Remember The Time

The big news of this week, among other things of course, was the death of Michael Jackson. I admit I never really ranked MJ among my favorite artists but I have always, always liked his music. I wasn't old enough to experience the high points in his career but I was able to discover them through his back catalog. From his work with the Jackson 5 through his solo career, he's made hit after hit after hit, songs that got stuck in my head time and time again. Whenever I hear "I Want You Back" I want to sing like Little Mike. I can't help but dance, at least a little, every single time I hear the bass-line drop on "Billie Jean". Who wasn't left awestruck after watching "Thriller" or "Scream" (when Janet was still hot even with that hair and that, um, resemblance to her brother...) or even "Remember The Time". Hell, I even liked "You Rock My World". Yes, the one that had Chris Tucker in the video. I won't say I liked every song he made but the good significantly outweighs the bad.

Jackson's influence as a singer/dancer/performer, from his vocal style to his music videos to his fashion sense, is almost unmatched. Off the top of my head, I can't come up with another artist in my lifetime that has had quite the impact as Michael but I can list several performers who he impacted (JT, obviously, and um, pretty much every single pop or R&B artist since the 80s). He was even involved with two of my favorite parody songs and one of my favorite mash-ups, two categories that I arguably shouldn't have favorites in at all. Those songs wouldn't have existed without Michael. He is undeniably a cultural icon and for that reason, I will probably always remember what was doing when I heard of his passing.

Similar to how my parents can recall what they were up to when they found out about JFK, I will always remember getting a call from my roommate on an unemployed Thursday while I was watching a soccer game at home. He just had to tell me the bad news. He was on vacation in NY, walking around SoHo, when he heard some lady talking about it on the street. In a similar situation on the west coast, my other roommate heard about the news while walking on the street in Oakland at lunch. That's the kind of impact Michael Jackson had on the world. Even in the age of Web 2.0 and 50-plus news channels on television, information of his death was traveling through the streets. (Of course, he did affect the Internet as well. How many other people could have taken down Google, Twitter and AOL with his/her passing?)

It's sad but even now I can't help but half-laugh at his issues. His problems with the law, his baby dangling, his monkey and his amusement park, his plastic surgeries and his family problems. Now that it's just about all said and done, I think those eccentricities will just be footnotes buried in the story of his great career as an entertainer but they're still there. I've spent the last couple days remembering the good and the odd, but mostly I've been revisiting his music and his videos (thanks, youtube, obviously). It's amazing how many of his songs I had forgotten I liked, how much of his work was actually pretty grand-breaking at the time. I'll be sure to do the RIAA a favor and bolster my anemic MJ collection.

It's a shame it took his death for me to get back into his music but so it goes. I don't think I owe him any more than that. I know I don't. As some one who never knew him, I was a little shocked but I wasn't really emotionally affected by the news. To a certain extent, for me anyway, it's sad in the same way any death is sad. Michael Jackson passed away and I will remember when it happened. Hopefully, he is in a better place. Hopefully, he's at peace with whatever caused him to do all that weird stuff. But mostly, hopefully he realizes that people enjoyed and will always enjoy his music.