Open Thread: Remembering Michael Jackson

MJ1

Hosted by Special Correspondent Arturo R. García

The L.A. Times was the first “mainstream” outlet to confirm the news: Michael Jackson died Thursday afternoon, at the age of fifty.

Jackson’s legacy is at once sublime, sad and at times ridiculous. This was a man who America almost literally saw grow up in the public eye: his rise from being the precocious little brother in the Jackson 5 to the group’s lead songwriter (as The Jacksons) and into his own solo career. And, of course, his descent: the child-molestation accusations; the failed marriages; the skin-lightening treatments; the financial trouble; the drug addiction; and the ignominy of his final compilation album, King of Pop, not even being released in his native U.S.

But – and this is not to forgive or excuse anything he may or may not have done – it’s important to remember that, for a period of time, Jackson was the star in the music industry; Thriller was the album to own, as he became one of, if not the first performer of color to gain and maintain a foothold on MTV. Before “King of Pop” became a marketing slogan, his record sales and subsequent influence upon a generation of musical and dance performers made it a statement of fact. And as much as he might be remembered for the latter years of his life, there can be no doubt that the brightest moments of his early years still shine. Like this performance of “Billie Jean,” taken from the Motown Records 25th Anniversary Special in March 1983. We invite our readers to share their own thoughts in this space.

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Trackbacks & Pings

Michael Jackson on race – and who he saw in the mirror at Racialicious - the intersection of race and pop culture on 30 Jun 2009 at 10:54 am

[...] the plastic surgery, the nose, the hair, and other obviously altered aspects of his appearance? On our blog Racialicious, Readers have been speculating about whether he was driven by internalized racism or something [...]
Michael Jackson on race – and who he saw in the mirror- « Michael Jackson on 01 Jul 2009 at 5:04 am

[...] the plastic surgery, the nose, the hair, and other obviously altered aspects of his appearance? On our blog Racialicious, Readers have been speculating about whether he was driven by internalized racism or something [...]
Michael Jackson hated his black features!!! « Moveable Feast on 06 Jul 2009 at 1:29 pm

[...] the plastic surgery, the nose, the hair, and other obviously altered aspects of his appearance? On our blog Racialicious, Readers have been speculating about whether he was driven by internalized racism or something [...]

Comments

Ebony Intuition wrote:

R.I.P. He will be truly missed, no one can ever top him when it comes to performing, music videos and sales. He is the originator.

R.I.P

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 7:03 am ¶
Jess wrote:

The King is Dead, Long Live The King!

(Sorry, had to do that).

Really, it’s sort of too bad. I always thought the funny thing about Jackson was that he seemed to fear a loss of relevance as much as anything else. I never knew the guy so I don’t know, but I found it interesting that he never processed hip-hop well. That is, other artists have sort of worked it into their acts, and their music, with varying degrees of success. But MJ seemed to have sort of missed that boat.

Maybe it’s generational, in the sense that MJ was, to me, a product of Motown and a culture that by the late 60s was starting to fade. I feel like he bridged the gap admirably in the 80s, but somewhere along the line he got caught flat-footed.

It reminds me of the reaction to hip-hop in the early 90s on college radio. At that time, we had Nirvana and Public Enemy in the stacks, and it was far from clear who would emerge as the major musical force. But of course, hip-hop came into its own, and in retrospect it seems almost inevitable.

Meanwhile, though, as a teen in the 80s, I have to say that Michael Jackson was such a gigantic influence, and he had a knack for picking the right people to work with. That alone takes a special kind of genius (I mean working with Quincy Jones especially). And he had what I think is the single best pop sensibility of anyone ever.

Even if you weren’t really into his music — and I wasn’t — you had to acknowledge this guy. He’s the reason for so many things — I don’t even know where to start. And not even just the music, this guy changed the industry.

I remember a time when we all thought Jermaine was going to be the one with the solo career… how silly does that sound now?

And then the surgery. I never thought he wanted to be white. I thought he wanted to look like Peter Pan in the Disney movies. But I can’t blame the man. His childhood was eight kinds of messed up.

Y’know, in that interview with Bashir, Bashir offered him a way to backtrack, a way out. (The “I share my bed with boys,” thing). He didn’t take it. Jackson wasn’t stupid. Maybe at some level he was self-destructing?

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 7:32 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:

I have been the loving owner of the “Thriller” album – like, the record – since 1983. I have not owned a record player since 1987. There’ll always be a special place in my heart for the man who provided the soundtrack for my early life AND who made “moonwalk” a verb.

Yes. I’m mourning Michael Jackson. Some of you are, too. Just come clean. Sha’mone, nah.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 7:43 am ¶
FilthyGrandeur wrote:

Thriller was the first album i own as a kid. i cherished it. had all the songs memorized–even came up with my own dances for them. i loved that man.

and, like others, i felt a sense of betrayal at the molestation allegations. maybe they’re true, maybe they’re not–i’m inclined to believe victims since they don’t receive that from the larger society. but i still can’t deny his importance to me.

and i can’t ignore that i couldn’t sleep all night; and can’t ignore that no other celebrity death as so shocked me, and no other celebrity death has left me feeling so utter numb….

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:34 am ¶
Kandeezie wrote:

He was a musical genius, yes. A legend in music, yes. But…..I wonder if anyone is going to give him the reverse David Carradine treatment by taking a look at his personal life of shame and talk about his inappropriate relationships with young boys or are we just gonna let it slide. Depends on the person, I guess. Some people get a pass.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:38 am ¶
merq wrote:

Yes, I’ve got tears in my eyes. My parents immediately jumped on BlackBerry messenger to reach me, like we were related. Then my brother. Then my sister.

But they were the only onews who would understand. They were the ones who bought me one Michael/Jackson 5 album after another, and then had to endure me playing them ad nauseum

They were the ones who watched me force both my older siblings to watch the full Thriller mini-movie every morning before they went to school.

They were the ones who had to bring along the Thriller LP to every party we attended as a family, to avoid the inevitable tantrum if the host made the mistake of not having the album.

I may have mocked him in my later years, but my love for Old Mike (and my appreciation for his work on Invincible) never wavered. While I would never excuse child molestation, I maintained until as recently as the day before he died, that he was innocent — if naiive and misguided in his bed-sharing practice.

We don’t have many left.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:40 am ¶
Notebook wrote:

Despite the fact I was born several years after he hit his peak [1986], I still remember his music fondly. I think it may have helped [for the lack of better wording] that no one explained to me what the child-molestation charges meant when I was a child… I really don’t remember asking either. Even after I managed to understand what happened years later, I still couldn’t overlook it over his music. Or rather I still love his music but at the same time I really want to know just what was going on in his mind in his later years. This does bring in the question whether or not you can like the work of an artist and still hate the artist for the things they’ve done.

I think the self-destructing thing has to be true–the guy did things so crazy that it couldn’t be anything but self-destruction.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:57 am ¶
Sobia wrote:

If there is one thing that to me demonstrates MJ’s super superstar status it’s that people literally all around the world knew who he was, and always had. Even before the times of international MTV and all people knew who he was. I remember, as a child visiting Pakistan, and it seemed everyone knew MJ. Michael Jackson was THE face of American entertainment for the longest time.

Every time we’d watch a Bollywood song that had a dance troupe my dad always said “they’re copying Michael Jackson.” And indeed, his dancing was constantly being emulated in Hindi film songs.

Very sad.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:58 am ¶
Aiyana wrote:

One of the strangest things about yesterday was sitting with my father, talking about how Farrah Fawcett had died, and then hearing that Michael Jackson had been hospitalized and literally waiting for the news of his death. For the next hour we frantically searched the internet and refreshed the LA Times page. Once his death was announced, we watched his Motown 25 performance and Thriller. But the process of scouring for news and waiting for an announcement was very surreal. And, of course, the Facebook news feed was crazy. I took screenshots of everything.

I’m too young to appreciate Michael Jackson in the same way that a lot of people do, but I mourn the loss of an unparalleled performer, and someone whose music, from decades before I was born, can make everyone I know dance and sing along.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:05 am ¶
gatamala wrote:

I don’t know Jess. Remember the Time got shitloads of black kids on the dance floor in the 90s.

His other issues got in the way of ability to move into the 21st century. I’m confident that but for his personal/criminal issues he could have had some success in the booth or in front of a microphone. You’re right, he KNEW who to work with and I think could have harnassed that capability again.

Look at all of the physical imitators: Usher, JT, NeYo, Chris Brown, Wade Robson who has probably choreographed these folks.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1d33-HgdZbI

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:21 am ¶
gatamala wrote:

Fiqah~ I’m working on contract clauses & somehow my brain went into Saaanta Clause is comin’ to town!!

I want to do Can You Feel It star circles with my hand!!!

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:26 am ¶
E Grant wrote:

I don’t mean this in a blame sort of way: no JT, no NKOTB, etc. etc. and probably no Britney or Christina A either, without the music and style of MJ.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:35 am ¶
Eva wrote:

I was shocked when my friend called me yesterday afternoon and told me. Both of us were shocked. I remember when Michael Jackson was a member of the Jackson Five. I went to see them in Madison Square Garden in 1971. I have all of his old J5 records, including his first solo record, “Got to Be There.” He will be missed. No one will do what he did music wise for a long time.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:38 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:

@gatamala: And this is why I love you, honey. Bump “Jazz Hands.”

