Random Weird Music Videos - "Whatzupwitu" by Eddie Murphy featuring Michael Jackson

For my next foray in the wonderful, weird world of music videos, it's time to look at one of my favorite comedic actors: Eddie Murphy. Yes, he actually recorded a few music albums. I guess he thought he could also hit it big in this realm. No, he's not the best singer around, but he ain't too bad. I imagine that he'd do well at a church on any given Sunday. Unfortunately, I'm not talking about the One-Hit Wonder known as "Party All the Time" which was produced by Rick James. No, I got "Whazupwithu," a song off his third album that features one of my favorite singers, Michael Jackson. 

I always wondered why I never heard of this song back in the day. I mean, knowing that it was on an Eddie Murphy album definitely didn't help. I saw the video for this a few years ago and was amazed at how horrible it looked. My sister (who's a big MJ fan) sent a reel of it to me on Instagram a while ago. I also saw a reel of the podcast Double Toasted reacting to it, so that's why it's here. I gotta put my piece in on this wholesome horridness.

• "The Elephant is dying!" - Excuse my French, but what the hell was that? I had to do a double take at the beginning!
• "Eddie Mercury" - I saw a comment on Instagram and that just made me LOL. I definitely see it! I guess Eddie thought he could fill the void left by Freddie Mercury or something.
• Why, Michael? Why? - While I could be asking that question to MJ on a plethora of stuff, this is definitely a question that has to be asked. He's featured on stuff for years, but this one is the most baffling to me. Apparently, he liked the wholesome feel of the lyrics, so he agreed to do the song and the video. I can say that at least it looked like they were having fun making the video. Plus, MJ brought his usual A-game to the song.
• PBS Intro - This seriously looks like it could be an intro to a kids' learning show. That's not the vibe you should be going for... unless you're trying to create an intro for a kids learning show. It's like the wholesome version of "Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood" featuring Michael Jackson as the magic imp!
• Disney Channel Feel - All this video made me think of was those Disney Channel drawing bumpers you'd see from the early 2000's.  You'd have someone from those shows come on screen and be like "This is Disney" and pull out some magic wand. I almost thought the song was gonna end with Hilary Duff or Raven showing up with that wand!
• "Whatzzzuppwithuuu" - I don't know what Eddie was thinking adlibbing that in the song. The song itself is okay at best, but hearing him say it like that throughout the song is hilarious!
• The children choir - No comment there. While I got my theories about all that involving Michael, seeing a kids' choir show up here cracked me up. I guess this was shot before all those allegations started.

In the end, this is horrible. The song itself isn't that good, but the video just... dang! I don't know what the heck the creators were thinking about this! At least it's a video you can laugh out loud to. We need some of that these days. It may not be what Eddie Murphy was going for, but he did create one of the worst and funniest music videos ever. Anyway, I'm outta here. Peace, God Bless, and be careful out there.

At least some fun was to be had.

Music Retropspective: Michael Jackson - Conclusion

Well, it’s been a while, but it’s finally time to end this. Here are my top 30 songs by Michael Jackson. I knew I couldn’t stop at ten or twenty, so I have to go all out for this. Now, if you’re wondering why songs like “ABC” and “I Want You Back” aren’t here, there’s a simple reason for that. I’m only including solo or duet songs here. Including Jackson 5 songs would make this list even tougher to do and I don’t want to do that to myself. Besides, I do have a little something for the family on down the line.

It’s weird that I started to work on this around the anniversary of Jackson’s death. I actually remember where I was when I heard the news. I was taking my sister home in my old Toyota Camry when my mom called her. We then turned on the radio and heard the unfortunate news. I guess I was discouraged about it. I never knew the guy, but I always liked the music. My sister got some memorabilia afterwards. I’d say she’s the bigger fan, but she didn’t devote some of a blog to talking about his albums.

Before I get there, I might as well talk about my favorite Jackson album. It’s kind of tough to say, but I’ll have to go with the obvious: Thriller. It was what made me a fan of Michael Jackson. While some of his later albums are probably better on a technical level, I just love this album. All of the songs are pretty good even if a couple of are a bit forgettable. Bad would easily be my second favorite album. After that, I’d actually have to think about it. By the way, these are my favorites, so don’t be shocked if you don’t see some popular ones on here. I’ll say a little something about the songs but if you want a more in-depth description, just look at my retrospectives.

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson's Albums Pre-Off The Wall

Remember when I said I was done with looking at Michael Jackson’s albums? Well, I… exaggerated. I started to think about his other solo albums he did before Off The Wall. He actually did four solo albums with Motown while he was also singing with his brothers. Some of the songs are original stuff while some are covers of songs. I don’t even think my sister owns them, so listening to them on my iPod would be pretty hard. Instead of skipping them entirely, I’m just going to briefly talk about them. I was able to listen to them on YouTube and as of now, they’re still there if you want to take a listen.

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson: Invincible

Well, it was bound to come to this. I’ve finally gotten to Michael’s last album… official last album, anyway. I’m not counting the post-death ones like Michael and Xscape. Invincible was released in 2001 and it was Jackson’s first studio album in a long time. He had help in writing a lot of the songs. The album sold well but not as well as most of his previous albums. I do remember that there was some talk going on about the album not being promoted enough. The album only released four singles. It was apparently supposed to release more, but that didn’t happen for some reason. One song did get nominated for a Grammy though.

This is another album I don’t own physically own though I probably should. My sister has it, so I downloaded it from her. It’s also one I really hadn’t listened to until I really started this project. The only songs I knew about were the two singles that were played on radio back in the day. I really didn’t know what to expect when I got to listening to it a few months ago. So, how does this album ultimately shape up?

