Music Blogs

Last week, arguably the biggest music story of at least the last decade broke, causing the emotional meltdown of millions of fans and the almost literal meltdown of the Internet itself: the sudden death of the King Of Pop, Michael Jackson, at age 50 from a cardiac arrest. As a result, for the first time in this blog's history, That's Really Week went on hiatus. It seemed like the respectful thing to do. All the other stories we'd been planning to write about--the Perez Hilton/will.i.am smackdown, Chris Brown's plea bargain, Adam Lambert's unauthorized pre-Idol album--all seemed so very trivial and uninteresting in light of the Jackson tragedy.

But now we're back to business as usual, although in another That's Really Week first, all the top stories in this post are about a single artist, the late Michael, who continued to completely dominate the headlines this week. Jackson's crazy life in the spotlight had always been a circus--from the urban legends about Elephant Man bones, oxygen sleeping tents, chimpanzees, and prosthetic noses, to numerous legal scandals and financial woes--and his death has been no different, as all sorts of sad and bizarre stories have come to light.

Of course, the most troubling stories have centered around the exact cause of Michael's death at such a young age--most notably allegations of his drug abuse, and how he might have obtained potentially life-threatening narcotics. This week an anesthetic used in operating rooms to induce unconsciousness, a sedative called Diprivan or Propofol, was found in Michael's home, and authorities are still investigating allegations that singer had been subsisting on a drug diet of multiple painkillers, sedatives, and antidepressants before his death. Furthermore, Los Angeles police were told that Michael was given an injection of Demerol just an hour before his demise, but Michael's personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray (the man who initially found Michael, unconscious and unbreathing, in his bedroom, and tried to perform CPR), has denied via his attorney that he prescribed Michael either Demerol or OxyContin. Dr. Murray has been, according to the LAPD, "cooperative" in the ongoing investigation, and is not a suspect.

As of this writing, it is still unclear was actually caused Michael to go into cardiac arrest. Two autopsies have been conducted--the second one at the request of the Jackson family--but conclusive results are not expected for several weeks.

Another one of the biggest concerns after the shock of Michael's unexpected passing has been what will become of his three orphaned children: 12-year-old son Prince, 11-year-old daughter Paris, and 7-year-old son Prince II, aka Blanket. Michael's ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, is the biological mother of the elder two children (the mother of Blanket, who was conceived via a surrogate, has never been revealed), but she reportedly signed away her rights years ago after she and Michael divorced. Thus, Michael's will bestowed custody of the three children to his beloved mother, Katherine Jackson, with his longtime friend/Motown labelmate Diana Ross named as Katherine's successor if necessary. Katherine was granted temporary guardianship of Michael's offspring this past Monday, but now Debbie is claiming that Michael was not the biological father of Prince I and Paris, and that in fact they were sired by Arnold Klein, Michael's dermatologist and Debbie's former boss.

As of this writing, it is still unclear whether Debbie will seek custody of Prince I and Paris. Her attorney, Eric M. George, stated: "The truth is that Debbie has not reached a final decision concerning the pending custody proceedings. When Debbie does take a position in the public forum of the court, those positions will of course be conveyed to all interested persons." A rescheduled guardianship hearing is set for July 13.

Meanwhile, Michael's first wife, Lisa Marie Presley, spoke out touchingly--and chillingly--about her late husband, once and for all quashing any rumors that their marriage was a publicity stunt to polish up Michael's post-child-molestation-scandal image. "I am going to say now what I have never said before because I want the truth out there for once," she blogged from the heart on her MySpace page. "Our relationship was not 'a sham' as is being reported in the press. It was an unusual relationship yes, where two unusual people who did not live or know a 'normal life' found a connection, perhaps with some suspect timing on his part. Nonetheless, I do believe he loved me as much as he could love anyone and I loved him very much. I wanted to 'save him,' I wanted to save him from the inevitable which is what has just happened. His family and his loved ones also wanted to save him from this as well but didn't know how and this was 14 years ago. We all worried that this would be the outcome then."