::: does Can You Feel It star circles with hands :::

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:43 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:

Also, this is not to ignore his INCREDIBLY troubled personal life. It would really be most disingenous to do that, and I don’t discourage anyone from exploring his life in its entirety, good and spectacularly bad.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:56 am ¶
Safiya Outlines wrote:

It really is the death of an icon.

Sobia is right, he really was an international superstar.

I can still remember the first time I saw the Billie Jean video and thinking it was the coolest thing ever.

Even to this day, whenever I walk on paving stones, a small part of me still wishes that they would light up.

Rest in Peace Michael.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 9:56 am ¶
Lisa J wrote:

I’m stunned too. Thriller was my first non-kiddie album. Whenever I think about my really early childhood in the late 70’s I can hear the intro to Don’t Stop till ya Get Enough. I remember watching Motown 25, and even though I “didn’t like” him at the time (it was when it was starting to be “cool” to pick on MJ), I still watched the whole Bad Video when they aired it on network tv.

A 26 year old white kid I know commented on FB that he didn’t get why everyone was talking non-stop about MJ. I told him he was too young to get it. I know some 20 somethings get it, but I think some don’t realize how it was when hardly anyone had cable so it was just what was on network TV, and Jackson 5/the Jacksons, being on tv was a huge deal, or staying up late to see Friday Night Videos and seeing an MJ video. Plus the industry wasn’t as niche as it is today. I mean even the kids who were into heavy metal at my school all still knew Thriller and the words and would dance when it came on. Others have said it is like a part of their childhood is permanently gone. That is how I feel. I never entirely believed the molestation charges. It sounded like he got wayyyy to close to those kids but I don’t think (or at least I hope against hope) he wouldn’t hurt them. He seemed so gentle.
RIP Mike.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:06 am ¶
RCHOUDH wrote:

Like millions of others around the world I too grew up listening to and loving MJ’s music. Even after the Thriller years died down and were replaced by Bad and the albums after that and friends and classmates around started making fun of him for his eccentric behavior I still continued to listen to and love his songs. My brother and I used to rent out his made for TV video that contained all his music videos from the Bad Album; we still enjoy listening to and watching the smoothness of Smooth Criminal. I’ll always continue to love playing his music because no matter what anyone thinks he really was supremely talented in what he did.
As for his eccentricities and personal life, I really don’t like people simplifying it and demonizing him as a result of that. I’ve heard everyone say that he hated being black. I don’t think his plastic surgeries can be explained away by just that. I understand there is a possibility that he had internalized racism into his system from an early age, which manifested itself later through his plastic surgeries. Well if that’s the case shouldn’t the people be asking why and how he could have internalized that racism? This internalization never occurs in a vaccuum. I hate how mainstream American society avoids scrutinizing and blaming itself for being the real cause behind beautiful children of color internalizing racism which results in them later loathing themselves.
And like I said earlier his plastic surgery issues cannot be simplified into being one strictly caused by a sense of racial self loathing. I read that another more imminent reason for his drastic surgeries was so he could erase any resemblance to his father, whom he hated. There have been stories since forever about Joe’s domineering/abusive attitude towards his kids. If the surgeries are really the result of Michael’s reaction to his father’s abusive behavior, then that’s a whole other more personalized issue. I personally believe Michael’s family should have urged him to seek counselling from an early age before he started striking out on his own. Yes that might have meant fewer greatest hits albums, fame and wealth, but Michael would have come out of it a much healthier and stable person.
As for the child molestation issue I believe this is also a complex matter that might never be determined in a complete way. Did he really commit those crimes or was he really a naive man child? We’ll probably never know and it’s best not to dwell upon it. I’ve been to other internet message boards and people there gleefully reveling in his death because their minds had already convicted him of committing those crimes. I thought that was just plain classless and distasteful.
I do believe he was sincerely trying to turn his life around recently up until his sudden demise and I commend him for that. I also believe it is possible to still enjoy his work even if you hate how his personal life turned out. So now I’ll end this by saying that MJ was truly a one of a kind artist.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:11 am ¶
Xey wrote:

I am deeply saddened.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:35 am ¶
Tracey wrote:

My mom called me yesterday, and I just can not believe it. It’s just starting to sink in, really sink in. I was born in 86, but MJ was still my first human crush (prior to thatit was cartoon characters). I remember the only song I ever requested on a radio station was Man in the Mirror, I was on my way to college. That song really affects me everytime I hear it. Don’t even get me started on P.Y.T., Rock with You (I think that is one of the all time best music videos ever, just straight up classy),and Don’t stop til you get enough.
He is truly a legend, a legend. I can not believe it’s hitting me this hard. I know it sounds ultra-melodramatic, but right now it seems like the world really is not the same. I normally do not like to elevate a celebrity’s death over that of any othe person, but it’s amazing to see the legacy he leaves and the people he affected. I just can not believe kids are going to be born in a world where the singer of Beat It and Mary Jane is dead (I’ve heard several stories of people with 9yo who knew these songs). It’s as though, even through the jokes and questions about his sanity, we always took his very existence for granted, as though he was a fixture in our culture, in many ways he still is and always will be.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:40 am ¶
Talulah wrote:

I’m 24, and maybe it’s because I spent my earliest childhood on a military base where everyone was five years behind the times, but Michael Jackson was still THE performer of my childhood. I remember being OBSESSED with “Billie Jean” and “Beat It” as a little kid–I wasn’t particularly musical even then, but whenever those songs came on, I couldn’t help but dance.

It’s stupid because I never met him, but I will miss him.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:40 am ¶
d wrote:

“Hold me like the river Jordan, and I will then say to thee, you are my friend…They told me, a man should be faithful, and walk when not able, and fight ’till the end but I’m only human.”

His death has made me quite sadder than I would have expected. And while I liked MJ, I didn’t out and out love the guy. And my favorite stuff of his was actually after Thriller. I think a little more of himself was leaking through, in a way that I didn’t get when I was listening to Beat It. But I liked him – and my mom loved the Thriller album. She used to listen to it all the time!

But regardless of how I felt about him, I knew he was special, and a force to be reckoned with. There’s been no one like him before or after him.

I’m actually glad you guys are honoring him here. I think he simultaneously shows both how you can transcend issues of race and gather all people together, and how no matter how much money, and how much fame, and how many people faint when they see you, the bonds of race are almost invincible (at least in the U.S.). I guess I am one of the few who does think he went through the radical transformation to look more european, for a whole host of complicated reasons: from his issues with his father and his upbringing, to the dissonance that probably happened when he would be adored at venues and yet still have to travel through the back door, when he was little.

Over the years he just seemed like a man in a lot of pain, and I hope he is finally at rest. And we are the lucky ones indeed, because we still get to treasure his music, and enjoy an industry that would have been very different if Michael had not been who he was.

thanks.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:40 am ¶
Amused0472 wrote:

As an adult, I tease my younger brother that he owes me reparations because back in the day he scratched my Thriller album by bumping into the stereo in his baby walker.

Michael is an iconic music legend who changed the landscape of popular music forever. There will never be another and he will be missed. I thank him for the music.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:49 am ¶
Amused0472 wrote:

@Lisa J

I am in my thirties. I remember Friday Night Videos and staying up late to see the Thriller video and Billie Jean. Watching the Motown 25 special was a huge deal too. He probably was my first teen crush. I had a poster of him with the yellow sweater vest. He was the soundtrack of my youth.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:59 am ¶
Niki wrote:

I do think the reactions to MJs death are “generational” in nature. As a 34 year old, I am right smack in the age range of the people who got to experience the magic that was Michael Jackson. I risk sounding like an old fogey here, but younger 20-somethings and teens didn’t grow up at a time when music videos were events that you called everyone you knew and gathered with your friends and family to watch. They will never understand that MJ was not just “the guy with the weird face and a questionable relationship with children.” The word “icon” is thrown around so casually today, and people now can achieve celebrity by starring on reality shows or making sex tapes or attending the opening of an envelope–I believe MJ, along with Prince and Madonna are the last of of a certain kind of entertainer. I can’t think of anyone in the current musical landscape who would be able to command and shape culture like those folks did. I am mourning my childhood and I am mourning a time when people were a little less cynical. I am mourning Michael Jackson.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 11:02 am ¶
Mary wrote:

I’m going to be the lone cranky lady and say that Michael Jackson was dead to me as soon as he admitted to Martin Bashir that he’s slept in the same bed with young boys because “it’s a beautiful thing.” I usually live by the philosophy that one should avoid speaking ill of the dead, but I sincerely cannot get past that. I can’t help wondering how some of those young boys might feel now watching MJ all but canonized by the media.

I don’t know what happened to him in his childhood; I don’t know if there’s a “there but for the grace of God go I” moment in his past. I think it’s very sad what he became.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 11:10 am ¶
Lakergrrl wrote:

Mama’s Pearl was my favorite song. And Dirty Diana. And Smooth Criminal. And Human Nature. And Butterfly…Rest in peace, MJ

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 11:13 am ¶
deathblossom wrote:

Well at 22 I am too young to have ever been caught in the Michael Jackson, but I still know all those songs because they used to play them and show the videos all the time, and so it was really great watching him on MTV yesterday, especially with all their footage! That performance with Slash was amazing.

