Namesakes #186: Michael Jackson

There's a Michael Jackson movie coming out. (It might even be out now. I wrote this post a while back and release dates change.) You may have heard about it. If not, here's the trailer...

Michael | Official Trailer

Produced by Sony / Universal, who were also his record company, in co-operation with the Michael Jackson estate, with Jermaine's son in the leading role. 

It strikes me that this is an effort to polish a tarnished legacy - make us all forget that MJ might have been a little Off The Wall... possibly a Smooth Criminal... maybe even Bad? With that back catalogue, Sony should be making far more money out of Michael Jackson's songs than they probably are... so will a movie Heal The World and make us all start listening to Thriller again? You know what they say, Sony... Don't Stop Till You Get Enough! 

Stranger things have happened...

That, however, is not the business of the day. Instead, we are gathered here to listen to music by lots of different people called Michael Jackson. Because if that's your name... You Are Not Alone.

MICHAEL JACKSON #1

Who’s bad? Back in 1926, the answer to that question would be Kentucky jazz and blues pianist Mike Jackson, performing here with Mabel Richardson on vocals. I really wanted to find the flip side, which was apparently called I’m Gonna Kill Myself. But the tube of you always gets upset when I type that into my search engine.

Mike Jackson & Mabel Richardson – Just Too Bad

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #2

Next - another Mike Jackson, this one the drummer and songwriter with US garage band The Fugitives in 1966…

The Fugitives – No Tease

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #3

Bradford-born Mick Jackson was the bassist with The Love Affair (see Namesakes #157) from 1967-71. Which gives us another excuse to listen to this…

The Love Affair – Everlasting Love

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #4

Which brings us to the oh-so-controversial King of Pop… though, as Swiss Adam pointed out in a past edition of Cancel Culture Club, despite his sins, radio still plays his songs. Hopefully they focus on the stuff up to and including Thriller , because after that it’s all a bit ropey. Bad has dated Badly, and the only good thing about Earth Song is Jarvis Cocker’s bum-wiggling interruption at the BRITS.

Go further back though, and his achievements are still worthy of note – not least for becoming the (joint-) lead singer of the Jackson Five when he was only six years old.

Michael Jackson – Beat It

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #5

Connecticut-born jazzman Michael Gregory Jackson released his first records in the late 70s,  but dropped his surname from the record sleeves in the mid-80s, to be known only as Michael Gregory after that.

Michael Gregory Jackson – Steel Your Heart

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #6

Pick up a copy of the 1979 hit Blame It On The Boogie by The Jacksons and you’ll notice it was written by one M. Jackson. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this was Michael sharing a hit with his brothers to balance out his blossoming solo career, but not so. Boogie was actually the brainchild of English singer-songwriter Michael George Jackson, his brother David Jackson and one Elmar Krohn – no relation. Mick’s version battled it out in the charts with the Jacksons – Capital only played his version, while Radio 1 favoured The Jacksons. The NME and the Melody Maker also took sides. Ultimately, Mick lost out, only getting to #15, while The Jacksons crashed the top ten. Mick's follow-up single, Weekend, also made the Top 40, and he got to appear on the same edition of Top Of The Pops as his more famous namesake.

Mick Jackson – Blame It On The Boogie

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #7

OK, I’m ready for the accusations of barrel-scraping now, but when I discovered that one Michael Thorpe Jackson was involved in the production of the second best single from the 80s called Atmosphere, I knew he deserved a place here. Joy Division fans can rest easy – they’re not second best to anyone. But Russ Abbot’s Atmosphere…? ‘Nuff said.

Sadly, it turns out that MTJ had nothing to do with the A-side and only arranged the B-side, a woeful Russ Abbott composition (of course Russ didn’t write Atmosphere!) which I’m sharing here today purely because I’m a sadist.

