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Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Please only listen when you can safely close your eyes.
My name is Jason Newland and this is Monday Boring Objects. Monday, Monday Boring Objects. One day I'll actually come up with a really good jingle.
If I put a bit more effort in, maybe. If I put some effort in, possibly. So yeah, this is Monday's, is it Monday Boring Objects or Monday's Boring Objects? Just Monday Boring Objects, I don't care.
Monday's, Monday. So the idea behind these regular Monday podcasts is, I'll pick a subject, random, it's a subject or an object basically. You know, it could be, I don't know.
It could be a screwdriver. Or it could be weddings. You know, weddings aren't an object, well, kind of a subject.
Or it could be English literature. You see what I mean? It can be just a thing, really. It could even be a person.
I could talk about Michael Jackson. Yeah, I'm going to talk about Michael Jackson. I'm going to talk about, that's going to be on Boring Objects today.
Monday Boring Objects, Michael Jackson. Because I've always been a big fan of Michael Jackson. And before I start this, I am not going to be saying anything controversial, or referring to any controversy, or accusations that he might have had during his lifetime or since.
This is going to be from a fan perspective. Okay, thank you very much. Besides, I don't want to get into stuff like that.
These recordings, at the very least, you know, I try and make them as lighthearted as possible. Occasionally, you know, I'll delve into some serious stuff, but not too often. So before I proceed with this lecture, I am just letting you know there is a Facebook group that I, I say I run, actually Molly runs it.
But it's my Facebook group. It's called Jason Newland's Boring Group. It's really for the, it's a fan group, I guess.
I just use that word. I don't like the word very much. But it's for people that really like what I do.
It's not for the casual listener. It's for the, you know, people, just people that really like what I do. And the benefits of being in the group other than getting to make maybe meet like minded people.
I post my stuff on there. I also post personal pictures like a Vinnie rather sorry, pictures of Vinnie or videos of Vinnie. I might do the occasional video myself.
And also I ask questions. So it's a place where you can answer questions on a regular basis. On a Wednesday, I normally post a questionnaire or a question two days before Friday's Q&A Friday.
So I basically just say is there any questions for Q&A Friday? That was kind of obvious, wasn't it? So and then whatever questions I get over the next two days, I will then answer those questions on Friday. So and it's also a place where you can post, post messages and comments about how wonderful I am. Because I can't get enough of that.
I don't get enough of it. I hardly get any of it. Although I did have a nice message.
Let me read out a nice message I got it on the group. What's the name of the group again? Jason. Newland.
I got a lovely message. Where is it? Where is it? I can't find it. Just did.
Oh, okay. This is from Claire. Hi, my eyesight needs checking.
Hi, Jason. I do the voice. Hi, Jason.
Just wanted to say how much I appreciate and love your let me bore you to sleeps. I just love your ramblings. Ramblings? What are you talking about ramblings? Everything I say is I, I spend hours writing this stuff and going over it and going over it, editing it until it's the perfect speech.
Ramblings. I just love your ramblings and have been listening to you since around 20,214. That's the number.
So you've been listening from the future. I think you meant to say 2021 or 2014. I'm guessing 2021 because I wasn't doing the let me bore you to sleeps in 2014.
I was doing other stuff, but I didn't start the Let Me Bore You To Sleep to 2018. So, and then there's some information about some coffee, some sweetener and stuff. So I will reply to that as well.
So thank you. It's lovely message. Thank you very much.
I'm sure I got another message somewhere, but I can't find it. I can't find it. I don't know where it is.
Unless it was posted. No, can't find it. Also say hi to Paul.
Thanks for your kind PayPal gift. Nope, can't find it. Maybe there wasn't.
No, I think that was it. So get on with the video. So to start with, I don't know if per chance I have already previously made a recording, a bawling recording about Michael Jackson, then I'm not sorry.
And here's another one. Basically, I don't I can't keep track of everything I do, or everything I've done because there are thousands of recordings, literally thousands right now, just for the Let Me Bore You To Sleep. Since 2018, I've done 1220 different recordings.
So that's just for those ones without all the other stuff I've done. Blimey. I've been pretty good though doing them regularly.
Just put water just on my top looks like I'm lactating. I like that. Maybe feel good.
So anyway, maybe feel feminine. I do. Okay, I'll move away from my nipples.
So I am trying to think when I first really discovered Michael Jackson. Hmm. Hmm.
Hmm. I think I probably grew up listening to him. But not knowing the songs like Blame It On The Boogie and Doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo
doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo doo like young.
But I would have heard him on the radio and I would have heard his latest songs on the radio from an early age and probably his videos on Top of the Pops because I watched Top of the Pops, well it's not on anymore but right from when it started, not when it started because I wasn't alive, probably from the late 70s all the way through to kind of when it stopped I suppose.
Although I didn't watch it quite as regularly as I had done in the past but I used to definitely watch the Christmas edition, that was one of my favourite things about Christmas. I think they used to have the Queen's speech first and then Top of the Pops, if I remember correctly.
So, yeah I've got kind of vague memories of the Summoner songs. I mean I know them really well now because I've been listening to them for decades and decades. But whether or not I listened to them when I was a kid I don't know but I'm pretty certain I didn't have any albums when I was very young.