A lot of people said they were not surprised and there was always Old Michael and New Michael and when you’re raised with him, I guess I can see that. But I wasn’t really, so there was always only one Michael. Even seeing his old performances (I guess the earliest one I can really remember seeing a lot and being current was Remember the Time, so I mean older than that), it’s always just been Michael to me. All that was him, still was even at the end, he did all of it. It’s kind of rude to say otherwise. Even at the end, still a performer! My mom and I were watching his press conference for the announcement of his July tour and we laughed at the end when he did his little move, still a BAMF! It’s always been this one awesome man to me and I felt way sadder than I thought I really would and I really cried when they played Man in the Mirror. He was awesome.

I mean, who else who destroy the internet but Michael? Livejournal, Facebook, Twitter…he shut down MTV and an entire hospital! I was really bothered by the insensitive comments on Twitter by people complaining about Michael knocking #iranelection off the trending topics. “OMG, ONE MAN dies but dozens are dying in IRAN!! Stop mentioning is name” Come off it, this is Michael Jackson. He has meant the world to the people of the WORLD for 45 years and done so much more than your green icon, self-important self can obviously comprehend.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 11:59 am ¶
bdsista wrote:

Cosign Merq. Michael and I are the same age and our birthdays are four days apart. I celebrated my birthday with his, I had his posters, I have the J5 albums, Ilost my voice screaming at the reunion tour, I know almost all his songs from the first album to Invincible.
Michael and Jermaine were the first icons of color to break up the whiteness that was Tiger Beat. They replaced Davy Jones and Bobby Sherman and gave me teen hearthrobs that looked like me and who would have dated me. There was never a holiday, cookout, party, wedding or event that his music was not played. I remember my Mother in her nightgown and slippers trying to moonwalk while we laughed hilariously. She even did the kick.

I too defended him to the last. I have friends who have vitilligo, it is devastating, although they handle it well. In his book Moonwalk, MJ talks about how he always felt ugly and hence the descent into endless plastic surgery like an anorexic continues to diet. I felt so sad for him at times, but loved his music, loved his images. Learned to dance Beat it and Thriller, rejoiced in the message of Black or White, and cried while singing Earth Song and Man in the Mirror and We Are the World which was sung by children in elementary schools for years for parents with tears in their eyes.

Already on facebook I unfriended someone who posted a complaint about the MJ posts saying there are other things to worry about. Already the insensitive comments begin. White Privilege allows you to ignore major events that affect people and communities that you do not identify with. I am not in a frame of mind to be able to respond civilly. I am deeply saddened and in mourning. It was aggravated by Martin Bashir of ALL people to be the voice of ABC to cover his death, when Martin was a big part of destroying Michael’s image by his smug, sarcastic, horribly edited video. He even showed clips from it where you hear him snarkily commenting on the price of things in a store. No one does this to Trump or Paris Hilton or other celebrities. MJ was not entitled to spend his money? To me it was again the double standard that there are still different rules for white artists and artists of color. I got on ABC’s site and told them to remove Bashir from the story, many others did as well.

Michael’s death marks my own humanity. Farrah as well. When Farrah did Burning Bed, we cheered because the laws still did not protect women from abuse and marital rape. May his family and children be blessed and may he RIP.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 12:08 pm ¶
D2 wrote:

I think Michael Jackson was the quintessential American genius. Period. For decades, he brought an energy and magic to the masses that was unmatched, both within America and abroad. But, it would be hard to believe that anyone who had such a hyperbolic rise, and attained a status of so much notoriety, could live a “normal” life. He sacrificed much of his childhood for his early success, so much of who he was as a young man was based on public opinion, and we all know about his difficulties over the last ten or so years (or more). Michael Jackson’s life was a testament to the reality that there is often a double edged sword to great stardom. But, to end on a positive note – while it’s true that Michael Jackson will be missed, I know that when I turn on “Thriller” on my way to the bus today, he will seem just as alive as ever. And for what it’s worth, so will I.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 12:22 pm ¶
R. Prince wrote:

R.I.P., Michael. I remember the very first music video I ever saw was “Thriller” with my family members surrounding me….

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 12:33 pm ¶
Latoya Peterson wrote:

Originally, this was going to be a “Racialicious Remembers” kind of thread, but when Arturo finished, I didn’t want to add anything to what he wrote. So here are the responses of the team:

Jessica Yee:

during my childhood I remember my mom talking about the music of MJ and the Jackson 5 as “revolutionary music.” We listened to their records all the time on the rez, and I repeatedly heard my mom tell stories about how as a young girl she defiantly listened to what the white kids outside the reservation labeled “the devil’s music”. Reflecting on that phrase now, historically I realize it might not have been the first musical revolution for a lot of folks, but for my mom it meant she finally felt represented as a person of colour, as a young person, and as someone who also made music with her own family and wanted to push boundaries. She’s always had this affinity with MJ. I was talking to her tonight and trying to understand why she was saying she was in mourning – because to my generation he seemed like this erratic child molester. She said (quoting Emma Goldman) “it was my revolution – and if I can’t dance, then it’s not my revolution.”

Wendi Muse:

I have countless early memories of Michael Jackson, but some of the fondest include the moments I would steal my grandmother’s 45s and 35s to play on my Fisher-Price portable record player (gotta love the brown and blue!). I remember listening to “Billie Jean” and “Baby Be Mine” while getting ready for school in the morning. I also recall some of my first music videos, beyond those of Motley Crue and Whitesnake, being those of Michael Jackson’s top hits. He’s certainly left a lasting impression on my interest in music and I can safely say that he has been an incredibly creative, innovative, and talented force in the music industry since his earliest days in the business. Michael’s musical genius will certainly be missed.

Andrea Plaid:

I don’t have a specific memory of Jackson; like James Brown, he served as the background noise to my youth. I don’t remember seeing the Jackson family perform on TV for the first time, but the music–the harmonies, of Jackson yelping about “Aww baby/Give me one more chaaaaaance” backed by his brothers–is what surfaces for me. Yeah, we had “Off the Wall” on vinyl–and I played the title cut again and again when I was in the mood to listen to him. And I remember when “Billie Jean” came on MTV and started to integrate the place. I consciously looked at Jackson when the long version of “Thriller” came on–I was more interested in the narrative than the video. I also realized he revolutionized the video as both marketing and storytelling and cinematic tool–to me, “Remember the Time” was the apex of that. A fitting song for this transition.

As for me, I keep processing. (Man, if it’s this bad with Michael, I’ll probably lose my shit when Prince dies.)

Though, I did have a few random thoughts floating around:

1. I’ll always wonder what was the meaning of the self-mutilation. As I was watching MTV yesterday as they were playing most of his videos, I noticed something that escaped my attention before. Even post lightening, even at the height of his fame, even as he started becoming more popular in other markets than he was here, he always featured PoC in his videos. Far past the point where he was crossing over.

2.I’ll agree with the person above who mentioned how much of his later work was about pain. That was an interesting shift to make. I also never realized how many anthems of hope he had.

3. They showed the video he made for the child who died of HIV. I wonder how many of the parents of the children he was involved with (negatively as well as positively) will comment.

4. Michael is the king of the visual. I remember his dancing the best, and after that the images from his videos – the bubbles from Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough; the mini-epic that was Thriller; the Smooth Criminal lean; him turning into sand in Remember the Time.

5. Does anyone else have the urge to track down a Sega Genesis and play Moonwalker?

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 12:34 pm ¶
jen* wrote:

MJ has got me watching BET again for the first time in a long time. “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” Tribute.

I’d seen that he was taken to the hospital, but I was still at work, and couldn’t get updates. Then my sister called to tell me what happened. And I was shocked. He was too young. I can’t think of anyone else in the public sphere whose death brought tears to my eyes. I never made it to a concert, don’t have all of his albums, but I feel loss like we were related.

Truly unparalleled, he will be more than missed. As for his life outside of the entertainment sphere, I don’t know. I’ve never really been able to reconcile my mind with the accusations – true or not. But I can’t not love him.

RIP Michael.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 1:06 pm ¶
Lxy wrote:

I’ve been watching/listening to YouTube videos of Michael Jackson’s songs continuously since last night.

One unreleased (and underappreciated) demo song by the King of Pop:

“The Way You Love Me”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-vzr57-tec&feature=related

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 1:27 pm ¶
pololly wrote:

I’m only 24 but my older sister discovered Moonwalker and I watched it once every week or so for about 5 years of my childhood. I am devastated. I am not a fair weather fan. I have defended him through it all; the trials, the rumours, the surgeries. I had tickets for Sept and I feel sick to the stomach.

Michael never turned his back on black people. Not once. Even at his lightest what color were his co stars in his videos. Many black actors and stars were there, he thought black people were beautiful whatever his father did to him.

He will be so missed. I cannot believe that I never got to see him live. Truly devastated.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 1:32 pm ¶
Regina wrote:

Man! What a day! It’s close to it hitting the 24 hour mark from the time I heard. I was on Twitter when the news broke that he’d been taken to the hospital.

Shocking and so sad. My heart goes out to his family, his children and his friends. However, my heart also goes out to every Michael Jackson fan out there.

I grew up with him. I remember listening to songs like “Ben” on my 45 record player in my bedroom when I was a little girl. Me and my friends loved the Jackson 5 and Michael in particular.

It’s been years of twists and turns. Seeing him become misunderstood and eccentric was hard. However, no one can deny that he was a great and inspirational performer.

I’m listening to “If I Have to Move a Mountain” right now and it takes me back and makes me smile.

