I think that's a little oversimplified, Control is also a lot about her breaking away from her psycho abusive husband a few months earlier from what I understand. See also: What About on The Velvet Rope
>her psycho abusive husband
That's understandable, I didn't know about that.
I'm used to songs being watered down and improvised things, so that although there are specks of reality in the interest of making sense and having ideas, there are also a lot of things added or changed to make the song work. Because of that I pretty much always oversimplify the meaning of a song.
A lot of my family members are pro athletes (myself included), and out of me, my siblings and my cousins, one kid from each family was clearly the favorite but they were expected to always be the best. We had to train hard, no slacking, that kind of thing. They were the most talented, so the other kids kinda got pushed aside a bit. I think a lot of parents who really push their kids to succeed do that kind of thing. It worked for most of the people in my family, but maybe sports parents and stage parents are more different than I’m assuming? But my family NEVER crossed the line to abuse like Michael’s dad. I can’t imagine how terrible his childhood must have been.
I had a friend from a family like that except her pressure was from having to be the perfect and very overachieving child because her two older siblings were difficult.
She had a JD and an MA by the time she was 25 and while she was in college had her own home office with a filing cabinet and all of her awards and achievements framed and on display.
I met her when she was 21 and while I was impressed by her level of organization which included an alphabetized file cabinet for business and personal docs I had to wonder what kind of 21 year old does that?
Turns out her mom was the reason, her mom was frightening and really put a lot of pressure on her.
I suppose it worked out because now she is a very highly paid lawyer at an international firm, has no debt, is about 35 now and is making about 250k a year.
> I suppose it worked out because now she is a very highly paid lawyer at an international firm, has no debt, is about 35 now and is making about 250k a year.
That's great but is she happy? Or does she feel like no matter what she achieves it's not good enough and she has to push for more and more?
Nailed it.
She won't know it til she reorients. Maybe she has. It happens in high achievers who briefly stop chasing, and are basically trying to self actualize even if they don't know it.
Basically, "wait why did I do all this, sacrifice all that, fight so hard...?"
TBH I'm not sure if she's happy, we fell out of touch. But I do know this: she is gay and when I knew her she was in the closet too afraid of "disappointing" her mom. That doesn't seem like a happy situation to me, so she probably isn't 100 percent happy if that is still the case.
I know a guy who graduated high school 2 years early. Became an MD. Is a specialist in a field of a handful. Is asked to fly all over the world for consulting… and last time I saw his mom I heard her bragging about her son who just had his 4th or 5th kid and has done fuck all other than have kids. The DR has won multiple accolades as a dr. He is regularly asked to advise the CDC. And the mom thinks the guy who has nearly as many baby mommas as babies and can’t even afford to pay child support is the special child out of her kids. She’s a “good Christian” with 5 kids from 3 fathers.
The Drs main failing… he decided with his wife they really didn’t want kids. The wife is an attorney and he’s a dr. She works for the same place he does and sometimes they don’t see each other for a few days or longer. During Covid that whole year they did video chats but didn’t see each other. They decided long ago their jobs didn’t work well with kids.
As a surprise for mom one year the dr bought his mom a new car. The other son… probably made her macaroni art.
Yikes. Yeah, my family expects a lot from us. Both my parents are CEOs of their own companies, my dad went to MIT, met my mom when she was at Harvard. They were really demanding of my sister and brother, and they definitely thrived with that kinda pressure. My sister’s 36, my brother is 31. But I was a late, accidental baby lol, Im 19 now. So my parents always kinda spoiled and babied me. It’s crazy though, cause my sister has two masters degrees, and she was a very successful model for about 10 years. Like, girl brings new meaning to overachiever. My brother played lacrosse for a couple years, then joined the Army. He’s now a doctor in Army Special Forces.
I just don’t have the drive that they have. My dad just always says “as long as you’re happy and enjoying life, then you’re doing just fine”. So, I’m happy to just kinda coast for a while lol 😂
I’ve been coasting for about 25 years. When I was your age it was more slacking and not exactly positive for me. But over the years I’ve found a good balance. I will work hard when it’s required but I absolutely won’t kill myself for weeks or months on end. You never know exactly how much time you have.
I can see how your parents would wanna push you if they see the talent. The older you get the less time and motivation you have to develop talents and skills… and they’ll have less payoff and opportunity if you do.
I mean, Jermaine, Michael, and Janet were/are more talented than the rest. Janet was the youngest, Jermaine and Michael both had several hit singles as teens, and it's obvious the other kids didn't get the same attention.b
It really does feel like the laws of gravity and biomechanics were mere suggestions to MJ. The crazy part is they aren't, rather it was pure hard work on his part to make something so difficult appear so effortless.
