Monday, April 27, 2009

Wasted Talent

I have a secret to confess --- I am a closet Michael Jackson fan.

Not the Michael Jackson who serves Jesus juice to little boys and has completely disfigured himself. But I like his old music.

In fact, all of his music is old because he hasn't had much of a career in probably about 15 years. As I car-danced to "Shake Your Body Down to the Ground" the other day, I started thinking about wasted talent. Whether or not you're a Michael Jackson fan, I think it's safe to say that he was a talented performer, and he let it go in favor of ...... what, I'm not sure of.


Here are some other folks who have wasted their talent. They're all still alive, so who knows .... maybe some could make a come-back.


















Amy Winehouse
She's a total mess, which is ashame because she's actually got a great voice.










Eddie Murphy
Back in the days of "Delirious", "Raw" and "Trading Places" he was one of the funniest people I've ever seen. Now, he's a one-trick pony. He first played a bunch of different characters in "Coming to America", which was hilarious. Unfortunately, he never evolved past that and his career is pretty much a dud. Very disappointing.






Elizabeth Taylor
Although her health has deteriorated and I'm sure it would difficult, if not impossible, for her to work now, she hasn't really done much of anything for about 35 years. Back in her heydey, she was great and I always hoped she'd make at least one great movie in my time.




Steve Perry - Journey
He had a hip replacement about 15 years ago, and somewhere along the line decided to leave the band. Apparently he got bent out of shape because he thought his band members were a little nosey about his health condition. That's a very good reason to give up your career and do, uh... nothing. And for the record, the impersonator who is touring with the band is awesome.




T.O.
You could argue that he hasn't wasted his talent because he still plays football and make millions. BUT, here's a guy that could've been a Hall of Famer, but decided to be a big a-hole instead. Even the Cowboys wouldn't keep him!! What does that say about him?







Whitney Houston
I keep hearing rumblings about a come-back, and I hope she does. I still think she has one of the most beautiful voices I've ever heard .... let's hope she didn't ruin it with a crack pipe.



Winona Ryder

(She hasn't really done much since the whole shop-lifting thing, which is ashame. I've always thought she was a very talented young actress. Now she makes spot appearances on Star Trek ... a far cry from A-lister status.)


6 comments:

Gwen said...

You don't have to be in the closet about loving Michael Jackson. Dude, that shit is rad! Billie Jean, Don't Stop Til You Get Enough, Bad, Dirty Diana, PYT, hell, even thriller! So there's one more thing we have in common, our MJ love. The other folks? I couldn't agree more. Although I stopped paying attention to TO after he stopped playing for Philly. Winona Ryder is such a disappointment. Her last good movie, in my opinion, was Girl, Interrupted. And she was a revelation in it. It's sad to see wasted potential...I see it every single day when I look in the mirror. Great post!

Los said...

Actually, you really aren't much of a closet fan with regards to Michael ... his music tends to play quite a bit at your parties ... which is fine, of course ... as long as you don't play anything post Bad.

Kelly's sister said...

I get teased for my love of MJ music too. As a person, he has disappointed me but i do love his older music. It makes me move and reminds me of my college years -I drove my roommates nuts with the Thriller album. I remember one or two of your parties and MJ was playin on the tunes.

schue said...

Yeah, old MJ music still rocks! It's a shame he thinks he's peter pan or a doctor and has weird sleepovers.

Well Read Hostess said...

Oh my god, I can't tell you how relieved I am not to have scrolled down and found a picture of my washed up old self on there!

Whew.

Fraulein N said...

You know what's sad? There's a whole generation or two out there that's never going to get why Michael Jackson used to be such a big deal. They just know him as he is now.