching them again since Hughes' passing, I find that I still disagree. Part of the charm of these movies was watching those moments, however brief, when kids with different ideals were forced to come to terms with what the real world would offer after school was completely out, when the safety of the pack mentality would be disrupted by transitions, and each individual would be left to stand alone on his or her merit, with only their record collections to provide clues as to how they defined themselves.

Hughes was known for using music like no one ever had at that point and the song choices always came from the left bank of the mainstream of American pop culture and, if not at the time of release then at the time of filming, just ahead of the curve. I never saw one of his movies without thinking, "I can't believe he used _____!!". Each film had a moment where the scene and the song would meld so perfectly that I would never hear the song without seeing a Hughes visual again. "Sixteen Candles" and Thompson Twins' "If You Were Here" comes to mind first, but there's also one of those moments in "Pretty In Pink" and it's even better.

Having declared himself through with Andie after she destroys a dream that he's waited years to come true by choosing another boy, a rich boy named Blane, to fall for, Duckie's world has crumbled. Unaware of Duckie's feelings or unwilling to see them - a vagueness that is just one of the many problems with "Pretty In Pink" that makes it the weakest of the three films, she further humiliates his desires by bringing the rich boy to the very club that he's finally managed to slip in to - under the pretense of being the son of Iona, Andie's boss and mother figure - after months of waiting outside night after night for her. Andie's world has also been shaken as her first romance forces her to mingle with the rich crowd that treats her like trash, and then again, when Duckie treats Blaine with equal disdain. Iona, herself, gets a jolt when Duckie gives her a kiss full of pent-up needs and anger to spite Andie, making her aware of what's missing in her relationships.

Cue the anxious and tentative plinkety plink opening of New Order's "Shellshock" as we see morning after begin and Duckie once again on riding his bike in circles just out of sight of Andie's house, unable to stay away, hoping he won't see something that makes his heart stop beating.

Bravo.

August 5, 2009 Earworm

As a singer, Paula Abdul is a damn fine dancer but she managed to put across a few fine pop confections during her brief time on the music radar. "Cold Hearted" still makes me wiggle and I still think that "Rush Rush" is a lovely clump of romantic cotton candy. But, her flat out awesome moment began and ended with "Straight Up". I've not watched "American Idol" since the end of season two but I can't imagine watching it without her there to soften the bray of Simon Cowell's t-shirts and the constant "Dawging" of Randy "I was only good enough for the touring band of Journey so I need to constantly remind you that I got street cred" Jackson.

Rumor has it that she might end up as a judge on "So You Think You Can Dance" and I look forward to not watching her on that program. I'll just watch the "Straight Up" video instead and be thankful that there's no rapping cartoon cat (or Dawg).

August 4, 2009 Earworm

Proper respect should be given to Green Day's opening act as well because the Kaiser Chiefs still managed to get us moving despite a crappy sound system and the rudeness of the crowd. Unfortunately, they didn't include their wicked cover of "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" where they obviously imagine the original was done not by Marvin or Gladys but The Clash circa "Sandanista". It's said that they tossed this together during a three hour layover for inclusion on "Help: A Day In The Life", the 2005 installment of the War Child benefit albums - one that couldn't get what would have been a very helpful US release - and it sounds like it in all the best ways.

August 3, 2009 Earworm

It's been obvious for sometime that Billie Joe Armstrong is enjoying being a rock star. As Green Day has morphed into whatever it is that Green Day now is, their television appearances have captured a band leader in full swing and control of his audience. Fortunately, none of that Bono smug smudged him when both bands came together to herald the arrival of the saints.

After seeing them jump start my August last Saturday, it became clear that Billie Joe's idea of "one" is more about the audience than it is about him or his band. Considering the personalities the trio have shown, both individually and collectively, that is no small achievement. Arena sized acts rarely include audience participation and I can't think of another that polls the audience for anyone who can play a particular song on guitar and then give hand guitar duties for said song to a lucky musician to be. And, while it is not unusual for an arena sized act to allow the audience to take the chorus on a song, I'm unaware of one giving up the microphone for one of their biggest songs - in this case, "Longview" - to one audience member per verse. To be clear, these were not "let me jump in the audience and point the mic" moments, these people were brought on stage and unleashed and, in the case of the not so novice guest guitarist, an energy that matched Billie Joe's was set loose, keeping perfect manic pace with the leader of the band's cheerleader on black beauties antics.

