1958-2009
I’m not afraid to admit I feel down when a big time celebrity dies yet I don’t go crazy with “ZOMG THIS IS TERRIBLE!” Case in point, I took the deaths of Myron Cope and Richard Wright (who is not dead, just waiting for Gilmour and Waters to get their act together) pretty personally over someone like Isaac Hayes or even Farrah Fawcett (Johnny Bravo was my first introduction to her.) It can get a little silly and then “fans” can come out of nowhere and start throwing tons of accolades on someone they never knew and barely knew anything about.
What transpired around 3:10 PST on Thursday really stuck with me in a bad kind of way and was only cured with a dose of Michael Mann. I never knew Michael Jackson, but I sure remember growing up and seeing him everywhere on VH1, MTV, and even Free Willy. When the aforementioned channels actually played music, my dad and brother huddled around the television and watched a marathon of the King of Pop’s videos. In fact, “Black or White” is probably the first song I would have considered my favorite as every time it came on the radio my then five year-old self yelled at my mother to “TURN IT UP!” Jackson had a style that many tried to imitate, but none ever came close to duplicating. He had something very, very few of these pop artists have today: passion. It’s obvious in his songs that he’s not doing this to make a buck and he’s never bored in any of his videos. While flashy was certainly him, Jackson knew how to make it artful.
Many jokes have been made about his lifestyle choices and while I don’t agree with some of them, I could always see where he was coming from. Think about it, he’s a kid who didn’t get to grow up like the lot of us. He was always under the spotlight and missed out on the benefits of a “normal” childhood. While I’m not a fan of him sleeping with a child, as long as he didn’t touch the child in anyway there’s really no harm in it.
We’ve lost a true maestro of the medium and he’s obviously going to be missed by thousands. I’m not afraid to admit some mist came into the eyes when the news hit and I was pretty down until 7PM. I felt as if part of my childhood had died as well as losing a friend. Michael Jackson will be remembered for the genius of music that he was, and will never be forgotten by anyone. Let’s hope future generations embrace Jackson’s music and genius like those before them.
Michael, hope you’re in a better place.
Jordan and Evan Chandler, fuck your lying asses to hell.
