Table of Contents

List of contributors 1

Introduction: MJ, the symptom Mark Fisher 7

1 "And when the groove is dead and gone": The end of Jacksonism Mark Fisher 9

2 Michael Jackson's twenty greatest hits Paul Lester 18

3 The boy who would fly: Michael Jackson (1983) Barney Hoskyns 37

4 He's out of our life: Michael Jackson, 1958-2009 Barney Hoskyns 47

5 Pop utopia: The promise and disappointment of Michael Jackson Steven Shaviro 51

6 " . . . and though you fight to stay alive, your body starts to shiver . . . " Marcello Carlin 63

7 The "King" is dead; long live everything else David Stubbs 69

8 Michael Jackson at the Restaurant Vingtième Siècle Joshua Clover 81

9 Serious joy: Michael Jackson against the spirit of gravity Dominic Fox 89

10 True enough Michael in fifty shards Chris Roberts 96

11 The real abstraction of Michael Jackson Jeremy Gilbert 137

12 The Maharaja of Pop: Michael Jackson and Bollywood Geeta Dayal 150

13 In place of strife: Michael Jackson and the British experience of pop Robin Carmody 156

14 "What about death, again": The dolorous passion of the son of pop Mark Sinker 164

15 "You're just another part of me": Captain EO and the metaphysics of the NGO Evan Calder Williams 188

16 "Stalin's tomb won't let me be": Michael Jackson as despot Owen Hatherley 194

17 A design for life: Making Michael Jackson Charles Holland 201

18 Don't stop 'til you beat it: Michael Jackson at the limit of post-race dialectriffs Suhail Malik 210

19 After pop Tom Ewing 219

20 Glove, socks, zombies, puppets: The unheimlich maneuvers and undead metonyms of Michael Jackson Sam Davies 226

21 The King ofPop's two bodies, or, Thriller as allegory Reid Kane 223

22 And tell sad stories of the death of kings: At the end once again with Michael Jackson and Elvis Presley Ken Hollings 243

23 Michael's labyrinth: A tabloid sublime Alex Williams 261

24 Notes towards a ritual exorcism of the dead king Ian Penman 267