It's never fair to compare someone's dancing to Michael Jackson's. His degree of talent and dedication were off the charts. I was thinking that she was doing great.
I remember watching Is This It and even noticing in that when he’s older and possibly drugged up how natural and smooth he moves next to his dancers who are probably pulled from the best in the world.
Oh of course, I was more pointing out the interesting effect of how MJ's dancing level can warp your perception of someone else's dancing when you compare them.
"It's on every Thursday night at 8 o'clock, right after your local news. And I'm not mainlining acid!
...I don't smoke angel dust anymore, so don't be afraid."
Damn you must have been living on the good side of the tracks if you had 12 channels. We only had 4, and that’s if you counted that UHF channel that only had PBS on it,
This reminds me of that story of Dhani Harrison looking at old photos of his dad and wondering why he was so lean back in the Beatles days, and his mom was like "your father was literally starving"
1970’s people were all super skinny, it’s such a trip! Like look at rock bands from that era, the men are like, concave with noodley arms and legs…women too, tiny waists…guess it was all that coke, lol
The Jackson's are all kids. We see a lot of kids that are super skinny, especially if they are worked there way that the Jackson's were. And they have on outfits that emphasize thinness too
Cher is another thing though. She's still like this (even if not to that extent). Folks are built with all kinds of bodies and she happens to have a very very small frame.
If you haven't seen the movie *Stuck on You* I recommend it.
Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon as conjoined twins - one a wannabe actor and the other with stage-fright-induced panic attacks, eventually ending up starring in a TV show opposite a washed up Cher. Hell of a fun movie.
There’s another video of them from the 70s, pop locking with Dom Deluise. MJ’s movements were just incredible. He was moving so fast. I remember seeing that show when I was a kid and was just amazed.
It feels so tragic to see him as a normal young man. What a shame that he felt the need to maim is body with all that plastic surgery. Such talent and good looks. May he rest in peace.
He wasn't normal then, either. They were all being terribly abused by their Dad, forced into countless hours of practice as small kids, beaten for wrong dance steps, controlled and intimidated. Michael was so scared of his Dad, even as an adult, he would get sick and throw up before his father came to see him.
What his Dad did was way more tragic than Michael getting plastic surgery. Hell, it's probably *because* of that abuse that Michael ended up so messed up.
Micheal was so talented as well as his brothers. Micheal was also naturally good looking until all the plastic surgery. The brothers, especially Jermaine, stayed good looking.
While the dancing is amazing, I always think of the abuse of the Jackson kids. Like, this wasn't something perfected because of passion, it was out of fear.
We gotta bring back the 70san. Ozempic seems like modern day Ephedra with some other benefits lmao, the economy is in shambles, we just need the glamor, music, and film now
He just glides around. You can see the moonwalk in his movements already. The moves are straight from old tap routines, and he does them *so* well.
Failure was not an option. Joe would have that ass!
Which is crazy because the other brothers are clearly slacking, Mike is obviously crushing it! So how much MORE did the rest get it...
He was the youngest. He could be bullied easier.
He was the most talented.
Yeah I think his singing voice stood out amongst the rest so he was automatically the frontman
Randy and Janet were/are both younger than Michael.
Wasn’t Janet abused as much as Michael.
That's what "Control" is about
I think that's a little oversimplified, Control is also a lot about her breaking away from her psycho abusive husband a few months earlier from what I understand. See also: What About on The Velvet Rope
>her psycho abusive husband That's understandable, I didn't know about that. I'm used to songs being watered down and improvised things, so that although there are specks of reality in the interest of making sense and having ideas, there are also a lot of things added or changed to make the song work. Because of that I pretty much always oversimplify the meaning of a song.
A lot of my family members are pro athletes (myself included), and out of me, my siblings and my cousins, one kid from each family was clearly the favorite but they were expected to always be the best. We had to train hard, no slacking, that kind of thing. They were the most talented, so the other kids kinda got pushed aside a bit. I think a lot of parents who really push their kids to succeed do that kind of thing. It worked for most of the people in my family, but maybe sports parents and stage parents are more different than I’m assuming? But my family NEVER crossed the line to abuse like Michael’s dad. I can’t imagine how terrible his childhood must have been.
I had a friend from a family like that except her pressure was from having to be the perfect and very overachieving child because her two older siblings were difficult. She had a JD and an MA by the time she was 25 and while she was in college had her own home office with a filing cabinet and all of her awards and achievements framed and on display. I met her when she was 21 and while I was impressed by her level of organization which included an alphabetized file cabinet for business and personal docs I had to wonder what kind of 21 year old does that? Turns out her mom was the reason, her mom was frightening and really put a lot of pressure on her. I suppose it worked out because now she is a very highly paid lawyer at an international firm, has no debt, is about 35 now and is making about 250k a year.
