My Take On The Passing of Michael Jackson
I know you’ve heard it all. It’s the only thing on TV this weekend and it will probably continue to be the lead story for another week. I’ve been meaning to put down my thoughts on this event since I first heard the news of Jackson’s death on Thursday afternoon. To read my take, check below the fold.
I got Thriller for my otherwise crappy 13th birthday. It was a vinyl LP and I may have worn the damn thing out. I knew all of the words to all of the songs and thought that there was only one clunker in the whole album, Thriller. It seemed to not make any sense to me as I listened to the lyrics. But when the video was released, it all became clear. I clearly remember the showing of Thriller at the Christiana Skating Rink each session. The music stopped. We all sat down in the middle of the rink and watched as the video screens came down on the east side of the rink. 500 kids sat and watched that video (the long version) each session.
I lived off of that album for years. There were other albums, but that one was accorded special privileges in my life.
When Bad came out, I bought it the day it came out at Castle Mall (a record store that doesn’t exist in a mall that doesn’t exist). I had heard the love song that was released first, Liberian Girl and bought the single. It was a great tease, and the month or so between the release of the single and the album was almost too much. Soon, it was the first CD that I bought. For more than a decade, the first thing I did after buying a new CD player was to play Bad on it.
As the years have gone by, it has been a bit of a secret pleasure. It has been hard to be a Michael Jackson fan, as it was hard to be an Elvis fan after he became a parody of himself. And like J.D. Salinger, it is hard to be a fan of a recluse for very long.
But the past few days have been great. Yes, we lost Michael, but through that, it has become apparent that he never lost his fans. The people that are hating on him now, hated on him in 1984. The rest of us only felt safe playing his music loudly alone, and at highway speeds.
On Thursday night, as I drove to Drinking Liberally, I blasted my Michael Jackson playlist on the iPod. It was becoming apparent that Michael had died. I really couldn’t bear to hear the confirmation come over the radio. As I pulled up to a light in Newark, a couple of teenagers were stopped next to me and they could hear me jamming through my closed windows. The guy laughed and feigned jamming along with the song (Smooth Criminal). I ignored him. I should have ignored many people for the past decade. Michael was a true master at his artform.
Good Bye, Michael.
http://www.thrilltheworld.com/learn
The liberalest of geeks wrote:
Hardly likely. Mr Jackson fell into such disrepute because he was almost certainly a child molester who had the money to get away with it. That information didn’t become public until well after the mid-1980s. He might not even have descended into that crap before the nineties, for all we know.
He was very talented, and his music, and the way he presented it, revolutionized the industry. Disco didn’t die so much as it was reinvented by Michael Jackson, where the vast majority of pop music became dance music.
Sometimes I wonder if, in his more lucid moments — the underlying assumption being that he had more lucid moments — he ever wished that he could trade all of his talent and his fame and his money, just to be normal.
The Simpsons just aired a tribute, replaying the 20 year old classic “Bart Man” video, that was a homage to the “Bad” video.
When I heard that he had died, I thought of the Don Mclean lyric from “Starry Starry Night:”
“This world was never meant for one as beautiful as you.”
Mr Jackson fell into such disrepute because he was almost certainly a child molester who had the money to get away with it.
Perhaps not.
http://kinabalukini.wordpress.com/2009/06/28/jordan-chandler-lied-about-blow-job-michael-jackson/
Yeah, uh huh, right. Mr Jackson settled with more than one child molestation claim. It’s possible that he was just an innocent thirty-to-forty year old man who liked to sleep innocently in the same bed with young boys, but, then again, It’s possible that I’ll vote for Barack Obama in 2012.
The man had it all — and he descended into being creepy-weird, if not just plain mentally ill. If he was truly mentally ill — something which seems probable — we can have sympathy for him having gotten ill, but that doesn’t make his behavior excusable.
I dont know who’s creepier, a man who sleeps with young boys in his bed, or the parents who let them.
