So Michael Jackson has been dead almost 3 weeks now, and it's still a top headline. I know this should be deeply disturbing to me. Why are all the networks covering this crazy (and now dead) guy when soldiers are dying in Afghanistan and Kim Jong Il has cancer and Obama just went to Africa and Bernie Madoff is off to the slammer and the Episcopal Church is finally taking a stand on the "gay issue"? (AMEN to this last development- it's about time!). Can't they just drop it until there's some real development, like when the toxicology results come back, or they finally bury him somewhere permanent, or the judge awards custody of his kids to someone?
But here's the thing: nobody in the media is ready to let this go, because nobody wants to get scooped on the latest twist in MJ's long and twisted and media-profitable story. Even I am not ready to let it go. I am not a tabloid-follower most of the time, but I've been looking incessantly at internet coverage and even print tabloids for any new tidbits.
Like people all over the world, I've always been fascinated by MJ. I've never actually bought any of his albums, and I wouldn't call myself a fan exactly, but I was always impressed by his talent and creativity (and awesome music videos). For any of us who are part of the first generation of kids to grow up watching MTV, he is unforgettable. Even as his looks got weirder and his personal life got even weirder than his looks, there was this intrigue, and so many contradictions and questions. What goes through the mind of a guy who lives in a child's fantasyland estate surrounded by zoo animals, Hollywood memorabilia, and carnival rides? He blazed a trail for black pop musicians even as he paled to white. He went from a good-looking black man to a Jheri-curled mannequin to a pale, androgynous, almost mime-like distortion who seemed to be raceless and sexless. On one hand he wanted fame and attention, and on the other hand he wanted everyone to leave him alone. Was he a total sicko with many loose screws, or a damaged adult who had sustained a lifetime of mental and physical pain and made a lot of truly unfortunate (and very public) choices? Would he have been as famous if he'd lived a more circumspect personal life?
Regardless of whatever MJ did or didn't do with other people's kids at Neverland, and whether or not he was a druggie, and the bizarre and cringeworthy parenting choices revealed in the 2003 Martin Bashir documentary, his own kids clearly did love him. I hope and pray those three children have a good support system, and that eventually they'll be able to live quieter lives out of the spotlight. Now that their faces are no longer under wraps, I'm not sure the world will be able to leave them alone until the issue of custody is settled and, perhaps, their biological origins are made known. It's nobody's business, I know, and probably cruel to speculate about, but people will always wonder (look at Anna Nicole Smith's daughter - once they determined who her daddy was, the attention stopped). I truly hate to think of the Jackson kids becoming paparazzi bait through no fault of their own, and hope the family is set to protect them.
MJ's music has been with me since "Off the Wall" and as he progressed through the 80s and 90s, I liked some of it, hated some of it, but always found the videos impressive, and enjoyed his collaborations with other artists. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I've been able to revisit a lot of them, none of which I've seen in the past decade. They've aged well; the genius of music, choreography, and videography is evident. There are definitely disturbing ones ("You Are Not Alone" anyone?), but I enjoyed the others.
My hands-down favorite revisit: "We Are The World". Not all his, no, but he was a core figure in the project, and though he was already into the mannequin phase, he looked so young and handsome. I also enjoyed getting some perspective on how this was accomplished. I liked the song back when it came out, but it flat-out amazes me now - all that vocal talent in one room, and nearly all of them artists I loved. Not only did they get this unbelievable array of singers, all top names and most at a high point in their careers, but they pulled this off in ONE NIGHT. And they worked all night to do it. When you look at the final video, you can tell many of them were pretty fried by the final take of their solos (Paul Simon, Tina Turner, and Billy Joel in particular look close to a collapse).
And the styles...my God, the hair! The HAIR! Daryl Hall's amazing mullet on steroids. Lindsey Buckingham's 'fro. Diana Ross' floating cloud of hair. Billy Joel with hair. I look forward to telling my kids someday that these styles didn't look all that weird to us (with our own perms, mullets, feathers, and vertical bangs) at the time. Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner excepted. Tina's hair always looked like it was cemented in place. Cyndi's hair scared me then way more than it scares me now (the "Time After Time" video gave me more than a few bad dreams in sixth grade). Cyndi and Boy George would have made quite a pair. And Annie Lennox too. Yikes.
But getting back to MJ. Whatever further revelations emerge about him posthumously, he'll always be an icon of many things: music, dance, pop culture, the downside of success, and the pitfalls of cosmetic surgery. I hope whatever parts of him were tormented are at peace now, and that anyone victimized by him is at peace as well.
