Because you need to know more about Michael Jackson

October 14, 2009 1:04 AM

The posthumous career of Michael Jackson began at midnight (Eastern time) Sunday with the release of a new single, This Is It. Shortly thereafter, Paul Anka reminded them that the song was the same song he cowrote with Jackson called I Never Heard, which was recorded by Safire. Anka was promptly given his share. Now nothing stands in the way of our seeing Michael Jackson's posthumous last concert.
posted by twoleftfeet (25 comments total)

Now nothing stands in the way of our seeing Michael Jackson's posthumous last concert.

Other than, of course, the desire to do so.
posted by HuronBob at 3:04 AM on October 14 [6 favorites]

I figure enough other people seem to like this Michael Jackson guy, that sooner or later some obscure recording is gonna be dug up and released and I'll actually like it ... perhaps a bizarre spoken-word experimental jazz piece, or something similar that never saw the light of day..
posted by mannequito at 3:12 AM on October 14

Jackson will certainly beat Elvis Presley as the Top-Earning Dead Celebrity.
posted by twoleftfeet at 3:18 AM on October 14

Elvis got a 32 year head start. At the current rate of Celebrity Inflation, it'll take 10-20 years for MJ to catch up. What I'm looking forward to is the first Las Vegas-based Convention of Jacko Impersonators. (no, not because I'm planning to bomb it; blowing up an assembly like that would be the exact opposite of evil)
posted by evilmidnightbomberwhatbombsatmidnight at 4:12 AM on October 14

Maybe there's another usage of posthumous that I'm not familiar with, but I'm hoping he was alive during the last concert.
posted by snofoam at 4:25 AM on October 14 [3 favorites]

I'm hoping he was alive during the last concert

No, he wasn't. The film (and you will hear more about it sometime) has been assembled from rehearsal footage. The "last concert" pieces together the concert that Jackson was planning just before he died.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:32 AM on October 14

You misunderstand. The Jackson family plans to exhume Michael Jackson's body and send it on a whirlwind world tour.
posted by rdr at 4:33 AM on October 14 [1 favorite]

The Jackson family plans to exhume Michael Jackson's body

Michael lives! He's more alive than Elvis! As foretold in the Book of Thriller, Jackson rises from the dead around Halloween to thrill you more than any ghost would dare to try.
posted by twoleftfeet at 4:56 AM on October 14

Future archaeologists will wonder about what happened with this famous kingdom of Pop. The most widely accepted theory will be that it fell to the Swing Sultanate during the wars of religion of the early XXI century.
posted by Skeptic at 5:05 AM on October 14 [5 favorites]

Future archaeologists will wonder about what happened with this famous kingdom of Pop Beer Hunter. [FTFY]
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:12 AM on October 14

That's what Paul Anka needs: more royalties. Aside from all the hits he had himself, he also wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" by Buddy Holly; the theme from the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show" (imagine getting a payment for everytime that was played); the Frank Sinatra Hit "My Way" (English lyrics); and a bunch of movie themes. For some reason "You're Having My Baby" established him once and for all as a total sleazeball in the collective estimation of the hippie generation, but really, well... Buddy Holly song notwithstanding, he probably deserves it.
posted by Faze at 5:22 AM on October 14

That's what Paul Anka needs: more royalties... the theme from the Johnny Carson "Tonight Show"...the Frank Sinatra Hit "My Way" (English lyrics)..."

Anka once said (but I can't find a reference) that the theme from the Johnny Carson show put his kids through college. I don't know how much he got for anglicizing the lyrics to Comme d'habitude for Sinatra. But he was cute when he sang Diana.
posted by twoleftfeet at 5:32 AM on October 14

Future archaeologists will wonder about what happened with this famous kingdom of Pop.

All of Pop is in mourning...
shameless self-link
posted by The Whelk at 5:58 AM on October 14

You really don't want Anka mad at you.

The Jackson Estate is on notice.
posted by chillmost at 6:23 AM on October 14

Plus Paul Anka's Simpsons episode is better than Mike Jack's. 'Just don't look, just don't look!'
posted by box at 6:51 AM on October 14

I'm reminded of the Hollywood producer who commented on the death of Elvis Presley: Great career move.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:21 AM on October 14

I keep hoping that someone will make a new version of "I Keep It Hid", the song deserves a ferocious comeback with the right pipes. Jackson could have done it, and it would have been a really interesting comment on his life and, er, problems. Jennifer Hudson, Jazmine Sullivan, you two can scrap it out over this one instead.

I'm also still holding out hope that we'll find out whatever happened to Alice Clark.
posted by hermitosis at 7:40 AM on October 14

I think I understand. The "concert" is posthumous because it is actually the showing a film of footage from the rehearsals.

I think I'm just getting overwhelmed by the rampant misuse of the word posthumous. Many places were referring to "This Is It" as a "posthumous song" rather than a posthumous release and it was getting to me.
posted by snofoam at 8:13 AM on October 14

Anka also did the Kodak jingle "Times of Your Life" and milked it into another Top 10 hit, but probably only people over the age of 40 would remember that.
posted by blucevalo at 8:22 AM on October 14

I wonder how long the posthumous career of Billy Mays will last?
posted by mylaudanumhabit at 8:48 AM on October 14

BILLY MAYS HERE! LONGER THAN YOU'D LIKE!
posted by josher71 at 9:22 AM on October 14 [1 favorite]

So we're going to gloss over the fact that the king of junkies was trying to pull a fast one and rip off Paul Anka?
posted by 2sheets at 9:29 AM on October 14

The "concert" is posthumous because it is actually the showing a film of footage from the rehearsals.

Right. Well, Jackson had already sold out record numbers of concert dates in London which were to have begun only a few weeks beyond the day he died. He was rehearsing for them less than 48 hours before his death. So the rehearsal footage is all we have of (what he indicated would have been) his "last concert". There are still huge numbers of people who wanted to see this concert, and this film, as a "posthumous concert", will have to do.
posted by twoleftfeet at 9:42 AM on October 14

So we're going to gloss over the fact that the king of junkies was trying to pull a fast one and rip off Paul Anka?

The Jackson family found the master tape amongst Michael's belongings. They obviously didn't know the provenance of the tape nor attempted to find out more on their own.

The song

"...was recorded in 1983 for a duet intended for [Anka] and Jackson on his album Walk a Fine Line under the original title of 'I Never Heard.' The song was later included in Sa-Fire's album I Wasn't Born Yesterday. The demo of the song was recorded in Anka's studio in Carmel, CA and the tape was sent to a studio in Hollywood for finishing touches. However, Anka claims Jackson 'stole the tapes' from the studio.

Jackson's copy of the original recording of 'This Is It' was apparently found in a box of tapes with only Jackson's voice and a piano accompaniment. Strings were then added to the bare-bones recording, along with backing vocals from Jackson's brothers. Finger-click percussion was also added."*

posted by ericb at 10:37 AM on October 14

*found a copy of the master tape*

"Anka claims Jackson -- who was just blowing up at the time with 'Thriller' -- got a big head and 'stole the tapes' from the studio.

Anka tells us he called the lawyers who repped both he and Jackson -- ironically one of them was John Branca -- and threatened them with a lawsuit if he didn't get the tapes back. Anka got them back but insists Jackson made a copy of the tapes and used the track with his voice from 'I Never Heard' -- and simply retitled it, 'This Is It.'"*

posted by ericb at 10:41 AM on October 14