Only 15% of those who go into Cardiac Arrest outside of a hospital survive.

Did you have to look up that statistic?

A heart attack. Riiight. I wonder what the odds were on him not even starting his London residency. Not long I imagine.

get ready for the world's largest ticket refund of all time.

TMZ is saying he didn't make it

According to NBC News, the "Today" show spoke with Michael Jackson's office and they said the TMZ report is absolutely untrue and that he is in the studio working on a song with a very catchy chorus.

Joe Buck's favorite website is reporting he died.

What a long, strange trip it was.

I've only been able to confirm that he died via TMZ; though People.com has an article that he is in the hospital here. What the fuck is going on... are there other reports?

Damn, two old white women in the same day.

remember a few years ago when Michael Jackson wanted to construct a giant Michael Jackson robot and have it roam the desert outside of Vegas?

I guess that idea will never come to fruition.

RIP

Rumors now that it was suicide from sleeping pills.

fuck.

LA Times is saying he's in a coma. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2009...steve-ruda.html

LA Times says he's in a coma

LOL CNN: "Michael Jackson has a following like the Grateful Dead"

i heard he died and then they revived him from the dead and now he is alive.

Sorry

Can you give a fucking link?

LA Times now says he's dead

Just saw that his death was confirmed on E! While he's a weirdo, I still love his music. Sad day.

Confirmed.

Truly sad day

... was a weirdo.

Well fuck. I was really hoping he was gonna release one last killer album that would redeem himself of the last 15 years of bullshit that's surrounded him. So much for that . Pretty sad day, love him or hate him when he was at his best and his worst you just couldn't ignore him.

Rest in peace, Michael.

I'll never forget playing Castlevania II: Simon's Quest with 'Thriller' on repeat for hours on end.

Playing it loud, starting with the Jackson 5. I'll be playing lots of it at my gigs this weekend.

NP: Remember The Time

Could not possibly agree more. I cannot believe this. Wow. My childhood is officially dead. What a terribly sad day...first Farrah, now Michael.

had totally forgotten about that till just then, played that game for ages also
RIP

Seriously. No one was more talented than this guy. Fuck anyone who says bad shit about him in this thread. Gravitas, pricks. He was your better.

grew up a huge fan of this dude, celebrated the moonwalk with everybody else but most of those fond memories have been wiped out when he started up with the kid shit. it's a shame, because he was probably a victim of some sort himself when he was a child and we can probably blame pops for that but eh, whatever i don't see how you can say a guy who got kids drunk so they could suck his dick was anybody's "better". fuck mike.
and o yea...

PRINCE WINS!!!!

They say there's one in every crowd. Guess I'll strap it on and be it in this one:

Depending on age, Jackson means different things to different people. To me, he's the author of two great, amazing solo records and... that's pretty much it. Post-Thriller, I see a guy who tried to con American newspapers into running full page ads for the Victory tour free b/c they "constituted a public service announcement."

I see a guy whose phenomenal success came largely on the backs of poor, urban Americans, a demo he thanked by charging $120 for a mandatory four tickets to each show of that same tour. (In 1984, $120 for almost any amount of tickets, for almost any performer, was obscene.) I see a guy who believed his own hype and launched this ridiculous tour without ever bothering to make sure it would be worth the price (reviews at the time were almost uniformly horrible.)

I see a guy who went on to make two records which divide opinion (I thought they more or less sucked; millions disagree) and proceeded to disappear farther and farther up his own arsehole.

I see a pedophile. I see a guy almost wholly undeserving of the adulation he received in life and whose sense of entitlement was so far out of proportion to his talent that it eclipsed and consumed any good will I might have left for him.

I do not doubt his fans' and family's grief, nor do I wish to spit on it. I do not share it, however. Before we waft him into the halls of greatness, let's remember all of who and what this guy was.

Word to theminimumcircus: The day a kiddie diddler is mine or anyone's better is the day I eat the corn out of your shit.

B/c I'm an idiot and/or b/c the YouTube embed on this board sucks, I couldn't post his Motown 25 performance.

So, just go ahead and picture it in your head.

I don't care if he molested you brainstorm, he was an artist that no one ever came close to besting when he was at his finest. Tons of artists have done some odious shit, but really, I excuse it--ars longa.

Quite apart from what kind of person this makes you (one I never, ever want to meet) at MJ's best he was aided and abetted by Quincy Jones to a degree which belies your views.

Wrong side of the bed this morning?

Stay away people! This man is a wizard! A conjuror!

{or just understands the internet}

I remember watching this as a kid and being blown away.

Give me a break you sanctimonious fool. The only reason you could possibly have for hating Jackson versus admiring his accomplishments is if he fucked your face. Your imagination can't conjure empathy for some kid you don't even know.

It's just easy to say that he signifies a celebrity who gave millions upon millions of dollars to charities for Alcohol/Drug abuse, to helping conditions to Africa, and who released some remarkable pop music which changed the music scene that we know. And after becoming arguably the most famous man in the world the fame changed him.

Fame either freaks people out or makes them freaks. I just wonder how different people's reactions would have been if he took the Cobain way out.

As for the pedophile shit. I have no idea. I think the last one in the 2000's was a cashgrab, but I have no idea about previous offenses, I was too young

Man, you really are an asshole. And don't know much about music if you're just counting "two divisive records." Catch up with 68-79 sometime. Guy was abused from day one and never given a chance to lead a normal life. And still changed music.

He certainly leaves an incredibly complicated personal legacy.

But Off the Wall and Thriller are up there with the all-time great albums. And his singing style is up there with Ol' Blue Eyes for technique, phrasing, emotion and originality.

The correct response is somewhere in the middle.

There's others who share his opinion. From a friend's (female) comment on facebook

"i don't cry for millionaires who spike kids's sodas with sauv blanc to touch young penis. his music sucked, his lifestyle was ignored and he could have just paid for sex. He chose to molest. p-y- T !!!"

Wow. They should just have this video looping on his tombstone.