Mashin' Jackson - The Untold Story

This Mashumentary is formatted to be listened to sequentially.
In order to download the entire 79 minute CD with all but the Bonus Tracks - but including front & back artwork - click below:
http://www.divshare.com/i/10327347-a73



MJ R.I.P. RMX
- a tribute to the King Of Pop -

The following medley is comprised of news clips & three separate mash-ups originally released June 2009, within hours of Michael's untimely death...






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MASHIN' JACKSON - THE UNTOLD STORY
- a Voicedude Mashumentary -

It was the news that shocked the world: Michael Joseph Jackson, the most famous entertainer in the universe, had suddenly died. The world’s media, who had so often used Michael’s public life for ratings & tabloid sales, now flip-flopped and canonized him while the world mourned. The King of Pop was dead; long live the King!

In the media storm that ensued, charges of homicide would be eventually filed, wills would be contested, and autopsy reports would be officially sealed. However, while researching data for a special tribute, BBC Eight would uncover an exclusive and quite shocking revelation: that at the time of his death, Michael Jackson was in fact: seventy-five years old! Furthermore, it was revealed that Joseph Jackson was not Michael’s father, but in fact his older brother.

It seems that Michael suffered from a rare genetic condition called Anti-Progeria. Unlike Progeria Syndrome, wherein symptoms resemble aspects of old age in young children, Michael’s condition made him appear to be much, much younger, like a sort of a ‘reverse Benjamin Button’. Yet these were only the first of several shocking revelations. Further investigation turned up an exclusive peak at the contents of a secret vault where Jackson kept several previously unheard recordings; collaborations between him and some of the world’s biggest stars. In this BBC Eight special, we will listen to some of these rare recordings and the stories behind them.

In 1954, Joseph Jackson convinced his twenty-one year old brother Michael to pretend to be his five year old son, and made him a part of his band The Falcons along with their other brother Luther. But Michael did not wish to be merely a novelty act, so the following year he made the 226 mile trip from Gary, Indiana to Cincinnati, Ohio - the home of King Records. There he met rhythm & blues keyboardist and former Ink Spots' arranger Bill Doggett. At the time Doggett was a seasoned, forty-year old performer. Since twenty-three year old Jackson appeared to be only five years old, Doggett assumed he was a prodigy and agreed to work with him. But after some creative differences, the two pioneers would part ways and agree to split their collaborative efforts as two separate sets of compositions, each recording their own versions in later years. This pattern would be repeated with all of Jackson’s collaborations. Doggett’s version was released in 1956, but the following original is the only known recording to exist from those historic sessions:




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In 1983, Michael Jackson co-wrote the song "I Never Heard" with singer Paul Anka, recording it in Anka’s studio. This song would re-titled, remixed, & finally released in 2009 as the title track of Jackson’s posthumous documentary "This Is It". But it is now revealed that this was not their first collaboration. In 1957, Jackson met Paul Anka in New York City when they both auditioned for Don Costa at ABC. But at the time, Costa’s assistant Diana Bryan favoured the Canadian Anka over a seemingly snubbed Jackson. Anka assumed it was over racial differences, and befriended Jackson after he got the recording deal. Their different opinions of the two sides of Costa’s assistant became the subject of this unreleased collaboration:



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After several years of working the ‘Chitlin’ Circuit’ for black audiences, Jackson decided it was time to try to break into the mostly white, mainstream market. Since his idol Ray Charles had crossed from R&B into the Country genre, Jackson then traveled to Memphis in late 1960. It was there that he would meet Elvis Presley, who had just returned from a stint in the Army. During a recorded jam session, Jackson reportedly asked Presley’s manager Col. Tom Parker how he might break into the mainstream. Parker was heard to have said, “you couldn’t - unless you found some way to turn white.” Apparently, Jackson took serious note. Their further discussions on the subject of race led to the collaboration heard on these scratchy out takes, from the original acetate discs found in Jackson’s secret vault:




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After they agreed not to release their collaboration. Presley - now famous for mixing ‘black’ and ‘white’ sounds - would release his solo version ‘Little Sister’ in 1961, reaching #5 in the States and #1 in the UK. A few years later, Jackson was still in self-exile, now working in Kansas City as a radio DJ to help make ends meet. While he was 1965’s #1 R&B DJ at KUDL, Jackson was sent by station PD Bob Cory to the hotel room of the hottest band on tour: a little foursome called The Beatles. During his interview, Jackson admitted he was also a musician & performer and convinced the visiting Brits to a jam session in the station’s studio. They tinkered around for hours - messing with song ideas and sometimes covering songs from the newest sound to come out of the States: Motown. Jackson then covered a Bobby Day classic while they Beatles played:



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After this historic meeting, Jackson asked if he could formally play with the group. McCartney seemed to like the idea, but Lennon thought Jackson was weird, creepy, & a bit daft. He also felt that his presence might even break up the Beatles. Right after that, Lennon met Yoko Ono. Jackson reportedly responded to the snub by saying ‘someday I’ll own you!’, and returned home to his family. Although he was actually in his mid-thirties, Jackson appeared and sounded like he was only nine years old. Now he would play son to his brother & sister-in-law Joseph & Katherine, and play brother to his nieces & nephews: Janet, LaToya, Kate, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon, Randy, Andrew, & Samuel L..

