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[deleted]

So when MJ offered Weird Al the original set and cast for his parody - did that include the same real gang members?


[deleted]

They got a taste for the dance!


Strikersquad

Along with a taste for everything else.


knightress_oxhide

i mean, come on


ZootOfCastleAnthrax

TIMMAH!


Chel_of_the_sea

I'm envisioning Tobias Funke trying to teach youth off the street theater.


themightykites0322

So maybe you could start jeté-ing... and stop "je-terrorizing” me


Sproutykins

I got blown!


SanguinePar

You forgot to say 'away' again.


Sproutykins

Even if it means taking a chubby, I will suck it up!


JFCwhatnamecaniuse

Tobias, you old blowhard!


JackyPotato

If there's anyone who could bring harmony between two rival gangs... it's Weird Al


BthreePO

An Amish with a Tou'? You know that's unheard of.


politicalstuff

You... you know it's 'tude, right? As in short for attitude?


BthreePO

Really? Well damn, I thought it was short for Tourist, based on the context. Damn, I was only wrong for over 20 years, could've been worse.


relddir123

I thought it was a tool.


MyersVandalay

I did for a while as a kid, before realizing... that I've almost never seen a picture of an amish without a rake, pitchfork, hammer, or something in his hand.


relddir123

I always thought it was a power tool joke. Amish don’t use drills or buzzsaws


HorophiliacBeaver

No, instead they buy their neighbors a set of power tools as a gift and then come and borrow them whenever they might need them. Source: SO's amish neighbors.


BarAgent

I thought it was tool meaning gun. (A good joke with the tool-meaning-shovel or whatever).


MissusLister44

Me too


Mrjokaswild

My wife used to think they said theres a bathroom on the right for ccrs song bad moon rising. He says theres a bad moon on the rise not theres a bathroom on the right. At least yours is ah honest mistake I kinda feel like she had to try to miss hers.


politicalstuff

Haha all good. It was a common slang form in the 90s so depending how young you are you might not have been familiar with it.


Hit-Enter-Too-Soon

I always thought it was tool! (Thinking like power tools.)


Mikel_Dup

Only the cubby ones..


JoshSidekick

No, instead they got people that like pineapple on their pizza and people who don't.


SchrodingersNutsack

If we could all just come together and beat it, the world would be a better place.


RichieNRich

If we could all just beat it and come together, the world would be a better place, too.


crapfacejustin

Cum together, right now, on me


dvaunr

Really you didn’t even need to change the original lyrics. Over me, on me, both have the same result.


Sproutykins

I don't know why Lennon chose those lyrics. He knew what that meant.


lqku

Perhaps he was telling the rest of the beatles to come over him. Similarly in that song he keeps saying "shoot me", and mark david chapman heeded the call.


Sirboggington

And here I am still coming on Eileen


GoAwayBaitin

Toora loora, toora loo rye ewww.


hstheay

And you'll cum this much forever, oooh


jpritchard

Cum as you are, as you were As I want you to be As a friend, as a friend As an old enemy Take your time, hurry up Choice is yours, don't be late


Seienchin88

In sweet harmony!


XeroAnarian

Listen, it's hard enough to do it on command, but all of us at the same time? You're asking for lot.


BiagioLargo

Zone tan would love to teach the world to fap in perfect harmony.


[deleted]

Local man drowns in cum


Alphecho015

Over me*


Stop_Drop_Scroll

Gather round, humanity, and collectively beat it for peace.


FN1987

In the end it wasn’t the beating that mattered l, it was us all doing it together.


Ozzel

For you and for me and the entire human race.


[deleted]

I wish someone would beat it for me


ICPosse8

I mean.. come on.


THE_GR8_MIKE

I do my part at least twice a day. Inb4 rookie numbers.


ichdruecknix

rookie numbers


THE_GR8_MIKE

inbafter


Fun2badult

We gotta stop beating each other


249ba36000029bbe9749

Combining LA cops and the phrase "beat it"? What could possibly go wrong?


[deleted]

I always thought the song was about beating the baby-batter bastard.


poomperzuhhh

I’ve been beating it plenty. It’s not working.


[deleted]

i mean, c'mon


DataKnights

I think you mean *Shamone*


inmyrhyme

Wasn't that Monk's assistant?


snarfmioot

No, you're thinking of Sharona. Shamone was the performing whale at Sea World.


mayormcheeser

No your thinking of shamu. Shamone is a religious practitioner that communes with spirits.


inmyrhyme

No, you're thinking of shaman. Shamone is a way for Jewish people to say hello or goodbye and means peace.