And, well, I need to go check TMZ again. MJ is hopefully resting in peace, but I've got to hear the latest La Toya-generated conspiracy theory....
But here's the thing: nobody in the media is ready to let this go, because nobody wants to get scooped on the latest twist in MJ's long and twisted and media-profitable story. Even I am not ready to let it go. I am not a tabloid-follower most of the time, but I've been looking incessantly at internet coverage and even print tabloids for any new tidbits.
Like people all over the world, I've always been fascinated by MJ. I've never actually bought any of his albums, and I wouldn't call myself a fan exactly, but I was always impressed by his talent and creativity (and awesome music videos). For any of us who are part of the first generation of kids to grow up watching MTV, he is unforgettable. Even as his looks got weirder and his personal life got even weirder than his looks, there was this intrigue, and so many contradictions and questions. What goes through the mind of a guy who lives in a child's fantasyland estate surrounded by zoo animals, Hollywood memorabilia, and carnival rides? He blazed a trail for black pop musicians even as he paled to white. He went from a good-looking black man to a Jheri-curled mannequin to a pale, androgynous, almost mime-like distortion who seemed to be raceless and sexless. On one hand he wanted fame and attention, and on the other hand he wanted everyone to leave him alone. Was he a total sicko with many loose screws, or a damaged adult who had sustained a lifetime of mental and physical pain and made a lot of truly unfortunate (and very public) choices? Would he have been as famous if he'd lived a more circumspect personal life?
Regardless of whatever MJ did or didn't do with other people's kids at Neverland, and whether or not he was a druggie, and the bizarre and cringeworthy parenting choices revealed in the 2003 Martin Bashir documentary, his own kids clearly did love him. I hope and pray those three children have a good support system, and that eventually they'll be able to live quieter lives out of the spotlight. Now that their faces are no longer under wraps, I'm not sure the world will be able to leave them alone until the issue of custody is settled and, perhaps, their biological origins are made known. It's nobody's business, I know, and probably cruel to speculate about, but people will always wonder (look at Anna Nicole Smith's daughter - once they determined who her daddy was, the attention stopped). I truly hate to think of the Jackson kids becoming paparazzi bait through no fault of their own, and hope the family is set to protect them.
MJ's music has been with me since "Off the Wall" and as he progressed through the 80s and 90s, I liked some of it, hated some of it, but always found the videos impressive, and enjoyed his collaborations with other artists. Thanks to the magic of YouTube, I've been able to revisit a lot of them, none of which I've seen in the past decade. They've aged well; the genius of music, choreography, and videography is evident. There are definitely disturbing ones ("You Are Not Alone" anyone?), but I enjoyed the others.
My hands-down favorite revisit: "We Are The World". Not all his, no, but he was a core figure in the project, and though he was already into the mannequin phase, he looked so young and handsome. I also enjoyed getting some perspective on how this was accomplished. I liked the song back when it came out, but it flat-out amazes me now - all that vocal talent in one room, and nearly all of them artists I loved. Not only did they get this unbelievable array of singers, all top names and most at a high point in their careers, but they pulled this off in ONE NIGHT. And they worked all night to do it. When you look at the final video, you can tell many of them were pretty fried by the final take of their solos (Paul Simon, Tina Turner, and Billy Joel in particular look close to a collapse).
And the styles...my God, the hair! The HAIR! Daryl Hall's amazing mullet on steroids. Lindsey Buckingham's 'fro. Diana Ross' floating cloud of hair. Billy Joel with hair. I look forward to telling my kids someday that these styles didn't look all that weird to us (with our own perms, mullets, feathers, and vertical bangs) at the time. Cyndi Lauper and Tina Turner excepted. Tina's hair always looked like it was cemented in place. Cyndi's hair scared me then way more than it scares me now (the "Time After Time" video gave me more than a few bad dreams in sixth grade). Cyndi and Boy George would have made quite a pair. And Annie Lennox too. Yikes.
But getting back to MJ. Whatever further revelations emerge about him posthumously, he'll always be an icon of many things: music, dance, pop culture, the downside of success, and the pitfalls of cosmetic surgery. I hope whatever parts of him were tormented are at peace now, and that anyone victimized by him is at peace as well.
And, well, I need to go check TMZ again. MJ is hopefully resting in peace, but I've got to hear the latest La Toya-generated conspiracy theory....
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