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Over the past 24 hours, my life has been different. It wasn't until this morning that, for the first time in my life, I woke up to a world without Michael Jackson. I don't know if it's fully sunken in, but I can say I feel a void while watching the news and listening to his music. I sit and think about the last celebrity death to bring my world to a standstill, if only for a few hours - only to come up with nothing. It's fitting that the death of the biggest star in the world dwarfs even the biggest names in music - 2Pac, Biggie, Kurt Cobain, etc. I wasn't alive when John Lennon was killed, but I imagine the feeling is similar.
I really don't know what to say about Michael Jackson and how much he meant to me. I grew up with his music. My childhood, my young adult years, and my 20s are peppered with memories of him and his music - from the Thriller video (I had that thing on REPEAT...I knew the making of feature by heart), to Captain EO, to watching the Black or White video on Fox with my family, and beyond. I have distinct memories of talking about his 1993 interview with Oprah with my 5th grade classmates. We laughed at some of the things he said, but mostly we were enamored with the greatest music figure of our time (and perhaps of ANY time, honestly). When I got my first personal computer after I graduated from high school, one of the first things I did was hit Napster and download all the hits and burn them to CDs, both of which I brought out yesterday on my ride home from work. Those 2 CDs have some of the biggest hits the pop music world has ever known, and yet they still don't sum up his career.
My first concert was Paul McCartney when I was very young. I barely remember it, but I do know that my dad and uncle loved being there. I loved The Beatles when I was a kid because my dad did, and I got to see him watching a musical icon that he grew up with, collected records of, and introduced his kids to. I won't ever get that chance, because the only person who had such an impact on me was Michael Jackson. I own Moonwalker and Captain EO bootlegs on DVD, I have every record he's made, and have several bootlegs - but I'll never see him live, and when he signed on for these shows in London, I thought he was definitely going to be playing Vegas or LA. I even said to several people I'd pay a huge sum of money to be in nosebleeds for the King of Pop. I wasn't exaggerating - I really would drop a month's pay to see him.
We'll never see an icon like him again. The music industry is drastically different than it was 20 years ago, but his stature remained. He was still the biggest star in the world. At 50, he was still going to be able to make stadiums of people cry and faint at the site of him. He was the last of the superstars...and the biggest one at that. The only one who even comes close is Madonna, and despite all her hits and success, she doesn't have an Off the Wall or a Thriller.
Most of you know I DJ. There is very little I love more than dropping the right MJ track at the right time (and really, that's any song at any time). I specifically love the Billie Jean Snare Drum. It is, in my opinion, the single most recognizable sound in pop music. It takes all of half a second to realize what song is coming when you hear that drum. The kick-snare combo will ignite a crowd, and the bassline will put them over the top. It's one of the greatest pop songs of all time, and it's not even his best song. The Thriller album is 9 songs, and 6 of them are Beat It, Billie Jean, PYT, Thriller, Human Nature, and Wanna Be Startin Something. If any other artist had those quality hits in a career, they'd be considered one of the best ever. In fact, if any artist had half those hits, they'd be considered tops in their genre (like The Fugees, who have one great album and 3 real hits - yet are considered one of the greatest hip hop acts of all time). It wasn't the sheer number of hits that MJ had that made him great (of which he did have an obscene amount), but it was the caliber of them.
People are going to talk about the guy's weird habits, his legal issues, his cause of death, or whatever other talking points they want to use. I don't care about any of that. I choose to remember him as a musical and marketing genius who was the biggest star of my lifetime who was taken from us on the verge of what was sure to be an epic comeback. I choose to remember him as the innovator of the music video - the driving force behind me wanting to create when I was a kid who didn't know what he wanted to do. I choose to remember him as the person who created the records that were the only constant in a lifetime soundtrack that changed paths so many times.
Michael Jackson entertained us all for 45 years. 90% of his life was spent on stage, in front of cameras, or in a studio. In all that time, he never seemed at peace. As much joy as he brought millions over those years, he was slammed with an equal amount of heartache and trouble. He gave us at least 2 of the top 20 albums of all time, the best music videos of all time, a lifetime of amazing memories (seriously - who can't map their life out based on MJ events?), and more entertainment from one individual than we ever thought possible. If there's one thing that speaks to his greatness, it's that he couldn't possibly of given us any more than he did, but we all feel like he was gone too soon. I, for one, hope he's finally at peace. He deserves it. ------------------------------
17x NBA Champions
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