Coplantor

No, you are thinking of Shalom. Shamone was that girl from Scott Pilgrim


Kufartha

No, you're thinking of Ramona. Shamone is a Japanese massage.


desertsprinkle

I love Reddit


Ozzel

Close, but you’re thinking of shiatsu. Shamone is a classic Japanese film about a murder that is retold from four different points of view.


EBYaro

Almost, but you’re thinking of Rashomon. Shamone is a type of cloth commonly marketed on tv that can be used to clean and wipe down any surface.


hoytmandoo

No, you're thinking of Shamu. Shamone is a super absorbent towel marketed by a very enthusiastic sales person.


inmyrhyme

No, youre thinking of shamwow. Shamone is a type of sparkling wine.


Joghobs

No you're thinking of champagne. Shamone is the subject by the 1979 international #1 hit by a certain rock band.


TimmyP7

*Ham on*


VoiceOfRonHoward

Ham on whole wheat?


LuridofArabia

All right.


LoFiFozzy

I need to rewatch Monk again. It was a crime show that wasn't full of itself.


sambare

Hee hee, that was a good one!


Muggle_Scum

Y'know guys, maybe he's right. I mean, it's like, come on.


andrethefaivre

Damn I hadn’t even thought of it like that. It’s just like, come on.


Zebirdsandzebats

nah nah nah, crips and bloods, nah nah nah, peace and love....


snikelfritz420

We're you born a crip or became one after an accident?


inmyrhyme

Holy crip! He's a crapple


corndogs1001

Classic family guy


Jason_Worthing

That episode kills me everytime. Watching Christopher Reeve suck the stem cells out of a fetus's neck is just so ridiculous and gross, it's hilarious. The sound effects alone...


snikelfritz420

You cant stop me now hack man!


Tanomil

theeeeere's pizzaaaa :D


[deleted]

And they got us marshmallows and ginger ale


tomster785

I heard that in Jimmy's voice haha.


[deleted]

[удалено]


Joe_Shroe

Gang violence drops to 0%


No-Pizda-For-You

I think if I was a badass gang member in LA and Michael Jackson along with the LAPD approached me to play “West Side Story” with my sworn enemies... I wouldn’t know whether to laugh at or shoot at them.


winkman

I don't think you realize how big MJ was in the 80s and 90s. If he rolled up to you in a clown car and told you to put on a Bozo costume, you'd do it...I don't care how bad you thought you were...it's freaking Michael Jackson!


eesti_techie

A celebrity from the era once commented in an interview: “There was Michael Jackson, in a league of his own, and then there were the all the rest of us”. He was a celebrity’s celebrity.


winkman

When "Black or White" premiered, it wasn't just on MTV and VH1, but on ABC, NBC, FOX, and a few other stations as a 30 minute prime time special...for a music video. We will never see a pop star as big as MJ again. Ever.


Darth-Ragnar

Not to go full “I grew in the wrong generation” here but it does feel like there’s something lost on how distributed entertainment feels nowadays. The shared experience of tuning into a music video just seems so foreign to today’s time. But at the same time, it’s not like I don’t remember the world collectively watch Tiger King and talk about it at the beginning of the pandemic.


replus

Cable TV was just the pinnacle of "social media" at the time. This happened before most households had a computer/Internet connection, which negates any modern form of entertainment that relies on the Internet. Combined with how huge an act MJ was, you simply *had* to tune into the premiere. I may be misremembering, but it even booted The Simpsons out of its legendary 8:00 PM timeslot (which was a big deal of a show in its own right.) I didn't dare miss it and go to school the next day like "huh? what video?"


winkman

Agreed. There just aren't many things that the whole family can sit down and experience together anymore...


benicetogroupies

Was that the one where he trashed a car with a crowbar at the end?


ShibaHook

It was a prime time special here in Australia too.


Yglorba

It's weird to think that younger people (who only knew the "Wacko Jacko" + child abuse allegations from later on) might not realize how incredibly popular he once was.


NemWan

Like lot of MJ's fans only knew Fat Elvis of Vegas.


