Overrated/underrated

I don't want to get in a fistfight with Tom Horgen, who wrote here recently that Michael Jackson's "Bad" was better than "Thriller." But without "Thriller," "Bad" would be considered a middling '80s pop album, and like all of MJ's post-"Thriller" work, it is self-consciously derivative (the title track), schlocky ("The Way You Make Me Feel") or just plain embarrassing ("Man in the Mirror," "Leave Me Alone"). May he rest in peace, but I'll celebrate him with Jackson 5 and "Off the Wall."

My father has worked for a Pepsi bottler since I was a little kid, so my nostalgia for Pepsi and Mountain Dew is deep-seated. Which is why the summer's "limited edition" Throwback varieties of the sodas -- featuring the old recipes with natural sugar -- have reminded me what has been lost since the industry switched to high-fructose corn syrup in the '80s. Both beverages make me feel like I'm sitting in the back of Dad's boat on Lake Miltona in 1982. Sadly, the stuff is already disappearing from shelves -- if only Pepsi would make it permanent.