Comments on: Remembering Michael Jackson (Part 1): Billie Jean After Motown 25

By: 2009 Music Rundown | syntaxfree

2009 Music Rundown | syntaxfree — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:44:23 +0000

[...] happened on June 25th, 2009. I already wrote a fair bit in this blog about the joy Michael Jackson brought to my life, but reading over it again I’m struck by how much I still had to leave [...]

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 15:37:26 +0000

Don: And there I was thinking the thing you’d identify with most in all these MJ posts is what I wrote in the first one about knowing the Pet Shop Boys discography by heart. :)

By: Don

Don — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:10:42 +0000

Mich, at this point the shared history you never knew we had starts to unravel itself because I WAS ALSO ZZZOMG AT THE AMA PERFORMANCE OF DANGEROUS BACK IN ’93!!! I’d forgotten about that performance until I was randomly youtubing MJ vids in the last week and came across it and it brought a silly grin to my face! Everything from the faux 007 opening to the drop-dead ending was so insanely slick, damn!

By: Michelle

Michelle — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 17:46:56 +0000

Kelly: Yeah, I always figured it was the context in which I saw Motown 25 (working backwards from 1992) that made all the difference. On the other hand, I first saw Dangerous when he performed it at the AMAs around ’93. Even though he reworked it over the years pretty well, the performance I still go back to is the first, rawest version, because that was the one that made me go OMG!!!! at the time.

Don: I totally agree with you on what does make the Motown 25 performance special, and I love the way you put it. I mostly wanted to highlight that it isn’t a case of “seen Motown 25, seen all there is to Billie Jean” because that’s an impression one might form from the obituaries.

Pei Ee: Aw, ditto! We sure watched a LOT of videos in my living room, didn’t we? :)

By: Pei Ee

Pei Ee — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 18:44:11 +0000

I remember watching that concert video with you, Michelle. And going quite crazy over it…

Having you as one of my oldest dearest friend has been a blessing…and this goes beyond your introduction of Michael Jackson to me.

By: Don

Don — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 19:17:45 +0000

I’m on the fence as to whether or not the Motown 25 performance was legendary.

It certainly isn’t as polished as the later performances — his feet felt a little too loose, for want of a better way of describing it; his arms and shoulders were too tense, too close to his body, etc…

But one thing which MJ had at Motown 25 which was missing from later performances was determination. In his eyes you can see the fire of a young man on the cusp of world-dominating greatness.

And that alone makes it far more compelling, for me, than his Dangerous or HiStory tour renditions.

Plus of course, the fact that that was the debut of the moonwalk.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 16:44:49 +0000

Totally agree on future performances of Billie Jean being better than Motwon. I didn’t get why it’s always cited as the legendary performance. Although I guess if you haven’t seen a single Billie Jean performance before, that would have been insane..?