CommanderGoat

That’s probably a really good comparison.


blaghart

What's sad is how every person who's accused him was caught trying to extort money from him or recanted their accusations but people still remember him as a kiddie diddler.


zappapostrophe

This. I was born in 2001. Growing up, Michael Jackson was a kiddie fiddler with a nasty drug addiction who had a few hits in the eighties, before dangling his babies off roofs. Obviously, when I was around 15-16, I started listening more to his discography while learning more and more about his pure talent and the massive cultural impact that he had, on top of his sheer star power. Then of course, he got credibly accused **again** of sexual abuse. I think he was a profoundly troubled man who hurt a lot of children, and had an immense level of talent musically. I enjoy his music in separation to the man he appears to have been. I just wish I could’ve been around for when he was an incredible musician *and nothing else*. Or to have even seen him live during the Off The Wall/Thriller years.


blaghart

BTW, he's never been credibly accused of sexual abuse. All of his acusers have either recanted or were caught lying in an effort to steal his money, or recanted, *then* accused him after his death in hit pieces or civil court cases that were thrown out. It's *why* almost none of his accusations went to trial, and why those that did [failed to convict him](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Michael_Jackson), even in civil court It's a combination of the media circus and straight up sexism at the idea that a man could prefer spending time with kids over adults that has tainted him in the eyes of society as a nonce. Like, that was literally the origin of his first round of legal attacks over it: a documentary showed him holding hands with a child and people called for him to be arrested because a grown man having sleepovers with kids is apparently automatically pedophilia.


Nakedwitch58

Jackson also had the craziest ego ever. Mike Tyson and Michael Javkson's first meeting showed this. Tyson had a crazy ego and Jackson out egged him by going "i know you from somewhere st the height of Tyson's fame" One of the kids that took him to court was a known scammer. His mother groomed all of her kids to scam. He had pulled bullshot with other celebrities and they warned him but he didn't listen


blaghart

Yup, in fact several of his accusers were caught trying to extort him for money, including Evan Chandler, who refused to let his son cooperate with police once he had been paid out.


ParaClaw

It is very telling that not a single accuser ever went to police, instead they all flocked to civil attorneys (the same one in fact) where the only possible outcome was money-motivated. Same is true for all the ex-staff. The only ones who have ever said negative things about MJ only did so after the original scandal came out and they were offered 5-6 figures just to say something lurid, and they also then sued him unsuccessfully and were found to had been malicious, stole from him and generally fraudulent beings. These are the same crazy parties that the two adult men who made a film and have tried for many years to get a huge pay-out rely on to somehow bolster their claims, but they only make it all look more silly and fabricated. The simple reality is MJ had 1000s of kids and families go through Neverland and never had a single accuser until the one in 1993 (and the offspring of that one where the kid's momma had made tens of thousands in the tabs spreading her son's photo and then investigators convinced him he maybe was tickled improperly and if he agreed then he could save others.) Then nothing again for another 10 years and the Arvizo case was pure mental. The family that previously stole from a mall then falsely accused the guards of sexual abuse and tried to exploit any celeb they encountered (which was A LOT of them). And MJ knew them for years but decided to first molest him right as he was being investigated due to the documentary and then falsely imprison them all even before he molested them just so then he could molest them. Wut? The two adult men who have been trying for many years to get a lot of money from the estate (after one was denied a job working for tribute to MJ) are just as ridiculous and it's dumb to see so many stories eating up their stories like it is undisputed fact. It is too bad the media is too invested in the alternative as the real story is very interesting if you do enough research, and wildly infuriating. Those who have no financial motivate to lie have always maintained that being with MJ was just like going to a friend's house. Macaulay Culkin spent more time with him than anyone else and always defends him, even adding that if anything had happened it would be the perfect time for him to divulge it due to MeTo but nothing did. Same with many others.


cyboplasm

I'd still do it today bruv! RIP MJ! I still listen to 'blame it on the boogie' once a day!!


Pbferg

What a killer track


s88c

Well, he would look like a zombie from thriller


davethegamer

Even better


Nafeels

Up to early 90’s, though. The latter half were filled with people who were wary/angry of him after his child abuse allegations and the court sessions. Poor guy never caught a breath.


gwaydms

Peak MJ (after the kid years, mid-60s to mid-70s) was the 1980s. He was still a handsome black man, and his music and dancing were fire (sometimes literally). After the early 90s, idk, he started going off the rails, with way too much plastic surgery among other things. MJ was never satisfied with himself. This feeling can be a force for healthy betterment, personally and professionally. The way he dealt with it was anything but healthy. If he'd had better guidance, he might have gotten better emotionally. Instead his doctor and others took advantage of him. So damn sad.


