Kinda surprised to be writing this, guess it hit me a little harder than I thought it would. Yesterday around 6:30pm Michael Jackson died of a coronary. I’m trying to resolve my feelings about that.
I know the guy was a bit creepy but look at it from his point of view for a sec. He was stuck at 12 years old. All the things he’s accused of, wouldn’t have even brought a blink of an eyelash if he was still 12 having some friends over for a sleepover. If I was home alone without parents around during a sleepover, hell yeah I’d go after the liquor cabinet. I’d share with my friends. And when you’re that age it’s not unusual to sleep in the same bed. The sexual allegations, nobody will know for sure. I think nothing happened but I could be naive.
As I posted in a reply on Facebook early this morning, I choose to remember the man for his music. I was 6 years old when he hit big with Thriller. I remember having a huge fight with my stepsister and stepmother about being able to watch the “Thriller” video cause it was “too scary”. I did finally sneak a peek and wasn’t scared at all, but fascinated by it.
I remember watching the “Black or White” video when it aired after The Simpsons and marveled at how cool that was….and wondered WTF he was thinking with the extended car bashing/masturbation session tacked onto it. And then the “Remember The Time” video with Eddie Murphy, even if I didn’t think the song was that great, the video was pretty cool.
And of course there was Moonwalker. Bad movie but the extended scene with Smooth Criminal was worth it. To this day one of my favorite songs, and one of the best covers of the past 10 years(look up Alien Ant Farm if you haven’t seen the video. Some awesome, awesome stuff).
In my circles in the 90′s and high school it was never cool to admit to liking him, but everybody was a fan even if they couldn’t admit it. Even today, the day after his death, people are bashing him for what he might have done but even more are celebrating the music and what could have been. All I can say is: Rest in Peace, MJ.
