I'm Down by the Beastie Boys (July 16, 2009)

Michael Jackson Dirt (July 16, 2009)

One thing we know about him. He's guilty for not having a sense of humor.

The song, "I'm Down", was recorded by the Beastie Boys in 1986. The song included samples from The Beatles. Jackson, who owned the Beatles catalog, refused to let the Beastie Boys release the song commercially on the LP "Licensed to Ill" released in 1986.

The year before, Jackson's lawyers served radio deejay Dr. Demento a cease and desist order to stop playing the parody of "We Are The World", which was titled, "We Are The Worms". Then in 1994, Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music, 510 U.S. 569, was a United States Supreme Court copyright law case that stands for the proposition that a commercial parody can be fair use. With that, Dr. Demento was allowed to play the song "We Are The Worms" on his show once again.

So with that, my hats go out to 2 Live Crew for helping make "Worms" possible for us novelty music fans to hear once again, that funny "Worms" song, and a thumbs up to The Beastie Boys for their solid debut album even if they couldn't include "Down" on their LP.

As for Jackson, well, his "Bad" album did well in 1987, but when hip hop, rock rap, house, and grunge were becoming the norm in the early 90s, Jackson's music sounded stale and so 80s when he released more albms in the 90s and 00s. Not only that, his popularity began to wane and his superstardom that was shining huge in 1983 was only a dwarf to the generation X ers, and nonexistant to today's teenagers.

While Jackson became a recluse as he lived in Neverland Ranch, refusing to grow up and get down with today's hip hop and rappers on the West L.A. scene, other stars took over the spotlight and changed the landscape and sound of the popular music scene as the 90s and 00s moved on without Jackson.

When all is said and done, one thing is for sure, is that Jackson just didn't get it in the real world. Just like any former child star on TV, former child stars on the records can be just as unmatured as those from TV. The idea of aging is to grow into new trends in music instead of creating their own world of culture just because culture has changed into something they didn't like. What's also scary about Jackson is that I just don't like the idea of any grown man catering to little boys overnight.

Former child stars expect me to base their behaviours on their past achievements? I'm sorry, but they don't get it. I liked Jackson when he was first putting out records with the Jackson Five in 1970 and as a soloist in 1979 with "Off The Wall." Great. I liked his next two albums. Great. His "Dangerous" album in 1991 started to show some flaws in his maturity and his Fox TV video was questionable. Uh oh. In 1993, allegations of child molestation. Oh no. Hard to believe that this was once a pop superstar in 1983, and 10 years later, he's devolved into housing boys overnight in his ranch? Also should be noted that there is no proof that he was a child molester.

I say hooray for his 70s and 80s achievements, but boo to his freakish behaviour and immaturity in the 90s and 00s.