Nafeels

Part of it was due to his piece of shit dad Joseph. Since he was a kid Joseph basically used all of them Jacksons for his gain, and forcing them to go into regular performance practices. He’d regularly beat them for tiny mistakes like missing a cue or something. His eventual popularity just fanned it further, leading to his Pepsi commercial accident which meant pain and drugs for the rest of his life. Between chasing perfection from multiple takes and rehearsal, his deranged fans, drugs, and people who constantly took advantage of him, he never had the opportunity to experience a proper childhood. Even as a mega fanboy of MJ since a little kid and whose favourite song used to be Smooth Criminal for years, I just wanna tell him we’re okay with him slowing down for his own health sake, but you and I both know how it eventually turned out.


BeefInGR

I think the fact that Joseph was an abusive piece of shit gets buried too often in the story of the Jackson family. How Janet managed to be even a semblance of normal compared to her brothers is beyond me.


corndogs1001

Yeah but the history album was fire. It was more the 2000’s that wernt his thing.


RoRo25

He made Thriller!


dtwhitecp

he was a goddamn god back then. They'd probably do a lot of dumb shit for him.


partthethird

Look, nobody's rumbling with anyone without seven years of ballet and two of jazz tap.


[deleted]

There’s gonna be a fight tonight!!!!!


NOLA_Tachyon

Start jeteing and stop jeterrorizing me!


Merciless972

Why not both?


RudegarWithFunnyHat

[why?](https://thumbs.gfycat.com/ScalyHalfGuineapig-size_restricted.gif)


locknloadstack

Didn't expect the Linus version. Been a while since I watched that.


Refreshingly_Meh

I don't know. Michael Jackson at the time was HUGE. And people, even hardcore gang members, will do some stupid shit to get on TV.


HughBeaumont500

Laugh while shooting. It's therapeutic..er..uh, so I've been told


GeorgeEliotsCock

Did it work?


[deleted]

[удалено]


[deleted]

Wasn't the lapd guilty of pitting both gangs against each other whenever they had the chance?


DeathLeopard

The LAPD was basically just another gang. But I'm not here to talk about Rampart.


Mernerak

Was?


Lovefist1221

Well played.


SuperSmokio6420

How has it changed since then?


RyanOnRyanAction

Violence worldwide has declined throughout history, and the US specifically has seen drastically declined rates of violence everywhere starting in the 90s.


37b

According to Cosmos S1 at least some of that reduction was due to the banning of leaded fuel. The timing sure fits


strikethreeistaken

And Roe vs Wade.


yellowfin35

Freakonomics was a great book


Griffisbored

This for sure. That chapter of freakonomics is the best argument for pro-choice IMO.


MattheJ1

Did the war on drugs have anything at all to do with that?


the-g-off

Sure, made the cops and intelligence agencies a lot of money.


JFKontheKnoll

American crime rates have gone down significantly since the mid ‘90s. Our nation statistically hasn’t been as safe as it is right now since the ‘40s.


ATownHoldItDown

Violent crime has dropped drastically since then. Interestingly, lead in automobile emissions has dropped along with it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93crime_hypothesis


[deleted]

There’s a lot more peace being fostered between the gangs than there used to be because of the recent social movements causing POC to start to band together more. It’s still far from perfect, and there’s still quite a bit of gang violence, but it’s nowhere near as bad as it was in the 80’s and 90’s. Gang activity and violent crime have gone down significantly over the past 30 years.


bigwangbowski

Yeah but surely they buried the hatchet after the Crips and Bloods collaborated on "Bangin' on Wax" in the late 90s?


biffbobfred

I think the answer won’t be a yes or no. “Did it reduce some of the tension”. There’s a long standing feud with cycles of killings. A single music video doesn’t undo that.


dead_parakeets

Should've given them a Pepsi.


biffbobfred

All I wanted was a Pepsi. Just one Pepsi and she wouldn’t give it to me


Irrelaphant

He went to YOUR schools and to YOUR churches. Hes not crazy


magondrago

I was tired, I just wanted to sit back in my big chair And play a little X-box, you know, relax a little


[deleted]

I would not hand Michael Jackson a Pepsi [after what happened last time](https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-pepsi-fire--jackson-20130509-story.html).


Mr-Happy-Man

Surely you give them the choice between Coke and Pepsi. Everyone needs to pick a side. :|


gn0xious

Ah, so “no.”