He still strikes me as the ultimate Peter Pan – a boy who was told not to grow up, who everyone lived off of. He was never convicted of anything, Dana – Just like Tucker Carlson’s incident.
And again, those parents who went after him willingly pimped out their kids for cash.
I spent this morning with my daughter and her friend playing Michael Jackson videos. They couldn’t believe how young he was on the “ABC” clip.
This world has never understood genius… until it’s gone.
Didn’t OJ not get convicted?
The McMartins’ weren’t convicted either. And maybe you weren’t aware of my Tucker Carlson reference.
OJ is a murder case. Why would you even compare them?
High profile celebs.
The later years ruined all his greatness for more than a few of us.
His singing, during his childhood, was transcendent, just as his dancing and songwriting were as an adult. And as much as we felt for the tragedy of his lost childhood, none of us would have trusted our children to his care.
A tortured soul who created incredible art from what must have been incredible pain, only to inflict more pain upon everyone who cared about him.
Bigger than Elvis, IMHO, and more talented, too.
It was always hard to watch the damage Michael seemed to be doing to himself and to others as he got grown up. There is still no denying the fact that the guy probably powered more fun parties than anyone on the planet. For as much as people loved his music and even adored him he never seemed to like himself nearly as much as we did for awhile.
I suspect that MJ was more childish than child molester. I also believe that he was a target for a lot of hustlers (some of whom are called parents). He was a master showman but a bit of a victim of success.
I have growing doubts that he could have willingly hurt anyone but he certainly did a number on himself.
Art-that was well said.
I find some fault with the use of ‘genius’ with respect to most entertainers as well as ‘hero’ for most professional athletes.
The term is grossly misused.
My father spoke glowingly of the brilliance of Groucho Marx. He was glib but not brilliant. If he was so brilliant, how did he sign a contract that allowed his family to get the bums rush from Hollywood.
I still love the films.
At least MJ was not railroaded in the style of Fatty Arbuckle.
Geezer wrote:
Kind of like comparing peas and corn, if you ask me. Both were very talented, and both of them changed the way the music of their day way done. Mr Jackson had greater communications media with which to work, and some of what Mr Presley achieved has to be shared with Jerry Lee Lewis and the Big Bopper.
Yeah, I am not going to apologize for Jackson. He was creepy. Was he a child molester? Art makes a very good point, but the truth is, we will never know.
He may have been acquitted, but ask yourselves, as a parent, would you leave your child in his care? The answer to that is obviously no.
But I can separate out that part of his life and still respect his music
It is always amazing to me how many right wingers don’t respect the presumption of innocence or the verdict of a jury.
Michael Jackson had tens of thousands of children who visited his Neverland Ranch for free. Jackson was host to many many kids whose parent only had good things to say about him. Leave it to a few gold-diggers and liars to slander a man with the most vilest of charges.
Art:
“Genius” takes many forms. “Genius” does not imply intelligence or superior abilities or even competency in every area. Einstein was a genius in physics; Edison was a genius inventor; Montana was a genius quarterback; and Michael Jackson was a genius musician.
There are no geniuses without faults.
I agree with Art that Jackson was more childish than anything else. I think Jackson proved that money can’t buy happiness and it can’t buy back your childhood either.
LG – watching the Thriller video at the Christiana Roller Rink is my favorite memory of Michael Jackson and of that time in my life! I refer to it often. I remember the screens coming down and everyone just sitting and watching the video. I also remember my cousin and I memorizing the dance moves of the video and dancing along every time it came on. Great times!
I think Michael Jackson was a tortured soul. No childhood to speak off, grand expectations from a sick and abusive father (and mother for allowing it). He never had the chance to be a child and I think that’s the main reason why he wanted to be around children — the innocence that he wasn’t afforded. He was strange. Child Molester? Don’t know.
Look at the outright bizarre ways he tried to change himself over and over again — he really didn’t like who he saw when he looked in the mirror did he? We don’t know why but we can’t ignore it.
He was an amazingly talented entertainer and will truly be missed. I wish it didn’t take his dying for the world (and me) to remember and appreciate him again.