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Music

Don’t Stop ‘Til You Earn Enough: The Bullshit of the Posthumous Michael Jackson Album

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A few days after Michael Jackson died in June 2009, I found myself up in Harlem at the Apollo Theater covering a wake of sorts, led by Reverend Al Sharpton and Spike Lee. I had never seen an entire neighborhood out in the streets, mourning their icon no less. By the time the memorial let out, it was raining. The crowd’s homemade posters were slowly deteriorating, sort of like Jackson himself as time ticked away, but there is one I will never forget: “MJ, you will live on forever” in red glitter paint. At the time I didn’t anticipate the lengths to which the music industry would go to make these words true. … Read More

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Music

Decoding Lady Gaga’s ‘G.U.Y.’ Video: Rebirth With a Side of Michael Jackson Clones

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As Lady Gaga promised during her SXSW keynote, she released a new, batshit crazy video this weekend. It’s billed as a video for ARTPOP track “G.U.Y.” but it’s actually a 12-minute film that includes “ARTPOP,” “Venus,” “G.U.Y.”, “MANiCURE” and four minutes of credits in which Gaga thanks every PA, lifeguard, and security dude who worked on the thing. As we’ve done in the past, Flavorwire picked apart Gaga’s mixed messages and seemingly endless sources of inspiration. … Read More

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Music

Here’s the Slow-Jam Cover of Michael Jackson’s “Remember the Time” You Never Knew You Wanted

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Confession: this Michael Jackson fan holds the not-quite-consensus opinion that his 1991 album Dangerous was, in fact, far superior… Read More

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Music

Remembering The King of Pop: How Michael Jackson Changed Music Forever

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Today would have been Michael Jackson’s 55th birthday. Tragically, of course, he didn’t live long enough to see it — he died four years ago of a heart attack catalysed by propofol and benzodiazepine intoxication, and the wranglings over his death and legacy continue to this day. But for all that Jackson’s life was a strange and often sad one, he deserves to be remembered first and foremost as one of the most spectacular musical talents who’s ever lived, an endlessly gifted singer, dancer and songwriter. So to remember him today, here’s a retrospective of the various ways in which he changed both music and the music industry. RIP. … Read More

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Music

Awesome Behind-the-Scenes Photos From the Sets of Famous Music Videos

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In the course of writing about the director’s cut of the “Heart-Shaped Box” video yesterday, we came across a pretty great behind-the-scenes photo of Nirvana hanging out on set with the woman who appears in the video wearing a terrifying skinless fat suit. We’re very partial to such images here at Flavorwire, and we got to thinking that there must be more out there on the Internet. And indeed there are — so here’s a selection of some of the… Read More

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Music

Director’s Cuts of Famous Music Videos

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Director’s cuts: sometimes they’re the definitive version that the auteur wanted to make all along, and sometimes they’re a demonstration of why letting the director have the final cut isn’t always such a great idea. Either way, until recently, the music video has been largely untouched by the entire director’s cut phenomenon, but the recent appearance of a new version of Nirvana’s iconic “Heart-Shaped Box” video got us thinking about other alternate cuts of music videos. Here are a selection. … Read More

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Film

Famous Directors and Their Famous Music Video Muses

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Paul Thomas Anderson has reunited with Fiona Apple for the video for “Hot Knife,” the second single from last year’s The Idler Wheel…. It’s the latest episode in a long creative relationship between the two, and it got us thinking about similar connections between directors and musicians — specifically, noted directors and the musicians who’ve served as their muses over the years. Here’s a selection of the most… Read More

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Music

Girl Talk Mashed Up Daft Punk With Michael Jackson, Kanye With Marilyn Manson

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Gregg Gillis reliably provides a good time, and the mashup ingenue’s recent set in Charlotte, North Carolina was no exception,… Read More

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Pop Culture

15 Awesome (And Often Bizarre) Pop Culture-Inspired Video Games You Can Play for Free

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The last couple of weeks have seen the emergence of a couple of endearingly strange pop culture-based video games — there’s been news of a futuristic RPG involving Kanye West and a strangely depressing game based on Joy Division’s “Love Will Tear Us Apart,” of all things. But they’re just the latest in a long line of weird and wonderful games based on pop culture. Ever since the 1980s, game developers have been making deals to cash in on the popularity of celebrities by featuring them in games, some successfully, some less so. We’ve scoured the web for the best (or at least the strangest) of these games, so click through to check them out — most are available to play online, and if not, you can download them for free. … Read More

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Music

The 50 Albums Everyone Needs to Own, 1963-2013

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No one buys albums anymore, goes the music industry truism. And yet, for all that the format’s commercial viability may or may not be on the wane, sitting and listening to a great album from start to finish is one of the greatest pleasures that music can bring. Flavorwire recently got to thinking about how one might build a record collection if you really only did buy one record a year. So here’s the result of our thought exercise: 50 albums you really should own, one a year from 1963 until the present… Read More

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