Michael suggested the Motown label to Joseph, and the rest would become Jackson 5 recording history. By the early 1970’s, Jackson had emerged as the star of the group, but he still wanted to go solo. Plans were made & then scrapped as Jackson searched for his solo voice. Once, while on tour in Boston in the late seventies, Jackson met Benjamin Orr and the band that would eventually become The Cars. Their brief collaboration would become this underground hit:




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Both Jackson and The Cars liked their collaboration, but Benjamin Orr was heard by witnesses to have said that he feared the band’s cool rock image being associated with such a ‘skinny and pasty white freak’. Right after that, Orr met Rick Ocasek. The Cars released their version of their pairing on their 1978 debut album, & Michael saved his for the Jackson’s album “Goin' Places” from the same year. Now looking for material for his new solo project, Jackson then traveled back to New York to work with hot new songsmith Billy Joel. Joel's half of this musical experiment would eventually end up on his 1978 album ‘52nd Street’.




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Although he had yet to find his ideal collaboration, Jackson still experimented with a rock sound fused with R&B. During a tour of the States promoting ‘Animals’, Roger Waters of Pink Floyd asked Jackson if he’d be interested in some soulful vocal work, the way that Clare Torry had done for him on ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’. During their meeting, Jackson told him of an idea he had about a rock opera about an isolated rock star slipping into madness based loosely on his own life. Although Waters would eventually rewrite ‘The Wall’ based on his own concepts, this recently unearthed demo is a mere suggestion of the brilliant collaboration that might’ve been.....




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The following year Michael, still stinging from the breakup of this song writing team, Jackson called his latest solo effort ‘OFF The Wall’. Jackson was chuffed with the artistic results of this solo release, but disappointed by it’s lagging sales. By 1980, Jackson was already preparing for his next solo effort when he heard through several musicians that AC/DC singer Bon Scott had died in February. He knew of one Aussie who had auditioned as of his backup singers named Brian Johnson and rushed him into the studio to record a demo using tracks Jackson was preparing for his own next album. According to legend, Jackson reportedly told bandmate Angus Young that he was concerned that Johnson had blown out his vocal chords. Young reportedly hired Johnson on the spot, & the demo once thought destroyed can now be heard. The title also explains why Jackson started famously wearing only one sequined glove....




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Jackson’s fascination with the electric rock guitar fused with R&B rhythm led him to contact famous guitarists for his newest solo endeavour ‘Thriller’. Before eventually going with Eddie Van Halen, Jackson apparently contacted Carlos Santana about playing on a Halloween themed song. Originally, it was supposed to be a remix of Santana’s 1970 hit ‘Black Magic Woman’, but Jackson disapproved of Santana’s smoking cannabis in the studio, so they agreed to go their own separate ways. Jackson eventually chose his own version as the title track to his next release. But here is their original collaborative effort, a BBC Eight exclusive:



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After ‘Thriller’ launched Jackson into superstardom, he continued to broaden his musical horizons. By 1984, Jackson was the biggest star in the world, and could actually summon other artists that he felt like working with as witnessed by ‘We Are The World’, which was patterned after Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?". One UK artist who didn’t make that historic recording was Billy Idol, contacted by Jackson in regards to his guitarist Steve Stevens. Long before they collaborated on ‘Bad’, this track was their experimental effort:



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When ‘Bad’ solidified Jackson’s superstardom, Jackson decided to get back to the R&B roots he had cut his teeth with in the 50s and 60s. After Clarence Carter’s 1987 comeback hit ‘Strokin’’, Jackson decided to remix a version of the blind singer’s 1968 holiday favorite ‘Back Door Santa’, using tracks that he was compiling for his next solo album. One of these tracks included Guns N' Roses’ guitarist Slash. After disagreeing over lyrical content, the two R&B legends agreed to part ways, with Jackson’s tracks ending up being used on his 1991 album Dangerous. Ironically Michael's single is considered the biggest selling rock song of the 90s:




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Around the same year Jackson was preparing Dangerous, he met struggling Seattle musician Kurt Cobain. Cobain had not yet formed his band Nirvana, but would welcome any input from a star of Jackson’s caliber. Michael asked Cobain to bring his guitar into the studio & merely jam with some old tracks he had lying around. Jackson was impressed with the demo, but Cobain didn’t care for this particular musical direction. After their falling out, he also reportedly stated that he had ‘never met such an unfocused, drug-addicted waste of time’. Right after that, Cobain met Courtney Love. Here’s what Cobain might have sounded like without Nirvana:




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Although sales of his 2001 album Invincible were disappointing, Jackson continued to work with others in the new millennium. He was fascinated by the rap scene, but wondered how to cross it over into the white mainstream as he had done with his own music years before. This led to Jackson working with plain, white rapper Eminem in 2002. This experience eventually led to more collaborations, including that of pop songstress Britney Spears in 2007. Even in April of 2009, shortly before his untimely death, Jackson was working with two of America’s youngest stars on their second albums, and we can only wonder what further influence he might’ve had on the careers of Sean Kingston and Taylor Swift. All we have left is his music - both the iconic, chart topping hits, and now these rare and previously unheard tracks. His is an unparalleled legacy in which he is seen as neither man nor boy, neither male nor female, and neither black nor white. His is simply: the once and future King Of Pop......







BONUS BILLIE:


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BONUS BAD: