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Reply With QuoteI think Michael could have been OK, if he could have given up on his dream of being peter pan, and not getting multiple surgeries on his nose and face, and stopped bleaching his damned skin!
Madonna and Michael Jackson hit 50: A tale of two freaks
Contrasting fortunes as Madonna and Jacko turn 50
associated press
Pop icons Madonna and Michael Jackson turn 50 later this month, but the contrasting fortunes of the two music legends could not be more stark as they usher in their respective birthdays.
Madonna, who celebrates her birthday on August 16, will bring up the half century with her career in rude health, less than one year into a groundbreaking 120-million-dollar, 10-year deal, and with a recent No.1 album.
But "King of Pop" Jackson, who is 50 on August 29, will mark his birthday still struggling to rebuild his career following a 2005 acquittal on child molestation charges, and with his finances the subject of intense speculation.
In the 1980s, the duo ruled the music world, with Jackson riding high thanks to the phenomenal success of his seminal 1983 "Thriller," which with more than 50 million copies sold remains the best-selling album of all-time.
Madonna enjoyed similar success, exploding on to the scene with 1983's "Madonna," and following it up with the multi-platinum "Like a Virgin" a year later, which has sold 21 million copies worldwide.
Yet while Madonna consolidated her success in the 25 years since her debut, Jackson's star has waned, an outcome that few would have predicted in 1983.
"It's interesting, you know, they're both the same age, they're both monster superstars, cultural myths almost, from the 1980s into the 1990s, but in so many ways they're hard to compare," said Robert Thompson, professor of television at the University of Syracuse.
"One could argue that as a musician, a dancer and an entertainer, Michael Jackson has it all over Madonna by a factor of 10," Thompson said.
"He's the guy who's up there with Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby, Elvis Presley, one of the top musical performers in our cultural history."
Yet Madonna, Thompson said, has prospered from her extraordinary ability to reinvent herself, a skill that allows her to remain relevant despite the march of time and changing music tastes.
According to Geoff Mayfield, chart director of Billboard, Madonna achieved solid success with her latest album "Hard Candy", which topped the charts earlier this year.
"It didn't sell as well as her music did a few years ago, but it was a number one album, and if anyone has ever proven that she's able of reinventing herself, that's Madonna," Mayfield said.
Jerry Del Colliano, a professor and music industry expert at the University of Southern California, also cited Madonna's chameleon-like ability to adapt.
"Madonna has managed to stay creative, and to stay relevant. I think she still is in the popular music scene," Del Colliano told AFP. "I don't know what she'll be like at 60, but Mick Jagger is there and he's rocking and rolling.
"There's no shrewder businesswoman. She could probably run a music studio."
Analysts were less optimistic about Jackson's ability to pull his career out of its prolonged nosedive of the last decade.
According to Thompson, Jackson's problems can be traced back to the astounding success of "Thriller" and the fame it earned him.
"He got to the point that he was so rich, so powerful and so famous, that he was allowed to kind of withdraw from any kind of reality," Thompson opined.
"Michael Jackson is the example of someone who was truly spoiled -- and by spoiled I mean ruined -- by the level of fame that he achieved.
"He accidentally turned himself into a parody of himself, and then it's kind of hard to re-emerge as a serious performer," Thompson said.
Both Thompson and Del Colliano expressed doubt that a Jackson comeback was feasible, saying the stigma of sex abuse allegations would continue to haunt the singer despite his acquittal.
"I don't think it's impossible, I think he's still got talent, but then you tie that in with the trial, and that made an awful lot of people terribly uncomfortable," Thompson said.
Del Colliano added: "Jackson withstood a trial, which was very ugly, and was vindicated. The idea that he could be a paedophile, having that in the news is not going to make your career any good."
A spokeswoman for Jackson did not respond to questions about how or where the singer would be celebrating his birthday. Madonna, however, was reported to have postponed a star-studded party set for Saturday at the English country home she shares with husband Guy Ritchie after twisting an ankle during rehearsals for her forthcoming world tour.
I think Michael could have been OK, if he could have given up on his dream of being peter pan, and not getting multiple surgeries on his nose and face, and stopped bleaching his damned skin!
MJ would've been okay if he could have kept the little boys out of his bed. All of the bleaching and plastic surgery already made people think he was a freak, but the molestation charges just cemented it.Originally Posted by AllieCat
Seems like just yesterday these two were 33 year old freaks . . .
^^ And what the fuck was this about anyway? Did they actually date, or was this one of the many bullshit publicity ploys they're both infamous for?
“What are you looking at, sugar-tits?” - Mel Gibson
PR bullshit. No way these two were fucking.Seems like just yesterday these two were 33 year old freaks . . .
^^ And what the fuck was this about anyway? Did they actually date, or was this one of the many bullshit publicity ploys they're both infamous for?
And I never realized how much MJ & Madonna both look like the Joker in that picture.
Seems like just yesterday these two were 33 year old freaks . . .
^^ And what the fuck was this about anyway? Did they actually date, or was this one of the many bullshit publicity ploys they're both infamous for?
To me this is the most shocking (or maybe disturbing) thing about thier career/history. How in the world...
If you think it's crazy, you ain't seen a thing. Just wait until we're goin down in flames.
[quote=Laurent;1331128]Seems like just yesterday these two were 33 year old freaks . . .
She has the face of a witch - it's incredible how her inner ugliness shines through!
when did Madonna get so homely.
YOU CAN'T ALWAYS GET WHAT YOU WANT
(M. Jagger/K. Richards)
I can't stand Madonna but at least she's not a paedo. Jacko was infinitely more talented than her though.
That was a really good article, you don't see many of them these days.
My entire family loved Michael, we watched Thriller so many times. I think thats one of the reason I dislike him so much now, I really believed in his PR. He is talented but no more so than Prince who has managed to leave little boys alone and for the most part he stays out of the media.
Michael was coddled and allowed to become a Howard Hughes (void of reality)
I don't like Madonna, if it stood still long enough she was humping it then adding it into her video. She's a porn queen that ended up singing. She ended up looking more like a man than Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson is the one celeb that I dislike more than Tom Cruise and Woody Allen.
He looks great there
ummm...the day she was born? She's always been a classless, no talent skank, but how did she make so much money?
Skank sells
I am from the American CIA and I have a radio in my head. I am going to kill you.
^^ amen just ask Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Nicole Richie....
I think that's why MJ fell so hard. He was the biggest music star in history, and having all of that fame, coupled with his own self-hatred, allowed him to live in a fantasy world where he thought he could do whatever he wanted. And the people around him let him go off the deep end because he was the one with the cash. MJ is the perfect example of what too much fame and money will do to you.
And just like Chris Rock said, after all the old battles about who was better, MJ or Prince, Prince won.
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