But I do, probably my first real, real memory of Michael Jackson was when he brought out Thriller because that was, there was such a buzz, such a buzz in the air and it was the most talked about album of the year and it was the most successful album I think of all time. And at that time it was as well, it kind of broke all the records and the top movie of the year was probably E.T. if I remember rightly.
I don't remember at the time but Michael Jackson also did, he did an album for E.T. Did you know that? He did.
E.T. Go Home. He did, he did an album for E.T. I don't know if it was, I don't think it was the E.T. Storybook or something it was called. It wasn't, I don't think his songs were in the actual movie.
Maybe they were, maybe they were. I haven't seen that movie for a long time. So I remember going to see it and I was determined, I went with my family and I was determined I ain't going to cry because everyone was saying are you going to cry? I said I ain't going to cry.
I cried, I did. It's the only time I ever cried. I know there was one time when I was an adult and I was in the back road with my girlfriend and we were getting on really well and unfortunately she sneezed.
Yeah, that made me cry. So ever since then I've trimmed. So I think it's, yeah, he did that.
I don't know how popular the album was for the E.T. thing because I would say fair enough it's pretty, I think it's pretty certain that everything and anything would have been eclipsed by Thriller, the album. Now I didn't own Thriller but I knew all the songs because they were being played continuously on the radio like all the time.
And because he released so many songs off of the album as individual singles, I got to know all the singles pretty much because, you know, sometimes you, I don't know, in the past I've bought an album, I've heard maybe the first song or maybe the first two songs from an artist, a singer and I'm thinking, oh, I've heard that.
Ooh, I want to buy the album. I don't always go, ooh, but sometimes I do. Sometimes I go, ah, sometimes I don't even make a noise.
It really depends. Depends what year it was. I think 1992 I decided to make no noises before buying albums.
What am I talking about? So I, it was a bit awkward because I remember I bought it and the lady on the cashier, you know, who I bought the album from in HMV, sort of looked at me and said, why didn't you, why didn't you say thank you? I said, well, I'm trying not to make noises this year. She said, oh, are you one of those people that make weird noises before buying albums?
I said, yeah. And I was a bit worried that I might make a weird noise during or even after buying it.
She said, I fully understand. And can I have your telephone number? Maybe we can go out on a date and perhaps get married. I said, no, I'm busy.
I'm busy. I've got to get home to listen to this album. She said, are you really going to give up this? I mean, this is an opportunity for you to fall in love and we could have kids and get a mortgage and you can work for the next 45 years to pay off a mortgage and then I'll take half.
No, she didn't say that, which would have put me off probably. She said, she didn't say anything. None of that happened.
So I said, hey, she said, what? She said, I said, hey, I want a Michael Jackson album. Which one? So I didn't know there's more than one. I thought, you know, Thriller was the first one because I knew he'd been in the Jackson Five or the Jacksons, the Jackson Five, both called different things at different times.
I didn't know he'd already had his own solo albums previously. He'd had Ben. He's also had Off The Wall.
So I was like, oh, okay, a Thriller one, obviously. That's the one I want. And she said, I don't think E.E. really started until Bad and that's not happened yet.
I said, oh, okay, I've got to stop then. See, that's why I don't want to make the noises. She said, yeah, okay.
And I didn't, I didn't actually buy the album. I did buy the album in the future, but at that time I didn't buy the album. I don't know why.
I think it's because it was over a bit too condensed, a bit too overkill, possibly too much. Always being played, one of his songs. Constantly.
And the album was being advertised all the time. On TV. And we only had one and a half channels back then.
I also remember the. They played the Thriller video for the first time in this country on Channel 4 and it was on about 10 o'clock at night. And me and my brothers was excited to watch it.
Partly. Well, because it was so hyped. It wasn't just that it was that the person that directed the video was the same person that directed, created the American Werewolf in London.
So those same special effects were being used and they were really advanced techniques. It was the first werewolf movie where it was really done well. Well, they did it as well as they could at that time, you know, it was like new techniques and that.
So Michael Jackson had used him. Michael Landis, is it Michael Landis? Anyway, the. We were all a big fan of American Werewolf in London.
Love that film. I still do. It's probably one of my favorite horror movies ever because it was funny.
I like humor with my massacres. I like their humor. And it was funny all the way through.
OK, not every part was funny. Yeah, some parts weren't. So, yeah, I. There was a really bad they did American Werewolf in Paris, which was just nothing to do with the original movie.
Nothing. Nothing like. Nothing.
And I just couldn't believe that they I mean, I watched it. And I had I think I had some raunchy bits, so I watched it many times, probably more than the original one. But, you know, I was a teenager and I liked werewolves.
Yep. Yeah. So I was kind of quite excited about how the Thriller video was going to be.
I knew this song. Everyone knew this song. Because this is Thriller.
But because it hadn't actually been officially released, you know, the radio stations were playing all the songs from the album. And that was kind of exciting. It was a landmark thing, you know, only ever going to happen once in history.
You know, the first time that Thriller was played. It's this is one of those things like it might not be that exciting for people that listen and hear about it. But I get excited when I see more than three ladybirds together.
So, you know, or ladybugs, if you want to call them that. My friend's got it's a weird thing. She's got ladybirds come into her flat.
And they congregate at the same part of the wall every year. They just come in. Bearing in mind, it's October and there are no ladybirds outside.
So they come in and they kind of just hang out. I've never had, I don't know, I've had one ladybird indoors ever in my entire life. She doesn't like them.