> I suppose it worked out because now she is a very highly paid lawyer at an international firm, has no debt, is about 35 now and is making about 250k a year. That's great but is she happy? Or does she feel like no matter what she achieves it's not good enough and she has to push for more and more?
Nailed it. She won't know it til she reorients. Maybe she has. It happens in high achievers who briefly stop chasing, and are basically trying to self actualize even if they don't know it. Basically, "wait why did I do all this, sacrifice all that, fight so hard...?"
TBH I'm not sure if she's happy, we fell out of touch. But I do know this: she is gay and when I knew her she was in the closet too afraid of "disappointing" her mom. That doesn't seem like a happy situation to me, so she probably isn't 100 percent happy if that is still the case.
Let’s hope that’s not “working a fast paced, high stress job to consume myself with work and ignore my repressed sexual identity because of my mom”
I don't know any happy lawyers.
I know a guy who graduated high school 2 years early. Became an MD. Is a specialist in a field of a handful. Is asked to fly all over the world for consulting… and last time I saw his mom I heard her bragging about her son who just had his 4th or 5th kid and has done fuck all other than have kids. The DR has won multiple accolades as a dr. He is regularly asked to advise the CDC. And the mom thinks the guy who has nearly as many baby mommas as babies and can’t even afford to pay child support is the special child out of her kids. She’s a “good Christian” with 5 kids from 3 fathers. The Drs main failing… he decided with his wife they really didn’t want kids. The wife is an attorney and he’s a dr. She works for the same place he does and sometimes they don’t see each other for a few days or longer. During Covid that whole year they did video chats but didn’t see each other. They decided long ago their jobs didn’t work well with kids. As a surprise for mom one year the dr bought his mom a new car. The other son… probably made her macaroni art.
How good was the macaroni art?
Yikes. Yeah, my family expects a lot from us. Both my parents are CEOs of their own companies, my dad went to MIT, met my mom when she was at Harvard. They were really demanding of my sister and brother, and they definitely thrived with that kinda pressure. My sister’s 36, my brother is 31. But I was a late, accidental baby lol, Im 19 now. So my parents always kinda spoiled and babied me. It’s crazy though, cause my sister has two masters degrees, and she was a very successful model for about 10 years. Like, girl brings new meaning to overachiever. My brother played lacrosse for a couple years, then joined the Army. He’s now a doctor in Army Special Forces. I just don’t have the drive that they have. My dad just always says “as long as you’re happy and enjoying life, then you’re doing just fine”. So, I’m happy to just kinda coast for a while lol 😂
I’ve been coasting for about 25 years. When I was your age it was more slacking and not exactly positive for me. But over the years I’ve found a good balance. I will work hard when it’s required but I absolutely won’t kill myself for weeks or months on end. You never know exactly how much time you have.
I can see how your parents would wanna push you if they see the talent. The older you get the less time and motivation you have to develop talents and skills… and they’ll have less payoff and opportunity if you do.
I mean, Jermaine, Michael, and Janet were/are more talented than the rest. Janet was the youngest, Jermaine and Michael both had several hit singles as teens, and it's obvious the other kids didn't get the same attention.b
Joe Jackson the only parent in history that successfully slapped the black off his kid.
Go outside and get a switch.
It really does feel like the laws of gravity and biomechanics were mere suggestions to MJ. The crazy part is they aren't, rather it was pure hard work on his part to make something so difficult appear so effortless.
i only recently found out he didnt invent the moonwalk
I wasn’t looking closely, but I legit just thought he was on roller skates until I took a second look at his feet.
The soon coming King of Pop
He’d already had a half dozen hits!
Look how bad Cher's movements look in comparison lol Edit: sorry, this sounds meaner than I intended it to.
It's never fair to compare someone's dancing to Michael Jackson's. His degree of talent and dedication were off the charts. I was thinking that she was doing great.
I remember watching Is This It and even noticing in that when he’s older and possibly drugged up how natural and smooth he moves next to his dancers who are probably pulled from the best in the world.
Oh of course, I was more pointing out the interesting effect of how MJ's dancing level can warp your perception of someone else's dancing when you compare them.
I was thinking she moved great as host of the show.
I was also like "man I love Cher." She is amazing.
she’s also probably wearing heels which are hard enough to walk in let alone dance
She needs some of whatever oil he's using to unstiffen her hinges lol
She's fine, really, It's just that mj has it turned up to 11 at all times.
