10 Essential Jackson Videos

(NEWSER) - "I don't think there's ever been anyone harder to write about than Michael Jackson," writes Linda Holmes of NPR. Try to balance his musical brilliance with, well, just about everything else in his life. So for her, Michael Jackson comes down to this: That moment in 1983 when he moonwalked live across the TV in a Motown special that "caught him precisely at the moment when he was at his most amazing, his most otherworldly in a good way, his most lithe and eye-popping and wonderfully alien." More»

Black community adopted him as pioneer

(NEWSER) - Michael Jackson took Hollywood with Ben in 1972, at a time when few black Americans had shaped the industry. “Little Michael landed upon the mindset of film-hungry black America when its citizenry was starved for identity on the big screen,” writes Wil Haygood in the Washington Post. The black community took him under its wing, and took pride in him as he grew. More»

Singer may have been 'legally blind': Murray tape

(NEWSER) - The final third of a Conrad Murray interview with police following Michael Jackson's death was played to jurors today, as Murray's trial for involuntary manslaughter continues. On the June 27, 2009, tape, Murray says Jackson was seeing other doctors but never told him about it, though he deduced it himself, the Los Angeles Times reports. After visits to his dermatologist, Jackson "was basically wasted and required at least 24 hours for recovery," Murray says. More»

Calls song 'teachable moment' for company

(NEWSER) - A California Starbucks worker was sent packing after posting a video rant about his job—in song form. Christopher Cristwell took his guitar to YouTube to air his venti-sized frustrations; the clip was picked up by a Starbucks blog and he lost his job, the Merced Sun-Star reports. Among the lyrical highlights: “Two Frappucinos? They take forever to make/ You know there’s about a pound of fat in your RF coffee cake.” More»

Forbes was wrong about the singer's payday, writes Annie Lowrey

(NEWSER) - Thanks to a song that’s inspired unrestrained hatred, Rebecca Black has been proclaimed a millionaire by no less an authority than Forbes —but that’s unlikely, writes Annie Lowrey in Slate after a quick analysis. For one thing, "Friday" has sold 30,000 copies, Billboard says; Forbes had reported that it had been bought 2 million times on iTunes. The lower figure means about $26,000 for Black. Forbes also estimated that Google makes $1 per thousand YouTube views, meaning the singer would get a $20,000 cut of the $30,000 made from 30 million views. (It's now at 47 million.) More»