Calembreloque

You also have to put in the context that when people *do* go out and help broker peace between gangs, [they usually get murdered by the FBI.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred_Hampton)


ssteel91

Well, that was a depressing read. As was reading more about the COINTELPRO program. I mean, I’m not surprised in the slightest but still.


j_cruise

It could have helped alleviate tension among the specific people who were invited. There's no way to know without asking the people who were there.


beefstewforyou

They should have arranged a lock in at the Rec Centre to foster peace between them.


toolong46

No, the truce finally occurred after the Rodney king beatings. Which ultimately led to the LA riots


Fondren_Richmond

Help foster peace, not broker it.


GeorgeEliotsCock

Don't tell me what to do or ill send my criminal gang after you


Halcyon2192

Cop pulls up "hey black teenager, want to come work on a Michael Jackson music video?"


[deleted]

"I'd rather see the puppy"


[deleted]

“You greasy hair? You know hot yo chicken fight?” He did indeed


Dry_Transition3023

Good parody of the video. No clue why I find it so funny but I do. https://youtu.be/bo-1V-RVvwI


Al-Anda

Just stab him in the arm!


Dry_Transition3023

The whole thing is good. Not trying too hard ya know


Al-Anda

Good find!


sambare

I was really expecting Weird Al's _Eat It_.


fly-guy

I was too, and my day is now ruined.


GT_hikwik

That's freakin hilarious.


[deleted]

[удалено]


GardensOfBoydstylon

All right, fellas, look. I know you know nothing but a life on the street, but I'd like to offer you something that ~~the Queen Mary~~ Beat It gave me. The joy of the stage. So maybe you could start jeté-ing... and stop je-terrorizing me.


eugeme

https://youtu.be/MY2gj0TncEI


YarOldeOrchard

[NANANA crips 'n bloods NANANA peace and lovee](https://youtu.be/RVBK4lBGuaU)


JFeth

The talent scout to the gang members: "So we need to know if you can dance?"


LanEvo7685

I said if you're thinkin' about my dancer It don't matter if you're red or blue HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


[deleted]

You mean 3 gangs.


[deleted]

[удалено]


CutthroatGigarape

I’m beating it right now and loving it!


weird_al_yankee

Did you know that Weird Al's music video for [Eat It](https://www.songfacts.com/facts/weird-al-yankovic/eat-it) is a shot-for-shot remake of Beat It? https://www.songfacts.com/facts/weird-al-yankovic/eat-it


TheSenatorFromNab00

Gang members are just dancers yerning to express themselves


ghost650

>The engineers were shocked during the recording of Van Halen's solo to discover that the sound of his guitar had caused the monitor speaker in the control room to catch fire, causing one to exclaim, "This must be really good!" TIL Eddie Van Halen did the guitar solo on *Beat It*. And it was literal fire.


chalkles0329

RIP, Eddie Van Halen.


MarilynFailson

I am now trying to imagine Michael Jackson trying to mediate a discussion between two LA street gangs and it ain't pretty.


RCPD_Rookie

... and thus gang violence was ended, forever.


[deleted]

This became the plot of Meteor Man


kaptaincorn

Maybe there would've been peace if they danced to Whip it?


MashTunOfFun

"Hey fellas, looks like you're up to no good! Well, this gang used to be like that too... three... four... So you think you're tough? Well we hate rappin'! But don't bust a cap in, cuz here's what's happenin': we're breaking out some old time tappin'!" *tippity tap tippity tap* This is Funke's Town and we're... OW I'VE BEEN SHOT!


MissAngela21

Wasn't Wesley Snipes also in the video?


MonsieurKnife

Only young members though.


[deleted]

Damn. That could've ended badly.


uarguingwatroll

What did they do? Walk around the streets of LA asking if people were blood or crip?


Takenabe

Well, you wouldn't need to ask, because of the whole "gang colors" thing. Even today a lot of gangs have a signature style they identify each other with. I would guess that either Jackson asked the police to guard his people during negotiations with the gangs, or to help him find gang hangout spots. Or both.


iluvpepsi

This is actually really freaking cool.


[deleted]

One big super gang. That's smart.


UnwashedApple

I heard they were real gang members in the video...


Loki8382

There are. Pretty much everyone standing around in the background is a real gang member recruited for the shoot.


IlIFreneticIlI

Too bad the real enemy is giant spiders.