Michael Jackson - 1958-2009

I can remember getting up at the crack of dawn to watch The Jackson 5 Cartoon Show, when I was very young. If I didn't see it, the day just didn't start right.

It was like missing breakfast.
You just started the day sour.



I loved their music.
I still love it, actually.

Michael Jackson seemed to embody the kind of wonder that is meant for dreams. Seeing him moonwalk across the stage on the Motown 25 Live special wasn't just a musical happening - it was an awakening. I can't imagine that it was any less important than Elvis Presley gyrating across the screen in black & white. For my generation, it had all the gusto of The Beatles on Ed Sullivan.

It was our moment.

This wasn't just a star appearing for the first time...it was a supernova.
It was like waking up in the morning and seeing a second sun in the sky.

In that moment, he claimed us.
Then, we claimed him.

So, instead of remembering the moment of his death, like so many of us do, I will instead recall one evening when I was in 7th grade.

It was a school night. I stayed up late to watch Motown's 25th Anniversary special. It was late and I was fading. Then, Michael Jackson appeared to perform "Billie Jean".

Watch the video.
I'll wait.



His performance was so breathtaking, you could almost hear the collective gasps of my classmates in the night sky. If we had cellphones, we would have been texting/calling each other. I am sure of it. Instead, we rushed into school the next morning and talked about it before classes started. Then, we broke our ankles for the next few weeks trying to moonwalk.

For the next ten years, Michael Jackson owned pop music. He was the world's biggest star. And, let's face it, he deserved it.

In a previous post on this blog, I tagged "Off The Wall" "as an album you should own"*. It's an amazing album that never disappoints me. It was Jackson's breakthrough as a solo artist and it is the purest expression of his talent. It was the moment when Jackson finally eclipsed the fame he achieved with his brothers. In fact, "She's Out Of My Life" was originally written for Frank Sinatra and he passed on it. Because Quincy Jones was working with Sinatra and Jackson, he decided to bring the song to Jackson. Jackson recorded the song and made it his own. Jones later commented that the emotional weight of Jackson's performance was what made him so special. It takes a special kind of performer to give that kind of reading to a song he didn't even write.

Then, there was "Thriller".

I don't know a single person who didn't own this album.
In fact, I have it in every format.

I bought it on vinyl and cassette.
Later, I grabbed the CD.

It seemed like MTV was created for Michael Jackson. When the network debuted, the videos were boring and one-dimensional.

Then, Michael Jackson appeared.

His videos were events. They were cinematic in their scope and Jackson was like a movie-star. On the strength of those videos, and almost every song on the album being released as a hit single, "Thriller" became the biggest selling album of all-time.

Billie Jean
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
The Girl Is Mine
Beat It
Thriller (it's amazing video)
Human Nature
P.Y.T.

Damn.

In recent years, Jackson's name has been tarnished by allegations of child molestation. Because of this, and the bizarre changes in his appearance, Jackson became the punchline of too many jokes. I have frequently said to the young people I teach, "When I was your age, this was not the Michael Jackson I knew. The stars you follow now (Chris Brown, Usher, etc.) wouldn't have been able to shine Michael Jackson's shoes. He was all of these guys rolled into one...a thousand fold."

In fact, I often say to people, "If I told you in 1982 that Michael Jackson was going to be accused of molesting children, his face was going to be marred by unsuccessful plastic surgery, and he was going to become the bizarre, reclusive punchline of late-night talk-show host's jokes", you wouldn't have believed me.

I can't even believe it and I watched it happen.

I followed his career until he fell out of favor. Then, he seemed to disappear from the public eye.

Ironically, Jackson was planning a comeback and had 50 sold-out shows booked at London's O2 Arena, this summer. This was to be his legacy. One last explosion...and then, back into the ether.

The other day, it dawned on me that Michael Jackson may not have ever been truly happy in his adult life. It seemed his entire life was consumed by his eccentricities and the drive to outdo himself and his past success. Now, his life is a cautionary tale of the dangers of excess and the trappings of stardom. He rose to fame in an age of information. It almost seemed like the paparazzi was invented to follow people like Jackson. Because of this, the public had more access to celebrities like him. As the press chased him, Jackson retreated into the prison fame built for him. This resulted in Jackson becoming the first real casualty of the digital age. Michael Jackson became the first real example of a celebrity losing his basic right to privacy.

Now, sensationalism is more important to people than an artist's achievements. If anyone cared to do it, they could trace this trend back to the paparazzi's hounding of Michael Jackson.

In the days that have passed, my friends and I have all remarked that Jackson's death is like our parents' generation losing Elvis.

Why?

Because, Jackson was the musical icon of our generation.

In the past few years, its been harder and harder to watch Jackson turn into the frail and bizarre looking man he has become. When I would see him on television, I would miss the guy I remember as a kid. In fact, when Jackson passed, I called a childhood friend of mine and we talked about the night was saw Jackson and his brothers on the Victory Tour at J.F.K. Stadium - in the prime of his life.

He was so bad-ass.

I miss that guy.

But, his contributions to the world of entertainment are going to be around for future generations to appreciate. When I am old, I will be able to tell my grandchildren I remember seeing the finest entertainer of my generation.

If Michael Jackson didn't exist, we would have had to invent him.

He was that good.

*http://fortyninepercenter.blogspot.com/2008/11/album-you-should-own-112108.html