I said, but they're beautiful. But I don't like them, she says. That's exactly how she sounds.
I don't like them. I said, but they're beautiful. They're good luck.
They bring you good luck. Then she pointed out all the stuff that's happened in the last year. And I thought, OK, fair enough.
They might not be good luck. But they are still beautiful. I've just got this fondness for ladybirds.
It's something going back to the middle 70s when there was, the newspapers were calling it a plague of ladybirds. And there was billions of the things in this country. But I loved them.
And I never got bit by one ever. They loved me. I loved them.
And we used to get completely covered. Completely covered. And it was wonderful.
Absolutely loved them. Always have. Always will.
But I also used to eat daddy long legs. So, you know, I'm not sure how good my decision making was back then. I was only like 5 or 4 or 5. I remember my brother, because we used to live in this big tower block.
And I came downstairs once into the front or the back, I don't know, whichever way we were going. Out of the block of flats. And my oldest brother was there with some of his friends.
And he said, he called me up and said, pick him up, pick up the bee. I said, no he'll sting me. He said, no he can't sting you, he's dead.
So I picked him up and I got stung. That's the whole story really. But I don't think I ever trusted him again.
No, I find it hard to trust anyone that's near a bee. Especially if they tell me to pick it up. Don't worry, it won't sting you.
No, don't trust them anymore. Ruined my trust with bees near tower blocks. I wonder if that tower block's still there.
I wonder. Oh, Vinnie wants to cuddle now. You want to cuddle? Aww.
So I'm trying to think. I don't know what day of the week the thriller video was released on Channel 4. I got this idea that maybe it was like a Tuesday. I don't know why.
But I just had this feeling that it was like quite early in the week. And it was just as good as I thought it would be. It was just brilliant.
I loved it. Absolutely loved every second of it. It lasted for, I don't know, 10 minutes, maybe 15 minutes.
And then I went to bed. Because this is thriller, thriller night. I used to do that with girls sometimes.
If I was trying to chat up a girl when I was a kid, I'd be like... I'd put my hands on their shoulders and start dancing, like in the video. Like, it's close to midnight. Like, yeah, I used to do that.
Sometimes they'd laugh. Sometimes they'd tell me to go away. Sometimes they'd call the police.
I mean, it depends. I don't do it anymore. I haven't done it for weeks.
So I remember that. I'm trying to think what other things Michael Jackson... how he's touched me, or my life rather. And the next time I really remember Michael Jackson was... 1987.
1987? 1986? 1987. 1997? Yeah. Yeah, 1987.
So, that was when he released Bad, 1987. And I... When I was living above the chip shop, the main... I had some albums on tape. Like tape record... you know, tape tapes that you put into a tape recorder.
Not taped, it was used to... I don't know, tape something. Together. So... I'm trying to think of the albums I had.
I had... two Stevie Wonder albums. No. I had one... no.
I had one and then I got another one. So I had two Stevie Wonder albums. I had the... Born... Blimey.
It's the one with Overjoyed on. Overjoyed, I've been building my castle of love. That one.
Oh, it's just gone out of my head. I know the... I can't remember the name of it. And then the second one, which was what he released... in... 87, Stevie Wonder.
Which is called Characters. So, in... What was the first? In... Blimey. It'll come to me.
So I had those two albums that I used to listen to. That was one of the songs off of the... Characters from Stevie Wonder. I had George Michael's Faith.
I had... Madonna's... three albums that she'd produced up to that point. Including Blue, True Blue... and the other two albums she'd previously released. And I had Michael Jackson's Off The Wall.
And I had... Thriller. I must have had Thriller. Maybe I didn't have Thriller.
These things are weird. Why wouldn't I have Thriller? But I definitely had Off The Wall and I had Bad. Those were the two main ones that I listened to.
Off The Wall and Bad. I loved Bad. But I also loved Off The Wall.
Because I'd never heard it before. Until... I bought it. But... I must have had Thriller as well.
Surely. I'm trying to think of any other... Wow. I can't think.
I don't know. But they were the main albums that I was listening to. Off The Wall... and Bad.
And I would listen to them constantly. When I was at home. When I wasn't at work.
I'd be upstairs listening to them. On repeat, basically. I just fell in love.
I fell more in love with Michael Jackson during that period. And... than I had when I was younger. He's by far my favourite singer.
And then... When... There were times when I... Because I was working like six days a week. On a Sunday, I'd kind of crash a little bit. I'd get up, maybe buy a sandwich at the sandwich shop.
Perhaps... Or just get some newspapers, read the newspapers. And then I'd just go back and lie down on the bed. I think at this time I just had a... Like a... Not an actual bed frame.
Just the bed itself. On the floor. And... I'd have the recorder, the tape player.
Just next to the bed. I don't know. Maybe a bottle of water or something.
A bottle of Coke. I've got no idea. Whatever I was drinking.
And I'd just be going to sleep. I'd spend all day pretty much in bed on a Sunday. I was 16.
And... Yeah, I just didn't have... There was nothing to do. Back in 1987. 86, 87.
There wasn't anything really to do. On a Sunday. Everything's closed.
No shops were open. Apart from the newsagents that were open in the morning. Then they closed.
The off-licence opened during the... Like, the off-licence, the pub times. The pubs only opened for a little bit. In the morning.