Lisa Marie also disturbingly revealed that Michael had predicted he would die young and tragically, just like her equally iconic father, another "King," Elvis Presley.

Additionally, another issue on Michael fans' minds has been what sort of public memorial service will be held in the King Of Pop's honor. Many tributes have taken place already--from unofficial vigils at the Motown studio, the Apollo Theater, Michael's star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame, and his Neverland Ranch home; to numerous televised tributes, including a totally retooled, Jackson-centric BET Awards ceremony last Sunday night; to a group dance organized by the same Filipino inmates behind 2007's viral-video "Thriller" prison dance.

At first it was believed that there would be an official public memorial/viewing at Neverland, but it has since been announced that a giant ceremony will be held next Tuesday morning at downtown L.A.'s Staples Center--with 17,500 free tickets (11,000 for the Staples Center and 6,500 for the adjacent Nokia Theatre) provided to the public, plus a free worldwide video feed. The online scramble to secure tickets this week caused the Internet to practically break down once again, and although no other details have been provided, the memorial is certain to be a massive production.

Speaking of massive productions, Michael died only two weeks before he was set to begin his 50-date "This Is It" comeback concert residency at the O2 Arena in London. While those shows, which would have kicked off July 13, will sadly never happen now, video of one of his final rehearsals was released by AEG Live to news outlets his week. In the footage--shot live at the Staples Center, ironically now the site of his aforementioned Tuesday memorial--Michael seemed healthy, dancing energetically while performing a medley of his hits. There is now talk that a full-length video of this rehearsal will be released commercially on DVD, as it was, for all purposes, his historical last performance. Meanwhile, O2 concert promoters at AEG Live are offering full ticket refunds for the O2 concerts, although there are rumors that some of the O2 dates will be turned into Michael tribute shows starring everyone and anyone from a reunited Abba to obvious Jackson disciple Justin Timberlake.

And finally, while Michael Jackson is gone, clearly his music lives on. While it has been revealed that he was working on two albums at the time of his passing and that the results of those recording sessions could be released from the vaults in the future, the public's appetite for his classic, timeless material has become absolutely voracious in the days since his death. After dying, Michael became the first artist to sell more than 1 million song downloads in one week (he far exceeded that total, running up a tally of 2.6 million); he became the first artist in history to have a catalog album outsell the week's #1 current album); he had an unprecedented 50 songs on the Top 200 Hot Digital Songs chart; and he charted a record nine of the top 10 albums on the Top Catalog Albums chart. Obviously Michael is still the King Of Pop, and his music will continue to fill dancefloors and iPods for decades.

And on that bittersweet note, thus concludes the most unusual entry in this column's HIStory. Michael will surely continue to make big after-death headlines in the weeks to come, so continue checking back for more updates on his memorial, autopsy, custody battle, posthumous recordings, etc.

THIS WEEK'S TOP 10 MICHAEL JACKSON STORIES:

1) Powerful Sedative Found In Michael Jackson's Home - More details on Michael's drug use come to light.

2) Memorial Service Planned For Tuesday - L.A.'s Staples Center will host a giant tribute, broadcast to the world.

3) Court Fight Over Michael's Children Looms - What will happen to Prince, Paris, and Blanket?

4) Michael Rehearsal Video Released - The energetic footage indicates that the O2 Arena shows would have been a major comeback.

5) Still The King Of Pop - Jackson dominates the Billboard charts after death.

6) Doctored Evidence? - The lawyer for Jackson's personal physician insists his client is "not a suspect."

7) Father Knows Best? - Joe Jackson's post-tragedy behavior on the BET Awards red carpet raises eyebrows, tempers.

8) A Brother Mourns - Jermaine Jackson declares, "I wish it had been me."

9) Prisoners Of Love - The Filipino inmates behind 2007's viral-video "Thriller" prison dance organize a new MJ tribute routine.

10) Abba, Timberlake? - Rumors swirl over who will fill in for Michael's London comeback concerts.