You cannot turn on the television or radio right now without hearing all about the tragic loss of one of music's most incredible icons, Michael Jackson. When news of Farrah Fawcett's death hit yesterday, I asked Joe who he thought the third would be...you know, these things always come in threes. First was Ed McMahon, then Farrah....who would be next? Joe said Patrick Swayze. I almost slapped him. I'm not the President of Johnny Castle's fan club or anything, but I admire the guy and his determination. Never, ever in my wildest dreams that it would be Michael Jackson.
To children of the 80's, he WAS music. If I sat and tried to recount all of my memories involving MJ, this blog entry would go on forever. I can honestly say that he was the first artist that propelled me from listener to fan....and a damn near rabid fan at that. I had the shirts, buttons, tapes, VHS recordings of his videos...hell, at one time, I even had a red leather jacket. Although it didn't look anything like the article he made famous, in my mind, it was perfect. I knew all the lyrics of Thriller and BAD by heart (and now my favorite MJ CD is "Off the Wall"....It was years before I could recognize how amazing and groundbreaking that CD really is). I thought I was going to marry him. I mean, look at that completely natural, unaltered face...the man was sexy as hell...
(I know plenty would argue, but I thought he was gorgeous)
One of my earliest memories involving MJ was in our home in Arizona, circa 1985.... "We are the World" was released and I remember dancing around our unusually large great room with the song blasting from our file-cabinet sized speakers. I pretended I was Cyndi Lauper, because who DIDN'T want to be her at the time? But I was wearing my Michael t-shirt and when the song was over, I couldn't figure out how to switch the tape to play "Thriller." Goes to show you how different things are nowadays... my son can easily switch his own DVD's. Psh.
Ask any of my friends what the logical progression of any evening with me and cocktails involves....
1) Amanda drinks
2) Amanda's volume goes up
3) Amanda cries about thinking she's a terrible mom because she's cocktailing
4) Amanda plays Michael Jackson CDs
The chain of events is inevitable. Despite the headlines that overshadowed his music starting with the face lightening, child molestation allegations, and oddity after oddity, I was still a fan. There are very few artists that I can put aside their personal lives or beliefs for to just enjoy the music (Springsteen, I'm pointing at you...and Cake, you're on thin ice). My enthusiasm for the man never faltered. I doubt it ever will.
So as I sit and watch the stream of endless videos (they so far went beyond videos...they were events) on MTV today, I'm not ashamed to admit I get a little teary eyed now and then. He was the mark of a generation and his impact was global. It's a shame that so many will only remember the quirky, damn near scary Michael Jackson. Future generations will never know how he made us feel, the excitement, the energy because it was something you had to experience first hand. But to those of us who were there, who lived it and grew up with Billy Jean, yesterday was a sad day. It was our Beatles passing. Our Elvis.
It was the day OUR music died.
RIP Michael.
1 comment:
Well-written, dear.
My parents banned "Thriller" from the house. Once they heard Vincent Price, they said that was it. Young ladies didn't need to listen to such dark things.
Yeah, I still listened on my tiny, pink tape player. They just didn't anymore. They never knew about the Madonna tape either. Can you imagine what they'd say about that????
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