WARNING: There is not one cohesive thought in this post. Also – if you don’t know me very well, I am a HUGE Michael Jackson fan.
Where were you when JFK died? Where were you when Elvis died?
Whenever I heard people ask those questions I always thought that my generation’s “where where you when _______ died?” person was going to be Michael Jackson.
Well. I never would have imagined in my 10-year-old mind that I was going to get a text message from several people all at once with the news while I was driving home.
I always imagined he would be shot by a crazed fan or collapse on stage in the middle of a performance. Not a cardiac arrest at home. Michael Jackson was inhuman. I didn’t think something so common would lay him to rest.
Normally I don’t get sucked into the media and the celeb hype - mostly due to the fact that I’ve seen how the media treated MJ and other talented people like him and pretty much drove them insane.. or to their death (Princess Di? Anybody remember her? I do).
Well, I can’t really help it this time. I’m really truly sad about the death of Michael Jackson. More or less I saw it coming, but didn’t actively think about it until it really happened today. I remember hearing a while back that his estate was being auctioned off…then hearing he was going to go on his last tour in Europe. I thought to myself, “That tour will be the death of him. He’s not going to make it through one performance.” I swear I thought he collapsed at a performance a few years back. Those concerts are intense if you’ve ever seen a live taped show. He was way too frail for all the dancing, let alone the singing.
I havent seen much of him lately, mostly because I’ve been trained to ignore most of what gets shown in the news or in tabloids when it has to do with MJ. And because after I saw him hold his child out the window of a balcony several years back (and yes, I remember exactly where I was when that happened because it was such a scary/bizzare image), I decided from there on out I was going to remember him for what he was and for the way he was when I grew up watching him - a talented musician and dancer and a loving person.
His career has been over for a long time. It’s been hard for me to watch the decline. And sad for me to see him pop up in the news ocassionally. The media just can’t get enough of him, even when he’s not doing anything interesting.
It was only a matter of time before this happened. He’s been slowly deteriorating along with his career. He was so frail back in ’95 when he released HIStory and has been declining even more since then. I remember hearing at one point that he weighed 98 pounds. It’s like he’s just been miserable and living in an alternate reality for the last 15-20 years. Somebody said something about him abusing prescription drugs. I don’t blame him if that’s true. How else would you get through a day in an alternate reality?
As I’m listening to Thriller, I notice, again, how he’s singing “girl I could thrill you more than any ghoul could ever dare try.” All of the songs he ever made that were about women or had sexual undertones (In the Closet anybody? I was so not allowed to watch that video when it came out) have seemed…well…off. Even forced. I never really saw him as a man, which was why it was weird to me when he had children.
Not to mention, I’m more sad for his children. It’s so horrible that somebody with that much love to give wasn’t able to sanely give it to his children and provide for them in an acceptable way. I always thought his children should have been taken away from him because he wasn’t mentally fit to be a parent. Besides that, those poor kids have been getting the same kind of negative attention that MJ was, and might end up growing up and having the same sorts of problems. This to me is the biggest tragedy. All he ever wanted was to have a real childhood and he thought that by having his own children he might get to enjoy some of the same simple pleasures of childhood he missed or at least watch from afar. It seemed like he was too interested in enjoying them himself to be a proper father to those children. I just hope too much damage hasn’t already been done and that those kids can grow up knowing their father loved them and that he was a very talented and gifted person.
As far as the molestation allegations go, I hate that topic. I’m torn as to whether or not he did it. It could have been a ploy to get money from him, or the allegations may have been true. Either way, it was a terrible situation, and if it’s not true, this exremely gifted, talented and caring individual’s name will be forever tarnished. I feel like more people from my generation are going to remember him for THAT than for the wonderful things he gave to the world (more than just his music).
Anybody remember Ryan White? MJ spent a lot of time with him when he was dying from AIDS. White was one of the first major cases of AIDS that was popularized in the media as being not related to the homosexual community – thus a huge step forward for LGBTs in the 80s. His school kicked Ryan out because of fear and ignorance, and MJ and a few other key celebrities stepped up and spent time with him and helped get his story out. MJ wrote Gone to Soon for Ryan White after he died in 1990.
What about USA for Africa and We Are the World? C’mon people. Who put that together? Heal the World? He was into the environment before it was as imperitive as it is now, and before it was ultra hip. Man in the freaking Mirror for crying out loud.
That’s the Michael Jackson I’M going to remember.
Ask anybody who’s anybody in the music industry (not even limited to R&B or pop) and I will bet that MJ was one of their influences. I know he’s on my list. Billie Jean was a huge reason that I always wanted to play bass. Maybe now I’ll finally pick it up and learn how.
I feel like I grew up with MJ. In a weird way. I used to tape all the stuff on TV about him and watch it for hours on end. I knew everything about him – the good stuff that the media would show when he was producing music and videos that were popular – not the bad stuff they would show when he wasn’t doing much of anything. It’s like they were poking him with a stick sometimes.
I remember Michael kidding around behind the scenes in the making of Thriller. I always remember him smilling and happy … I guess that was Thriller-era MJJ. Before all the media hype. The Elephant Man’s bones… bubbles the monkey… child molestation…oxygen tank…countless nose jobs (okay maybe this one has got to be true)… bleaching his skin…etc. Anybody rememeber the video for Leave Me Alone? Even his attempt to poke fun at these weird tabloid allegations didn’t make the situation any better.
For the record, if anybody’s ever seen his mother OR La Toya, they’ve got the same kind of skin pigmentation disease. I can’t remember the name for it, but it’s basically when you lose all your pigment in your skin.
And Blanket… oh my god.
I can’t even collect my thoughts. It’s all so ridiculous when I get to thinking about it. What a shame. I’m glad he was here and that we were able to enjoy all the gifts that he was blessed with. I will continue to enjoy his music and talent – maybe not so much in the closet anymore.
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