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Re: [Marxism] Off The Wall
I am a life long Michael Jackson man.
And proud of it.
The âprison videoâ of âThey donât really care about usâ is
sophisticated
and intense.
One can argue there is a visual logic that extends from the video âBeat-It,
â âThe Way You Make Me Feel,â and âThey donât really care about
usâ as
artistic renderings of what Marx called âthe proletariat, the lowest
strata of present day society,â and what Lenin called âthe real proletarian
masses.â
Or simply the tough proletarian streets of America, spun to the tune of â
West Sideâ story, updated and recast in the era finance capital in
irretractable decay.
The battle for the Michael Jackson franchise will be as intense as the
ideological struggle to interpret his musical contribution. Rendering MJ
historical entered a new deeper phase the moment he died. Michael Jackson
became
a historical force a long time ago.
The first major ideological battle was dethroning Elvis as the âKing of
Popular Music.â
Michael is King.
âThere is no higher.
All you suckers need to call him sire.â
The King is dead.
I long ago froze Michael Jackson the man in history -1979, while enjoying â
Thriller,â âBad,â âDangerousâ and âInvincible.â
1979 was âOff The Wall.â
Here the man that was Michael Jackson came to an end and the historical
force would emerge with âThriller.â
âOff The Wall.â
To âlive life off the wallâ rendered Marvin Gayeâs âGot to Give it
Upâ
profound. Same thing, different level.
âBeat Itâ rendered âI Am Loveâ profound with Van Halen literally
reproducing the exact same musical structure and solo guitar performanceâ
Same thing, different level.
Listen for yourself to the long version, seven minutes and twenty nine
seconds. Wait for the transition. 2 minutes 40 seconnds into the sound you are
on your way! 3 minutes and 40 second into the song the so-called âVan
Halen riffsâ begin.
âBeat Itâ was not new. Just a deeper level.
5 minutes in you see what I mean.
_http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVRnRhHuuA_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCVRnRhHuuA)
âI Just Canât Stop Lovin Youâ is pure 100% Motown in its delicate balance
of European harmonic structure and African rhythm. The Motown Sound is
defined in the idiom of African American lore, which is of course the
increasingly uncomfortable lie called race relations. The Motown Sound is a
specific
American North historical rendering of European harmonic structure and
African rhythm, in the post WW II era. Sure, this rendering can be further
defined, but here I object to calling Motown "grits, grocery and African
American mysticism" without a coherent logic. .
Before the Motown Sound evolved it was called the âDetroit Sound.â Motown
was the patented brand name and marketing means of the Detroit Sound. The
owner of the Motown Sound was Berry Gordy, a legend and songwriter of
immense talent. Gordy was a "general market businessman" as he defined
himself.
In street parlance a hustler.
II
The 50 years of Michael Jackson - 1958/2009 is the framework, context and
environment defining MJ as he defines and articulated the subtle social
forces driving American society. American imperialism made MJ a world force.
MJ came of age in the post war era at the far edge of the "baby boomers."
All this pettifogging penning away about MJ not having a childhood . . .
. âlike other childrenâ is pathetic.
Exactly what âother childrenâ is one referring to?
The children of the proletariat are uniformly bland in their remarkable
sameness and joy. Childhood is bound up with social relations of class,
neighborhood and dimensions of wealth. MJâs life mirror that of all young
people
living the experience of apprentice. Music production on the basis of
capital reproduction was the trade. MJ faired a lot better than most.
Childhood?
âLet me tell you about my mother!â
Who can pretend to not know that MJ story begins in Gary Indiana in a steel
mill town? Steel is a equal opportunity murderer of all. Steel forges the
flesh that forge the steel. Joe Jackson, MJ father was a âBlade Runnerâ
with a purpose and relentless intensity that forged the family into steel
with a purpose.
MJ âbrought us together.â âHe crossed the color line and bridged the
barrier between races.â âHe crossed over.â
Bullshit.
No he did not.
Capital brings all us together as so many homogenized production units and
subjectively combine the human spirit in endless rites and prayers of
necromancy. Capital reproduces itself on a widening scale and so did Michael.
Then capital is rendered abstract, as was Michael.
If MJ âbrought us togetherâ . . . together . . . . (âCome together over
meâ perhaps) how do this take place? His musical renderings are undeniable
but to conquer the world requires imperialism in the epoch of capital. MJ
was not a tool of American imperialism. Rather, American imperialism was the
conduit for the export MJ's music.
When the father outlives the son then the sonâs story is a narrative bound
to the father. Somewhere in this story the jump from steel town to Motown -
via New York, to world town is part of the narrative. The story cannot be
told without the father because the father is alive. Joe Jackson was
industrial proletariat. Joe Jackson worked in one of the only integrated areas
of
society, in the eerie/early 1950s - industrial production of steel:
Factory town USA.