Till like lunchtime or whatever. From about 11 till 1. Something like that. Then it opened again in the evening for about 4 hours.
So everything... Sundays were very much... The whole country kind of closed down a little bit. On a Sunday. Back then.
And I lived in this little town where there was no... There's no way out. I don't think they had any trains travel on a Sunday. I don't even think there was a bus service on a Sunday either.
I might be exaggerating this one, but... It was kind of stuck. Stuck there. So it was a little bit boring.
And then... When I moved out of there... I asked my... Work colleague to look after my stuff. Because I had quite a few tapes. If I remember right... Yeah, I had a lot of tapes actually.
I think I'd accrued a bunch of tapes. Albums and stuff. I asked her to look after them... I asked her to look after them for me and... I never saw them again.
And then... I've got an itchy, itchy leg. Oh! Then I moved into my dad's for a little while. I don't remember... At that period, I don't remember really buying any... Or listening to any music.
Necessarily. But I was working in a co-op. And one of the ladies that worked there... She was just coming up to retirement.
And apparently I helped her retirement... Become more special. Because like... You know, she was happy to retire but... Even more happier to not have to work with me anymore. So I thought that was nice.
And she... She gave me an album. Which was the Michael Jackson Thriller album. But on vinyl.
I don't know why she gave it to me but she did. Something about, you know, making help... Help her to appreciate how lucky she is to be getting out of that job. And... So I had that album.
And then... What I did next is I lived... Up above... Moved out of my dad's and I lived up above the co-op. Where I was working. And I started spending time with... A lady who I ended up dating actually.
Like years later. And that was a time when I bought... An album. And it was Michael Jackson... Slash The Jackson 5. In fact it wasn't Jackson 5. It was The Jacksons.
It wasn't just Michael Jackson I think. It was The Jacksons but it might have been both. And it was a mix.
Like a mega mix. And it was like every single one of his... Songs. All kind of mixed together.
I've not been able to find it anywhere. I've looked online. It's almost like it didn't exist.
But it did exist because I used to own it. It's a bit like... It's something I just can't prove. Similar to like I can't prove that I ever had a girlfriend.
I did but I can't prove it. I mean I could point you towards someone that I dated. But they won't admit to it.
They won't tell you I did. So... I can't prove that I'm not a virgin. But... Mind you it's been so long.
I think virginity comes back again doesn't it? If you leave it too long. So yeah. Everything's healed over.
So... I think... That album. The mix was one of my favourite albums ever. I just loved listening to all his old songs from the 70s.
Absolutely loved it. You know Get Back, Get Me Back, ABC. Ben.
Do you ever want someone? Do you ever want something you know you shouldn't have? But the more you want it, the more you can have it, the more you want it. And then one day you get it. It just feels so good to you.
Ain't no sunshine when she's gone. There's that one. Then... Rockin' Robin.
Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. Rockin' Robin. And... What other ones? I Want You Back.
Love Makes the World Go Round. And... Do-do-do-do-do-do-do-do. I can't remember but it was lots of songs.
I loved it. Absolutely loved it. Blame it on the boogie probably.
Perhaps. And... I don't know what happened to that album. I don't know if it was... a vinyl album or a tape recorder.
I don't rightly remember. If it was a vinyl, then I must have owned a record player in order to play it. Otherwise I wouldn't have got a vinyl version of the album.
But knowing how I spent most of my life really late nineties, it was on tape. And I've been through periods when I did buy vinyl but it was mainly comedy albums. Because... a lot of them were on vinyl.
Especially the second hand ones. Or are we supposed to say pre-loved now? Yeah, ok. Pre-loved.
No, second hand. And they were... really old ones like Richard Pryor... I don't know. What's his name? Bill Cosby... Cheech and Chong... Cheech and Chong? Chong and Cheech? I'm trying to think of some other ones that I had.
Albums that were old. Some of the really old ones from the sixties and the seventies. I think I had... I did.
I had Monty Python's Life of Brian. An album. So that was funny.
But I also had quite a few tapes of albums that I used to buy. And I also used to buy videos as well. But it was just stand up comedy.
American and English. So I had Chubby Brown. I had Bernard Manning.
But I also had... Emo Phillips. Steve Martin. Robin Williams.
George Carlin. All kinds of stuff. But that's a different Boring Objects... recording, I guess.
And then... Yeah, that was kind of my little period when I absolutely loved that album. And I don't think I had Bad anymore because someone else, they were looking after it and I didn't... I'm not sure if I repurchased it. I might have done.
Knowing me, I probably did. Because I loved the album so much. And then in 1988... We're in 1988 now.
When... 1988, later in the year, when I turned 18, for a birthday present, I got given tickets to go and see Michael Jackson, a concert at Wembley. With my cousin. And... I never went.
Because I'd just started a new job. I'd literally turned 18. I was going to go, but... As soon as I turned 18, I applied, I mean literally practically on the day, I applied for a job in a factory that you had to be 18 to work at.
That it was one of the best jobs in town outside of working on the docks. So I applied and I got a job pretty quick. And the tickets were probably for... probably about five weeks away from when I got the... Yeah, that's it.
So probably four weeks away maybe. So it turned out that I would have to have a day off in the second week, first or second week of actually working. And I was too scared to take time off.
Because, you know, I've always been dedicated to my work. Well, you know, sort of. A little bit.
