I have a lengthy track record of disliking Michael Jackson. When I was seven my oldest sister received a 45 of “Dancing Machine” as a birthday gift. I thought that was pretty hot, then my cousin brought over Brownsville Station’s “Smoking in the Boys Room” and “Dancing Machine” lost its cool.
Music television predates MTV — it even predates the Ed Sullivan Show — and as a kid I would watch any show with a special guest appearance. From Bobby Sherman on The Partridge Family through Perry Farrell on Rock Star Wives, I’ve seen a million weird television musical appearances and I’ve rocked them all. Here are a few of my favorites:
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Texas was a blessedly short adventure. We were only there for nine months or so before my father took a job in South Carolina and we were off again. Not much grows in upstate South Carolina’s red clay – kudzu, peach trees, scrubby pine trees – but it was rich ground for music. It was also the last stop of my childhood, and as such I’ve always considered it my home. That’s the downside of a transient childhood – one has to manufacture an answer to “where are you from?” I tend to think that the rootless pick the place where most of our growing up happened.