Still, the moment my heart briefly stopped was when "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" stopped being the (first) cell phone waving moment and opportunity for the crowd to fill in the "I walk alone, I walk alone" lyric. Going into the second chorus, Billie Joe didn't bother coming in at all, and allowed a surprised audience to take it all the way home. And they did. They struggled a bit with the first two lines but nailed "Sometimes I wish someone out there will find me" and upon completing "'Til then I walk alone" you could see the surprise in everyone's face that they weren't, in fact, walking alone at all. And if you think I was being a sentimental fool imagining things but I've talked with many attendees of this tour, including my bro-date for the evening, and they all saw it, too. The kids were alright and, for a few moments, no one was alone. For the sake of brevity, I won't even go into the "21 Guns" moment except to say that I knew he'd never be able to hit that note night after night and that it really didn't matter at all.

I'm glad to see Billie Joe's rock and roll dreams come true because I think that right now we need a rock star who still has snot on his nose and isn't afraid to let his audience be offended by the things he stands for or against and who will let an obviously intoxicated six foot pink bunny warm up the crowd by leading them on the "YMCA" dance. And, all for the low, low price of fifty-bucks. Regardless of where you sat.

July 29, 2008 Earworm

I've found myself yelling "JESUS CHRIST!" quite often as I watch the political shenanigans of the money changers and those who are doing their best to support them. With that outrage comes the deep seated Methodist guilt for tossing the guy's name around like that. As penance, I take the easy way out and refer to a 45 that I played until it was white back in 1975, "Operator" by The Manhattan Transfer. In case any wingnuts or zealots see this, I warn them that repeated plays will not have the same effect on the president.

And, in unrelated news, Creed's new album is supposed to drop next month.

July 28, 2009 Earworm

April 1983: the once was one Heaven 17 and Human League send out their separate, and decidedly different, messages of perseverance. With its clumsy lyric, "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" could easily be taken for a love song but I never heard it as such. It was all too spontaneous - that clumsy lyric helped, like a poorly planned pep rally, where the details are overlooked in favor of the bigger picture. On the other hand, "We Live So Fast" was as serious as you could get on a dance floor, where the pace of the damn thing forced you to commit to the endeavor. And that might be the reason that "(Keep Feeling) Fascination" became the League's first #1 on the club play chart - yes, I thought "Don't You Want Me" had already done that, too - and second top ten on the big chart while "We Live So Fast" couldn't get beyond #34 on the former and didn't get near the latter.

July 2009: I'm reminded that I could once keep up with both these records even if my coif could not and am determined to do so again.

If he's remembered at all, B.J. Thomas would probably be remembered for that "My Heart Will Go On" of 1970, Grammy and Academy Award winning "Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head". If not that, it may be for the original version of "Hooked On A Feeling" or, thanks to the King's constant plundering of B.J.'s catalog, the guy who sang a lot of the same songs Elvis did.

By the time "Hooked On A Feeling" was released, Billy Joe, backed by The Triumphs, the band he joined in high school, had been recording singles for minuscule labels for more than five years. In 1964 they came close to a regional hit with the deliciously creepy "Billy and Sue" on Bragg but interest faded just as quickly as it had begun, a fate that a lease deal with and re-issue on Warner Brothers couldn't stop. The act eventually came to the attention of Houston's legendary Huey P. Meaux and they recorded an album with him with the intention of selling the product at their shows. Having promised his father that he would include at least one country song amongst the R&B covers, B.J. finished the all night album session with an exhausted cover of "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". Smelling a hit, Meaux released the cut as a single on one of his many small labels and watched as it took off.

Scepter Records stepped in with a national offer which was accepted with the provision that any B.J. Thomas releases would be sold in Texas on Meaux's label while the rest of the country would get the product on Scepter. "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" hit the national top ten in 1966. The maudlin "Mama" followed it a few months later, just missing the top twenty. Meanwhile, another label, Hickory, picked up the lease on the now two year old "Billy and Sue" and gave it another go. This time the swampy tale of battlefields and infidelity gave B.J. and the boys their third top forty single. Scepter issued a handful of singles, mostly the remaining Meaux tracks already released on his label, but couldn't get the act anywhere near the top forty in 1967. Meaux finally closed his Pacemaker label at the end of that year relinquishing B.J., and Pacemaker's A&R man, Steve Tyrell, to Scepter, and a B.J. was sent to Memphis to Chip Moman's American Studios for a new direction.

