I can’t. But why do I have a feeling that some of you can actually complete this quiz in under 300 seconds? [Sporcle via @rockcritics/Twitter] MORE »
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histories
Nerd Alert: Can You Name All The Pazz & Jop Poll’s No. 1 Albums In 10 Minutes Or Less?
histories
From the Dept. Of Parenthetical Asides That Could Really Merit Their Own Stories comes this throwaway line from a New York Times piece on Michael Jackson’s will, and his lawyer John G. Branca: “In 1987, Mr. Jackson was the best man at Mr. Branca’s first wedding. (David Lee Roth, another Branca client, handled the bachelor party.)” [NYT] MORE »
histories
Michael Jackson: Outlining His Plan To Walk Like A Smooth Criminal On A Nightly Basis
Michael Jackson was issued a patent for moonwalk “Smooth Criminal” shoes–”a system for allowing a shoe wearer to lean forwardly beyond his center of gravity by virtue of wearing a specially designed pair of shoes which will engage with a hitch member movably projectable through a stage surface”–on Oct. 26, 1993, and thanks to the wonder of Google Patents, you can now see the whole mechanism through which he and a few co-conspirators wanted to create an anti-gravity illusion through the power of footwear. (UPDATE: The original version of this item incorrectly cited the Moonwalk as the dance being replicated. Nevertheless, if you want to try out Jackson’s other signature dance move, you can get to your cell phone and join one of the Moonwalk flash mobs that seem to be popping up in remembrance of Jackson’s career.) [Google Patents; HT Jessica Suarez] MORE »
histories
Six Songs That Have A Bit Of “Thriller” In Their DNA
The late Michael Jackson’s landmark 1982 album Thriller wasn’t a collection of songs as much as it was an event that upended the pop landscape, and birthed much of what would come in its wake. But in addition to thinking about it as a direct influence on today’s pop stars (i.e. the “I heard ‘Billie Jean’ and knew that I wanted to make music my life” narrative proffered by so many artists in the wake of his passing), one can also think about how the songs themselves were sampled by musicians who came in Jackson’s wake, deconstructed so that they became still-recognizable parts of a greater, slightly updated whole. Six of Thriller’s musical descendants after the jump. (Thanks to Idolator emeritus Jess Harvell for helping me with some of the brainstorming here.) MORE »
histories
Oliver Wang charts the story of the Charmels’ 1967 ballad “As Long As I’ve Got You,” which served as the backbone for the Wu-Tang Clan’s “C.R.E.A.M.” some 26 years later. [NPR via yaicanstringafewwordstogether] MORE »
