Michael Jackson, My Thoughts...

Unless you have been hiding in a cave in Afghanistan with Bin Laden this past weekend (and I’m sure he’s even heard by now), you heard the shocking news that Michael Jackson died on Thursday. Seriously this was shocking for me because he was only 50 years old, young at least in my mind.

I was shocked like most people of his death but I did not run out and place teddy bears and flowers in a make shift shrine at the Rock Hall like so many did (I still don’t understand this phenomenon) or get on a plane and fly to stand outside Neverland Ranch (again people actually did this?). I simply turned on the TV and for the next 96+ hours have been deluged with every angle of this story by NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN and of course the grim reaper of all “News Shows” Entertainment Tonight who actually paid for a photo of Michael in the ambulance receiving CPR with a breathing tube down his throat. I always feel like I am losing brain cells whenever “ET” is on but after they pimped out this photo, I feel sad. You can’t even die in peace when “Entertainment Tonight” is close by, but what do you expect, this is the same show that every night for a year after her death had a story on Anna Nicole Smith. That’s rating folks! No that’s pimpin folks!

Enough about the vultures of television. The reason for this story is I also read a lot about Michael from people I respect and like and how he really was a sound track to their lives. (even Heavy Metal reviewer and good friend Brian from www.brokenheadphones.com I thought his comments were poignant) but the person that got me really thinking about MJ and his music was Mrs. Bear who was really sadden by the news. She unlike me is really a fan of his music and was waiting for his tour to come to the US and planned on seeing it. She was sad because she always felt he had his childhood taken away by his parents and his “strangeness” as I call it was caused by this.

Mrs. Bear really brought home a point as when you think about it, who was or is really in the same league as a musical performer as Michael was worldwide for so long? The Beatles? Sinatra? Elvis? Yes, yes, and yes. These three along with Michael were really the big four when you think about it. Even though Michael really has not had a major hit in what 10-15years it seems, wherever he went, crowds followed and I mean large crowds. He was a cultural icon.

For me with Michael’s music there are two periods. I grew up with the Jackson 5 playing on every record player in the neighborhood by every teenage girl that lived there. The Jackson 5 was Motown and Motown seemed to rule our neighborhood back then. “ABC”, “I Want You Back”, “I’ll Be There”, “Never Can Say Goodbye” always seemed in the air as you rode your bike around the block. After all these years, I still like the Jackson 5 and their music and have them in my music library.

The second period for me was the “Off The Wall/Thriller” era. These were two good albums and I listened to them a lot at the old Audio Warehouse and you always heard the tracks played at Dixie Electric Company or the Cosmopolitan or wherever there were ladies and dancing. I liked these albums then but unlike the Jackson 5 music, these have been pushed back into my music archives and have not been brought out in 20+ years for me.

Why, because I had a hard time separating Michael Jackson the artist from Michael Jackson the man. The stranger he became in his personal life, the more I pushed the music away from me. Every interview he gave as an adult, every plastic surgery, every accusation damaged his talent and in turn his music for me. It’s weird because I never felt that way about the Jackson 5 tracks thru all that. They always represented the amazing 10 year old with the dynamic pipes, the big felt hat, the fringed vest spinning around on stage and belting out the songs.

When it is all said and done, and it will not be for years because of legal battles that are brewing over his estate and kids and we will get to hear each and every one courtesy of Entertainment Tonight. I will remember Michael Jackson as that little kid who seemed happy at the time, smiling, spinning around and singing “Never Can Say Goodbye”.

Nuff said, least till next week
Peace Out
Bear