The first single from that union was "The Eyes Of A New York Woman", a record that can barely conceal the feelings of freedom, relief, or joy. The American boys - and Moman - propel B.J. along his journey into a new world and a new love, shamelessly borrowing the string line from that earlier American classic, "The Letter", and a few other tricks to boot. I can not hear this record without smiling or throwing my arms wide open to embrace it and, much to Dan's chagrin, I can't play it just once or twice.

"The Eyes Of A New York Woman" only got to twenty-eight but it paved the way for the top five "Hooked On A Feeling". There are many of us who will argue that it should have been the other way around.

July 16, 2009 Earworm

Back in '76, my next door neighbor went mad for The Rubinoos' cover of "I Think We're Alone Now" but I wasn't impressed. Even then, I found some things to be holy and messing with Tommy James was already an act of treason in my eyes. The picture sleeve showed a photo of teen-age boys that one could mistake for the next pile of Leifs and Seans but without the polish. After driving me crazy with the damn thing for a week or two, an accident led to the wrong side of the record being played and the world got a little more sunny and then blacker as her hand reached for the tone arm, aiming to cut off what I now hear as a lost Beach Boys song with a pinch of The Cowsills sprinkled in the mix. Back then, all I heard was one groovy summer song.

Quite a bit later, the neighbor would take my virginity. I, in turn, took her Rubinoos 45, picture sleeve and all. It's in very fine shape after all these years which is more than can be said for what she got.

July 15, 2009 Earworm

Texas started out stepping into the shoes of Lone Justice (Mach II) which kind of made sense in light of their relationship, via Johnny McElhone, to Hipsway and the soulful voice of lead singer Sharleen Spiteri. Three albums later, interest was lagging so the band sound some way to throw most of pop history into a blender and make something beyond delicious. The result was "White On Blonde", debuting at number 1 on the UK album chart, spawning four hit singles - one of which answers that not often asked question, "What would The Grass Roots sound like if Diana Ross sang lead"..., and being completely ignored in the US.

Adding more beats and another layer of gloss, 1999's "The Hush" also debuted at number 1 and, with the second single, "Summer Son", gave us the best record ABBA never made. I first heard it while being spoiled in business class, comfortably flying to London. Having given up on the band around the time of their second album, it took me forever to figure out who it was. Within hours of getting off the plane, I had picked up a copy of "The Hush", "White On Blonde", and their freshly released "Greatest Hits".

Ten years later, you can still find Dan and I jumping around with hands in the air whenever it hits the decks and you'd have to be pretty wooden to resist. Hands Up!

July 14, 2009 Earworm

All that talk of Michael and The Jackson 5 inevitably leads my inner jukebox to their rivals, The Osmonds. Sweet and toothy, they bit into a track written for, but passed on by, the 5 and "One Bad Apple" ended up at number 1 for five weeks, just as "Mama's Pearl" was released. Manager Mike Curb was wise in sending the brothers to Rick Hall's Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, probably as far from their origins as they could get without a brothel being involved. Trying the lead vocal with both Donny and Merrill, with the perfect confection created with a smooth blend of both and Osmond mania exploded.

Curb was smart enough to follow up "One Bad Apple" with a cover of an obscure Roy Orbison track, "Sweet And Innocent"*, credited to Donny Osmond (of The Osmonds) before bothering with a formal Osmonds follow up, gaining two acts for the price of one. Before we knew it, there was Little Jimmy, the Scrappy-Do of the family, and then Marie was unleashed.

As 1974 played out, Donny and Marie were everywhere singing uninspired cover versions of the songs of yesteryear - dragging along the mold of most of Donny's solo career it seemed - and the other brothers must have seen the writing on the wall. Before quietly fading into the background they worked out the blue print for every boy band who had aspirations to blue eyed soul and "Love Me For A Reason" jumped to number ten - their first visit to that neighborhood since the bizarre "Down By Lazy River" thirty months before. As a proud lover of "Quit Playing Games With My Heart" and several others of its ilk, every eight or nine years I find myself as thankful for "Love Me For A Reason" as I was when it was first released. In another odd turn, one of the composers of "Love Me..." was former Motown wunderkind, Johnny Bristol. Want another odd turn? "Ben" was intended for Donny but scheduling conflicts made it impossible.

Don't get me wrong, I know The Osmonds were no Jackson 5. But, the Jackson 5 weren't no Osmonds either. So, it all worked out perfectly.

