Well, really, I don't know what to say. I'm not sad, exactly, but I do find the entire thing completely unbelievable in an I-can't-wrap-my-head-around-this way. Michael Jackson is one of those iconic celebrities you expect to always be there.
Just like everyone else today, I'm contemplating the influence MJ had on my youth and musical tastes. I'm not going to lie to you: Growing up I was a pretty big fan. I remember having both this poster and his Bad/Pepsi poster hanging up in my room. I own Thriller on both vinyl and cassette. (And, Lord help me, remember thinking he looked quite foxy on the album cover in that white suit and with that tiger.) I remember clearly the first time I saw the video for Thriller; watching with my brother, terrified and mesmerized at the same time. Perhaps my love of zombies comes from that moment.
And let's take a second to talk about the dancing. Linda over at NPR has a really good write up about Michael Jackson's performance on Motown 25, which I am really too young to remember properly, although I feel confident that I "watched" it with the rest of my family. Think, for a second, what an impact the Moonwalk made on dancing. For that matter, think about the impact of all Michael's moves have made on dancing. I'm pretty sure modern day popping and locking is heavily influenced by him. I mean, look at this video for "Smooth Criminal" (which I can remember boggling my mind the first time I saw it -- was it a movie? TV special? What was that lean thing?) and marvel:
All of this is not to forget all of his later sideshow behaviors, plastic surgeries and misdemeanors. I'm not excusing or forgetting any of that. Sars sort of says it very well, as she always does. Thing is, despite all of that, I like his music very much, and growing up (prior to his forays into facial reconstruction and alleged child molestation) I enjoyed being entertained by him.
Sometimes you just got to rock out to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," yanno?
Just like everyone else today, I'm contemplating the influence MJ had on my youth and musical tastes. I'm not going to lie to you: Growing up I was a pretty big fan. I remember having both this poster and his Bad/Pepsi poster hanging up in my room. I own Thriller on both vinyl and cassette. (And, Lord help me, remember thinking he looked quite foxy on the album cover in that white suit and with that tiger.) I remember clearly the first time I saw the video for Thriller; watching with my brother, terrified and mesmerized at the same time. Perhaps my love of zombies comes from that moment.
And let's take a second to talk about the dancing. Linda over at NPR has a really good write up about Michael Jackson's performance on Motown 25, which I am really too young to remember properly, although I feel confident that I "watched" it with the rest of my family. Think, for a second, what an impact the Moonwalk made on dancing. For that matter, think about the impact of all Michael's moves have made on dancing. I'm pretty sure modern day popping and locking is heavily influenced by him. I mean, look at this video for "Smooth Criminal" (which I can remember boggling my mind the first time I saw it -- was it a movie? TV special? What was that lean thing?) and marvel:
All of this is not to forget all of his later sideshow behaviors, plastic surgeries and misdemeanors. I'm not excusing or forgetting any of that. Sars sort of says it very well, as she always does. Thing is, despite all of that, I like his music very much, and growing up (prior to his forays into facial reconstruction and alleged child molestation) I enjoyed being entertained by him.
Sometimes you just got to rock out to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," yanno?
Labels: Appreciation, Good luck with your hell demons, Music