Dear Michael, now you can truly rest in peace.

Here is a link to the old stuff put together in a mix last year by DJ Jaycee, for those who don’t know that era: http://djsoulnyc.blogspot.com/2009/06/remember-mj-part-1.html

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 1:46 pm ¶
Sarafina wrote:

As I was watching MTV yesterday as they were playing most of his videos, I noticed something that escaped my attention before. Even post lightening, even at the height of his fame, even as he started becoming more popular in other markets than he was here, he always featured PoC in his videos. Far past the point where he was crossing over.

That was something that I really noticed as well, and it honestly made me reassess him a little bit. I had always kind of assumed, along with everyone else I knew, that all the surgery and the skin lightening were him trying to “become white” or whatever, but looking at all those videos, full of black people… I guess we’ll never really know everything that was going on, but I don’t think he was trying to leave us.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 1:49 pm ¶
cb3n wrote:

It took a while for it to sink in for me last night. I’m in my 20s, and MJ was a major part of the world for my entire life in one way or another. If his songs weren’t on the radio, he was being talked about on the news, if he wasn’t being interviewed by Oprah, he was going undercover as John Jay Smith to provide a guest voice for one of my favorite Simpson’s episodes (season 3’s Stark Raving Dad for anyone who is wondering). This really is as big as Lennon, Elvis or Cash. Bigger even, because Jackson had a worldwide presence that no one else could match. Someone on CNN last night called him the most famous person in history, and I’ve gotta say, it’s a hard point to argue.

I also think, along those lines, that Jackson’s life and death will someday be interesting to study in terms of the ways in which tabloid journalism can turn rumors into generally accepted truths. Jackson was one of the first stars to receive the type of over the top attention we now regularly give our celebrities. From rumors of skin bleaching to the child molestation stuff, none of it is really fact, it’s all hearsay. I actually couldn’t sleep last night thinking about all of the nasty stuff people were saying about him.

As far as I know,what can be verified is the following. In terms of his changing skin color is that he was in the 80s diagnosed with vitiligo and lupus, two conditions which changed his skin color and made it sensitive to the sun. The treatments he underwent to control these conditions reportedly further lightened his skin, and he also heavily used a pale makeup to hide his various rashes and blotches. His first plastic surgery happened in the late 70s when he broke his nose practicing a dance routine and was a botched rhinoplasty that he claimed made it difficult to breathe. Years later he had that repaired and developed his famous addiction to plastic surgery.

More importantly while it’s true that accusers are often ignored in sexual abuse cases involving celebrities, it’s important to remember that the first child molestation case never went to criminal trial due to lack of evidence, and Jackson was acquitted on all counts in the second. Legally speaking, regardless of what the tabloids say, Jackson never had sex with either Jordan Chandler or Gavin Arvizo. Searches of Neverland Ranch and other Jackson family homes never turned up anything incriminating, and the main evidence against MJ in either case was that he was affectionate towards everyone, including children, in a way not usually considered appropriate in our culture, and that Jordan Chandler’s descriptions of his body (which by the way were made after the boy’s father doped him up with a mind altering chemical that is widely discredited in the medical community) were somewhat similar to what was photographed during that infamous strip search performed when Jackson got out of therapy and rehab. In fact, the Arvizo family, including Gavin, is recorded on video after the Bashir documentary insisting that no sexual contact was ever made between Jackson and the children and that he was like a father figure to them. Similarly, Jordan Chandler’s mother has made public statements saying she doesn’t believe that Jackson molested her son. Much has been made about the 22 million dollar settlement Jackson made with the Chandler family, but it’s important to remember that MJ’s mental and physical health completely crashed after the first allegations. This was the time period when he had to be carried through an airport in London (and straight to a clinic) because he couldn’t stand up, and a spokesperson said he wasn’t able to function on an intellectual level. People close to him, like Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Marie Presely have stated that they literally didn’t think he would survive a trial and that they urged him to finally give in and settle. Statements made by Michael himself support that this may have been the reason for the settlement. His sister La Toya Jackson at one point during the first controversy claimed to have evidence that he was a pedophile that she’d sell to the tabloids for $500,000. This evidence never materialized and La Toya later stated that she was threatened into making those statements by her abusive husband who hoped to cash in on what was going on. Michael and La Toya reportedly reconciled before he died.

I don’t know why I feel such a need to defend Michael Jackson. I think maybe, as a person who is interested in non-traditional families in my own life, I empathize with someone who was maybe affectionate in a non-traditional way and was literally torn apart for it. From statements made both by Jackson and by his accusers, it seems as though his relationships with these people were really familial, at one point Jordan Chandler’s father Evan invited MJ to move into their home (provided he build a new wing on it with his own money of course) and Janet Arvizo had her kids call Michael daddy. It’s clear that Jackson cared a lot about the children and families he made friends with over the years and the fact that he was wrongly accused of molestation by people he apparently trusted and cared about must have been very difficult. I don’t think he did it, the legal system doesn’t think he did it, and even the people who accused him have gone on record saying they don’t think he did it. What more does the world want?

Anyways, back to watching Michael Jackson videos on youtube.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 2:42 pm ¶
LaurynX wrote:

I’m probably the youngest to comment here, since I am 21. But I can tell you I remember the kids in my elementary school class doing the dance to “Bad” and “Thriller” and this was freaking 1998! So contrary to what older folks may think, younger folks know very well his music.

I know very well the derivatives and imitators of his music and dance moves: Usher, Justin T., Chris Brown, etc. etc. etc.

I’ll say “Smooth Criminal” and “Black and White” were my faves when I was very little b/c they came out in the late 80s early 90s…the first I was around for.

Peace Michael.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:02 pm ¶
F wrote:

I’m very saddened by his death – I’m in my mid-20’s, so his music really was a constant background of my childhood.

I’d be interested to see what people here think of his approach to race. I never thought of his skin lightening/surgery as an attempt to whiten himself, rather, reactions to self-consciousness over his acne as a teenager combined with embarrassment over his skin conditions as an adult. I always thought he was a very deeply traumatised person reacting in strangely logical ways to his pain, and it was such a shame because he was so deeply talented, and so immensely innovative. ‘Thriller’ is maybe the only record I can think of which is actually as cool now as it was when it came out.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:22 pm ¶
F wrote:

And additionally I think race was often a theme in his music, whether he addressed it effectively or interestingly or not is another issue.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:23 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

@Kandeezie: I really don’t know if the media as a whole are giving him a pass. It seems ambiguous. It’s not like the child molestation charges aren’t being discussed. I think most people realize he had a very complicated legacy.

One thing I’m wondering about are the fate of his children and the stories they’ll tell when they grow up.

Basically, Michael Jackson was a transracial adoptive parent. There is no way his children are his genetic children. I mean, they’re white. I hope knowledge of their origins won’t be kept a secret from them.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:25 pm ¶
someone wrote:

I`m sad I wasn`t able to witness him at his prime ( i`m 16 ] , but I got his music through my father and it was the first time I fully sat down and just listened to a full album first to last track, i honestly say I love music because him. MJ started it all for me.

He IS the king, forever will be. There will be no one like Micheal. His music trancends every single boundary race, gender, age, nationality everything . He will be greatly missed, but he`ll live on through his music which again is timeless.

R.I.P MJ .

On another note it`s interesting to hear like on the tributes on the radio. The “black” radio stations without a doubt declare him the king..but i`ve noticed that alot of the like “white” channels say the “self proclaimed king of pop” , and then feel a need to talk about lennon, elvis etc. Some dj even asked if john lennon and elvis were greater then Micheal Jackson.. . =/ just a thought . lol my mother went ape shitttt .

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:25 pm ¶
Paz wrote:

Re: Self mutilation
MJ’s said in interviews that his father would constantly mock him for his nose when he was younger. I also suspect he suffered from sexual abuse. I don’t really think it was internalized racism so much as it was body dysmorphic disorder. Oprah said she had him on her show once in the 90s, and they showed pictures of him when he first started out on a solo career, arguably when he was his most attractive, and he couldn’t bear to look at the photos.

He will be dearly missed, but at least I hope he is now resting in peace.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:34 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

I just realized I shouldn’t have said “they’re white” so baldly. I really have no idea, given all the mystery around the situation… but there’s no way they’re his genetic children.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:38 pm ¶
Ric Reyes wrote:

Here’s a link to an article published long ago on a mexican newspaper about MJ with a focus on his race issues, hope some of you find a way to check it out:

http://eltapanqo.blogspot.com/2009/06/la-raza-como-problema.html

I could say a lot of stuff about Michael, from the heart-touching (growing up in Mexico I wanted to grow up and be like him, black) to the weird (mexican MJ impersonators getting plastic surgery so they could look more than him which is kind of 4th-wall breaking). He changed and the world did. i did. but i stil love his music.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:43 pm ¶
Wendi Muse wrote:

lol yeah atlasien…i was about to say…
though they could still biologically be his. as we all know by now, genes are complex…and sometimes in pairings of any type, the kids favor one parent far more than the other, or sometimes neither!

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:44 pm ¶
bdsista wrote:

atlasasien, they ARE his kids, Deb Rowe the mother of the first two is white which makes them biracial, light skin can come out of very dark black parents. My aunt is an example of that, dark dad, medium brown mom, she is light with green eyes.

