Ike and Joe. Driven to Succeed

Now that the Michael Jackson funeral and Hype show has died down for a bit. Let’s talk about ambitions for a bit.

During all the Jackson hubbub, the one person that seemed to come in for the most scorn was the Jackson Family patriarch, Joe Jackson. The reasons were as varied as the person speaking, but, they all came down to “Joe Jackson was a mean S.O.B. to his family!, That’s what made Michael into the person he was!”

I will admit that the senior Jackson may not have made the finals of “Best Dad In The World”, But Joe Jackson took his family for living in Gary Ind. to world wide fame. In fact if it hadn’t been for the senior Jackson’s ambition, Michael would not have become “The King of POP”.

Joe Jackson and Ike Turner, both have gotten a bad rap in popular culture. Ike took his lumps with the film “What’s love got to do with it?” Now don’t get me wrong, Ike was a wife beating, drug addict. Those stories were around long before Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett acted them out on the big screen. I recall one talking to a slip of a girl, whose entire knowledge of Ike & Tina Turner came from that film. She prattled on about what a great artist Tina was and what a low life Ike was. I had to tell her, that if it hadn’t been for Ike’s drive and ambition. Anna Mae Bullock (Tina Turner’s real name) would still be singing in the church choir he first heard her.

So Cut Joe some slack! Without him, Michal Jackson would never have died looking like a shriveled up white woman.