Off The Tracks

Off The Tracks
  • Blog
    • Interviews
    • Miscellany
    • Special Guests
    • Reviews
  • Podcasts
  • The Vinyl Countdown
  • Back Catalogue
  • About
    • About
    • About the banner image
    • On Song

Posts Tagged Michael Jackson

Archive

March 22, 2022 by Simon Sweetman

It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26: Michael Jackson, Auckland 1996

I remember the announcement – tickets on sale the old-school way, you had to line-up; just pre-internet-booking. I thought about sleeping out overnight – but decided against it, I didn’t have a sleeping bag. Could have taken the car and slept in it but decided instead to just have an early night and set the […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1996, Auckland, Auckland 1996, Best, Best Gig Ever, Gig, It Was The Best Gig Ever, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26, It Was The Best Gig Ever # 26: Michael Jackson, King of Pop, Live Gig, Michael Jackson, MJ, Music, Pop, To follow me in all the right places check out the Linktree right here. And to subscribe to my Substack newsletter “Sounds Good” click here ·

Archive

November 3, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

New Adventures and MJ

Last weekend I’m drifting about on YouTube looking for a concert to watch or re-watch. (One of my favourite ‘lazy’ options when I want to watch something but might also want to read or computer-scroll is to search up Full Gigs on YouTube). I stumble on a pro-shot of the Michael Jackson concert in Auckland. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged A Bed For The Night In New Plymouth After The R.E.M. Gig, Blog, Michael Jackson, MJ, New Adventures and MJ, New Adventures In Hi-Fi, R.E.M., Stubs: # 31 – Michael Jackson, Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

August 7, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: What A Gig. Weird To Say? So Be It.

I saw Michael Jackson in concert. Incredible. It was the mid-90s, you still had to line-up to buy concert tickets on the day they went on sale. That seems weird enough now – right? I woke up at 5am and got in the queue – it was already way down the street. When the first […]
Posted in Blog, Mixtapes · Tagged 1996, Auckland, Concert, Jacko, Michael Jackson, Poem, Poem: What A Gig. Weird To Say? So Be It., What A Gig. Weird To Say? So Be It. ·

Archive

June 24, 2021 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: June 25th and 26th, 2009

Michael Jackson died. And I was picked up in a car and whisked out to Avalon to speak live on TV – part of a panel for the Good Morning show. And then Stuff.co.nz called and asked me to write something quickly – which is all I’ve ever done. Went home and listened to Dr. […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 2009, Good Morning TV, June 25th, June 25th and 26th, June 25th and 26th 2009, June 26, Michael Jackson, MJ, Off The Wall, Paddy Gower, Patrick Gower, Poem, Poem: June 25th and 26th 2009 ·

Archive

November 22, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Lambchop: TRIP

Lambchop TRIP Merge Records I love Lambchop so much that even the thought of Kurt Wagner trying to croon via a vocoder wasn’t going to put me off…until they went to that well once too often (ie: twice) and I just haven’t really been able to care about the last few Lamchop albums – haven’t […]
Posted in Blog, Reviews · Tagged Album Review, Covers, George Jones, Lambchop, Lambchop: TRIP, Merge Records, Michael Jackson, Mirrors, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, TRIP, Wilco, Yo La Tengo, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

November 2, 2020 by Simon Sweetman

Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 39 – Stevie Wonder, “Characters”

Stevie Wonder, Characters, 1987 Stevie Wonder is, as we all know I’d hope, A MUSICAL GENIUS! But this is where he absolutely runs out of juice I think. As rum as his 1980s was overall this is the nadir. This is the album where he sounds bored and desperate to be relevant – the curse […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged 1987, B.B. King, Characters, Crap, Crap Abums, Crap Albums, Crap Albums I Love, Crap Albums I Love # 39, Michael Jackson, Shit, Shit That's Good, Shit That's Good - Crap Albums I Love, Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 39, Shit That’s Good! Crap Albums I Love # 39 – Stevie Wonder, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Stevie Wonder, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

December 10, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 202

Paul McCartney, Pipes of Peace (1983) Of all the Paul McCartney material to be reissued this is the one I hated the most hearing it the second time around – I had lost love for it, rather than gained any. And I say that as a fan of the title track purely because my intermediate […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1983, 80s, LP, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Pipes of Peace, Record, Ringo Starr, Say Say Say, So Bad, The Beatles, The Vinyl Countdown, The Vinyl Countdown # 202, Vinyl ·

Archive

March 20, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: The Most Recent Poetry Reading 

She said, ‘you’re not going to read the poem about Michael Jackson are you?’  I said, “I am going to read the poem about Michael Jackson”. She said, ‘you can’t’. I said, “I can”. She said, ‘Aw…it will be awful, I can’t bear to watch, you can’t….’ I said, “I probably will still read it…” And then several different  poets got […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Michael Jackson, Poem, Poem: The Most Recent Poetry Reading, The Most Recent Poetry Reading ·

