Any star is an unknowable quantity, one from whom we expect distance but crave intimacy -- it’s the paradox that drives the star-making industry. With our pop stars, we literally can’t get enough: we flock to flawed films, hungry for a glimpse of the “true” person behind the persona. We’ve watched Bette Midler channel Janis Joplin (sort of) in “The Rose,” Elvis remain himself even when he should be acting (just about any film), U2’s self-aggrandizing at the dawn of its career in “Rattle and Hum,” Madonna playing herself in both fiction (“Desperately Seeking Susan”) and documentary (“Truth or Dare”). The latest in line? Michael Jackson, who’s drawn a flood of viewers to the posthumously released rehearsal doc “This Is It,” which topped the box office last weekend.
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“This Is It”’s closest corollary may be “loudQUIETloud,” the 2006 rehearsal pic that saw the Pixies reuniting to play a few shows. But compared to strictly controlled sheen of “This Is It,” “loudQUIETloud” was practically a therapy session on tape. We witness repeated instances of Frank Black’s petulance; we watch as Kim Deal emerges from her post-recovery haze to rediscover her always-considerable talent as a singer, performer and songwriter. The transcendent live shows punctuate but do not dominate the film.
“This Is It” is all about the live show. You get the feeling that so much work (and let’s be honest, money) went into the creation of the concert’s sets, costumes, and short films that the producers just couldn’t let all that effort go to waste. Every production for every song is filmed in excruciating detail.
“This Is It” also spends an awful lot of energy bricking up the Michael Jackson citadel -- we see the tour dancers crying over their good luck at being chosen, we see people radio-ing ahead as MJ arrives on the scene, flanked by bodyguards. A succession of talking heads declaims his importance throughout. We nod our heads as MJ micromanages his staff, vocalizing a bassline here, a keyboard riff there, while the crew kowtows in return, calling him “sir” repeatedly. This is what we expect. But it feels, somehow, forced. The man at the center of this adulation was incredibly fragile, and he looks it, a thin reed of a person speaking in falsetto. As a viewer, you find yourself wondering, what goes on in the mind behind that still, sculpted face and those frighteningly precise dance moves? We know the myth; we want more.
Near the end of the film, Kenny Ortega teases MJ lightly. We’ve seen Jackson micromanage, complain, approve, give his benediction to the vast crew, but this is his most revealing moment. He struggles to enjoy the teasing and fire out an appropriate response. Yet he looks as if he wants to jump out of his skin, as if the person who’s been the center of all attention is suddenly a third wheel. He has no idea what to say, how to respond; you can almost see the gears turning in his head. What would a normal human do in this situation?
At that moment, the distance between MJ and his fans collapses. He’s just a gawky teenager, too self-conscious to let go and be one of the guys. His outsized talent has been fed steroids since childhood; the rest of him is starved and stunted. Most of “This Is It” focuses on those steroid-fed musical homeruns, mustering pop culture’s full arsenal (Light shows! Fireworks! Dancers!) to stun us into submission. But in that moment, the man we’ve all craved to know more about showed us himself, briefly and involuntarily. The film ably pays tribute to Jackson the entertainer, but that vulnerable moment may be the best glimpse we’ll ever get of Jackson the man. ]]>
I've been seeing Hall & Oates references all over the place during the past few years. At the start of the decade, their soft-rocking 1970s period came back into vogue, and now, at the end of the decade, it's their synth-y 1980s hits (and videos) that have made a big comeback. These days practically every indie rocker around (including Josh Rouse and Ben Gibbard of Death Cab) cite the duo as a major influence.
Hall & Oates ruled the airwaves during the 1970s and '80s, racking up a slew of hits that have never left the pop landscape. Stereotyped more by their music videos than their actual records, they combined a foundation in Philly soul with folk-pop, rock and New Wave. This box set paints a complete portrait of the duo, including the hits, key album tracks, rarities and concert material. The experimental early years offer unexpected riches, while their streamlined '80s material can still jump start any party. This plays like a master class in quality pop.
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With the release of Paramore's new album, Twilight's Kristen Stewart rocking her best Joan Jett for an upcoming bio-pic and Yeah Yeah Yeahs' Karen O leading an all-star cast of indie rockers on the Where the Wild Things Are soundtrack, it's really not a bad time to be a chick in a rock band. But of course, all chicks fronting rock bands face the age-old question at some point: To go solo or not to go solo? It's a question Paramore's Hayley Williams had to quash when rumors swirled this summer over a possible solo move when she contributed a track to the Jennifer's Body soundtrack. She's stayed adamant that Paramore is going nowhere, but this got us thinking -- as tempting as it is to reach for the brass ring, is going solo always a good idea? We lined up a few examples Ms. Williams might want to consider for future reference. (And please to be remembering: if you dig Paramore, solo projects, Wild Things, or all of the above, then get on the jet with a Rhapsody subscription -- try it for free right here, right now.) ]]>
on Airplane
It has been said that every movie worth watching since 1939 contains some reference to The Wizard of Oz. But what about music? This week, Wu-Tanger Ghostface Killah releases his new album, Ghostdini: The Wizard of Poetry, the cover artwork of which features a yellow brick road extended across hottie-bedecked poppy fields toward Emerald City. And on October 3, in honor of the movie's 70th anniversary, Netflix is streaming Oz free, in a new high-definition version. Last week, to commemorate the same landmark, Jennifer Hudson, Julianne Hough, and ?Uestlove of the Roots performed songs from the movie in New York. Rock and pop have been in love with the classic for years, but there's never been a better time to count down the highlights of Oz-rock history.]]>
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I’m no Perez Hilton, or even a young Joan Rivers for that matter, but I think I’ve spotted a pop trend -- albeit a minor one. It dawned on me when I recently stumbled across the video for Jason Mraz and Colbie Caillat's “Lucky.” (Nine months behind schedule, I know.) It was the same day I read about Break Up, the new album from Pete Yorn and Scarlett Johansson. I'm talking about this whole he/she retro-pop duo thingy. I’m calling it a trend because I can name four additional examples. There’s She & Him (M. Ward and Zooey Deschanel); Wilco and Feist; Mark Lanegan and Isobel Campbell; and Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs. Without sounding too reductive, all these acts are variations on a theme: take a little Lee and Nancy and some Serge and Brigitte and filter them through a modern alt-pop sensibility (with a dash of Americana thrown in for good measure, of course).]]>
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She's been "Like a Bird," Folklore-ic and a "Promiscuous" girl to Timbaland's promiscuous beats. Yes, Nelly Furtado sure likes to keep us guessing. With album No. 4, she's upped the experimental ante, expanding her already-significant advances into the Latin world with the entirely Spanish-language Mi Plan, out today. The divine Ms. F is almost as famous for her diverse collaborations and influences as she is for her own musical promiscuity -- or, perhaps more accurately, the two are overlapping for this gregarious artist/music-lover. In other words, she has great taste. So we're super-excited that she put together a fabulous playlist of her current favorite songs, many of them by artists she duets with on Mi Plan. While in New York doing press for the release of the album, she sat down with Rhapsody to discuss what it was like to work with everyone from Latin alt-rocker Julieta Venegas to bachata king Juan Luis Guerra, as well as Mi Plan and her future plans (hint: you'll never guess who she wants to work with next!).
Sally Shapiro
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So what's there to celebrate this Labor Day, anyway? That the unemployment rate is still going up, just not quite as fast as it was going up a few months ago? The songs on the playlist below are split between how hard it can be to find work, and how demoralizing jobs can be once you finally find one. Maybe a few will even make you hope unions aren’t dead. But here's hoping they all help you enjoy your day off.