As we all know very well by now, this past week the greatest entertainer of our generation passed away in a tragic death at an age in which he was too young to go. Michael Jackson would’ve always been too young to go for me. I could easily get into a sentimental mood about this man and everything that he meant to me, but I will pass on doing so as I’ve already been extremely saddened by his death.
I was actually surprised to realize how much the death of someone I had never met effected me. I think it had to be because when he died I felt that a large part of my childhood went with him, that the largest seam of our pop culture had unraveled, and that the man lived a tragic life in which he deserved better; he was robbed of his childhood and now he has been robbed of his old age. He gave us so much with his entire life, and by entire I mean exactly that, from the age of 5 when he joined the Jackson 5 till the age of 50, when he left us. And in the end we hung him for accusations that probably destroyed him.
When I think of Michael Jackson, I always think of being around 7 or 8, when my father bought my sister and me “Bad”, and then a few weeks later surprised us with “Thriller”. The first albums in the house that were actually “ours”. It is all we listened to and after dinner we would dance around to those two CDs in the living room like crazy people. I was so obsessed that I even had a Michael Jackson birthday party. For that I was decked out in a fake white glove, jean jacket, a Michael Jackson t-shirt, in my best effort to emulate the King of Pop. And now the King is dead. But long live the King, as he will do so in our hearts, memories, and the music that will be played on long after we are gone. Because it is ironic in that his death he found what he was seeking, a comeback. Everywhere you go in New York you hear Michael; in bars, in restaurants, on the streets and in the cabs. His music has been sold out in almost all stores, he holds the top spots on iTunes, Amazon, the internet almost crashed with traffic related to him, thousands of articles have been written about him. It the end we all knew where he really stood in our hearts.
For this feature I am going to skip the usual portion of where I discuss the original, because lets be honest, you don’t really need me to do so. The original will be there for you to listen to you, however. Also, I want to note that no Michael Jackson song ever needs to be remixed, because nothing anyone does would be able to compare to what he has done himself. But it’s always enjoyable to listen to others’ interpretations.
.Michael Jackson – “Smooth Criminal”
.“Smooth Criminal” – Telemitry Remix
Smooth Criminal was one of the earliest MJ songs I can remember. Off of “Bad” it was by far one of his greatest music videos too. Taken from a scene of his movie “Moonwalker” and set in a 1920s-like speakeasy, it was infamous for his famous leaning dance move. Telemitry does an amazing remix to this track with some serious build up. He speeds it up super fast; it’s amped up on energy drinks, coffee, speed, whatever you can think of. The beginning starts off great with a thick drum punch, MJ’s lyrics cut up and repeated “As he came into the…Are you ok, ok?” then backed with the echo of “I don’t know” followed by distorted synthesizers, cymbal splashes and eventually with subtle robotic bleeps. The real gem of the mix is how Telemitry handles the vocals.
.Michael Jackson – “I Want You Back”
.“I Want You Back” – DJ Z-Trip Remix
My all time favorite Jackson 5 song. Z-trips remix is beautiful. The beginning focuses on the famous guitar riff of the song, but it is re-done in a blues-y soul style. It is then followed by the equally famous bass line of the song, until, what I believe, is Berry Gordy’s voice that cuts in saying “Alright, stand by, I’m going back up to the top”, which brings a nice intimate, in-the-studio feel to the track. You can almost see the young brothers recording the song. Then most of the guitar is removed, the bass riff is thick and heavy, the drums splash and pound, setting the tone for the mix, and then a young Michael Jackson’s voice with soul sings the well know line, “When I had you to myself, I didn’t want you around”.
.Michael Jackson – “P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
.“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)” – Marquis Remix
This is a harsh and loud mix of the song. This is one you’d thrown on the turntables late in the evening, when the place is crowed, the drinks have been heavy and everyone is just about completely mental. The mix kicks off with the guitar riff of the song, chopped up, covered by Michael’s heavy breathing, an over dubbed percussion layer, then more guitars, louder and firmer, than the original. The background vocals kick in “Na, na na, na na na”, followed by MJ’s vocals coming in. The “Uh” of the song is splattered throughout with some bongs for a nice respite of music, and than the original, vocorized and sequenced portion of the track plays in. This is a maniacally fun mix.
.Michael Jackson – “Thriller”
.“Thriller” – Louis La Roche Remix
This one makes me smile. It starts off with a rework of the disco beat to the song, which is futuristic, metallic, robotic? I’m looking for a word. And then the infamous tune comes in, but it’s splashed around with electro grunge, heavier bass beats, thicker percussion, and it’s all slightly chopped. It’s loopy and fun. And to add to that fun the maniacal laugh of Vincent Price from the original silences everything and then, boom, all the music jumps back in. No vocals here, just a clever and fun electro rework of the music from the original.
.Michael Jackson – “Beat It”
.“Beat It” – Kid Nexus Remix
This mix opens with amplifier noise followed by the signature guitar lick of Eddie Van Halen from the original, though more distorted and grungy. The vocals to the track are subdued and heard a little lower. The mix is fairly slow and repetitive, its main attempt being to focus on the powerful guitar riff of the song. Some electronic bleeps are added for diversity in the end that follow nicely on more chopped up guitars.
.Michael Jackson – “Billie Jean”
.“Billie Jean” – Mihalis Safras
A quiet and soft remix. The Billie Jean tune is subdued and muffled to almost a silence. It plays in the background. Chopped up vocals hop around, which aren’t even words. And then there are many creative layers added on. Sequencers used to create various beats, many that sound tribal inspired with a touch of Ibiza house. They bleep and bounce over the tune. The mix stays at this tempo and it works incredibly well. Kind of makes your head bop.
.“Thriller” – DiscoTech Remix
This is a pretty good take on the horror song. It starts off brilliantly, better than the rest of the mix. It re-works the bubbly, disco music of the original, speeds it up, adds in some electro and house beats, features softly the lyrics from MJ’s “Rock With You”, and then the music and vocals of the original kick in. The song from there is fairly similar to the original, only sped up with add ins of kazoo like instruments.
.Michael Jackson – “Rock With You”
.“Rock With You” – Frankie Knuckles Remix
This is hardly a remix, more of a ballad. It’s the opposite of what a remix does. Instead of speeding up the song or adding to it, Frankie Knuckles strips it bare. The original is a disco, funk filled jam, with smooth beats, disco jives, and funk bass guitars. This mix is all of that gone, just a slow, delicate piano to the vocals. A few minutes in the song picks up with a house beat; but it’s subtle and soft, and the melody of the song is played via piano.
.“I Want You Back” – Rogerseventytwo Remix
Rogerseventytwo’s take on this is completely skewed in the other direction of the original, which is the right way to go when taking on such a beloved song. He keeps Michael’s vocals completely in check (though slightly echoed) but transforms and layers the track with funk filled bass lines and house beats. It brings out a stadium, anthem feel to the song.
.“Thriller” – Villains Remix
I know I have done quite a few Thriller remixes in this post, but they are the most prominent and the best. So I won’t say much here. This is mostly an instrumental mix, which stretches the vocals to work like an instrument, and the typical electronic fare is placed all over the mix. I love this one.
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Rest in peace, MJ.
