Billie Jean (Acapella)

Back when Michael Jackson ruled the world I was deeply entrenched in punk and it's many indie permutations and his presence meant nothing to me. I figured Michael was just a fey James Brown and a student of the great Quincy Jones and not really worth the time of serious dude like myself. That is until I saw him on the "Motown 25TH Anniversary Special". Holy shit, this kid was like the most amazing thing I'd ever seen. You couldn't just hit youtube and watch something a thousand times in a row back in the 80's. You couldn't tape television. If you missed it, it was gone until the networks were kind enough to show it again. Watching it I felt the same shock that I did when I saw Iggy on "The Midnight Special"-smearing peanut butter on his chest and taunting the audience. This shit was very real and very cool. I bought Michael's records and tryed my damndest to like them, but with the exception of "Billie Jean" it just wasn't my thing. I could hear the greatness, but I just couldn't dig it. It was kid's music. Michael was 50, just like me, and I wouldn't trade my life for his for all the gold records at Motown. Being famous seems like a bad deal, and nobody suffered more at the hands of our love than Michael. I figure he's peaceful now, one way or the other.   Here's an acapella version of "Billie Jean" that really shows what a set of pipes this dude had. Be cool, Michael.