Russ Abbott – Thoughts Of A Child

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #8

Next up to Rock With You - the keyboard player with Seattle-based prog-metal band Heir Apparent, but only between 1987 and 1989, when this was recorded…

Heir Apparent – Just Imagine

 

MICHAEL J. JACKSON #9

Lead singer with British metal band Satan, proud NWOBHM-heads that they were, from 1986 till… well, it seems like they’re still going. 

Who’d have thought that one of our MJs might have had any direct links to Satan?

Satan – Key To Oblivion

MICHAEL JACKSON #10

Here’s Buffalo-born Michael Lee Jackson rocking out in 2006, with Ian Gillan on backing vocals. He also takes a nice photo – we should get him to join John Medd’s Photo Challenge.

Michael Lee Jackson – Clean And Dirty

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #11

Imagine the pop potential of Michael Jackson and George Michael! Put them together and you get George Michael Jackson: the man on guitar, vocals, harp and songwriting duties on this 2014 tune by The Naked Heroes. How could it fail?

The Naked Heroes – Sheila

 

MICHAEL JACKSON #12

And finally, from 2018, the man who now promotes himself as “The Living MJ”: musical theatre composer, lyricist, writer and trash talker, Michael R. Jackson. “Honesty is his brand.”

Michael R. Jackson – Dirty Laundry

Which Michael Jackson has Got To Be There on your playlist - and which MJ makes you cry: Leave Me Alone!?

Namesakes #157: Love Affair

This week, I fancied a bit on the side. Shh! Don't tell the other half...

THE LOVE AFFAIR #1

We start this week with the obvious one. Steve Ellis and his band The Love Affair had a huge UK Number One hit with their cover of Robert Knight's Everlasting Love in 1967, and a few smaller follow-up tunes, most notably Bringing On Back The Good Times. Ellis left to pursue a solo career two years later and though the band soldiered on without him, they were unable to bring back the good times. (Come on. Give me a break. You would have done exactly the same thing.) They did record a prog album in 1971... but I'll leave George to investigate that on his own.

The Love Affair - Everlasting Love

LOVE AFFAIR #2

Next, an L.A. (Los Angeles, not... y'know) soul band from 1974.

Love Affair - To Make You Love Me

LOVE AFFAIR #3

Ohio-based AOR band originally known as Stairway when they formed in 1974. Changed to Love Affair in '76, because "…it was the least hated of all the names we came up with.” They shortening it to LA soon after that, then in changed to Unknown Stranger in '83 before eventually going back to Love Affair. You can read an extensive history of the band (all 17 chapters of it!) at lead singer Rich Spina's website.

Love Affair - Mama Sez

LOVE AFFAIR #4

Euro-disco duo, huddling together to conserve body heat, from 1979...

Love Affair - Heartquake

LOVE AFFAIR #5

Italian electronic dance music project from 1995. No comment.

Love Affair Feat Cinda - Higher

THE LOVE AFFAIR #6

Not sure when or where (USA, somewhere) this comes from, but the fact that it appears on a Gilles Peterson compilation might set alarm bells ringing for some of you...

The Love Affair - Never In My Life

(HERCULES &) LOVE AFFAIR #7

Rules are meant to be broken, and I couldn't do this post without including Andrew Butler's everchanging collected Hercules & Love Affair, particularly as one of my favourite singers, John Grant, was a member for a while. Formed in 2007, and I think they're still on the go... their last album came out in 2022.

Hercules & Love Affair ft. John Grant — I Try To Talk To You

LOVE AFFAIR #8

Spanish "vaporjazz" from the camp of bands. Don't ask me.

I'd be interested in knowing if this track reminds you of carnal pleasures. If your memory goes back that far.

Love Affair - Carnal Pleasures

Were you tempted into a dangerous liaison with any of the above? Or would you prefer to stay faithful to the rest of your record collection?

Self-Help For Cynics #22: A Window On The Past

Someday we'll look back on this and it will all seem funny

But now you're sad, your mama's mad

And your papa says he knows that I don't have any money

Bruce Springsteen - Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)

A former colleague posted the two images above on the book of faces at the weekend and his stream was filled with warm, nostalgic comments as a result.