I'd just got the job. I can't take time off. But, you know, if I was a little bit older, I could have just said to him, look, I've got tickets to go and see Michael Jackson.
I need that day off. I can start work after that if you want. If you want to wait until, you know, or I could work in lieu of that day or... whatever, but, you know.
And I'm pretty sure most human beings at that time, bearing in mind Michael Jackson was the biggest star in the whole wide world. They probably would have like said, well, maybe, I think, that's okay, JJ. You go watch Michael Jackson.
Don't worry about us. It's only your job, don't worry. You go watch Michael Jackson.
That's okay. And it would be fine. And hopefully I'd have a job.
And I thought about skiving, pretending. Then I was worried. What if I was filmed? You know, maybe they did a filming of it and it was on TV and you saw me there and out of like, you know, 80,000 people that was there, probably not going to see my face.
So I didn't go. It was the... I mean, I got bought the tickets because I was such a big Michael Jackson fan. And I didn't go.
That was one of my little, probably one of my little regrets. Yeah. To say I was a little Michael, I was, I was, by that point, I was such a Michael Jackson fan.
I mean, really, Bad was the album that got me. Way more than Thriller. I love Thriller, but I still prefer Bad.
I do. And I still prefer Off The Wall to Thriller. It's weird.
It's a great album, obviously, because it's hugely successful, but I think I prefer all of Michael Jackson's other albums over Thriller. I don't know why. I don't know why.
It's just... Yeah, I don't know why. So there was nothing after Bad for a little while. And I still listen to his music late 80s.
There was one time I remember when I had lost my job, or I walked out because I couldn't work there anymore. I didn't know what I was going to do. But basically, I'd worked all the way through Christmas in this bar job, and they said to me that, they accused me of stealing, basically.
In so many words, they said, there's money short for Mattel again. You need to come in tomorrow for training. We're going to retrain you.
I said, I can't come in tomorrow because it's New Year's Day. I worked all through Christmas, and I've got New Year's Day dinner with my family. It's the only time I'm going to see my nan and my family, you know, because I've not seen them all through Christmas because I've been working.
And they said, if you don't come in, don't turn up. I said, all right, see you then. And that was the end of that.
But I didn't realise they were going to take that as a sign of guilt, which it wasn't. It wasn't. Oh well.
So I I went through a period where I didn't have anything. I was like, oh no, what am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? And I don't know what on earth. Oh yeah, so I went like a week or two.
I didn't have any money. I was still living in this place. And I really was struggling, like I don't know what I'm going to do.
I was looking for work. And I remember walking, I think it was on the pier and I was singing, I kept, I was singing to myself Blame it on the boogie. Don't blame it on the sunshine.
Don't blame it on the moonlight. I kept singing that to myself and I don't know why. But it somehow comforted me.
Comforted me, made me just calmed my mind. I still didn't know what to do. What am I going to do? Got no job, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And everything worked out in the end. So it's, you know, it's all right. But I just remember that.
Singing that song out loud, especially I was on the pier, it was cold, there was no one else around, so I could just sing it. And it really helped. And then I don't think Michael Jackson affected my life anymore for that little period.
I don't remember even listening to him. June 1989. I probably did, but I don't remember it.
1990, I don't remember. But 1991, that's a different matter because that's when he brought out Dangerous. Dangerous.
I loved that album. I bought it and I loved every single song. I'd already probably heard, I think it was Black and White, was the first song off the album.
So I'd already heard that song. But there was a lot of songs I'd not heard and I just I adored the album. Honestly, just couldn't get enough of it.
So I was listening to that non-stop when I could. And I've got this memory of kind of December 1991. So I've been doing comedy.
I moved to London in January 1991 to pursue a career as a stand-up comedian. And by the end of the year, I'd gone through a few jobs and I was currently, had no money coming in. And a a friend of mine who was how did I even know him? How did I know him? I think he was a regular at the comedy club I used to go to regularly.
He was a regular at the, my regular. And he asked me, yeah, he gave me a job. Like temporarily over the Christmas period, over like December, maybe into January.
But just for a few weeks at the Elephant and Castle selling, basically he had a record shop inside the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. He gave me a stall, like a couple of tables, outside the front because there was also like a market out there as well. And I was selling all this old stock of tapes that he just wanted to get rid of.
He had a huge stock of stuff in the basement or wherever it was that stuff was stored. And I was free, it was so cold. But I loved it.
Absolutely loved it. And it was just fun. That was a really good December.
One of my best Decembers ever. I just remember listening to Dangerous on the way there, on the way back. I just listened to it.
I just loved that album so much. And that was a weird, kind of a weird time because we also, he started a comedy club called the Charlie Chaplin comedy club at the Charlie Chaplin pub which was next door to the Elephant and Castle shopping centre. And it was upstairs and we we used to yeah, we'd go and stand outside the tube station handing out leaflets.
And every, it's really weird because we did it most days for like, you know, just for a couple of hours. And every other day the tube station would get shut down because of a a scare, a a potential emergency thing that used to happen a lot in the 90s. And it was just weird.
Sometimes we'd get a captive audience because there'd be all these people standing outside the railings down so they couldn't get in. And we'd be like there with little leaflets saying, do you want to come to the comedy club? But no one was really in the mood for humour to be fair. But it was, we got an audience and yeah, just the Charlie Chaplin was that kind of our local pub after we finished work and we'd go in there and that was his local anyway because I don't know how long he'd had that shop for but quite a while I'm guessing.
