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Electric Boogaloos

Oh, please. I'm not one to defend Michael all the time, but they're just bitter. Michael's older than these guys and he had a distinct style by the time he was 15. No one would be talking about these damn moves if it wasn't for Michael.
 
You know what, screw these guys. They're so lame. I hope they ain't bitchen because Michael was kicking his leg out and doing that type of stuff as early as 1978, and I know that was before he ever worked with Poppin' Pete. These idiots are so bitter and its because nobody even knows who they are. You can find dancers on the street that can do everything they can and more. And they want to act like they invented the whole popping and locking and breaking thing, but they didn't invent jack sh*t. That type of movement was popping up around all sorts of different areas, in Oakland and stuff, in the late 60s before they ever did anything. And more then half of that stuff is based on pantomime and tap. They act like they taught Michael how to dance when all they did was teach him a couple of steps here and there. Big fuckin deal. Who taught them? Somebody did, but nobody mentions that. You know, it's okay though, because the REASON they're so upset and so adiment on making it known who taught Michael is because Michael's the man, Michael's the guy everyone KNOWS is one of the greatest dancers to ever live, and the man who got the other greats to tip their hats to. While guys like these just fade in to the background and can't be diferentiated from any other popper or locker on the street. Michael could outdance these clowns easy. You want to take them and compare them against Michael, then make them do the choreographed dance routines he does, for like "Beat It", "Smooth Criminal", "Thriller", whatever, "Bad", make them do THOSE steps and then see just how sloppy and lame they are. They can do ONE type of movement, that's popping and/or locking, but give them anything outside of that street dancing, and they'll look decidedly average or just bad. I've seen that numerous times with street dancers. They can't do anything but. That's why you see their asses relugated to the popping sections of Michael's video's, while PROFESSIONAL dancers do the other chroeography. Michael can keep up with those folks and even outdance them. Can these clowns? Hell no. What's more is, you can't teach anyone to dance. You can't teach someone to move as well as Michael does. He was dancing like a pro. at the age of 5, 6, 7. He could always move, just from watching other people. You can teach anyone a step or how to perform a step, but you can't teach anyone to perform that step well. They either have the talent or they don't. No one taught Michael how to move. Only God gave Michael that ability, or his parent's if you want to go with genes. Fuck these guys. And they're boring ass dancing.
 
Nicole's right. :lol:

Because I don't know WHY they should be bitter. Michael brought those moves to a national consciousness. If I was them, I'll be thankful for it.
 
lol, well you KNEW I was gonna be coming in to this thread, haha.

But one more thing I wanted to add. Michael's got a style way more distinct than any of these dudes, way more recognizable. That's something he created. The way he puts his steps together, the sequence and the timing and the execution he puts on the steps makes his style unique and identafiable to only him. Nobody would know who the hell was behind that white screen if one of these jokers got up and was dancing behind it, but if Michael did, everyone would know in an instant. I've watched all these clowns and they ain't nothin to look at. They all look the same with the same boring style and that's part of the reason nobody knows who the hell they are except underground fanatics. Poppin' Taco creams Poppin' Pete anyway.
 
so really if their acting like they created pop locking then its a bit hypercritical of them isnt it?

edit: I was hoping you did lol :p, some of the comments I've read on youtube are an insult to all the knowledge I've read from u, you know your stuff!!
 
Extremely hypocritical. They'd be shocked if they saw Bill Bailey doing the moonwalk, I'm sure, lol.

I didn't even bother reading the comments because I know a lot of people are just looking for excuses to rag on Michael. They're idiots. They don't know what makes a good dancer. And the EB don't either. Like Timmy said, Michael brought street dancing to the publics attention. Without him, nobody would even know what that crap was. Dancers viewed street dancing as a total joke back in the 80s. Michael gave it credibility. But I guess to these guys, that counts for nothing. What difference does it make who taught him? He made it famous and he's a better dancer by a mile then any of those guys anyway. Everyone learns from someone or somewhere, that's not important, what's imporatant is what you do with what you learn.
 
Didn't I post this vid like 2 days ago?

Anywho, they are influential in that they helped create a style, just because some of there moves can be traced back a bit or to different areas doesn't mean it isn't original. They done the exact same thing Michael done and created their own style. And telling them to do Michael's choreography is silly, because obviously they are not trained in choreography, they do that specific style. Ballerinas cannot go straight into a street dance without having to work really hard with it because their bodies have been trained a certain way and the technique is completely different. I think they may be aware of Bill Baileys Moonwalk, I know Jeffrey Daniels is.

Also can you not refer to them as street dancers they are poppers/lockers or whatever, street dance is a large category and nowadays mostly refers hip hop or commercial routines, not just popping or locking.