Last kid was born of a very light skinned Black woman, again, child is technically black but light. My understanding is that Michael furnished the sperm and they were AI and got pregnant. But Blacks and Native Americans have some really broad color ranges in their family.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:55 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

@Wendi: I agree, I know a lot of biracial kids who favor one side or the other. I’m half-white and half-East-Asian, and look more Asian than white (but I still have at least a few points of resemblance to my white mother).

There’s a bell-shaped curve so that a lot of children fall in the middle, and look half like their mother, half like their father, and then there are plenty of extremes at either end of their curve. It’s not unlikely that one of the children would appear to not have any African features at all. But all three? That’s just so incredibly unlikely.

If you compare picture of his children next to a pre-plastic surgery picture of Michael Jackson, when he was their age, I just don’t see points of resemblance.

I think it’s more likely that his severe body dysmorphia (as others have mentioned, he couldn’t even stand to look at old pictures of himself) led him to use an anonymous sperm donor, who represented to him the “ideal self” that he was aspiring to transform into. I don’t know if that ideal self was truly white, but pale skin was definitely part of the image.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 3:58 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

Honestly, reading some of these comments makes me realize how easy it was back in the day for some people to “pass.”

Biracial children can take on the characteristics of either parent or be a blend of both. And in this day and age it saddens me that people can’t accept this and insist on a “norm” for biracial children when there really isn’t one.

Not sure about the other two (because Debbie Rowe has gone on record saying the sperm was donated), but that Blanket looks like a White version of MJ at that age. And what’s going to happen to him? The rumor mill says that Debbie Rowe is trying to get the oldest two children already. I’m really hoping that’s not true because you’d have to be an evil witch split up those kids after their Dad has died…

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 4:15 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

@bdsista: The fact that there is such a broad range (and I totally agree with you on that) does not argue in favor of Jackson being the genetic father… because with three children born at separate times (i.e. not identical twins) it would be likely that they would have a much broader range of features/skin tones.

If it was just one child, I wouldn’t be arguing this.

I don’t mean to derail, by the way. It’s just a very odd and perplexing issue.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 4:22 pm ¶
Marcy Webb wrote:

I grew up watching MJ. I’m 44, and so we are more or less a part of the same generation. I purchased “Thriller” in 1983, not realizing how important an album it would be. I was an MJ fan from the days of the Jackson 5. My parents own the “ABC” and the “Christmas” albums, and some 45s, I am sure.

I remember being a college freshman, gathered around the tv in my dorm room with other women from the floor (I attended a women’s college), completely captivated by the “Billie Jean” video, in the early days of MTV.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 4:44 pm ¶
atlasien wrote:

Finally, as far as I know the mother of Jackson’s third child is a surrogate, so that adds an extra layer of genetic secrecy. It’s very likely the egg was not hers, and she was a gestational surrogate with no genetic connection to the child.

Well-off parents who cannot have their own genetic children will often enter this kind of “designer baby” arrangement… because then the surrogate has no legal standing to claim the child if she changes her mind.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 5:02 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

I’ve been bawling my eyes out since yesterday for both Michael and Farrah with every update. I remember being a kid and loving them both so much…at least with Farrah we knew the end was soon. MJ dying came out of left field. He’s like that fucked up crazy uncle in everyone’s family that doesn’t get talked about that much but everyone loved…and he’s sorely missed once he’s gone.

Seeing all the different newspaper covers from around the world and pictures of people from around the globe sobbing…it’s breaking my heart. It’s like the world collectively woke up from all the day to day bullshit and remembered what it was like when we still had dreams.

Oh God. I’m so fucking sad right now. And if I’m this sad, I can’t imagine what the people who were close to him and loved him are going through right now.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 6:29 pm ¶
Joseph wrote:

@atlasien (#43-53)
Glad somebody said it…

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 6:42 pm ¶
Tomás wrote:

There was a time in the 1980s when EVERYBODY in my family–a group of people spanning 90 years of life and two countries spread across a hemisphere–knew exactly who he was and what he did. Aside from Jesus and the Pope, I’m not sure there was every another person of whom I could say that.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 6:57 pm ¶
ms wrote:

I just want to throw this out there. Michael’s dermatologist TESTIFIED UNDER OATH that Michael had vitiligo during the trials. Obviously, it was not to determine if Michael truly had vitiligo, but at one point the doctor was questioned and replied that indeed, Michael had vitiligo.

I maintain that Michael is innocent. He was, is, and will be. I don’t believe he ever molested any children at any point in his lifetime. There is evidence that can be found at:

http://floacist.wordpress.com

Those are two myths, arguably the two that have dogged Michael the most over the years, that I wanted to correct.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 7:26 pm ¶
Restructure! wrote:

@deathblossom:

I was really bothered by the insensitive comments on Twitter by people complaining about Michael knocking #iranelection off the trending topics. “OMG, ONE MAN dies but dozens are dying in IRAN!! Stop mentioning is name” Come off it, this is Michael Jackson. He has meant the world to the people of the WORLD for 45 years and done so much more than your green icon, self-important self can obviously comprehend.

I’m going to have to respond to your insensitive and self-important comment. Iranian tweets about fair democracy are less self-important than American tweets about Michael Jackson. Your priorities are all wrong if you think that your regret that MJ can never make a comeback is more important than what’s going on in Iran.

You need to actually listen to the message that Michael was trying to get across: There are people dying, if you care enough for the living.

Iranians can’t comprehend MJ’s influence on the world? Maybe you should tell that to this MJ fan in Tehran.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 8:57 pm ¶
DivergentDana wrote:

Yeah, atlasien, I’d come to the exact same conclusion based on the same reasoning, as far as the kids go.

Posted 26 Jun 2009 at 10:06 pm ¶
Xi wrote:

kandeezie

I definitely don’t think Michael Jackson will get, or has ever been given a pass. I just think his fans would have liked ONE DAY, the day of his premature death, to remember the positive things about Michael Jackson, his music, his dancing and all the joy he brought so many people. Especially following decades of ridicule and witch hunt, which I’m sure will start soon enough again.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 1:51 am ¶
Elton wrote:

From the late, great George Carlin’s final book, “When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?”

JACKO BEATS THEM ALL
I don’t care if Michael Jackson freaked off with little boys or not. It doesn’t bother me. Fuck those kids. And fuck their greedy parents too. What’s important to me is that Michael is the greatest entertainer who ever lived. Bar none. Watch him dance; pay attention to the showmanship. No one ever came close.
Elvis was a bogus white guy with sex appeal and good looks who ripped off a lot of great black music, watered it down, and made it safe for lame whites who couldn’t handle the experience of raw, emotional black music. Never grew as an artist; remained an entertainer. Fuck Elvis.
Sammy Davis Jr.? Nice try. Ordinary dancer, ordinary singer, second-rate impressionist. I also didn’t like the insincere sincerity. But he was a nice man, personally; I give him credit for that.
Frank Sinatra? Great singer of songs, among the best. Superb musician. Grew as an artist. No showmanship, though. Arrogant, too. And mean to ordinary people. Fuck him.
Michael Jackson buries them all. I say give him a bunch of kids and let him dance.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 1:57 am ¶
cb3n wrote:

@Restructure!

Thank you for that. While MJ meant a lot to me in my life and am personally still in shock about the whole thing, I am somewhat disturbed by the complete focus of the American media on him today. 24 hour news services have been talking about Michael Jackson, and to a lesser extent Farrah, for more than 24 hours now. I think it’s important to recognize that the American media’s coverage of the current disputes in Iran has been problematic, but what’s really troubling (and I suppose not entirely surprising) to me is that the news networks have completely dropped their coverage of the disputed Iranian election once a bigger potential ratings cow appeared in the form of these celebrity deaths. No matter how much we love Michael Jackson as a country and a world, and no matter how much his death means, it doesn’t take away from the fact that there were likely other things going on today that deserved coverage. As you point out, I don’t think he’d want endless speculation about what drugs he may or may not have been taking at the time of his death to distract the world from the larger things that are going on.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 2:16 am ¶
Westerly wrote:

I wouldn’t take it for granted that the younger generation are more acquainted with his infamy than his music. My mother, myself and my youngest sister all love MJ. My mother knew him in J5, I was all about Thriller and Off the Wall, where my youngest sister knew his material off “Bad” and “Dangerous” best. That said, we also became familiar with his music that lay outside our own particular epoch.

When prisoners in the Philippines have got the “Thriller” routine *nailed*, then you’re dealing with someone who is bigger than the Beatles, Elvis, Sinatra, Bing Crosby (!) or anyone else that they try to place on his level. (As my mother stormed: “Bing who?”)

It’s as if some of the media is desperate that he be at least equal to if not upstaged by some supposedly ‘equivalent’ white icon. It’s as if they are struggling to admit that he had no equal and was simply a star amongst stars. (Even hugely powerful influential stars were positively giddy around him.)

Part of his fame is due to the fact that he had access to and used modern media like no other star. That and the fact that you have people from Iceland to Tibet in disbelief at the news. While I know that Elvis, the Beatles, Sinatra and even Bing had their fans of ‘colour’, I don’t believe that they were able to transcend generational, gender, national, cultural, racial, and genre lines the way that Michael Jackson could.

As mentioned earlier in this thread, Bollywood takes its cues from Michael Jackson – not Elvis or John Lennon.

