It's probably not a life with music if you are a part of my generation if you haven't had Michael Jackson somewhere in your music education. Earlier introduction through The Jackson 5 and then Michael's own forays into his solo career came to a head with the Thriller album. Many will have a favourite song from that album, and for me it was "Beat It". It was probably a little bit to do with the film clip, and the two gangs coming together to fight, much like movies that I was watching at around that time such as The Wanderers and The Warriors. The guitar solo in the middle is also just bloody cool, which I eventually was informed was played by the one and only Eddie Van Halen - which of course is plainly obvious when you hear it.
Not long after this was released, comedic pisstaker Weird Al Yankovic came along, and not only did he produce his wonderful version of this song entitled "Eat It", he also produced a music video that that almost mirror-imaged Michael Jackson's original. It was just perfect, and while he had been around for some time before this broke on the radio, it was the point where he really took off.
More than a decade after this, we didn't have a parody of a Michael Jackson song as such make the charts. It was a cover version of the song "Smooth Criminal" by the band Alien Ant Farm. Not only was the song itself a great version of the song (yes, better than the original in my opinion), but the video clip again stole the show, by incorporating every Michael Jackson quirk and story within the film clip again. Terrific stuff.
So there it is - the Michael Jackson Trilogy. A Jackson classic, a Yankovic parody and an AAF ripping cover. The three songs that make up today's Songs of My Life.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.