With that out the way, they are being complete dickheads, lol.
 
Well Michael isn't trained in any form of dance, he doesn't even concentrate on any specific form and didn't really start doing structured dancing until the early 80s, but he adapts to choreographey as well as free style dancing and any other form of movement and he does so VERY quickly. He does everything from street styles, which I just use as a general term for popping, locking b-boying and whatever else, to classical, jazz, tap, etc.... It was a way to point out his superiority to them. They're just mad cause they know it deep down. A lot of trained dancers might have trouble with the popping of the joints and muscles aspect, etc... but just in terms of moving from one step to another, if they're good, they should be able to adapt to any type of movement or style of dance. And Jefferey Daniels seemed kind of shocked when they showed him the clip of Bill Bailey doing the moonwalk, lol. They helped create a style, but they didn't create it out of thin air or on their own, which they like to make out as though they did. They took from different places, they learned from different people, just like Michael. And their style isn't as disticnt as his. It's just, nobody cares about where they learned it from because nobody really cares about them as dancers and I think that's why they're so pissed, because Michael is regarded as THE dancer of his generation and among the very best ever, which he deserves.
 
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I'd disagree with Michael not being trained, maybe not in the sense of the word as years learning the techique of dances and such, but he didn't learn locking or popping or tap just from watching it. Since when were the J5/Jacksons routines not structured?

And again, saying nobody cares about them is one of the biggest understatements I have ever heard and as a dancer I found it quite disrespectful. Also if they weren't around, where would Michael have got it from? Some kids off the street? lol
 
Michael isn't trained. He isn't conditioned. Learning steps from people is hardly what one could qualify as training, conditioning and forcing your body in to a certain state or building from standard foundations in dance and learning proper technique. He hasn't even had time to concentrate on one form of dance because most of his time is given to being a professional vocalist and musician. The J5 routines weren't structured as compared to what he did later on. They were choreographed but they were excruciateingly simple steps and short term, which anyone could do.

Nobody in the general public cares about them, that's what I mean. Nobody knows who they are or would know who they are without Michael, except as I said, people who pay attention to the underground dance scene. Michael's the man, and they're mad about it.
 
I think this is a simple case of has-beens with an audience for once. And them going off on a tangent about MJ. I highly doubt this video was made soley about MJ. There was probably supposed to be a sit down qustion and awnser session for students of dance, or some break dancing convention with them as the feature. And when it comes down to it, Mj was still brought up b/c everyone knows MJ for the dance moves not these guys. Mj's as easy target for anyone b/c everyone thinks they can say whatever they want about him and get away with it.

They say they've been disprespected by MJ. They are disrespecting him b/c they are throwing him under the bus for using moves they willingly taught him and for the success he's had. A very jealous group of people.
 
I hate the Electric Boogaloos, they talk like they invented the Moonwalk and every dance move Michael's ever done. Michael's dancing is more influenced by Bob Fosse than anyone, and Michael did the Robot on Soul Train in 1973-74 before the Electric Boogaloos were on the scene.
 
I think these dudes don't know what they are talking about Michael has been doing these moves for years and decades. I think that he did these dance moves on his own because he does it in a magical way and Helloo he's the King Of Pop!! lolzx :)
 
Even if that was true, its such a poor argument, lol.
 
man- they were annoying :yes:

I agree with everything that chaos and wbss21 said! lol, I'm too lazy to write something out right now~~!!!!! tee hee
 
We had this same exact thread earlier this year and I basically laid out all the info on this issue.

For those who don't know who the EBs are, they are a group that has been part of the bboy/breakdancing community since the late 70s. If you know about the history of popping, locking, and bboying, you HAVE to know who the EBs are.

Issue is, the EBs didn't invent anything, and they've been taking credit for the creation of popping since the 70s and not until in the 90s were they busted by the original OGs who started the style in the late 60s and others who began researching the history.

benscarr, hate is a pretty strong word. SOME of them have worked with Michael. Robot Dane who's on the original EBs is the one who taught Michael the robot. He's in his 50s and he's still going strong lol

My main problem is with Suga Pop. In fact, ALOT of people have beef with him. He shouldn't be talking about what and who taught Michael. He did appear in Thriller, Captain EO, and Ghosts, but that's it.

The ones who helped Michael and taught him how to pop and the moonwalk was Jeffery Daniels(who the EBs have issues with), Michael Boogaloo Shrimp Chambers, Geron Candidate, and Cooley Jackson.

A guy who I know sent me this info on Youtube

Re: The EBs, Michael Jackson, and Popping ...