Archive

March 11, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Grieving Neverland? – Michael Jackson’s Music Was Well On The Way To Cancelling Itself, All This Discussion Is Bringing It Back

The argument around Michael Jackson – specifically around “cancelling Michael Jackson” is essentially about the price of fandom, that being that some people believe their fandom to be worth more than a victim’s story.   The film Leaving Neverland has had people in a flap, long before even seeing it. News of Michael Jackson’s alleged pedophilia and the processing of it […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Abuse, All This Discussion Is Bringing It Back, Bad, Cancel, Dangerous, Death, Grieving Neverland?, Grieving Neverland? - Michael Jackson’s Music Was Well On The Way To Cancelling Itself, Jackson, Leaving Neverland, Michael, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson’s Music Was Well On The Way To Cancelling Itself, Michael Jackson’s Music Was Well On The Way To Cancelling Itself All This Discussion Is Bringing It Back, MJ, Off The Wall, Thriller, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

March 9, 2019 by Simon Sweetman

Poem: Remember When Prince Was The Weird One?

Remember when Prince was the weird one?  Taking Kim Basinger on a date to a cemetery, recording a duet of Scandalous black roses strewn – and they fucked on the floor on the studio, or did they?  Darling Nikki and the  right to fap –  created the parental advisory sticker, had Tipper Gore all in a flap,  the purple one mystical as shit the rumours  swirling like paisley park pinwheels blowing in a manufactured […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Michael Jackson, Poem, Prince, Remember When Prince Was The Weird One? ·

Archive

February 4, 2018 by Simon Sweetman

R.I.P. Ndugu Chancler

Leon “Ndugu” Chancler has died. He was 65. The pop, soul, funk, disco, jazz, R’n’B and rock drummer will be remembered best as the drummer on Thriller. The creator of the perfect beat in Billie Jean but he was a veteran who had worked with masters including Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis, George Duke, Jean-Luc Ponty, […]
Posted in Blog, Miscellany · Tagged Billie Jean, Drummer, Drumming, Drums, Eulogy, Leon “Ndugu” Chancler, Leon Chancler, Michael Jackson, Ndugu Chancler, R.I.P. Ndugu Chancler, Thriller, You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron ·

Archive

August 13, 2017 by Simon Sweetman

The Vinyl Countdown # 516

Jackson 5, 20 Golden Greats (1979) Never mind 20 Golden Greats, I would have wanted this just for one song…okay, two songs, alright, definitely three songs…well, look, I’m not saying that all 20 are absolute must-haves, but it’s one of those great Greatest Hits where the further you go down the list, the further you […]
Posted in Blog, The Vinyl Countdown · Tagged 1979, 20 Golden Greats, ABC, Jackson 5, LP, Michael Jackson, The Vinyl Countdown # 516, Vinyl ·
← Older posts

Popular

  • The Sad Story of Bob Welch: Fleetwood Mac’s Most Undervalued Member
  • Janna Lapidus Leblanc: Four Years In Pictures
  • The Best Guitarist in The World: # 8 – Mark Knopfler
  • Going Back To Lou Reed: Time To Revisit His Strange, Wonderful, Weird Catalogue
  • Revisiting Live at Knebworth (1990)
  • The Beast: Revisiting John Bonham’s Glory
  • Try Three: # 1 – Roots, Reggae, Soul
  • Neil Peart Was The World’s Most Overrated Drummer
  • R.I.P. Ronny Jordan
  • What A Good Score! – #17: Dead Man Walking by Various Artists

Archives

Tags

Album Review Auckland Blog Book Book Review Chat Compilation DJ Drums DVD DVD Review EP Film Film Review Gig Gig Review Guest Blog Guitar Interview Jazz Live Live Gig LP Movie Music NZ Podcast Poem Poetry Record Records Simon Sweetman Soundtrack Spotify Stub Stubs Sweetman Podcast The Vinyl Countdown Vinyl Want more? Check out my Substack You can also support Off The Tracks via PressPatron Wellington Wgtn Writing You can support Off The Tracks via PressPatron [OST]

Categories

  • Back Catalogue
  • Blog
  • Interviews
  • Miscellany
  • Mixtapes
  • Playlists
  • Podcasts
  • Reviews
  • Scene Of The Day
  • Special Guests
  • The Vinyl Countdown

Off The Tracks is the home of Sweetman Podcast, a weekly interview/chat-based pod. It's also home to my reviews across film, TV, music and books and some creative writing as well.

Off The Tracks aims to provide quality reviews and essays, regular blog updates about the shows, albums, books and movies you should be experiencing.

It's a passion project. Your support will help to keep Off The Tracks online.

All content © 2022 by Off The Tracks. WordPress Themes by Graph Paper Press