The Chameleons - Nostalgia

The windows are part of the old Victorian mill building in which the local radio station where we all worked was located, from the 70s through the turn of the century. The station's not there anymore, it's moved twice in the intervening years before being dissolved into the generic nationalised slush that all local radio has become in recent years. About the only thing "local" about it these days is the breakfast show and the adverts. It's even losing its identity in April, to take on the same name as a million other "local" radio stations across the world, because there's no longer anything to differentiate it from them.

Mirror featuring Dave Gahan - Nostalgia

But this post isn't about the sad death of local radio... it's about the glorious times in its past. Those windows at the top of the page represent that. The building in question has been converted into luxury flats these days... I know, they don't look particularly luxury, do they? But this is Bradford we're talking about. 

Only life you ever knew 

Looking back at what you used to do

Pass a dump along the road, 

Rearview mirror turn it into gold

The Hives - These Spectacles Reveal The Nostalgics

Among those reminiscing, the comments included people talking about how the corridors sometimes smelled of sewage (the station was in the basement), how the windows in question often got bricks through them, and, of course, The Ghost (actually, those comments came from me). But despite all that, what got to me was how much love people felt for the old place... 

"What a place that was... so many memories!"

"I'd love to have a look inside..."

"Such fond memories, wish I could rewind time."

"The place dreams began! We were all so lucky to be there!"

"Feels like a lifetime ago since we were there."

"And that building still hosted the greatest days of our lives."

I certainly have some happy memories of that old radio station - it was a great job with (mostly) great people. Over the years I was there, it gradually went downhill... as all things do. That's entropy for you. I was there for 23 years, and for me the first ten or so were the best... yet some of those comments come from people who were only there in the second half of my time, and even after I'd gone. There are a number of things we can take from that - nostalgia is viewed through rose-tinted glasses, one person's Golden Days are another person's 'Meh' Months... but things are never as good as they were in the past. And yet, I also know I was miserable for a large part of my time there, and if you'd asked me then, I'd have said I was hoping my life would get a whole lot better when I was older.

Kris Kristofferson - For The Good Times

 

This made me ask a question...

Do our brains give priority to happy memories?  

To answer that, I turned to the American Psychological Association, who started by telling me that we actually have more happy times in our lives that sad ones, "because people seek out positive experiences and avoid negative ones." Beyond that, though...

The other process at work involves our memory system treating pleasant emotions differently from unpleasant emotions.

Pleasant emotions have been found to fade more slowly from our memory than unpleasant emotions. One mechanism for this uneven fading may involve a process known as minimization. In order to return to our normal level of happiness, we try to minimize the impact of life events. This minimization process - which occurs biologically, cognitively and socially -- is usually stronger for negative events than for positive events.

Little Feat - Hangin' on to the Good Times

However, this process doesn't work for everyone. In fact, if you're suffering depression, chances are it's because your unpleasant memories aren't fading as quickly as they should be. I wonder if that's linked to what we were talking about a couple of weeks back - how our emotions only last 90 seconds unless we choose to dwell on them, thereby creating moods which can go on and on. 

"This implies that there is a tendency to 'deaden' the emotional impact of negative events relative to the impact of positive events," says a doctor who's researched this kind of stuff. "Such deadening occurs directly because people are motivated to view their life events in a relatively positive light."

Goldie & the Gingerbreads - Think About The Good Times

I take a kind of comfort from all this. And I'm glad the memories I have of my time in radio are largely good ones. Even some of the bad things that happened, I can now look back on and smile... or even laugh. Distance gives us clarity. 

No Shame Fridays #1

 

I'm not saying this is going become a regular feature. We'll see how it goes down. I suspect it will go down really, really badly... in which case, I might well make it into a regular feature.

I had no idea who Rex Smith was until Tuesday night when I was watching a Robert Palmer video on youtube and found Rex in my side bar. I've no idea why that would be, as Rex is about as far from Robert Palmer as Ozzy Osborne is, but I suspect it's more to do with my youtube browsing history that the site now randomly picks some truly awful things to throw my way.

Except, this isn't awful.

Those of you who like the original will hate it. (But then, I like the original...)

Those of you who are too cool for school will hate it. (But then, remember the original mantra of this blog: irk the musos!)

Those of you with a soft spot for Rachel Sweet may well secretly like it, but just pretend to hate it because that's the cool thing to do.

Those of you with no shame at all though...?

Apparently, Rex Smith was a teen heart throb in the states. Apparently he played Jesse Mach in Streethawk, which I vaguely remember watching... but it was no Airwolf or Manimal. Apparently he was also the first actor to play the Marvel superhero Daredevil in The Trial of the Incredible Hulk. Which, despite being a huge Marvel fan, and the fact that I owe a lot of that to Bill Bixby, I have never seen. 

Apparently this was a Top 40 hit in the UK in 1981... but I'll be damned if I remember it.

Anyway, put your cool on hold and enjoy the cheese. Because they don't make pop videos or pop songs like this anymore... but they really ought to do!

Also, if you ever wondered where Survivor got the riff from Eye of the Tiger from...

Saturday Snapshots #95 - The Answers

Girls, Girls, Girls... and boys, boys, boys: welcome to the Mötley Crüe that is the Saturday Snapshots answers for this week. Hopefully these will Kickstart Your Heart for Sunday morning...

(Speaking of kickstart, I'll be back later this week to talk about a project I'm involved in that may be of interest to one or two of you.)

No scores this week due to my computer still being in a box, but you all did very well. #9 was pretty obscure...


10. Johnny's pal sounds bitter alongside young adults, considering passionate idiots.

Frankie & Johnny.

Bitter lemon.

Frankie Lymon & The Teenagers - Why Do Fools Fall In Love?

9. Black Widow stolen by part of 10.

Take the Teenagers from #10 and add Scarlett Johansson. (Or Starlett Johansson, as they changed the title to.)

The Teenagers - Starlett Johansson

8. Big easy invitation to boogie.

New Orleans is The Big Easy.

Orleans - Dance With Me

7. Can you see swirls in the pattern on the rug, by yourself?

Spirals in the carpet?

The Inspiral Carpets - This Is How It Feels (To Be Lonely)

6. Undyed tennis player sings for Irish lad.

Andy Murray, without the dy, becomes Ann Murray.

Danny Boy is an Irish lad.

Anne Murray - Danny's Song

Gorgeous tune. Written by Kenny Loggins, of all people.

I have not seen Family Guy, but apparently Lynchie reckons you can learn all sorts about Anne Murray from it.

5. Fling, forever, no score.

A fling is another word for a love affair.

Forever is Everlasting.

No score (in tennis) is love.

Love Affair - Everlasting Love

4. Lazes, like 6, with Aussie outlaw and zero moose.

Lazes = Idles.

#6 was Danny's Song.

Aussie Outlaw was Ned Kelly.

A moose is an elk.

Zero = 0.

Ned+elk+o.

Hard work this, sometimes.

Idles - Danny Nedelko

3. Oklahoma resident in Armani has shocking nightmare.

A person from Oklahoma is an Okie.

Giorgio Armani.

Phil Oakey & Giorgio Moroder - Together In Electric Dreams

2. Survivors of the apocalypse politely address Magnum.

They says roaches will survive the apocalypse.

Magnum was Tom Selleck.

The Roches - Mr. Sellack

1. Oldest string game played by Potter in dry-lipped pub.

Harry (Potter) has chap(ped) lips at the inn.

The cat's cradle, according to iffypedia, is one of the oldest games in recorded human history. THis is what kids did for fun before Xbox and Netflix...

Mansize tissues at the ready...



No need to Shout At The Devil - Saturday Snapshots will be back next week.