Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/08/11/michael-jacksons-bad-as.html
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This cumbia version of “Thriller” has been rockin’ my world lately…
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An improvement.
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PSA for those fascinated by such things…
There’s a whole back-catalog of folks doing Bluegrass (sometimes -ish) covers.
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It’s been a long time since I saw that video. I forgot how Jackson tried to portray himself as a dangerous, violent street thug by hopping a subway turnstile and using spray paint to make a small tag on a piece of poster board clearly affixed to the wall for that purpose.
(I mean he was a dangerous criminal but definitely not the kind he presented himself as)
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http://www.hayseed-dixie.com/Home.html
Absolutely.
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Country and Western Billie Jean is better
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Yes, pretty bad. But this is worse.
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Could be ok if his voice was in better shape.
O_O
Wow, dude… did you think in Thriller he was trying to pass himself off as one of the undead?
Back when Mtv showed actual music videos, they were stuff of fantasy…
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Weird Al did it better…
“If my shadow weighs forty-two pounds…”
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I mean, in the context of that video, yeah? Obviously it was a fantasy/performative version of a street thug just like “Thriller” was a fantasy performative version of a werewolf (and a zombie), I just found it amusing that his fantasy version of a street thug was someone who did minor acts of vandalism and cheated on subway fare.
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It would be, though; MJ was about as softball and ‘non-street’ as you could get…
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I agree, that’s part of what I found amusing about it. Most people who make music videos about being outlaws take pains to strut around with prop guns and drugs and hookers and whatnot. Michael’s biggest crime was spray painting a three letter word on a piece of paper.
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Keep in mind, he never really had a childhood.
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Well, not one of his own.
He did apparently claim several others though. 
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Well he actually was not a criminal. He was one of the nicest human beings ever. The greatest recording artist of all time. Haters like you never stop smh.
I gave him the benefit of the doubt for decades but I’m afraid the heart-wrenching firsthand accounts from Leaving Neverland tipped the scales for me. The dude was clearly a broken man and, tragically for himself and others, a pedophile.
I won’t argue that he was possibly the greatest recording artist of all time. He was a musical genius whose influence in popular culture can hardly be overstated, but that’s neither here nor there.
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What he admitted to was plenty problematic enough.
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