Anyway, he wrote some of the best, funniest most biting criticism of music ever printed. Please don't read it, or I'll look like a worthless hack by comparison. Among many other things, he contributed to perhaps the greatest radio comedy show of all time, the BBC's On the Hour, and wrote essential pieces about politics, pop culture, and his own battle with cancer for the Philadelphia Weekly. I had the pleasure of corresponding with him only a few times, but his advice and encouragement meant a lot, and I hereby dedicate every word I write this year to him. (Even the really shitty ones — sorry to embarrass you, Mr. Wells, but this is your come-uppance for all the mean things you said about poor, blameless Morrissey.)
DAVID THORPE |dthorpe@phx.com
Related:
Mommy, what's with Michael?, Britney Spears and Michael Jackson fight it out, Reaction Jackson, More 
- Mommy, what's with Michael?
" After I got HIStory , I played it incessantly. It was the greatest, strangest, angriest, most bizarre thing I ever heard. Michael Jackson is this iconic persona..."
- Britney Spears and Michael Jackson fight it out
Cue up track six on the new Britney (Jive) and prepare yourself for the Technicolor disco flash-back of the year, swooning string section, chunky Nile Rodgers guitar riff, and all. The song's called "Anticipating," and it captures the most famous 19-year-old girl in the world at her guileless, sentimental best.
- Reaction Jackson
There was Michael the living, breathing, singing performer and Jackson the commercial spectacle. We surrendered to the former, he to the latter.
- Review: Michael Jackson | Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix
Personally, I'm fascinated by Michael Jackson, who may be the only truly deviant artist in modern pop: who would you really find scarier in a dark alley, him or Marilyn Manson?
- Send in the clowns
The New York Post got to resurrect its priceless "Wacko Jacko" headline. Barbara Walters scored Super Bowl-level ratings without having to lift a pretty little finger. And Michael Jackson, well, no matter how you slice it, he got screwed royally.
- The Straight Dope: Michael Jackson and the Beatles
You think an overdubbed Beatles tune could be any weirder than a new Beatles song with John Lennon? Then again, "I Want to Hold You Hand" overdubbed by a guy with a hand on his crotch and his hair on fire would be pretty hard to top. But don't worry, it won't happen, or anyway, it won't happen as a result of Jackson owning the Beatles library.
- VIDEO: Michael Jackson's memorial service
Thousands attend Michael Jackson's memorial inside the Staples Center in LA
- The Big Hurt: Oddest proposal
"Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," said Al Sharpton to Michael Jackson's children. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with."
- The Thriller is gone
With the release of Bad (Epic), Michael Jackson ends a recording hiatus of nearly five years. He could have stayed away for 10 years and still not have escaped the shadow of Thriller , the biggest-selling album of all time.
- Abnormal encounter of the suds kind
What better place to show off your new brand of beer, Three Stooges, than at the annual Stooges convention in California? That's exactly what Dewey Parsons was doing recently when word came that the convention had to close early to allow a certain VIP to wander through.
- 2009: The year in Phoenix blog posts
Our most popular blog posts from 2009
- Less
Topics:
Big Hurt
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Music Stars, More
, Celebrity News, Entertainment, Music Stars, Criminal Sentencing and Punishment, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, The Pirate Bay, Chris Brown, Less