Yeah. I've got good memories of that. There was a bunch of girls used to hang around as well and there was a couple of lads that or at least one, maybe two lads that worked in the shop with my friend.
He'd have a cup going there on a Saturday and during the holidays and got on well with them. So yeah, it was a really, really nice time. Yeah.
Yeah, it was one of my favourite times of the 90s I'll be honest. That one month I was getting paid I don't know, not a lot like 20 quid a day or something cash in hand and a travel card probably cost me 250. I don't know if he bought me lunch, he probably did and that was it.
It was just nice. Such a, yeah. Yeah, it was good.
I dated one girl and then I asked her sister out and we had like a date in the pub but it didn't go so well because her boyfriend came in and then there was another female there who I got on really well with and a few months later, that's the next summer, I came and visited my friend and she was around and we kind of hooked up and spent the day together.
That was nice. I just remember it was just a really, really chilled out period, you know, that but it's just the overarching Michael Jackson Dangerous album was there and I was just like, oh, you know and then what, 91 I was still listening to Dangerous, 92 I was, at this point, I was probably listening to all three albums.
The Off The Wall, no four albums, Off The Wall, Thriller, Bad and Dangerous. So I had all four of those albums I'd listened to during that period and also went through a period of really well, kind of discovering Bob Dylan in probably 92 I say discovering because he'd been quite established in the music industry for about 50 years but I I kind of knew who he was and I'd heard some of his stuff and I wanted to listen you know, I'd get his Grace Hits which I did and the whole kind of the timings were changing and was it that line if you if you can't what was it,
if you can't if you can't join with us get out of the way kind of about, yeah, so it was that was kind of the our idea of the sentence he said, if you can't if you can't be part of what we're doing then you need to get out of the way but it was worded differently in song format if you can't get out of the way get out of the way yeah,
something like that which is quite a good impression and then I fell in love with Blood on the Tracks oh my goodness I'm not sure when that happened but blimey Blood on the Tracks was one of my favouritest, still is one of my favouritest albums of ever and you may say but that's not Michael Jackson I didn't say it was I loved Blood on the Tracks Bob Dylan lee lee lee lee think about something else to see I know that wasn't on the album but I liked a few of his
albums I had quite a few of his albums at one point so Michael Jackson so the next really thing that I remember about Michael as far as how my life was affected by him or his music would probably be just going through the years 93 94 95 so 1995 is the next thing so I was still listening to his music and he brings out history history and again I remember putting it in my headphones putting it into the tape recorder with my headphones on walking to work listening to I don't
know if was I walking to work or I might have gone up to the shops bought it and then come back and then headed off somewhere else it might have been work listening to yeah listening to it for the first time and I was like wow I mean the first side is all his old songs anyway but the new album the second side which is all his new songs just again I loved every single one every single one it just yeah and my memory really there's a couple of memories I've
got one was I think it was 1996 was when Michael Jackson was appearing on the it was a music award show in the UK and the pulp pulp lead singer got on stage and basically mocked him while he was on stage mocked Michael Jackson while he was on stage so that didn't go down too well I think he got arrested and then released or did he just did he pull his pants down or something I don't know something like that but my memory really of the history period was singing the
song You Are Not Alone You are not alone I am here with you that one because I was dating someone who had a kid and whenever I sung it was a baby I don't know still a baby like literally 6, 7 months old 8 months old or something and whenever I sung the baby stopped crying and it was it was quite a close bond between me and the baby and just like he loved listening to me singing he didn't have a lot of choice to be fair I was holding him
and he couldn't get away but I used to sing to him and he just seemed to like it and he would fall asleep now I don't know because I told Vinnie this story and he said he would stop singing which I found a little bit rude a little bit rude to hear that but you know it's possible but he seemed to like my singing and back in them days I could sing Michael Jackson's songs quite well I had the ability to sing quite high and yeah I was yeah I was a pretty good pretty good singer back then those days are well and truly gone my friend but I did,
I used to have a quite good singing voice but to be fair I was only yeah I was only 25 so I hadn't really gone through puberty then yet I didn't have until I was about 46 and I'm trying to think what else so 96 I was just still listening to his music whenever I did a karaoke if I got an opportunity to do karaoke I would probably sing a Michael Jackson song if I could either Michael Jackson Elvis Presley or the Beatles I used to quite like singing Fool on
the Hill because I was singing about myself because I kind of felt like I was the fool on the hill dear today alone on a hill and I kind of yeah I used to get slightly emotional singing that about myself no I don't think anyone realised that I was well because they couldn't read my mind I suppose didn't know why I was singing it although it was quite often at the end of the night on a Wednesday night maybe at the weekend as well and there'd be hardly anyone left because
I'd leave really late like early hours and sometimes I'd just walk home all the way through Whitechapel to Stratford from yeah it was probably a good hour and a half walk but I don't know I just it was alright there was a friend I used to walk with sometimes because he also lived he didn't live too far away from where I lived why we didn't get a taxi and share the fee or the cost I don't know I think it was because we were both probably I don't know if I
was drinking but he was drinking so maybe just to walk it off you know and so 95 96 97 98 99 2000 right the next album that he released actually this is weird I started working at Churchill in September 2001 and the trainer was obsessed with Michael Jackson absolutely loved and so that was like wow he also used to go boxing as well so there was two things really in common well I didn't go boxing but I loved boxing and at the time I've done boxing since but I wasn't sort
