Welcome to the official blog of MJ Grooves! I am a lifelong fan of Michael Jackson who has studied his music over the course of my life. My main focus as a writer is in the sports world, but I'm also very passionate about music.
Before getting a Philosophy degree from UC Berkeley, I got an Associate Degree in Music from Foothill College. I grew up playing the piano and have spent some time studying classical, jazz, rock, R&B, and pop. I spent some time learning Beethoven Sonatas, Bach Inventions, and even a little Tchaikovsky.
However, even amid my days studying classical, my favorite thing to do on the piano has always been to write music and come up with arrangements of my favorite pop tunes from the likes of Prince, Elton John, Billy Joel, and especially Michael Jackson. While I've had fun learning songs from all artists, the artist who I've spent the most time studying and playing on the piano has been Michael Jackson.
I've made it a rule that I NEVER look up the chords for a Michael Jackson song that I want to learn. I don't know why, but it's a rule that I've always had. Every other artist I've been willing to look up chords and learn that way, but with Michael Jackson I always learn the songs by ear and hear them out myself. I think it helps me feel all the more connected with him and the music that he created.
My absolute favorite song to play on the piano is "The Way You Make Me Feel", which is off the album "Bad". As soon as I learned the baseline, which is an arpeggiation of an E7 chord, I was hooked and have loved playing it ever since. Other songs I love to play are "Stranger In Moscow", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", "P.Y.T.","Another Part of Me", and "Streetwalker", which is an outtake from the Bad album. There's others that I love to play as well, but those are the ones I like to break out with most regularity.
What I like most about Michael Jackson is his incredibly versatility. He could do it all. He could sing, he could dance, he could tell a story through film, etc. He wrote incredible songs and did so in a wide variety of genres. He was the ultimate pop artist and I don't think we'll ever see another talent of his magnitude again. In the opening of his autobiography "Moonwalker" it fittingly says that Michael Jackson isn't an artist that comes around once in a lifetime. He comes around once. There will never be another Michael Jackson.
With that in mind, I wanted to set up this blog to connect with other Michael Jackson fans who have the same passion for his music as me. On this blog, I intend to write about a wide variety of topics at both a macro and micro scale, whether it's breaking down a whole album or breaking down a single track. I want to cover his music in a way that helps his fans feel all the more connected to it because I've spent my entire life studying it and learning the ins and outs of his musical catalog.
Before closing, I wish to stress that I have little interest in writing about his personal life and the troubles he had away from music. I've always believed Michael Jackson was innocent of the charges made against him and as such I don't care to address them on this blog any further. Michael Jackson needs to be remembered for the joy he gave others, the art he created, and his unparalleled musical genius. He was a gift to humanity and needs to be remembered as such. I look forward to writing on this blog and sharing my thoughts on Michael Jackson's music with those who are lifelong fans like me as well as a younger generation that is just starting to find out what a creative force he was.
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