Joe had huge dreams where others had big dreams.
âA Guy Named Joe,â stands accused of lots of things including child sexual
molestation. Letâs assume these charges are true. MJ faced the exact same
charges. Letâs assume that MJ would spend a life time trying to strip from
his mind and face fathers imprint. Now lets peel back the flesh and
examines the social relations of class manifest in Big daddy Jackson.
Joe Jackson saw and felt what all men of the post WW II period of American
history intuitively understood; economic expansion and the chance to ride
the wave of freedom from iron/steel chains to golden chains. See,
capital-ism is the long story of how men take their ankle chains of slavery
and forge
them into gold chains that end up around their delicate necks. A rope is a
rope is a rope and a gold chain is a chain is a chain. Gold chains have
driven men mad for 2000 years.
As if you didnât know that.
MJ set this process of capital accumulation to music, as his technique was
honed in industrial Detroit. Berry Gordy minted gold and Michael moon
walked in gold chains, symbolic military uniforms and glitter.
itâs the gold chains that hang a mutherf**ker.
and cause one to wonder why?
You know why.
Stop playing.
All this back flogging and kowtowing to the bourgeois family form, with its
oceans of concerns about Michael Jackson kids, the biological mother, who
is the real daddy and why a woman gives away her child custody for money is
capital heresy against capital. The talking televisions heads - the media
pundits, give less than a fuck about Michael kids, my kids, your kids or
their own children. Their endless torrents of words, pretending that the
bourgeois family form has nobility and purity, only secure their next paycheck
and television ratings. Michael Jackson kidsâ daddy is Michael and these
babies got a momma.
Thatâs it. There is no more. Long live babies momma. Whoever she be.
Capital gives less than a fuck about your family, my family or its own
family. Capital eats little baby capital and has no family.
You know good and well why people give away child custody for money.
Spend a week in child support court on a fact finding tour.
Adults sell children, born and unborn for money as our way of life. People
sell their children for dope. Adults sell adults by the hour, day and week
and sell themselves for money and wages as a way of life. Then pretend we
are not selling ourselves. Capitalism as market economy converts every
aspect of human existence into the battle royal for selling and buying. The
media pundits are full of shit.
When woman began to bail out and owe child support and sell their custodian
rights then it is time to abolish these categories and reorganize society
where bailing out is institutionalized and welcomed. âYou donât want your
kids? Good! . . . . . Bye!â
âWe can handle this.â
We can turn two states within the United States into big ass playgrounds
and child care centers. Instead of putting young people in jail for smoking a
joint send their ass to playground for 90 days. Better yet, decriminalize
marijuana.
Did Debbie Roe - babies moma, relinquish her parental rights? Donât make
any difference. Michael had enough money to beat your ass down and make you â
beat it!â
Plus he was weird.
The idea that the Jackson family is more dysfunctional than the average
American family is silly. How is the Jackson family more dysfunctional than
your own fucked up family? Because Joe Jackson kicked everyoneâs ass in the
house and molested the girls? Sounds a bit like my dad, except the molesting
the girls part. The other difference is that we did not become rich and
famous.
In my house, there was one girl and five boys and we watched sister day and
night. Plus, dad was not into little girls and had plenty of women in the
neighborhood. Nothing ever happened to sister other than her becoming
psychotic from having five ignorant brothers following her throughout life.
She
would never find a decent husband or man, because we were always
threatening to kill someone for âmessing with my sister.â
Sister became a Minister and can't stand any of us. She greets us by
politely letting us know that we can go straight to hell, with the utmost of
quick.
Did Joe use corporal punishment? Yep! I believe he did based on testimony
of the Jackson family. The difference between Joe Jackson and my dad was my
father hit harder and was a semi-pro boxer. Men of this generation were
different and did not mind going straight the fuck to your ass or chin. Dad
did the war thing and then a tour in Korea. We would say, âmoma, something
wrong with daddy.â
Was Joe and Michael bad dadâs?
Measure them against your own shell shocked dad.
That is to say, all of you who have a father in the household. A bunch of
yaâll ainât got a daddy.
Half of us with fatherâs in the household, half the time wish he was not.
One quarter of the remaining half wish dad had a good paying job and would
stop eating the big piece of chicken! Hell, I couldnât wait to grow up and
get the big piece of chicken and the biggest slice of pie. Well, today I get
the big piece of chicken and if the grandchildren ever ask why, I am
saying nothing and proceeding to kick their little asses with the utmost of
quick.