of young doing it he was he was still probably in his 20s yeah he would have been probably 25 or something and he really loved Michael Jackson and around that time is when Michael Jackson released his next album which was called Invincible now I liked it it wasn't the same I mean none of his albums are the same really but it was different from his other albums and it wasn't as successful nowhere near as successful as his previous albums but I still loved it I listened to it constantly and then
I kind of went off it a bit and I went back to listening to Off The Wall and Bad and then I came back to Invincible and I just realised how good it was it was just a really good album so that was what 2001 2002 I was listening to the album all the way through the 2000s really as well as all his other albums and then was it 2009 he left I mean he had to come back not come back but he had to was it Wembley it wasn't Wembley
Arena was it was it the O2 he was going to do something like a whole month at the because the O2 you know it used to be called the Millennium Dome did you know that the O2 used to be called the Millennium the Millennium Dome was one of the most expensive buildings in this country's history and it was basically built to celebrate the new millennium which was coming so they'd been building it and they spent like 500 million something like really huge amounts of money putting this thing together and and
they launched it ready for 2000 you know the new millennium and I went to see it I actually knew someone who he was best friends I think sometimes he did a shift but he was really close friends with the waiters so he'd be in and out quite a lot but he worked at the Millennium Dome he worked at when they launched it he was there not quite sure what he did but he had all these comp tickets that he was given away so he gave me a couple of tickets and
it was for a bank holiday Monday I think it was I don't know if it was the opening day probably not but it was kind of the opening week or that weekend I think and I didn't have anyone to take really you know if I had my time over again I probably would have done it a little bit different I wouldn't have gone no I went with someone I met on a Saturday night and said do you want to go to the Millennium Dome and she wanted to pick me up
and I said have you got a car first she said yeah no she hadn't so we just went there and it was a nice day there was all these trampoline I don't know what they were called but they were all on these wires and strings it was a huge huge thing and there was I think there was like a human body or a brain or something inside and there was I didn't really feel that they were using the space as best as they could have done but it was a new
thing and it yeah it was alright it was quite nice it was an event and there was a McDonald's there and it was the first time I'd ever had a McFlurry I don't know if they were just new I think they were new they were like a new thing McFlurries and I think that's then got turned into the O2 arena where loads of sporting events so I guess they could start making the money back I'm pretty sure unless it was going to be Wembley but I don't think that Wembley could
have put on like a whole month of concerts for one person years in advance but the Millennium Dome or O2 was relatively new relatively I don't know percentage wise making this up probably 60% and then I didn't buy the tickets to go and see him I didn't really and this is the early I couldn't I couldn't have done it if I wanted to I couldn't have gone into a busy place those days were over for me going into like really crowded places and stuff so I didn't really want to go
I kind of I think I missed I'd say I missed my opportunity to see him but obviously you could say obviously I have but I mean at the time probably the best time to go and see him I would say probably during the Bad Tour personally I think because of the because I just loved the album so much and then and he was gone and to this day I'm talking like regularly throughout the week I still listen to his albums I listen to Off The Wall I listen to Bad I don't listen to Thriller very often even now,
I don't listen to it too often I listen I don't listen to Invincible very often but I do like listening to Dangerous and I listen to History but there's a couple of other albums that I discovered is Ben now I didn't realise that he had a like a solo album called Ben I'd heard of the song you know that one but I didn't know it was an album and I love that album again I love every single song on that album so yeah that's one of my favourite albums of all
of his and there was another one but I don't know I think it was Forever Michael or something so that was another one and there was loads of songs on there that I'd heard before so it's now kind of got to the point where I don't think there's a song that he recorded that I've not heard and I even like so much stuff he did with the Jacksons that it's almost I've not forgotten but it's been eclipsed by his solo career that he did like later on like it's all the
early stuff you know like Blame It On The Boogie and you know all the ABC and all that stuff that was Rockin' Robbie and all that but in the later years around the same time as when he did Off The Wall between Off The Wall and Thriller he did the like that one and it's amazing some of the really good songs and I know it's with his brothers but it was still with him you know I mean Off The Wall could have been a Jacksons album to be fair because it
still sounded like they were in the background you know and I'm not sure maybe they were in the background that's what it sounded like to me that he you know it didn't really break away I love Off The Wall but he could have done that with the Jacksons and it still would have been a great album and it would have been no one would have batted an eyelid if he just said the new Jacksons album Off The Wall and just released it exactly as it was oh I can hear Tito
oh Jermaine's in good form on this one you don't know do you it's I think it's only when he moved to Thriller that's when you realise for me that was like completely Michael Jackson there was no no Jacksons influence on that one maybe that's why eh in a way that was kind of for me the first one he did where he was completely himself and then Bad it kind of established himself as being having that style so with Thriller he established himself as a solo artist like completely solo Off The
Wall he was still doing stuff with the Jacksons Thriller that was it Jacksons was done I think they had a reunion but it was definitely Michael on his own and then with Bad that was I would say that was kind of like his clowning clowning his crowning glory even though Bad was more Thriller was more successful and his biggest album he ever had I just think Bad was better better album more energy eh just it was probably just right for me at that time you know I was what was I
