The King of Pop - Michael Jackson 1958-2009

Michael Jackson died yesterday.

MICHAEL JACKSON

My friends and I all grew up watching, listening to, mimicking and eventually mocking this man, this genius of music and entertainment. But if ever a man realized his potential in the current world of savage media-blitz, it was Michael Jackson.

Like the rest of us, I was obsessed with Michael when I was 4... maybe 5 years old? I can remember my first young capitalist purchase at the age of 5 when I bought a Michael Jackson poster at Rick's Toy World in Flemington, New Jersey circa 1984 (it was a promo from the Billie Jean video). I used to drive my mom crazy demanding that she rent "The Making of Thriller" over and over again. I was scared of all the zombies though, and always turned off the VHS tape 6 minutes in.

Michael Jackson was my youth, our youth. And when I say our youth, I mean the world as a whole. The guy sold 750 million albums worldwide! Michael Jackson was the truest kind of icon. Through is music and performances he represented joy, love, freedom, hope and simplicity. He represented a better life through the sublime power of music. My friend, Ray Ray Desouza summed it up best tonight stating, "he allowed us to be us."

Amen, brother.

What more can you ask from life? From music? From the things that add value to your day to day? From an experience that moves you to a new place? Attention all cynical snob seen-it-all music 'fans' blowing him off as a creepy-washed-up-has-been weirdo: piss off. Go back to your head in the sand Brooklyn Vegan & Pitchfork bullshit heard-today-gone-tomorrow self-centered & self righteous indulgences.

Remember why you love music in the first place.

You might have, in just a little way, been turned on by the guy who apparently became a child molester later in life. Ouch... yeah, that's pretty much the worst. The guy may have evolved into a weirdo in his later years but I don't think I need to spell out the well known facts regarding Michael's youth... or rather, the complete absence of his childhood. He was robbed of the innocence that you and I take for granted. But in the same life, the man gave us "Thriller," "We Are The World," "Billie Jean," "I Want You Back" and The Moonwalk! The Thriller album went 20 times platinum!!! Michael has said that his songs were always out there, that he didn't really write them but that his music already existed in the world and that he merely channeled these songs into our lives. The most electrifying artists are often the ones most misunderstood during their lifetimes, the ones who serve as a conduit to joyful realization.

I'm as much to blame as anyone else in recent years for blowing Michael off as a washed up tabloid freak. But how can we really ever truly know or understand another's plight? I feel sorry for the guy in so many ways. What's with all the plastic surgery and skin whitening?? Why all thebizarro-ness? Child molestation??? Really???

***sigh***

Obviously, I don't know the whole story. I'm sure few people do. After all the hype and success, he just seemed primed for a media blood letting. How could a young kid from Gary, Indiana ever have been prepared to deal with his kind of super stardom? I am not here to excuse anyone's wrong doings (and perhaps he was guilty of more than a few) but can we fully blame the guy for handling life as he felt necessary? He was just another human after all. Another guy with his own set of demons. As 'the public,' we all to blame in a small degree. The public is a quick-to-burn flaky birch bark of incendiary tabloid firestorm. After all, it's we the people who care about our celebs, right?

Most of my friends don't own a single Michael Jackson album but everyone I know will sing and dance along to his hits. Musicians and entertainers are here for our amusement. They serve to better us, to relieve our day-to-day troubles and lift us up. Michael, you were chosen to do what you did, and you brought it to unprecedented heights. Good luck to you and...

Thank you, Michael Jackson.