Invincible

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson: Blood on the Dance Floor - History in the Mix

So, it’s Another Michael Jackson album in the same month. It must be the water or it could be the fact that a certain Man of Steel will be the subject of next month. Today’s album is Blood on the Dance Floor: History in the Mix. It was released in 1997 and it released three singles. Jackson only worked on five songs from the album. The rest of the songs, which are remixes of songs from HIStory, were worked on by other artists. It sold well but not at the levels of the other albums.

This is one album I don’t physically own. My sister owns it and I was able to download it from her copy. I wondered if I should skip this album because it’s essentially a remix album. Still, there are five “new” songs on here, so I should at least talk about them. I won’t talk about the remixes much since there’s really not much to say about them. With all of that said, let’s get a mop and clean this mess up!

Blood on the Dance Floor: History In The Mix

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson: HIStory - Past, Present, and Future Book 1

Well, it’s time to throw on the hat and glove because it’s time for another Michael Jackson album. It’s definitely a big one and I mean that literally. HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book 1 was released during the summer of 1995. It’s split up into two discs. Disc One is a compilation of all of his biggest hits from Off The Wall to Dangerous. The other disc is the one that has new material. Unfortunately, it seems the the first disc is the only one that gets seen these days because it was eventually put out on its own.

The album sold well but not like the rest of his previous albums. Seven (technically eight) singles were released from the album. Jackson also wrote all but three of the songs on the album. It took me a long time to find this two-disc album. I didn’t want to download it from iTunes, so I looked around in music stores until I found it for a cheap price. I think my sister doesn’t even have this one though she probably does have the songs somewhere. Since I’ve basically looked at the first disc on my previous posts, I’ll only be concentrating on the second disc with new material. I will list what songs were included with the disc though.

HIStory: Past, Present, and Future Book 1

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson: Dangerous

Well, it’s another day and another album from that guy named Michael Jackson. Today’s album is one that should be approached with caution because it is “dangerous.” Yes, I know that pun was a little lame. Anyway, Dangerous was released towards the end of 1991. It incorporated a lot of music styles just like his previous albums. It was also was fully produced by Jackson meaning he didn’t collaborate with Quincy Jones on this one. 10 singles were released from the album. It only received four Grammy nominations in 1993. He also wrote the majority of the songs on here as well.

I’ve had bits and pieces of this album for years but I never owned the complete thing. My sister even got the album before I did. Since I’ve really never heard the whole thing, I bought it last year. I just didn’t see the urgency in getting it until then. I don’t have much else to say, so let me see if this album is truly hazardous or just causes sunburn.

Dangerous

Music Retrospective: Michael Jackson - Bad

Well, it’s another day and another Michael Jackson album. So, what can I say about Bad? I mean it… wait, I did that joke last time. Bad was released in 1987. It produced nine singles which was pretty much the whole album. Jackson also wrote the majority of songs on the album. Bad was nominated for six Grammys and won two of them in 1988. It’s definitely one of Jackson’s best-selling albums. The thing came after Thriller, so you know it probably sold well.

Most of these songs were also featured in the movie called Moonwalker. That’s right, folks. Michael had a feature-length movie about him. Let’s just say that it’s a piece of something. The Nostalgia Critic did a review of it a few years ago and it was pretty hilarious. As for my experience with the album, I think I got this one back in college. It was also one of my old CDs that didn’t get lost. Well, with all of that out of the way, let’s see if Bad is truly bad.

Bad

Music Retrospective: Michael Jackson - Thriller

So, what can I say about Thriller? I mean, it is one of the best-selling albums of all time! It broke all sorts of records! It released seven singles! It won a crap ton of Grammys! Jackson wrote four songs on it! It… You know what? Just read Wikipedia if you want the stats on this. They look right to me!

Anyway, the album was released in 1982 and set the world on fire. This was the album that got me introduced to Michael Jackson. The record’s still at the house, but I don’t have anything to play it. I used to have the 2001 edition on CD, but I accidentally left it and some other CDs in a rental car one summer. I hope whoever found them is enjoying whatever was in there. I was able to copy my sister’s version of the album from her collection. Well, I ain’t got much else to say, so let’s get to the album itself.

Music Retrospective - Michael Jackson: Off the Wall

Well, it's been a long time since I've done this. Here I go again... I hope my sister doesn't get me for this.

Now, it's time finally look at another artist for this retrospective: Michael Jackson. This segment actually exists partly because of Jackson and the Police. I'm a fan of them both and I thought it would be cool to look at the albums they made. My journey with his music began with Thriller. There are a lot of records at our house that used to belong to my uncle. I think it I was in 4th grade when I first heard that album... yes, I'm a late bloomer. It wasn't until much later when I started to look for and get the albums on CD. I acquired today's album on a high school band trip to New Orleans. I got that along with an Earth, Wind, and Fire album.

While I'm a fan of Michael, my sister is an even bigger fan than me. When Jackson died, my sister bought a lot of memorabilia. As for me, I'm set with the one poster I have of him. By the way, I'm only looking at the albums he did in his adult years. While I know he did stuff at Motown in his youth, I want to look at the work he did in his prime and later years.

Michael Jackson's Off The Wall was released in 1979. Jackson even wrote two songs for the album. It was pretty much a hit from the start. The album got all-around positive reviews. Five singles were released from the album. The album also helped Jackson score another Grammy in 1980. Does the album deserve the praise it got? I could answer that now, but I'll wait for later.

Favorite 11 Albums of All Time!!!! (Okay, not really "Of All Time")

Well,........I'm bored (shocking, ain't it?). I recently saw a note post on Facebook where he listed the 20 albums that influence him most. I thought about doing one of those too, but I decided to not follow the crowd and do something else. I will list the albums that I like most, but instead of 10 or 20, I'll go with 12 'cause I'm just like that, dang it. So, here...we...go...