Tribute to Michael Jackson
I’ve been sitting here tonight watching these creppy TV news introspectives on the life of Michael Jackson wondering how can they pull these special reports together within hours of the man’s death. Then it occurs to me that it’s someone’s job to create the postmortem programs for all the living celebrities out there so these networks can whip them out at a moments notice to catch the inevitable ratings wave. Creepy.
Anyway, I was sitting there thinking the same thought I’ve been thinking about Michael Jackson for the better part of two decades — what a fruit loop. Between the multiple cases of child molestation to the Doctor Frankenstein way he approached his plastic surgery, the man had more issues than a teenager’s Playboy collection. He’d largely disappeared from the prying public eye to raise (molest?) his children in the privacy of Bahrain. He was in the midst of plotting his comeback tour, which included a mind boggling 50 sold-out dates at the O2 in London, that he hoped would allow his music to blanket his personal flaws. Everything else aside, Michael Jackson was a brilliant musician and needs to be remembered for the lasting impact he has made on music that will trickle down for generations to come.
Just to highlight exactly what Michael Jackson means to me, Thriller was the first tape I ever owned. In second grade, I carried the cover around in my back pocket as a sort of badge of coolness, and I played the tape on a “My First Sony.” I had no clue of the significance that this album would have on my life, but its clearer than crystal today. Still one of my top 25 albums of all time, Thriller formed my basis for what music should be. Be it the funky, smooth “Baby Be Mine” or the goofy catchiness of “PYT”, he just scraped aside all of the conventions of the day and made the formula. There was a pureness to it. Its like he didn’t know exactly what he was creating or the impact it would have on music for the generations that followed it.
Part of me wonders if Thriller was an unwelcomed curse Michael could never quite shake. He would never be able to eclipse its astounding commercial success, and the rather moderate spotlight he’d operated under since he was 8 would suddenly become as intense as the sun. Its unrepentant stare would never blink for the remainder of his life. Every move would be critiqued, every decision picked apart, he would never, ever be just Michael Jackson again. As we’ve seen with Britney Spears and other child train wrecks since, when these child stars have to live their entire lives in a fish bowl, the results can be bizarre and disturbing.
After Dangerous, I basically packed up Michael Jackson, not having much use for his music that seemed to get more watered down and pedestrian by the serving, yet he was never too far from my playlist. My senior thesis in psychology, I did a study to see how music affected perception of a movie scene. I snipped a sex scene from Risky Business and laid over it three separate tracks — techno fare Underground’s “Born Slippy”, skin crawling Tricky’s “Tattoo” and the essence of love Michael Jackson’s “Lady in My Life.” Basically, I wanted the music to influence how the viewer interpreted what was going down (i.e. loving, consensual sex or something closer to rape). I proved my theory, won the departmental prize and again highlighted how inseparable my life is from my music. Could any other track have stepped in for “Lady?” I like to think not.
I’m currently listening to “Rock With You” off the incomparable Off the Wall. The song is smooth as silk and just melts into the crevasses of your ears. The whole album feels more raw and visceral than anything that would come after it. There is that feel of trying to escape the shadow of the Jackson 5, and be his own man musically. That is the thing. For all the bizarre antics (Bubbles, baby dangling) and disgusting, stomach wrenching moments (what parents would let their child stay over at the Neverland Ranch after the first pedophile lawsuit surfaced?), there are these time capsules that Michael Jackson will always be just a musician. He’s a musician that would pave the way for artists like Justin Timberlake, Usher and Snoop Dogg. Regardless of the litter that his sordid personal life will leave behind, it is the master musician I will always remember. It’s the man who gave us the sweet perfection of “Human Nature.” He’s the man who first made me love music in the purest sense, and for that I will forever be grateful. I hope that whatever demons chased him in this life will stay on this earth and allow him peace in the next life.