Michael Jackson 1958 – 2009.
I should say something shouldn’t I? I am not sure I have the right words. There are very few people in my life right now who were around back in the 90s when I became a Michael Jackson fan. There are only a few in my life right now who even know I ever was…so I don’t expect most people reading this to understand what I am feeling upon hearing about his death.
It is hard to express what MJ meant to me, because people have their own thoughts and opinions about him. But he “came into my life” at a time where his music spoke to me, and he had a huge hand in what I have become. People see his controversies and his plastic surgery, but there was much much more to him than that. He made a lot of mistakes with his life and his own PR but I truly believe he was a genius. It is tragic what he had become. But everyone needs to remember what he was, what he did for music and dance, the doors he opened for black performers, his impact on pop culture. He was an immense talent, and his influence can be seen in every dance move by today’s stars like Usher and Britney Spears, and dance troupes like the Jabbawokies and those other dancing tv shows. Any artist who denies that he was an influence is a liar.
I am more upset than I expected to be when this happened, considering I haven’t paid much attention to him in years. It is a shock, for sure. I joked that I didn’t think his London concerts would ever happen, but I didn’t think it would be because he died. I still thought about flying out there for a show every day, but now I have to be content with having had the chance to see him perform twice in 1997.
Despite whatever MJ had become, he was a great artist, a great man, he was a father, and a brother, and a human being. He didn’t seem to have much peace in life, I hope he does in death.
Anyone who has rude cracks to make about him or his death, please don’t talk to me.