*I'd chalk it up to simple nostalgia except that I hated it when it came out, but as goofy as it is, "Sweet And Innocent" sounds mighty awesome as I type this. And as gooey as "Go Away Little Girl" and "Puppy Love" still are, Donny's cover of "Hey Girl" is a damn fine record, too. Seriously. I mean it. But, I had no Osmonds posters on my wall...

July 13, 2009 Earworm

So, now it's over and we've had a few days to digest. Every conversation that I've had about the er... spectacular has included some take on "It was pretty tasteful considering...", which is all well and good except that no one is sure as to how that sentence should end. First, I have to say that a rousing rendition of "We Are Going To See The King" is not the most tasteful choice to accompany the wheeling out of the King of Pop in a red rose topped casket that, through several unfortunate shots in CNN's coverage, ended up resembling a giant overdecorated chafing dish. Speaking of that title; when did he get promoted? The last I heard, he was the (self-proclaimed) Prince of Pop. Perhaps I missed a coronation or, maybe that was the coronation.

Many wonderful words were spoken, many that seemed inappropriate - particularly when spoken directly to the children of the deceased, and a few that seemed to be tossed out as an advance defense of any horrible discoveries pulled out from under a bed or the back of an underwear door. Brooke Shields' words proved to be the most effectual, alternating between awkward and humorous as the truth often does, reminding us that the King of Pop was a human being just like us, only with more accoutrement, and daughter Paris, of course, brought that point home merely by referring to him as "Daddy". After that, all the jokes seemed a little less funny and many of us realized that something other than a legend was now gone. Even Jermain seemed off limits after his beautiful rendition of "Smile" and he could finally be forgiven for that duet with Pia Zadora. Father Joe didn't speak and, after his label hawking at the BET Awards, that's probably the best thing about the whole show.

Still, I find that I have to go way back to find a place in Michael Jackson's history where there wasn't a joke or rumor attached. Back to the beginning, in fact.
I was only four years old in 1969 when "I Want You Back" was released, backed by that stunning version of Smokey's "Who's Been Lovin' You" that, during the spectacular, finally got the attention that it deserved. "ABC" followed and it's around that time, I recall, that I pitched a fit for my mother in an attempt to get a copy of "16" or "Tiger Beat" magazine because The Jackson 5 were on the cover with a fold out poster at its center. Next came "The Love You Save", a record so good that it stands as one of Motown's finest and comes with one of Jermain's finest moments on the flip, "I Found That Girl", all made even better by fold out poster on my wall. And then came the angelic "I'll Be There", impeccable and impossibly mature in delivery for a twelve year old, sung with such ease that Mariah Carey should forever hang her head in shame, and the biggest hit of Motown's "Detroit era". Four instant classics in a row, all going to number one, and all within a year. One Christmas release later - they never really count - and the spell was broken: "Mama's Pearl" stopped at number two, suffering from sounding too much like "ABC" and "The Love You Save" yet not enough and, perhaps, the group's over-exposure.

"Never Can Say Goodbye", again stopping at number two, eased the transition of Michael to solo status but "Got To Be There" could only make it two number four. For the next two years the chart results were uneven and the release schedule was filled with novelties and remakes and one Stylistics sound-alike, "Maybe Tomorrow", that barely sounded like a Jackson 5 record; not surprising as it had been written for Sammy Davis Jr. and possibly arranged for Diana Ross at her gloopiest. "Sugar Daddy" would hit number ten at the beginning of '72 but the Jackson 5 wouldn't reach that bracket again until "Dancing Machine" in 1974. Two years later, fed up with the label that set them into orbit and then kept them under strict control, the group dropped the 5 and moved over to Epic. Even there, they'd only manage two sizable hits, "Enjoy Yourself" and "Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground)" within the three years before the success of Michael's "Off The Wall" hinted at what was about to happen. As wonderful as 67% of "Thriller" is, the Michael on my wall would not be seen again after the Motown 25 special, growing bigger with each single/video yet fading away behind gloves and jackets and Bubbles and zombies.

A day or two after Michael's death, a friend asked if I didn't think it was too soon to be making with the jokes. It took me a few moments to realize that my answer was no because he'd been a joke for so long. And it only took a few moments with Brooke and Paris to realize that I was wrong. My Michael may have been gone for a very long time but Brooke's friend and Paris' father lived far longer.

I don't know what comfort they will find in it but Michael will live on. Through endless repackaging, through the torrent of tell-alls that are bound to come, and through the steps of Usher and Justin and whoever the next generation brings to replace them, and within the grooves and bytes, Michael will be there.

Just look over your shoulder, honey...