This is a podcast about the great Michael Jackson. It is an extension of the blog Michael and the Truth.
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Description: Thriller 40 documentary finally aired on December 2nd, 2023 and many fans watched it and reviewed the documentary. I finally watched the documentary twice and I have a lot to state about it. I will be stating spoilers of the documentary so if you have not seen the documentary and you do not want to hear any spoilers, please ignore this episode of the podcast.
Fair Use Statement: This site/podcast contains original content that may not be authorized for use by the creator. The podcaster is legally using original content under the fair use principles. Here is the link to Section 107 of the Copyright Act - https://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
Show Notes -
If you want to read my reviews of the two previous documentaries that the Estate release on Michael in 2012 and 2016, here it is:
My reaction to the trailer was all over the place.
The documentary premiered on Paramount+ and Showtime in the United States. The lack of promotion for the documentary was unfortunate. MJ fans had to pretty much promote the documentary.
I finally saw the documentary twice and I have decided to breakdown what I felt about it.
Likes/Loved:
- The rare footage. This was pretty much the best thing about the documentary.
Mary J. Blige, Usher, Will.i.am, Maxwell, Misty Copeland, Steven Ivory, Mark Ranson.
Incorporating Michael's words in the documentary.
The sequence from his beginnings as a child star/teen idol to superstardom.
Putting Michael's writings in the documentary to show his view of how he would approach the album.
Interviewing the musicians/producers such as Jimmy Jam, Terry Lewis, Steve Lukather, Greg Phillinganes, Steven Ray, etc.
The right people on the documentary (musician wise) were speaking on the music they worked on such as Paul Jackson Jr. and Anthony Marinelli
The demos of the songs from the album were played and audio of Michael discussing how the songs came about.
Usher stating that the song "Billie Jean" could be viewed as "toxic R&B".
Walter Yetnikoff explaining what he had to do to get Michael to get on MTV black artists on heavy rotation.
The funniest part of the documentary was when Walter called John Branca on the phone and told him "tell Michael to stop kissing the monster". Michael was angry and that led to Walter giving Michael his masters.
Incorporating Bruce Swedien and Quincy Jones views in the documentary.
How the "Beat It" short film showcased the street life.
Motown 25 Performance: Michael becomes a legend.
Michael's dancing being disected.
Goes into detail with how he sang and his vocals.
Dislikes/Loathed:
Nelson George was never nice to Michael. Why was he the director but not Spike Lee?
No family members and they worked on the demos with Michael. LaToya and Janet sang back up for "PYT".
John Branca acts as if he is Michael's historian.
He stated that Michael wanted to do a Thriller tour to thank the fans for buying the album, but that is not the case. Michael explains the Victory Tour situation in his book Moonwalk. I will read pages 238-242 and 249-257.
The documentary was trying to imply that Michael used white icons like Paul McCartney, Eddie Van Halen and Jane Fonda to get Michael to the white audiences, A sneak attack.
Assuming his Pepsi Accident led to his issues later on in his life when it was a combination of things.
From his book Moonwalk: I will read pages 235-237.
Ola Ray and Vincent Patterson were not interviewed.
Ola Ray speaks to Youtuber Red Dance -
Vincent Patterson speaks to the Youtube channel Dance Dish:
Why Tik Tok was mentioned but not Youtube or Instagram? Tik Tok is not the only social media platform. This shows that the Estate is catering to a younger audience and ignoring the established fans/audience.
When a list of artists that were inspired by Michael why was Chris Brown, Beyonce, Janet, Ciara, Sisqo, Omarion, Jason Derulo not mentioned?
The documentary was disorganized.
Why weren't the former gang members from the "Beat It" short film interviewed?
Michael's view of Motown 25 was not mentioned.
Michael discussed this in his Moonwalk book on pages 207-215.
Michael did an interview with Ebony magazine in 2007 and discussed his view of his performance on page 98 and 100.
Not sure why Polo G, like K-Pop/BTS was mentioned. More evidence that the Estate is catering to a younger audience.
