Posts Tagged Michael Jackson
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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. […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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 […]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, […]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 […]Archive
June 23, 2017 by Simon Sweetman
From The Archives: The Jennifer Batten Interview
Here’s an interview I did a few years ago with Jennifer Batten. It was fun talking to her, interesting getting her insight on working with a) one of pop music’s biggest stars – and b) one of the most respected guitar heroes on the planet. * Jennifer Batten made her name as the shock-haired guitarist […]Archive
April 17, 2015 by Simon Sweetman