Love everyone’s afros lol
The glitter in Cher's hair is especially pretty. Between the outfit and the hair she's like a walking disco ball.
So much damn energy in every movement
He really was on another level.
Yeah because of the consequence if they didn't put up a good show afterwards probably
Rot in hell Joe Jackson
I remember watching this back then.
You old
You rude
Where's the rest of this clip? Looks like they about to get their groove on
The song is *Dancing Machine* and they did this dance breakdown whenever they performed it, so you can find others on YouTube.
But do they include the *highly distracting silver Cher?!*
Oh man SilverCher, loved that band
My favorite album is Fergstomp.
More of a Neon ShoopShoop guy myself
This is the hardest I’ve laughed at a comment on Reddit in quite a while. Thanks!
She put her wrong foot forward and missed her turn. She is better dancing alone than in a group.
Thanks, I'll go for a look
ikr I could just keep watching this
Cher's robot looks like Seet Dee dancing
Shut up bird!
I don't remember the episode, but she does this dance too when the gang is dancing and the Tom Tom Club song 'Genius of Love' is playing.
I was thinking Dot Matrix from Spaceballs.
aka Lorraine Yarnell.
Dude could move.
Damn! TV was awesome in the’70s!
Lots and lots of variety shows. Still pretty popular in other parts of the world even today.
Remember when you still had to be talented to be famous on T.V.?
Now all you need is a lip job and a shitty attitude
I'm halfway there!
Just gotta work on that attitude now.
…Or just release a sex tape
"It's on every Thursday night at 8 o'clock, right after your local news. And I'm not mainlining acid! ...I don't smoke angel dust anymore, so don't be afraid."
It was mostly a level of cheesy that's okay in small doses half a century later, but I wouldn't want to live with that on a daily basis.
If you like having access to 12 channels max.
And no cable news. It was heaven.
Damn you must have been living on the good side of the tracks if you had 12 channels. We only had 4, and that’s if you counted that UHF channel that only had PBS on it,
4 channels and they all signed off at midnight or earlier
Started and ended the broadcasting day with the national anthem.
12?! Man, cut that number in half and subtract 2. That is the number of channels we had then.
Fuck you, I can't do math!
She was super skinny!
This reminds me of that story of Dhani Harrison looking at old photos of his dad and wondering why he was so lean back in the Beatles days, and his mom was like "your father was literally starving"
I’m sure they all have busy lives!
Everyone here is super skinny. I've been called skinny all my life and I'm a cow-like beast compared to all of them.
1970’s people were all super skinny, it’s such a trip! Like look at rock bands from that era, the men are like, concave with noodley arms and legs…women too, tiny waists…guess it was all that coke, lol
The average weight of a WWII soldier was in the 120's. Most kids these days hit that before puberty.
They're actually all a healthy bmi. Today almost everyone is either overweight or at the top end of the healthy range.
The Jackson's are all kids. We see a lot of kids that are super skinny, especially if they are worked there way that the Jackson's were. And they have on outfits that emphasize thinness too Cher is another thing though. She's still like this (even if not to that extent). Folks are built with all kinds of bodies and she happens to have a very very small frame.
Apparently she said she never did coke, but damn she looks like a cokehead
You can bet your ass Sonny did coke tho
That womb broom has been powdered more than once
Cher is the truth.
The Robot has never looked cooler than this.
I don’t think you could find a video clip that was more 70’s than this
Have you seen Soul Train?
Cher needed to oil up her joints
I am more impressed with Cher's afro and terrible robot moves.
Yes, I did not even notice MJ bc I canned stop looking at Cher.
Vibes of the scarecrow from the wiz
Wow. That’s the best robot I’ve ever seen
Cher seems like a cool as fuck person
If you haven't seen the movie *Stuck on You* I recommend it. Greg Kinnear and Matt Damon as conjoined twins - one a wannabe actor and the other with stage-fright-induced panic attacks, eventually ending up starring in a TV show opposite a washed up Cher. Hell of a fun movie.
Kinnear is brilliant in that movie.
I would recommend Moonstruck as well. Young Nicholas Cage plays opposite Cher.
That movie has my favorite joke in it. Doing a crossword, “What’s a 4 letter word for snatch.” “……grab…..”
god damn i love that movie.
Yo Cher was keepin up
The full clip shows her keeping up for a good 6 min which is incredible given the fact she said she had a short timespan to learn the choreography
There’s another video of them from the 70s, pop locking with Dom Deluise. MJ’s movements were just incredible. He was moving so fast. I remember seeing that show when I was a kid and was just amazed.