The newspapers will read, âGrandfather slays grandchildren over chickenâ
and the proletarian masses are going to say, âI donât think heâs
guilty.â
Joe Jackson kicked ass and his family became famous. Big Mitch - my dad,
kicked ass and half of us became communists and militant trade union leaders
and a preacher. Go figure.
âThey donât really care about us.â
They care nothing for us or our families or a mutherf**ker could get some
single payer national health care around this joint.
Michael Jackson dead . . . . Dead than a mutherf**ker, and this hit me
pretty hard.
My heart is heavy. âYou canât take my blues away.â
See, U donât git it.
MJ face began as Joeâs face as this face was steeled. MJ âs nightmares
were Joe Jacksonâs nightmares at a deeper level.
Is not Michael Jacksonâs naming âMichael Joseph Jackson.â
âI like to be yours
Tomorrow.
So Giveme some time
To get over today.
But.
You canât take my blues away.
No matter what you say baby.â
Blues Away 1976. _http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftBXGIdOFsw_
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftBXGIdOFsw)
See, âBlues Awayâ was one of the first songs Michael wrote in 1976, after
the Jacksonâs left Motown. The 1976 album, âThe Jacksonâsâ is quite
good
and spins on the Motown - Philadelphia International axis. The Jacksonâs
new contract paid them 20% per unit sold rather than the 2.8% standard
contract at Motown. The singer paid everyone in Motown. The house band had to
be
paid as well as the songwriters and producers.
Gordy did not pay the union scale. Ed Wingate would pay union scale and
then some and his Golden World/Ric Tic Records possessed the exact same â
Detroit Soundâ because all the musicians moonlighted at Wingateâs Studio.
This
is another story but the reason the Jackson 5 left Motown.
Sorry Smokey.
The Jacksonâs new contract also made it possible for them to write and
produce their own material. See, under slavery many of the slaves had a chance
to farm their own little plots for food. The Jacksonâs were not asking to
own the studio factory, just the right to farm their own little plot of
music.
Capital/money is so much slavery. Just as master own your name so did Gordy
own the name âJackson 5.â The tragedy is that the Jackson family could
not have gone on to greatness without Berry Gordy in the flesh.
Michael became capital at an early age.
Capital/money in its productive mode passes to the abstract or capital as a
notional value. So did MJ face. He felt and lived the process, but did not
understand the process he manifested. His face became abstract, not white
unless one means âwhiteâ as in decay - âthe abstract,â and then death.
Michael Jackson was bled white.
And then he died.
Michael Jackson was addicted to drugs, painkillers.
And âââââ.?
Sometime people need dope to medicate their pain, real and perceived. When
the Bible does not give you relief get yourself some drugs.
Or Marxism as a way out.
I ainât never heard of a Marxist that could sing and dance like Michael
Jackson.
Why is that?
III.
Capital in the era of Michael Jackson repackaged debt into âfinancial
instrumentsâ and sold them, using this debt as valued assets instead of
bricks
and mortar. Remember when an asset was a machine? MJâs debt became so much
of the new assets and by all accounts he did not give a flying fuck about
money. MJ spent money he did not have on a scale that is mind boggling,
carrying a reported debt load of half a billion. $500,000,000! Good for him.
Under capitalism, the real proletarians life aspiration is to die owing
capital the greatest sum of capital possible.
Lots of money is going to be made off of Michael Jackson dying. Huge nasty
money.
IV.
There doctor reporting to be present during the moments death caught up
with Michael is reported to have disappeared.
Makes sense to me and this implies no wrong doing on his part. If I was the
doctor I would have left the moment the EMS arrived and put the body into
the emergency vehicle. There is so much money tied up with MJ that one
needs to get a lawyer to prove that the âsomethingâ you did not do, really
wasn
ât done. The doctor is cooperating but he needed a lawyer.
V.
Capitalism keeps one back up against the wall because its back is against
the historical wall.
âOff the Wallâ
What part of this donât you get?
The âOff?â
âTheâ or the âWall?â
How does one sell 109 million copies of a single original album without the
market in China?
Thriller, as a single original album release, did 109 million units world
wide and no one comes even close.
Why do people love Michael Jackson?
The music. Itâs that simple.
See what Iâm saying.
WL.
**************Make your summer sizzle with fast and easy recipes for the
grill. (http://food.aol.com/grilling?ncid=emlcntusfood00000005)
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- Thread context:
- Re: [Marxism] Michal Jackson, Elvis Presley and the perils of success, (continued)
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- [Marxism] Off The Wall,
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- [Marxism] Shrunken dreams: the retreat of gay lib,
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- [Marxism] Ahmadinejad and the working class,
Louis Proyect Fri 26 Jun 2009, 12:03 GMT
- [Marxism] Freezing Iran assets 'violates human rights',
Jscotlive Fri 26 Jun 2009, 07:21 GMT
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