Michael's Influence

Almost called this post "Michael Jackson still alive" though quickly realized it'd be viewed as a cheap stunt to grab hits. But with performers (and performances) like this, the spirit of Michael Jackson is well entrenched for the foreseeable future. Music will never be the same.

Video a bit choppy, but sound is so pure (plus she's rocking that hat straight MJ style.)

I know, I know. I'm way too cool to like Christina Aguilera, right? Sheeeeeeit... ever since I saw her crush this song on SNL a few years back I've never looked at her the same. Always knew she had pipes, but this goes so far beyond vocals. For me, one of the hottest tracks to drop in the last decade, seriously. I would think about seeing her live based on this performance alone.

And while I thought about embedding a string of videos and linking to other obvious MJ influenced artists... nah. This is it. What really inspired this post was listening to what for me, is an obscure live version of the song "Things I Do For You." I started saying, "Damn, that sounds just like this other song... what is it? Hmmmn. Oh snap!" It's cool, because I've had the Aguilera SNL performance saved on my tivo forever and now I find it's a nod to MJ in more ways than I knew.

Here's the live MJ cut. So Maxwell - so Jamiroquai - so D'angelo's Soulquarians. If you listened to the whole Aguilera track you'll pick up the cues taken from this MJ cut. Did you know Mike got down like this?

Live in Japan, 1987.