I wouldn’t deny the impact of Diana, Marilyn, Munroe, James Dean, or say that Fred Astaire was anything less than an incredible dancer – but all of these icons were actors (and in Diana’s case a socialite and humanitarian.) I’d never pretend that they weren’t internationally famous or that their deaths failed to have impact. But none of them had the unprecedented reach or level of fame that MJ was both blessed and cursed with.

I think part of the reason why Michael’s impact was so powerful was because he was a prodigy and a sheer genius when it came to dance and music – both of which are more accessible and have more sway, power, impact than film, theatre and literature.

Music (and it’s close cousin dance) touches people on a visceral, emotional level and has an immediacy that cannot be matched. It speaks to people, moves them and it is infinitely more accessible than any other artform. Furthermore, his videos were filmic/cinematic, creative and innovative.

He bought fantasy, dream and magic into what he did and shared it with anyone who cared to watch or listen.

Combine this with his mastery of showmanship; the extraordinary level of his talent (he was simply the best at what he did and did it in a way that no-one else can), the charisma; the physical beauty of both his face and his physique (which he was never able to recognise or come to terms with), and the fact that there was *always* something intriguingly eerie and uncanny about him, long before a scalpel or a bleaching agent ever touched his skin – and no wonder he was the star that he was.

(I have always felt that it was downright uncanny – almost in disturbing really that such a little child was able to sing, interpret and convey adult emotion that should have been far, far, far beyond his years. Young Michael was remarkable and beautiful but at the same time the talent was outlandish – even freakish. But special.)

And since people are discussing the topic of his skin, I will say that I think that the struggle he had being in his skin and in that body was far more complicated than the simplistic and resentful dismissal of Michael “wanting to be white”. I don’t think he wanted to cast off the African American community – they are the ones who more often than not, take centre stage in his videos, whether as characters, lead dancers or love interests.

He identified with and claimed lineage of black performers and stage traditions. I don’t see how that qualifies as trying to be white or trying to distance himself from the black community. That isn’t to say that he didn’t struggle with his blackness, but I don’t think that is the same as an unproblematic and whole-hearted embrace of whiteness either.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 5:11 am ¶
mute wrote:

Lol. I was a little distraught reading the comments that were speculating that if you’re on the younger side of 25 Jackson mania was not real for you. Not true! Thanks to the younger folks who testified to the contrary. I remember watching “Remember the Time” and “Black and White” after school at my friend’s house. I got the HIStory album as a present. I played my Mom’s Thriller and Off The Wall LPs. I’m 23.

I’m still not comprehending how a man like Mike can be dead. Even when I first heard on the radio that he was found not breathing, I barely flinched, thinking only that he had taken ill and would be revived and be fine. How can a man who surpassed mere mortality before I was even born just up and die?

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 6:40 am ¶
Fiqah wrote:

@Elton: While I loved the late great Carlin’s curmudgeony schtick as much as the next cat, this shit right here –

I don’t care if Michael Jackson freaked off with little boys or not. It doesn’t bother me. Fuck those kids. And fuck their greedy parents too.

is UNCONSCIONABLE. This is where I always have drawn the line with Michael Jackson jokes: victim-blaming. Children are often the most vulnerable population in just about any society, subject to the whims of adults whose authority they are obligated to obey: parents, teachers, celebrities, priests, et al. A child’s personal agency in any situation featuring adult interaction tends to be limited.

I hated all the scandal and icky too. But none of it happened in a vacuum, and all the fucking “hush money” in the world isn’t going to untarnish MJ’s legacy or give those children that piece of their innocence back. I’m sorry, there’s nothing funny about that.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 6:54 am ¶
ishtar79 wrote:

I was blindsided by how much his death affected me. I hadn’t really listened to his music in years (though I always watched his old videos when they came on/danced to his songs at clubs) and like many was weirded out by the controversy and general freakyness of the later years, yet still when I heard the news of his death, I felt while part of my childhood had died.

Thriller was the first album I owned. Every single child in my class in Greece was obsessed with MJ, same thing when I later moved to Bulgaria, and that was during Communism, where very little Western culture got through.

One of my best friends is ten years older than me and was seriously into Thriller as a teenager, before getting into the punk scene and not listening to any of his music since. Both of us spent the better part of yesterday on the phone, talking about our memories of Jackson songs, looking at youtube videos and obsessively downloading any album we could get our hands on. THAT’s how massive Jackson was, that even so many years down the line we can not deny the massive presence that he was at some point in our lives. Over at livejournal, most of my flist consists of people, all of different ages and from different countries/cultures/backgrounds sharing a specific memory of Jackson’s music.

I’m not touching on the personal stuff because I can separate a person from their body of work, because I think this is not the time for it and because I feel we may never know either way. But MJ was a legend-this is truly the end of an era.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 7:55 am ¶
Restructure! wrote:

@Elton:

I don’t care if Michael Jackson freaked off with little boys or not. It doesn’t bother me. Fuck those kids. And fuck their greedy parents too. What’s important to me is that Michael is the greatest entertainer who ever lived.

Now that’s just wrong.

You can celebrate MJ’s music without blaming (and cursing at) the possible victims of child molestation.

@Kandeezie:

He was a musical genius, yes. A legend in music, yes. But…..I wonder if anyone is going to give him the reverse David Carradine treatment by taking a look at his personal life of shame and talk about his inappropriate relationships with young boys or are we just gonna let it slide. Depends on the person, I guess. Some people get a pass.

I don’t think he’s getting a pass in general, but as you probably realize (given that you used the term ‘reverse’), the David Carradine post was a criticism of his work, while the criticisms of MJ are about his personal life.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 8:22 am ¶
Lizzie wrote:

Elton,

while I am a bit uncomfortable with the first two lines of that quote the rest of it is pure awesomeness. Thank you for posting that!!!!

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 9:01 am ¶
Lovely wrote:

Billie Jean was one of my favorites, especially that Motown show, I was a kid then, but that was the highlight of the night with family watching. He was the biggest thing ever as far as entertainment.

Not to mention it was reported that he gave over 300 million to charity over his career.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 10:41 am ¶
Jess wrote:

Some folks here have said it seems like “the media” is looking for a white icon to compare with MJ. I honestly don’t think that’s the case– at least, over a couple of hours last night, the only comparison I caught to others was when someone (on CNN maybe?) said he was bigger than Elvis. Other folks who came into the discussion — it was all about how MJ was bigger.

@gatamala– you may not see this comment buried here, but when I said he didn’t process hip-hop well, I was thinking of the fact that while he was a major influence on later hip-hop artists, listening to his later stuff I got no sense that he incorporated anything like rap — or at least, not well. So there was no feedback loop, if you see what I mean. But maybe if he got his act together he would have given Quincy Jones a call and we’d have seen some of that. We’ll never know.

As to defending MJ and having Martin Bashir on the story– look, Bashir offered the guy a way out, a way to backtrack, he said to Jackson “Hey, people might think this a little inappropriate, y’think you might want to explain a little?” He got an answer of “I don’t care.” And I already said, MJ wasn’t a stupid man. He’d been dealing with the media, with reporters, his whole life. He was not some innocent lamb here.

I see a man who was desperately trying to recapture his own childhood, the one he was denied. And he had the money and freedom to do it.

And I’m with altasien. There’s no way those are his genetic kids. The blonde hair/blue eyes combination is sort of a dead giveaway. You only get that with a large number of markers coming together — and in a two-dimensional punnett square you can see the odds of both are 1/16. (For green eyes, no less than 10 different things have to come together to express the trait). It’s a little more complicated than that, but the odds of getting the combination even for “white” parents is small (unless they are both blonde and blue-eyed or have an immediate relative who is — in the latter case it’s a 50-50).

But a lot of that is sort of secondary. The fact is MJ was a huge phenomenon, and perhaps one of the last of his kind.

I think everyone here ought to take a quick look at http://www.avclub.com — they have a set of Michael Jackson memories from the staff, and these are folks who study pop culture for a living.

One of the interesting things they brought up is how MJ might have single-handedly integrated MTV. The problem was that MTV was getting a whole load of stuff from Britain, which had a music-video tradition of sorts already. MJ realized what the medium could do, and was able to make something that was a lot better than anything any other American artist of any color was producing.

I was an early MTV watcher, when cable wasn’t ubiquitous (for you young folk, there was a time when !gasp! there were only three or four channels for a lot of people ) and the only place to see videos on free to air TV was NBC (Friday Night Videos). And the stuff that Jackson brought to the table was just better. I mean, you have to remember that besides the British stuff, the only videos any artists were making were concert footage, basically. Or stuff that looks pretty bad now. It took a while for American artists to figure it out. But MJ beat everybody to it. And Beat It still looks good.

And “Beat it” was on of the very first songs to hit heavy rotation on the rock circuit by a black artists (excluding Jimi Hendrix, but Jimi was the only one). He paved the way for Run-DMC.

I’m going to say, MJ was some kind of genius. He was really really smart when he wanted to be. If he had gone into the sciences or been a lawyer we’d be looking at a nobel winner or a guy on track to the supreme court.

And let’s not forget that the guy can dance. Even as he got older he could still move effortlessly– it was only in the last few years when he stopped performing that he started to lose it a bit. (Watching the Bashir doc, he seemed to have more trouble, it was sort of sad).

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 11:42 am ¶
deb wrote:

I grew up listening to the J5 and then the Jacksons and I have many early memories of this talented family. For instance, I remember hearing the Osmond’s “One Bad Apple” and thinking it was the J5! They had recently released a song (I think it was “I Want You Back”) and I couldn’t understand how they could’ve released another so soon.