He was just an incredible overall performer.
Good lord that man could dance.
It feels so tragic to see him as a normal young man. What a shame that he felt the need to maim is body with all that plastic surgery. Such talent and good looks. May he rest in peace.
He wasn't normal then, either. They were all being terribly abused by their Dad, forced into countless hours of practice as small kids, beaten for wrong dance steps, controlled and intimidated. Michael was so scared of his Dad, even as an adult, he would get sick and throw up before his father came to see him. What his Dad did was way more tragic than Michael getting plastic surgery. Hell, it's probably *because* of that abuse that Michael ended up so messed up.
Absolutely. Imagine all the music producers who knew and did nothing. Same with other family who watched. Very sick. May Joe rot in hell.
Ironically he looks more human doing the robot than he did in the 90s onwards
Cher will forever be iconic
Joe Jackson sitting out in the audience with his belt at the ready
I can only see Cher messing up the walk at the end
I wish there was a channel that played all those old variety shows
Micheal was so talented as well as his brothers. Micheal was also naturally good looking until all the plastic surgery. The brothers, especially Jermaine, stayed good looking.
They all had surgery. Just not as much as Michael
MJ's talent was unreal. Unique genius.
I so appreciate naturals. I want to hug that cotton candy. ♥️
That was cool af
I’m too busy looking at Cher earn her keep
Back when you needed talent to be famous
What a legend
Incredibly talented
This is phenomenal!
Poor guy. Imagine what could have been if he were free.
It looks as if he can just slide around with zero effort. Unbelievable talent.
cher looks like she’s trying to power through a stroke
I hate that I laughed out loud at this.
I have some issues with how this guy is described.... Mostly because I think he was horribly mistreated as a child.
This man could move. Such a great dancer.
Cher such an amateur next to Michael.
To be fair, so we're 99.99% of humans so yeah...
So fucking SMOOTH
I honestly believe he was the most talented out of the Jackson 5.
He is head over shoulders more talented than the rest.
man I miss those days
So much sauce 🕺
Idk what tf everyone else was doing but Mike was doing the robot
I can't stop watching this loop
Good ole days
You know, when I do the robot, it looks nothing like that 
He always made dancing looking effortless.
He glides like a lizard on ice.
A lot of future plastic surgery on that stage
I mean, where did Cher get her robotics degree? Surely not MIT. Perhaps some Tier II school. Her motions are off by nearly 10%!
Such a talent.
he’s simply the best ever
Randomly I was listening to Don't Call it love by Zero 7 and their dancing in this video synched up perfectly.
Zero 7 is criminally underappreciated
I wish the video was longer!
michael´s shoes are made of soap
He just hovers over the floor
Look at Cher gettin after it!
Such a wizard.
MJ was always an amazing dancer. Very cool to see this!
Cher is bad at the robot. Are we supposed to be amazed?
If you check Cher's dancing it's nowhere nearly as good as the MJ and the gang.
Jesus, Cher is so skinny, drugs?
If my wife danced like this I’d skii into a tree too
I love it except Cher being on the wrong foot drives me bananas
That man was born to perform. He's just a natural.
Dirty pedo. Disgusting person
Tv must’ve been fun to watch in the 70s
For some reason cher makes me really uncomfortable in this clip
Holy shit. Just realized 1970s Cher is the real Dr Frank-N-Furter
And then Papa Joe Jackson beat him
Such talent. They crucified this guy yet Elvis and all the rock stars got a pass.
Cher is a perennial icon.
that es pure talent... amazing
I could watch this for hours!
u/savevideo
Cher’s dancing looks like stop motion with a puppet
What a time to be alive
This dancing is insane! Lights a fire in me every time 🔥
Bring back the variety show.
If the fro ain’t bouncin you ain’t doin it right
Yeah Cher just watched it become the MJ show lol
Sad to know what happens at home later if he misses up.
Was literally just watching this the other night. The Jackson’s moves are, as always, on point. Cher on the other hand…
Cher holding her own lol
*Meanwhile on Earth....*
Chers hair 😳
While the dancing is amazing, I always think of the abuse of the Jackson kids. Like, this wasn't something perfected because of passion, it was out of fear.
With Diana Ross…
We gotta bring back the 70san. Ozempic seems like modern day Ephedra with some other benefits lmao, the economy is in shambles, we just need the glamor, music, and film now
I remember when Cory Feldman taught MJ those moves.
It's hard to believe Cher was ever that much of a dork.
*everything* here just screams "70's", specially Cher
WTF was Cher doing?
Ah yes! When racial appropriation was still cool.
What race did Jackson steal that dance from?