Should have focused more of Michael's humanitarian work.
Suggestions:
Michael's views about Thriller from his 2007 Ebony magazine interview.
Reads from page 96 and 98.
Not injecting his impact in the middle of the documentary. It should have been moved to the very end.
Using what Michael stated in his book about the album.
In Moonwalk, Michael discussed the making of the album in detail. Reads pages 181-208.
The interview that Michael did in 1999 for MTV and TV Guide where Michael talks about the short films from the Thriller album.
Genesis of Thriller audio documentary goes into detail with each song.
Should have discussed how the album change music when it comes to everything.
The documentary should have been longer.
The documentary should have included the fans who were around at the time.
Random Thoughts:
Dick Zimmerman who photographed the Thriller album was not in the documentary.
Recommended watch to learn more about Thriller: Sonic Fantasy by Marcos Cabota.
All of the Victory Tour earnings Michael had he donated to: The United Negro College Fund, TJ Martell Foundation for Cancer Research and Camp Good Times.
The reactions from the fans about the documentary and why certain fans need to accept the fact that the fan community as a whole will never like the estate executors.
Michael's strive for greatness and to be number one is something to be studied.
The closing credits mentions MJ: The Musical and Myles Frost - what does any of that have to do with Thriller? I was confused by that. Is the executors trying to replace MJ with Myles Frost? Very weird.
Youtuber Professor Black Truth's video reminding people of what Sony Music did to Michael.
Why John Branca continues to include people who have openly disrespected Michael (John Legend, Nelson George, Sheryl Crow, Lynn Nottage, Brooke Sheilds, John and Deborah Landis) in posthumous projects on Michael? It show his lack of respect towards Michael.
Conclusion/Overall:
Does this documentary explains Michael's genius and impact properly? Probably. The documentary was good, probably OK at best. However, it could have been much, much better. The documentary did reach to number one on that Paramount + platform but after all of the small hype around it, it was slowly forgettable.
Description: So many things to discussed. From Thriller 40 to MJ: The Musical, The Michael album, Elvis, biopic, V-Day, June 25th, the future of the podcast, etc. I have a lot to state so get ready for the ride.
You can Listen on: Spotify, Google Podcasts and Apple Podcasts
Contact:
michaelandthetruth@gmail.com
Show notes:
Thriller 40
This year marks 40 years since the release of the Thriller album. This is a huge milestone in Michael's legacy. However, his estate decides to release the milestone album with a terrible graphic art that was not the vision Michael would have wanted to celebrate an album that change the music industry.
There was a small tribute to celebrate the milestone on the Billboard awards back in May. Singer Maxwell sang the song "Lady in My Life". After that, the estate released a statement announcing the upcoming events for the album.
Source: The statement was posted on twitter.com
A petition was done by a fan demanding that the estate change the cover artwork and take this milestone seriously.
What does this mean for the future??? A special thanks for Damien Shields and Vera for all they have done so far to make sure this happened.
Depp Vs. Heard: It Has Nothing to Do With Michael
* Johnny Depp was lied on and was proven in court. Michael was framed and was proven in court.
* Johnny's case was a civil trial and Michael's cases were criminal/civil.
* Their accusers are narcissists and pathological liars.
*However, everyone saw how Johnny was set up and even though Michael was innocent and cleared, there is still "doubt" because of the media not telling the truth.
Sources: Facebook and TJ Jackson's verified Twitter account
* This was not the fight that MJ fans should have participated in.
Chris Brown Being Compared to Michael - Make it Stop.
* The comical nonsense -
Source: Tweet from Ryan Clark verified Twitter account.
* People with no understanding of who Michael truly was were claiming that Chris was "more talented" than MJ. However, for Ryan Clark, his mentionings were a mess and rightfully so.
* Hasbeens, one hit wonders singer Tank (yes, that is really his stage name) and former rapper Joe Budden, also agreed that Chris was more talented than THE MJ. SMH.