Re: The EBs, Michael Jackson, and Popping
Well, ive talked to Pete and he basically said that Jeffrey taught Michael most of what he knows. Poppin Taco has taught Michael a great deal also. See, the thing about Mike is he learned from all the OGs that started what he knows. He learned the Robot from Slim The Robot. He learned Locking from cats like Shabba-Doo,Greg Cambellock Campbell, and the rest of the Lockers. Michael saw footage of the EBs doing poppin somewhere around 79 or 80 but it wouldnt be till 1983 that Michael introduced popping to a worldwide audience. Im sure you know the story already but Ill tell you anyways lol!! The story im about to tell you comes directly from Jeffrey Daniel whom I have befriended recently. I guess I will start of with Geron "Casper" Candidate and Cooley Jackson. I was told by Robot Dane of the EBs that these guys used to go to every performance the EBs did, watch, and learn moves from them. Jeffrey Daniel was already a well established dancer for Soul Train in the early to mid 70s and by the late 70s to maybe the mid 80s a huge success with the r&b group Shalamar. Im not sure how Geron and Cooley became friends with Jeffrey but they were the ones who taught Jeffrey how to pop and boogaloo. They also taught Jeffrey how to Moonwalk. Jeffrey then started performing the moves that Cooley and Geron taught him on tv and this caught Michaels eye and he was very intrigued by what he saw and wanted to learn. Where the story gets weird is, im not sure if Michael saw Jeffrey or the EBs first but I do know that the routine that Michael did on Motown 1983 was put together by Geron and Cooley. Geron and Cooley taught Michael the Moonwalk for that legendary performance but later Michael would hire Jeffrey Daniel to be his Mentor and dance partner. Jeffrey told me that at the time the Motown performance took place Michael wanted Jeffrey to teach him the Moonwalk but he could not because at that time 1983, he was on tour with Shalamar and could not be there so Jeffrey sent Geron and Cooley and the rest was history. Now later on around 86 Michael did eventually get the opportunity to work with members of the Electric Boogaloos. Poppin Pete and Taco came up with most of the routines for Captain EO
 
They take too much credit for everything. They chroeographed the popping sections of certain videos, but then they turn around and try to act like they did the MAIN choreographey for the videos, the more classic type steps, and they didn't. Like saying they did everything in "Captain EO", that's a lie. They did the popping sections.

Maybe Jefferey, who I think is a fine dancer, taught Michael a lot of his popping steps, which is cool. Everyones got to learn from somewhere. But that hardly constitues "everything" Michael knows. Michael could always dance and like I've said a hundred times before, Michael's the most gifted dancer I've ever seen. And you don't ever see Jefferey having a heart attack trying to tell everyone he taught Michael everything, because he respects Michael both as a person and as a dancer. He knows Michael's got the gift. And to me, Jefferey is a lot better then most of these guys. And Taco doesn't talk smack either. And he's a good dancer. Bottom line is though, they seem bitter because they taught Michael some steps, and Michael showed it to the world in a way they never could and Michael gets credit for being one of the greatest dancers in history. But he deserves that credit. Nobody cares who taught Fred Astaire how to tap or Gene Kelly how to tap, or Sammy Davis, or Savion Glover, nobody cares who taught Baryshnikov ballet, all that matters is how well they all did it. Same thing with Michael. Michael moves more beautifully then anyone I've ever seen and I couldn't give two-rats asses who taught him a paritcular step. All I know is that, when Michael moves, he does it with more grace, power, fluidity, speed and precisian then anybody. And that's all that matters. He earned his place among the greats, he deserves it, and it's too bad if these guys let their jelousy get in the way of seeing that.
 
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Nobody can take credit for teaching Michael how to dance, just popping and locking because they've been a highlight in his style. They're 2 difficult styles. I've been popping and locking for nearly 10 years now and I'm still trying to get better lol

Michael had some of the best help him and it shows.

And the EBs are exactly fan favorites in the bboy community. They've gained their share of enemies in the past couple of years. I went to a bboy jam in March that was the anniversary of one of the Bay Area's longest running crews and only one EB was there because if Suga Pop had been there, there would've been some serious problems lol
 
Well they need to fix their attitudes, lol. And yeah, he's been shown popping and locking, but a large portion of his style has nothing to do with that too and is largely jazz influenced. My whole grip is, everyone learns from someone, I mean, everyone, but it doesn't matter who teaches you. What matters is how well you then can do it. Michael's so talented as a dancer that it's weird and like I related before, some of these guys who've worked with him said he picks up steps faster then anyone they've ever met and that if he wasn't so frail he would be the best dancer in the world. From my view, Michael's lack of muscle doesn't hold him back though because he's so coordinated that his movements have all his energy in them and are extremely powerful because of it.
 
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