Michael Jackson is one of my favorite artists, so it’s not surprising that the boys like him too. We listen to him in the car and watch his videos at home. They reference Michael by name quite often; Zach was even Michael Jackson for Halloween this year. As with anyone, the boys have favorite songs. They tend to lean towards Thriler-through-Dangerous era songs like Beat It, Thriller, Bad, Smooth Criminal, Dangerous, and Black Or White. Almost anything from those three albums is pretty much fine. They like some of the songs from his HIStory album, They Don’t Care About Us, in particular; as well as a couple of songs from Blood on the Dance Floor such as Ghosts (a.k.a. “The Scary Song”). They do not like anything from Jackson’s 2001 Invincible album. Every time I a song from that album plays one of them immediately tells me that they don’t like it. There isn’t much from Michael that was any good but none of them are particularly disliked. They seem to like most of the songs on XSCAPE, especially A Place with No Name and Slave to the Rhythm.
Again unsurprisingly the boys tend to favor the songs that I like and play more often. The only real area where we disagree is the Invincible album. It’s not as strong as his other work, but I still enjoy it and try to sneak a song in every so often. I’m glad that they like all of the songs on Dangerous because it is my all-time favorite album, followed closely by Bad, and then the new material on Blood on the Dance Floor (the remixes are crap). Sally has been quite gracious as of late, having dealt with 11 years of constant Jackson music played by me followed by 3 years of increased listening at the boys’ request. They boys ask for Michael Jackson music almost every time they are in the car. It makes me feel good that I’ve had an effect on them and that we can share an interest. Sally only has to endure another 15 years of it 🙂
Relatively Ambitious 