17 it was full of energy the whole album pretty much eh it was great it was just perfect one of the most perfect albums for me but then Dangerous came along and I absolutely adored that one Dangerous and I listen even now not right now but they're on my list of my Amazon music catalog fee they're on there I don't own any recordings any music at all it's all streaming now which is a little bit sad because if I ever couldn't afford the internet or anything like that and I couldn't
afford the streaming I literally would have nothing to listen to apart from maybe a radio but even a radio is digital now comes via the internet wow but I've really what I might do in a future Boring Objects I'll actually go through the Amazon list because I've started to save or bookmark the albums and they're all my favourite albums like my favouritest albums of all time are on there not all of them but I'm gradually starting to add them the albums that I've listened to throughout well the last 4 decades
or whatever in the 70s I wouldn't add any because I didn't have apart from Grease that was the only album that I would add from the 70s unless Elvis's no that's wrong the Elvis's Christmas album and I wouldn't listen to any of Elvis's greatest hits I would add regardless of when they were released but there's one with a red cover so I think that was from the 80s though I might be wrong the that is Elvis's Christmas album was from 1958 I think again one of my favouritest albums of all
time and I listened to it all year round however strange that might sound I would sit here on the hottest day of the year listening to a Christmas album ho ho ho Christmas without you see I don't care it's brilliant because I just love Elvis and that Christmas album and I started that tradition in 1991 no 1990 sorry 1990 I was staying at my Dad's house in the summer and I used to listen to that album probably a tape tape recorder maybe it might have been a vinyl album I don't
know I remember just sitting back listening to that it was just lovely it just felt nice it felt Christmassy but emotionally Christmassy which is something I don't really get I haven't had for decades the only time I really feel Christmassy is that feeling when I listen to that album or I watch It's A Wonderful Life and again I watch that any time of the year and it just gives me that nice feeling they are the two things two of the things that really give me that nice feeling what's the other
one Groundhog Day is another one it's just it's kind of got a bit of everything because it's got snow it's just kind of winter but at the same time it's just a brilliant movie it's one of my favourite movies ever and it's funny and it's Bill Murray is just great I've always been a fan of Bill Murray ever since that movie really to be fair he's just got something about him and also Scrooged was really good as well yeah I don't know how long I've been talking for probably an hour
or so I've been trying to time myself just so I don't go on too long ooh an hour and a half blimey have I had any phone calls during this period no have I had any emails during this period no no nothing nobody contacting me no nothing at all nothing happening has anyone knocked on my door nope no one's knocked on my door either so that's good Facebook,
anything on Facebook Dmitry posts I wonder who makes these wonderful covers for your videos alright ok if you're listening to this Dmitry I don't the covers I make for my podcasts and my videos I use a different couple of different things I use Canva and I use ChatGPT and I have to put in what I want the image to be of so I create the image in a sense of what I want it to be so for example yesterday's Sunday papers I wanted a polar bear sitting on a toilet reading
a newspaper and that's what I got and that's what came up and I was happy with that you can see his trousers or his pants are down sitting on a newspaper it doesn't always work out so easy so quickly but that was like an easy one to do sometimes I'll do a mixture of different covers different images and put them together so if I want for example a multiple of different animals doing certain things I might make different images take the background out and you know maneuver them so they're in
in the image and stuff so it all depends but generally it's definitely not my it's not my artistic genius but it is my artistic design or idea rather so I'm the one that puts the idea into the for what I want and then ChatGPT gives me what it thinks I want you know based on what I put in or the words I put in or the description and so yeah that's it really and then I use Canva to edit the image so I can get a few images and kind of
put them together to make one image so I'll do that sometimes I add the logo for the Let Me Bore You To Sleep podcast and maybe other things you know depending on what I'm doing and that's it really that's what I do with that's how I do the do the images I mean it depends there are times when I don't do it like that because they don't always give me what I want so I have to design it myself in a certain kind of way I'm no artist I'm no I
don't like as far as illustrations or designed images or anything like that but I can design an image by putting things together to create the image I want you know if I know what background I want so if I want a background of a beach I can post that and then if I want to have for example two ducks boxing each other whilst ice skating on the sea which is frozen over you know as an example I can add those but then I might have to add the ice skates I
might have to add the frozen sea from another picture to put on you know it's just mixing and matching and combining things together but if I can avoid all that and just you know I'll give you an example the image is gone but I did an image of a wrapper on the toilet once years ago and it was quite a good quite a good image but it took me absolutely ages to do it because I had to search the internet for images I wanted to use and then I had to
take off little bits of the image and transform it and yeah it took ages but I was pleased with the end result I think I've still got the image somewhere but I haven't used it because it was on my original podcast and then that got taken down because it had music in the background and Spreaker wouldn't allow that so they actually removed the whole podcast that's why last year was it last year I'm using track now that was last year wasn't it I started using SoundCloud so I had to upload
all the old stuff and that was yeah uploading all the old stuff I didn't have all the old images because I'd lost a lot of them so yeah but that's it I hope that made sense so on that note I'm going to go so thank you for listening remember to be kind to yourself because you deserve to be happy and be gentle with yourself lots of love bye
Paragraph spacing and recurring name or title errors have been tidied. Because this began as a voice transcription, an occasional word or piece of punctuation may still be incorrect.