I'm sitting here not really knowing what to say. I'm brutally honest about having ripped Micheal to shreds many times on my old show. I can't say I've ever been a fan of his recent life or all the...well, you know.
So, for me to say that we've lost an icon is probably gonna take some folks by surprise. I guess when you really take a look at a person, the totality of their life and everything that came with it, perspective forces itself upon you. We've seen a lot of superstars, and I mean the people who've become bigger than anything they've ever done (Brittney Spears, Madonna, etc.) suffer from the very thing they've created.
As a musician and fan of rock and pop history, I'd be remiss not to give MJ credit where it's due. I remember back in the early 80's when he was still producing stellar albums that were beyond anything anyone else was doing in the genre. I was a headbanger at the time, when it was "not cool" to like anything else...but as a complete musician and shameless prog fan, I had a somewhat secret fandom towards both "Off the Wall" and "Thriller." Say what you will, but these were probably two of the best pure pop albums ever made.
So, I chose to focus on the things Micheal Jackson accomplished. In the aforementioned time when music fans were often divided into camps, only MJ could have brought Eddie Van Halen on board to create a monster hit appreciated by both genres. In his heyday, there was no better live performer, and looking back on it 25 years later, "Thriller" had some awesome tunes on it, and not just the hits.
The impact Micheal Jackson had on music is indelible. Breaking down the white/black barrier of pop music, turning music video into an art form and being nothing short of an associated icon of an age.
So, remembering that we often do not understand the things that lead people off into the myriad and often strange directions of our later lives, I'm saddened to hear of this untimely and tragic loss. Maybe he really was just an innocent boy who never could grow up, who chose to deny the stresses and ugliness of an adult world. And in the end, who are we to really say? I'll always remember MJ as the real talent of the Jackson 5 (and I'm old enough to remember them performing on live TV as a group), the Gloved One and the King of Pop. Regardless of what came after, the world of music is a better place for the foundations laid down by Micheal Jackson and Quincy Jones.
Rest in Peace, Mike. I'm suddenly reminded of a set of lyrics that seems fitting and appropriate.
Living on a lighted stage approaches the unreal,
For those who think and feel
In touch with some reality beyond the gilded cage
Cast in this unlikely role, ill-equipped to act,
With insufficient tact
One must put up barriers to keep oneself intact
Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem,
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme
Living in a fish-eye lens, caught in the camera eye
I have no heart to lie
I can't pretend a stranger is a long-awaited friend
All the world's indeed a stage
And we are merely players
Performers and portrayers
Each another's audience outside the gilded cage
Living in the limelight
The universal dream
For those who wish to seem,
Those who wish to be
Must put aside the alienation
Get on with the fascination
The real relation
The underlying theme
