With someone like Micheal Jackson passing away it seems like everything that can be written has been and really what can a little blogger like myself have to say that hasn't been said? Nothing really. All I have is my perspective.
When I heard Micheal Jackson had died I was at work. I was actually very shocked, thought maybe it was a joke. I mean this was Micheal Jackson..if anyone was going to survive forever it would have been him. It would be almost guaranteed that he found a way to live forever, but he seemed to be like that. A very odd guy.But I think this as music fans and purveyors of pop culture is something we need to over look.
My experience with MJ , like alot of people my age, goes all the way back to when "Thriller" came out. It was the first tape I remember really getting into. I remember dressing up like Micheal Jackson as a kid for Halloween. I wanted the "Thriller" Jacket, casue it was just that much cooler than the "Beat it" jacket I remember Captain Eo, Pepsi Commercials, Micheal being black and The Wiz. But most of all I remember the music.
I didn't realize it in 1983, because I was 6, but he was ahead of his time. He revolutionized pop music. With out Micheal Jackson you don't have pop music the way you have it now. I mean he inspired every boy band(not the aspect that I appreciate)R&B, pop, soul act for the last 30 years. If you go back and listen to "Billie Jean" that song still stands up against anything you hear on the radio today. The track was and still is genius.
I can list off a whole bunch of artists that have passed in the last 5-6 years that have made a mark on my love for music from Johnny Cash to James Brown to George Harrison. But those artists I discovered later, through my parents record collections and such ,Micheal Jackson I discovered on my own. Other than Kurt Cobain I can't think of an artist who was more important to the generation that I am a part of passing.
Words can't come close to describing the impact Micheal Jackson had on the world. He changed alot of things for alot of people. If Micheal Jackson didn't sign that huge deal with Pepsi, being the first black celebrity to do so, does Micheal Jordan get his Nike deal years later? How about Tiger? maybe.
But with everything he did people are remembering the weird stuff. Yes he was a troubled soul, yes he made some bad choices and yes he had some legal issues over the years but let's choose to remember the music. Ask people the right age and they will tell you the same thing about Elvis. There is a great line in "High Fidelity" that says :"Is it wrong to blame a once great artist for his later day sins?" I think it applies well here. Micheal wasn't nearly that prolific in his last years, but I think 2001's "You Rock My World" was a last kick at the creative can and deserves to be included right along the rest of the catalogue.
I guess my point is unfortunately the world will remember the strange, weird aspects of his life(kinda like the-fat-Vegas-jumpsuit Elvis)and this will diminish the great contributions he made to music and that is sad to me.