* Chris finally killed this nonsense on an interview he did with Big Boy Radio -
Source: Big Boy TV on Youtube
This MUST end. It Must.
Invincible Documentary???
* Someone who worked on the Invincible album went on Twitter and stated these tweets (now deleted) -
Source: The tweets from twitter.com
Interesting.
The Month of June
June 13th - Vindication Day-
Source: The tweets from twitter.com
June 25th -
* Michael was honored on that day. An emotional day as usual.
Source: Janet tribute to Michael from her verified Twitter account, Michael trending on twitter.com
Then, I saw this on Facebook and it bothered me -
Source: Facebook
On that day, there were fans that were bothered by the haters, the media and other distractions. It has been 13 years since Michael passed on and fans are still bothered that he has haters. When will they develop a back bone and move on from useless people??
This tweet is more evidence that Michael's legacy is doing fine -
Source: RapTV verified twitter account.
The Estate did not do a post on June 25th but waited a whole day to do one on June 26th. The Estate is beyond useless to Michael's legacy.
Elvis Biopic - Michael's Will Not Get That Treatment
* The Elvis biopic did not get into his alleged racism, child abuse and called his drug addiction an drug dependency.
* The mainstream media did a great job promoting the movie and never mentioning his troubling ways. This will not happen to Michael when his biopic is being ready to be promoted. Trust me.
* Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough will not honor Michael the way they honored their father and grandfather. This is why they were silent when LN was happening.
Sources: Austin Brown's verified IG Live post on the Elvis biopic, Lisa Marie Presley with her daughters promoting the biopic, and image from a people.com article on Riley Keough discussing MJ and an fan comment on the Elvis biopic. Michael's quote about Elvis from his autobiography Moonwalk posted on twitter.com
So much to unpack here. SO MUCH.
An "update" on the MJ biopic -
Source: TJ Jackson's interview posted on twitter.com
The Jackson Brothers did an interview months ago and they alluded that they are working on a biopic.
Source: The Jacksons being interviewed posted on Youtube
Are the men talking about the same biopic????
Taking a Break for Personal Reasons
* I am taking a break from doing podcast episodes until November or December.
* I will be working on the Youtube channel and Instagram account.
* During my break, I will be researching for the future podcast episodes, that includes reading books.
* When I return, the podcast will be more focus on interviews, reviews and commentaries. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
References:
Articles: Review of the MJ: The Musical from thegrio.com, Update Re: Fake Songs from damiensheilds.com, Supreme Court Ruling from jcc.grincus.com, Songs Remove: thegrio.com, damiensheilds.com
Links: The petition to change the graphic of Thriller 40 from gofundme.com, a fan's idea regarding Thriller 40 from Twitlonger/Twitter (X).
Youtube: Chris Brown's Interview on Big Boy Radio official Youtube Page and The Jackson Brothers' Interview from Ultimate Disco Backstage Pass.
Image: The screencapture of the Michael album without the three fake vocal songs from ITunes. Screencapture of Jennifer Hudson becoming an EGOT from the Hollywood Reporter article.
Social Media: TJ Jackson's interview, Lisa Marie Presley's Post regarding Elvis movie, a fan's post about the Elvis movie, the screencaptures of headlines regarding Riley Keough's comments on Michael, Michael's quote about Elvis, Post asking people about their favorite MJ songs that is not "Thriller" or "Billie Jean", Janet Jackson's post on her brother, Michael trending, a poster's comment regarding the anniversary of Michael being vindicated, information of a suppose documentary on the Invincible album, former NFL player and current ESPN employee Ryan Clark's silly post, TJ's post, Howard Weitzman quote regarding the songs from 2010, posts of playwright Michael R. Jackson's nasty views of Michael, two MJ fans posts and a statement from the Estate regarding Thriller 40 all from Twitter (X). Austin Brown's post regarding the Elvis movie from Instagram. Posts regarding the Johnny Depp Civil Trial, a fan's odd post regarding Michael and a statement from the Estate regarding the fake songs being removed from Facebook.
