A couple of weeks ago, I was going through some boxes that I have in storage, and I came across a stash of cassette tapes that were just collecting dust. Mainly from the late 80s and early 90s, I have looked at them several times over the years, but never had the heart to part with them. Fast forward a week later, and as I was sitting in my car, changing channels on the radio, I realized that I have a cassette player in my car that I had never used. (Yeah…clueless, right?) Since I just recently wrote about Climie Fisher, I decided to pull the tape out and throw it in the car. As a result, I think I have a new feature for the blog. Take an old-school tape, throw it in the deck, and see if it holds up. Here goes…
Everything starts off well, with their only US hit “Love Changes Everything”. There are songs from your past that hold up well enough that they can slip right back into your daily playlist, and this one’s in that elite class. Compare that to “Rise to the Occasion”, which I can recognize why I liked at the time, but doesn’t hold up so well 20 years later. (Don’t get me started on the hip-hop remix, which was dated as soon as it hit the airwaves) Track #3 is “I Won’t Bleed For You”, and it’s typical record filler.
Interesting fact that I had completely forgotten about: “Room to Move”, which was a top 10 hit here in the US for Animotion, was written and originally recorded by Climie Fisher. Their version is decent, although the male/female trade-off vocals on the Animotion version provide the more-superior version of the song. In fact, the contrast of vocals between these two versions provided both a blessing and a curse for Clime Fisher. Simon Climie has such a distinct voice that it borders on “love it or hate it”. One of the reasons that I think “Rise” didn’t do well in the US was because there were plenty of male vocalists in the mid- to late-80s doing the sensitive vocals on emotional ballads (Peter Cetera, anyone?) that there just wasn’t a need for CF’s ballad at the time. In fact, it was only when the hip-hop version was released that the song caught fire in other territories.
Here’s the worst part of the review for me: the rest of the cassette was good. Good, not great, and a bit non-descript. I am sure that the second side of the album was intended to flow, but there is too much flow at times, and you almost feel like you are listening to a 10-minute track instead of 3 regular length songs. Would I put this on in the background and like it? Sure. Would I go out of my way to listen to side two of Everything? Not likely.
I think I’ve got myself together here. Went to lunch, and put on Sirius to hear the Michael Jackson memorial. Things were good until “Will You Be There”, and then the floodgates opened. First off, to have Jennifer Hudson sing it is brilliant, given what she’s been through in the past year. But when Michael’s spoke outro of the song played, I got choked up.
The video finally hit today for “
– First off, if you haven’t already done so, head on over 
The Jackson 5 had their first hit the year I was born. 40 years on, children born in a completely different century still know “I Want You Back” and “ABC”. Those are my first memories of Michael Jackson, although the first song that really impacted me was “Never Can Say Goodbye”, which came out in 1971. Even as a child of 9 or 10, I got it. That voice, that talent, that connection. How could someone so young get that? And yet, he did. Even singing Christmas songs like “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus”, Michael had an amazing way to project and connect that I doubt I could find any other artist of his generation to do.
“Off the Wall”, “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough”, “She’s Out of My Life”, and especially “Rock With You”…without knowing it, my musical world was shifting along with Michael’s. There’s life in a record that you truly get. It seems to breathe on its own, and the drum beat might as well have blood coursing though it. “Rock” not only lived and breathed, it seemed to imbibe me with an energy that I would become more familiar with as I got older. It’s an energy that grows on itself and is hard to predict, but you know it when you’re in it. But even at that point, it was still just a song. Then Motown 25 came along, and I was a goner.
“The Girl Is Mine” has to be the lamest lead single for a hit album in the history of pop music. Who really cared? I mean, two stars singing a duet, but really, didn’t more people still care about McCartney at that point? “Billie Jean”, on the other hand, while not an Earth-shattering song, still set the world on fire. The performance, the video, the song…it’s an experience that only happens a couple of times in a lifetime. I wanted the red jacket, I wanted a glove, I wanted to be connected in any way possible, but the music was really my only way. (For more about my Thriller period, go 
Michael Jackson’s star may have been tarnished over the years, but I believe that many have lost sight of all of the good that he brought to the world through his music and actions. I’m not making excuses for what people have said he did, and we may never know for sure how things went down. But for me, Michael opened my eyes to not only the diversity of music, but also the diversity of people. He wasn’t afraid to be different, and he encouraged others to be themselves, rather than conform. If anyone wants to find fault with that, have at it. My choice is to remain positive, and build off the strengths of his legacy. Bashing his past does no one any good right now.
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