Bruce Springsteen on Michael Jackson(great read)

[Staffordshire Bullterrier]

First of all from a dutch paper ...


In Glastonbury,England, where friday the the biggest music-festival in the world is gonna start, the news about MJ's tragic death hit hard. During the rehearsals musicians played MJ's songs together en exchanged memories.
Bruce Springsteen shed several tears about this loss, he was deeply saddened before the show started. Several artists of this festival were shocked as hell.

I translated that.

And later on this part(bold) Bruce talks about MJ.


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[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]MICHAEL JACKSON, 1958-2009
It’s become increasingly difficult yet still important to remember that, before he became the butt of numerous jokes, center of scandalous trials and just plain freak-show fodder for the tabloids, Michael Jackson was one of popular music’s most revolutionary and influential figures. Fame came early to Jackson as the truly amazing prepubescent lead singer of the Jackson Five, cutting some of Motown's most exciting and enduring tracks. Later, as an adult solo artist, Jackson made music on his classic albums Off the Wall and Thriller that significantly challenged the racial barriers of early-'80s radio and (thanks to his groundbreaking music videos) MTV.[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]

Jackson's breakthroughs also paved the way for a series of mid-'80s blockbuster albums by U.S. artists, each of which contained multiple hit singles and accompanying music videos, and each of which sold millions of copies. The list includes Cyndi Lauper’s She’s So Unusual, Madonna's Like a Virgin, Prince's Purple Rain and, of course, Bruce Springsteen's Born in the U.S.A., its sales among this group second only to Jackson's record-setting Thriller. In his second Springsteen biography, Glory Days, critic Dave Marsh later noted, "The result was both the greatest degree of hegemony in popular music history and also the most exciting Top Forty radio in more than a decade."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]During the Born in the U.S.A. tour, Springsteen got the chance to see The Jacksons in concert in Philadelphia and meet Michael after the show. In a 1984 Rolling Stone interview with Kurt Loder, Bruce raved about the experience: "I thought it was a really great show. Real different from what I do, but the night I saw 'em, I thought they were really, really good. Michael was unbelievable—I mean unbelievable. He’s a real gentleman, and he’s real communicative... and he’s tall, which I don’t know if most people realize.”[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Springsteen also discussed Jackson’s fame: "The type of fame that Elvis had, and that I think Michael Jackson has, the pressure of it, and the isolation that it seems to require, has gotta be really painful. I wasn't gonna let that happen to me. I wasn't gonna get to a place where I said, 'I can't go in here. I can't go to this bar. I can’t go outside.'... I believe that the life of a rock 'n' roll band will last as long as you look down into the audience and can see yourself, and your audience looks up at you and can see themselves—and as long as those reflections are human, realistic ones. The biggest gift that your fans can give you is just treatin' you like a human being, because anything else dehumanizes you. And that’s one of the things that has shortened the life spans, both physically and creatively, of some of the best rock 'n' roll musicians—that cruel isolation. If the price of fame is that you have to be isolated from the people you write for, then that's too fuckin' high a price to pay."[/FONT]
[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Rest in peace, Michael.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]- June 26, 2009 - Shawn Poole reporting[/FONT]

 

[benscarr]

Thanks for posting. I always find it strange when people say Michael was really tall, like he was 6ft plus because Michael was neither short or tall, he was about 5'9-5'10 and I saw him many times close up to know he wasn't really tall. I read an article in the Sony Magazine about the Thriller video and era last year, woman who was worked closely with Michael on the set said he was only 5'6 which was also not Michael's height.

 

[Staffordshire Bullterrier]

Thanks for posting. I always find it strange when people say Michael was really tall, like he was 6ft plus because Michael was neither short or tall, he was about 5'9-5'10 and I saw him many times close up to know he wasn't really tall. I read an article in the Sony Magazine about the Thriller video and era last year, woman who was worked closely with Michael on the set said he was only 5'6 which was also not Michael's height.

Maybe bruce is just really short?

 

[TheChosenOne]

That was an interesting read. However, I maintain that Michael never lost that connection between the people and the music. The reaction to his death shows that. The reasons we have loved him and stayed with him is because of that connection. Yes, fame isolated him but not at the expense of that connection.

Yes, some of us have 'idolized' Michael but some of us have also loved a very deserving human being.


Just my opinion.

 

[ParisKatherine]

remeber he was very slim too so he looked tall. plus its still taller than average-ish and when he was younger he was tall for his age .

 

[Cinnamon234]

Nice read and nice of "The Boss" to speak about MJ so fondly. Thank u for posting.

 

[DuranDuran]

I actually have that TV Guide somewhere, probably in a box. I forgot all about it, lol. Haven't seen it since that period. But I've never read this Rolling Stone article. Bruce is about 5'6" or 5'7". He's rather short.

 

[elusive moonwalker]

Maybe bruce is just really short?

yeah he is