I also remember being in the school yard of P.S. 25 in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn signing “I’ll Be There” and when I got to the part, “just call my name”, saying: “Michael!” Well, he didn’t show up, of course, but a kid can dream.

Goodbye, Mr. Jackson.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶
deb wrote:

I went to see them in Madison Square Garden in 1971. I have all of his old J5 records, including his first solo record, “Got to Be There.”

Wonderful, old school memories, Eva.

Remember when J5 records were pressed on the back of Post cereal boxes? If you cut them out, they actually played!

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 12:24 pm ¶
Daniel wrote:

I think the skin-lightening comment in the body is pretty insensitive. Absolutely everything about Michael is consistent with a vitiligo sufferer: over his career he had outfits that showed less and less skin, consistent with someone trying to hide splotches on their skin. He was able to pull this off with style because he was a fantastic entertainer: I’ve heard the “one glove” famously hid blotches on hand, but who remembers (or cares) about that aspect of his style at the time?

As it progressed further he needed treatment, and hydroquinone cream is one of the more popular choices to even out skin in vitiligo sufferers. They aren’t any creams available to darken your skin, so it is not as if he had a choice.

If Michael was “trying to be white,” he would not have been so close to groups like the New Black Panther Party, which did his personal security detail in the later years of his life. Nor would songs like “They Don’t Care About Us” have been written (and have you seen the prison version of that video? damn!)

As for people who have been discussing this versus the Iran issue, shame on all of you. Can you tell me which is more important, Iran or HIV? Michael Jackson or Poverty? Barack Obama getting elected or drug patents killing people in Africa? Slavery or the Holocaust? The violence in Northern Ireland, or the Crips fighting the Bloods? The idea that you can simply pick one as being more important than the other is absurd and it imposes your own worldview onto others.

The idea that we can simply develop some ordinal ranking of news by “importance” is absolutely absurd. Lots of things are important, and they’re important in different ways. People are correct to criticize the news channels for ignoring important things, but that’s because the news channels are picking their programming based on what sells and what is compatible with their business interests. It’s entertainment, not news, and this is not new and it has nothing to do with MJ. They ignored Kosovo bombing during the Clinton impeachment campaign, but that doesn’t mean that Clinton’s impeachment was not news (it certainly was) but rather they could have covered both, but they got better ratings by only covering one.

Media coverage, especially cable news, in this country is an absolute joke, and blaming who they cover/exploit for being covered/exploited strikes me as blaming the victim. MJ didn’t choose to have this coverage of his death.

There are a lot of stories that are important, and they’re important in different ways. This has nothing to do with the media’s selection process only cares about which are popular, but popular and importance have no relation to each other. Things can be popular and important (death of a popular artist) and popular and totally unimportant (celebrities gaining weight or getting divorced)

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 1:42 pm ¶
deathblossom wrote:

@Restructure

Most of the people with the green icons on my timeline are not Iranian, involved with the conflict, or actually tweeting about Iran at all and weren’t until Michael Jackson died and iranelection fell off the trends. That’s why their comments bothered me. They were being super trendy and elitist about something that they weren’t devoting much time to at all.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 2:25 pm ¶
Olivia wrote:

I’ve already had a cry, but I still can’t quite grasp the fact that he is no longer.
The music will live on forever!

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 2:39 pm ¶
Tracey wrote:

@deb: “Remember when J5 records were pressed on the back of Post cereal boxes? If you cut them out, they actually played!” WTF?!!! That is freakin amazing. When I was growing up we were lucky if we got one of those plastic rings in a cereal box, or a holographic sticker.
I am still in disbelief, talking about MJ is nothing new, but talking about his death is surreal. The first two lines of Man in the Mirror are on constant repeat in my head.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 3:42 pm ¶
Mary wrote:

@ Fiqah:

this shit right here… is UNCONSCIONABLE. This is where I always have drawn the line with Michael Jackson jokes: victim-blaming. Children are often the most vulnerable population in just about any society, subject to the whims of adults whose authority they are obligated to obey: parents, teachers, celebrities, priests, et al. A child’s personal agency in any situation featuring adult interaction tends to be limited.

Thank you.

God help me if I die and the best way people can think to remember me is to shit on children. Especially children who had cancer.

That’s regardless of whether you think MJ was guilty or innocent of the child abuse charges.

Another wrinkle in the race question – I had forgotten about the “kick me, kike me” lyric controversy until someone on another blog referenced it… doing some Googling revealed he was also caught referring to Jews as “leeches.”

Dunno. I mean his songs are so ubiquitously catchy they’re practically embedded in the reptilian part of my brain… but I still can’t really move beyond “iconic career, questionable human being.”

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 5:58 pm ¶
Kimberly wrote:

I remember when MJ first argued that his albums weren’t selling in the US because of racism, and I found it hard to believe. I just wanted to believe that he was someone famous and talented enough to negate the influence of racial prejudice. Maybe it was childhood naivete.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 7:40 pm ¶
Kaonashi wrote:

Well, they certainly are now; a quick check of iTunes shows his CDs and singles in the top slots ALL AROUND THE WORLD. The only country that does not have him at number one is Japan and even there he’s at number 2.

Posted 27 Jun 2009 at 9:06 pm ¶
Westerly wrote:

@Jess:
Some folks here have said it seems like “the media” is looking for a white icon to compare with MJ. I honestly don’t think that’s the case– at least, over a couple of hours last night, the only comparison I caught to others was when someone (on CNN maybe?) said he was bigger than Elvis. Other folks who came into the discussion — it was all about how MJ was bigger.

Hmmm. Lucky you. Maybe that’s because ’some folks’ don’t live where you live, may not be getting the type of coverage you are getting and may be merely conveying what* they* are being subjected to in *their* media coverage. But since *you* have watched a couple of hours of TV… *eyeroll*

Ooo. And CNN said he was “bigger than Elvis?”
To which I say:

a.) Yeah…wow. So what?
b.) To CNN: No shit Sherlock.
c.) Not just ‘bigger’ but better.
d.) You’re actually proving ’some folks’ point. (i.e. that they insist on drawing the comparison in the first place, when there are actually more fitting comparisons to other artists that ‘could’ made.)

For better or worse, a predominantly white media will ALWAYS find a way to haul Elvis into the proceedings – even if it’s to acknowledge that he’s *gasp* bigger than Elvis (because for THEM Elvis is some kind of ultimate benchmark).

I’m not going to pretend that I am blind as to why the comparison occured (the fame, the reclusive life, the tragedy).

I like Elvis’ voice, and he was a beautiful-looking man with his own charisma but let’s get real – musically he was a cultural appropriator who didn’t originate, and thus innovate a goddamn thing, save for his image.

If I’m going to compare Michael Jackson it would be to the greats like Armstrong, Coltrane, Parker, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Stevie, Marvin Gaye, Otis, Sly, Jimi, Bob Marley, Luther Vandross etc. Or Sammy Davis Jr. as a multi-talented performer who could do it all. He’s part of that canon of black brilliance and has added to it.

Of all the people that I could think to compare him to, Elvis isn’t one of them. But that’s kind of the point. In the white-dominated media that I have watched and read I am not surprised to see them to trot out the usual suspects that they revere – Elvis, the Beatles, Sinatra and if they can get away with it, Bing bloody Crosby.

Posted 28 Jun 2009 at 12:27 am ¶
jen* wrote:

I just don’t get that Bing Crosby thing – the only thing I know him for is the song “White Christmas”. How in the #$% could his name be breathed in the same breath as MJ? Thankfully, I haven’t seen any people say that, cuz that seems crazy to me. But I’ve definitely seen a lot of Sinatra, Beatles, and Elvis references. And really – I can’t think of anyone that can really be compared to Michael. He is unparalleled.

Posted 28 Jun 2009 at 9:48 am ¶
c.n. edaw wrote:

Re: comparisons to white music icons–here in KY I notice most of the the white talk show hosts and deejays are QUICK to point out he was the “self proclaimed” King of Pop and of course none of them were ever really fans, either. Whatever.

What’s so freaking funny IMHO is that most likely those people they are comparing Michael Jackson too (if still alive in some cases) would be the first to say that they have NOTHING on Michael Jackson!!

Interviews with most great rock musicians, for example, always give credit to early BLACK r&b and blues musicians for their influence. A majority of these musicians, despite their success, will say they are not on par with any of these forebearers.

I believe Gene Kelly, always said MJ was a better dancer than he ever was and I know Sinatra gave him major props.

It is their FANS (which includes a lot of media folk) who simply don’t get it. Your average (usually white) kid listening to classic rock stations or even Maroon 5 for that matter, has no idea where that sound evolved from and that black people ever had anything to do with it. They are truly clueless.

That’s why I usually have to leave the room whenever music discussions come about. It’s just too depressing.

Posted 28 Jun 2009 at 11:30 pm ¶
Jess wrote:

@Mary — look, I’m sorry if I misread you. I took it as comparing MJ to any white artist is somehow trying to make him seem less great — if that isn’t what you meant, I apologize.

To both you and c.n. edaw, I’d just say that one reason you get a lot of comparison to white artists is because the ones loads of people will remember happen to be white. Not because they were any better, just because of a lot of historical reasons that aren’t going to get changed overnight, and certainly not in the context of first-day coverage.

For instance, (and to give yo an idea) walk around and ask random people to hum a John Coltrane tune. I will bet you both $10 that most folks can’t do it (or can’t identify it) even if they know the name John Coltrane. Now, I like John Coltrane, though I was never that much into it, and I always thought it too bad I didn’t discover his music earlier. But he just doesn’t have the same pop currency as, say, Elvis, Frank Sinatra, or a host of other people who are instantly identifiable. Is that right? Hell no, but when you’re doing the story the first day you can’t spend a bunch of time explaining stuff to non-music historians — or people who just aren’t as hip to stuff as you are. Or with Bob Marley — everybody hears “Could You Be Loved” all the damned time, but if you ask anyone to name another song they can’t.

I mean, I like most of the artists Mary mentioned. But if I say “He’s bigger than Bob Marley” that expression gets me a “huh?” from a lot of people, whereas “Bigger than Elvis” is a much more useful shorthand.

I am not endorsing this, but I am saying that is isn’t like the CNN folks said “OMG! Black man! Must compare him to white guy because we can’t stand back people!”

When more thoughtful documentaries get made, you’ll see more comparisons to black artists I am sure (and we saw a little bit of that in the discussions of Motown and how the Jackson Five reshaped it).

In a similar vein, I’d say it’s too damned bad that many people don’t know (or understand the significance of) Satchel Paige, or don’t appreciate Pumpsie Green. But baseball was segregated and there’s not a whole lot we can do about it now. So when Hank Aaron dies there will be comparisons to Babe Ruth and Mickey Mantle, at least at first. I’d hope that as people digest it they’d draw more on his history, on why Willie Mays and Jackie Robinson are important in that story too. But initially, because Aaron was a power hitter, you’ll see comparisons to the most obvious and famous power hitters. But making that comparison doesn’t mean you think the guy was less great. Quite the contrary.

Posted 29 Jun 2009 at 7:31 am ¶
Mary wrote:

@ Jess: With respect, was that reply addressed to me or to Westerly? I didn’t really go near the Elvis vs. Michael Jackson question in either of my posts.

Posted 29 Jun 2009 at 12:18 pm ¶
c.n. edaw wrote:

@Jess it’s not so much WHAT they are saying in my opinion. It’s the tone and I think intent of what they are saying.
As a person who works in the media, with all due respect, you are probably giving those people too much credit. Some of them most certainly do mean to diminish Micheal Jackson’s relevance. Some of it is personal musical tase and lots of people ( especially in my newsroom) belive M.J. was a pedophile who got off like O.J. and they have no sympathy or objectivity in how they choose to frame coverage of his life.

In any case, it reminds me of how growing up all the black kids would have been into a song or group that had been out for more than a year on black radio. (Anyone else remember when New Kids On The Block wasn’t even played on mainstream pop stations? Just one funny example of too many to list).

Then more than a year later when all the white kids finally got hip to it ,when the song or group “crossed over” as they used to say– no matter how many times you told them “Dude, that CD has been out for more than a year!” They still believed THEY discovered it FIRST!! It was unfathomable that you could have already been on to something they had never heard of until a few weeks ago.

Frankly, that’s about the only good thing about mainstream radio becoming so infiltrated by hip hop and r&b artists.

I no longer have to go pull out CD’s and point to the release date when my white friends swear such and such “just came out”. Now, at least, we are pretty much all on the same page in pop music in that respect.

Posted 29 Jun 2009 at 2:35 pm ¶
golby260 wrote:

My mom had me recording MJ documentaries on TV all weekend (the 20/20 one on ABC; the super-lame one on MJ on MTV (Kobe Bryant? PLEASE!); the much better video music-a-thons on MTV2 and VH1 and VH1 classic), and she was searching for the old MJ documentaries we had taped back in the late ’80s.

We were able to find “Michael Jackson: Around the World,” some collection of tour footage for a special episode of Friday Night Videos (some of you might remember that show?), and — here’re two lovely ones — a documentary called “Motown on Showtime: Michael Jackson: … The Legend Continues”, with lots of LOVELY info on the Jacksons’ rise to fame (hagiographic, for sure, for it was produced by Optimum Productions, but the stock footage is awesome ^^), and MOTOWN 25! WE HAVE IT ON TAPE! ^^

I guess Showtime reran it once back in ‘88, but, yeah, we seem to have the whole thing.

We looked to see if Motown 25 was still available on home video, since our tape has bad sound quality and warbles stuff a lot, but it’s been out-of-print for years, and one ass on Amazon is selling the VHS for $195.

We also have Moonwalker on tape, Off the Wall and Thriller on vinyl, the three Jacksons ’80s albums on vinyl, We Are th World on vinyl, Bad on audio cassette, and Dangerous on CD.

So, yeah, we’re fans. Heh.

Mom still maintains that MJ is innocent, and the plaintiffs in those court cases were just after him for money. I think, until someone comes out with undeniable evidence down the road, we all have to maintain that these are ALLEGATIONS, not facts. Maybe he DID rape, but until we know for sure, I don’t see the harm in not assuming things. It’s not as clear cut as with OJ, unlike what some idiots online would love to pretend.

I think it’s a national travesty that he’s dead. People called him “Wacko Jacko” and mocked him for his weirdness for years (and I joined in on it, so I’m not guiltless), and now, everyone’s all sad (everyone with a smidgen of decency and mercy, that is). How interesting.

About dumb fans of white musicians: my brother has noted that Korn suffers from the same thing: they themselves love rap music, but their fans hate, hate, HATE it.. That really is everything.

Posted 29 Jun 2009 at 3:11 pm ¶
chicagorose wrote:

Typed my reply on the 27th of June a little more than an hour past the stroke of midnight but kept it on ice, measuring the words, knowing there are so many fans who consider it treason to say bad things. Then I wandered the internets wanting to bang my head at the one trillionth mention of “Thriller”, which you just. Have. No. Idea. Age and perspective. Joseph Shahadi wrote, in the “Michael Jackson is Dead” piece on Racialicious, “My classmates and I are exactly the right age to get this news like a punch in the gut. We were the kids that made Michael Jackson a superstar.” Megastar, perhaps. But he (along with his brothers in their heyday) had long been superstars before the bulk of his current fans were even born. [To Jen* who wrote "I just don’t get that Bing Crosby thing - the only thing I know him for is the song “White Christmas”" YouTube Bing Crosby, David Bowie and Little Drummer Boy. My grandparents had a massive jazz collection but they would've looked at you like you were crazy if you suggested they toss out the Bing. Or Dean Martin for that matter. Singing's a stylized artform patterned after many crooners. Sinatra patterned himself after Crosby. You'd be surprised at whom Michael counted among his influences. However the bulk of Bing/Elvis comparisons stem from stats: record sales]

Then I had to realize, that I too was merely the second generation to come into music purchasing power on Michael Jackson’s watch, even though I was alive and listening when he was singing “Ben” as a child star. I feel like he was taken from my longing gaze ages ago, and I suspect, there are many 1st and 2nd gen fans who made their peace as well, long before his actual death.

[Mary wrote:

I’m going to be the lone cranky lady and say that Michael Jackson was dead to me as soon as he admitted to Martin Bashir that he’s slept in the same bed with young boys because “it’s a beautiful thing.”]

Second cranky lady in the house.

Think I did all my mourning well before he passed on. Treasured my Off The Wall album. Coveted every Ebony/Jet issue the Jacksons were featured in. Fell in puppy love with nearly all of the brothers (sorry Tito!). Marveled at Michael’s transcendence. Experienced sadness as my childhood crush took a back seat to the plastic surgery, mass marketing and Boy George-like adoration of mainstream fans (asexual and *parent approved*). Got over my sadness with each new video extravaganza. Was humbled and in awe of his global influence. Then watched with my bowl of popcorn like a kid at a horror flick as Michael’s face and persona morphed into everything it has been up to his untimely exit. Towards the end it was as if Michael decided to tip the scales and unload a lot of dead weight by saying what he did in the Bashir footage. Like a litmus test, a “Now I can be sure who supports me” move. I won’t get caught up in the blind loyalty dynamic of his guilt or innocence. It would be as if I’m defending/safeguarding a personal emotional investment in his legacy. I don’t have to burn my Jackson albums or erase my memories to admit the man had not healthy attitudes regarding children. But I do have to critically think how I’d react if Jackson were a white icon and then I came upon a comment thread on him and read replies of mostly white fans extolling the contributions of that person while knowing there were unresolved testimonies/allegations made by children of color. Regardless of if he’s innocent of sexual misconduct, the line Michael crossed that I can’t get behind was that he needlessly, ironically, with his Peter Pan complex, time after time, put himself in a position for his word to be weighted against that of a child’s. I can still to this day remember what it felt like to have my story measured against that of an adult’s. It was always that unbalanced power dynamic that pissed me off when listening to Michael try to convey his own *child-like* innocence.

Posted 02 Jul 2009 at 4:42 am ¶
Rona wrote:

I wrote a piece about what I felt was the tragedy of Michael’s life (and therefore his death) on my blog. He never lived (except for maybe the first 10 years of his life) outside of the pressure cooker of the entertainment industry. And we all got something out of him being in that spotlight. I don’t think anyone can judge Michael Jackson without copping to how our idolization of celebrities can lead the very people we admire to many levels of insanity.

Posted 02 Jul 2009 at 10:37 pm ¶