Processing the loss of Michael Jackson

Quite frankly I am a little surprised by the outpouring of emotion that has been the last 15 or so hours.

Sure, the music of Michael Jackson spans generations and so many people have been touched by his 'gift' from early childhood through many great solo albums and performances well into adulthood. But let's be realistic on the 'musical front', Jackson has not produced a 'relevant' album let alone a single in at least a decade if not closer to two. For me, 'Remember the Time' might be the last thing I recall of Jackson, at least musically that is.

Sticking to his 'pop' legacy, he was truly groundbreaking AND in the right place at the right time. I was talking to a friend last night, who was not yet alive yet when Jackson released Thriller (yikes I think was the quote)! The album and what Jackson did with it visually truly changed the way we think and WATCH music today. I remember rushing home, in my Freshman year in High School, with a group of friends so we could be in front of the TV set for the World Premiere of the Thriller Movie. If I am correct, it ran close to 15 minutes and MTV played it at least 3 times in a row. We sat there mesmerized. Music Television had been out for a couple of years now but Thriller changed it all. There are so many tremendous songs in the Jackson library and it would do me disservice to start naming favorites but there are ones that I can still listen to today and even put them into context of things I can relate to now.

So, I just spent a paragraph and a half glorifying the musical genius of Michael Jackson. You would think I was mourning in the streets or at least on my Facebook status but I am not. But before I get into that, I'd like to explore a thought I had in the middle of the night...

Jackson was Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton, Britney Spears and even Miley Cyrus well before we even thought of things like that. Jackson and his family grew up in an age without mass media coverage, no cameras in the face, no TMZ snapping shots of them coming out of seedy hotel rooms. Let's be honest, we've seen enough evidence to realize the Jackson kids did not grow up in an ideal household and given the stereotypes of the early 70's lets just assume there was a little bit of recreational drug use and promiscuity around them...Can you inagine the FIELD DAY that all the tabloids and daily trash TV shows would be having if they were around then? Is the transformation that Michael has gone through any less horrific than Lohan? Ummm, she's got drug problems, apparently steals shit and who knows how many sexual partners but is she a pedophile? Have we seen her dangling babies from windows, etc...

So that leads me to my final thought. How can we GLORIFY a man, as gifted as he was, for only one side of his life? If OJ dies tomorrow there will be no candle lighting vigils on the campus of USC or in Buffalo where he is lauded for his football talents. At the end of the day, Jackson was a recluse and a creep at a minimum and a pedophile/child rapist at the worst who preyed on innocent and often sick children for his own satisfaction. Forget the mutilation he did to his own body in modifications and changes, he was NOT a good guy.

Certainly it's a tragic tale and one that the entertainment world and we as consumers should pay attention to. We, as a society, LOVE child stars. We go nuts for them, have pageants and contests to discover them and for what? Our own glory and riches?

To their parents, the Jacksons' were a way out, a means to an end. Look up and down the line of those kids and who amongst them have become well adjusted adults?

There has to be a place for children in 'show business' there always has, but at some point someone must educate the parents and make sure they keep their kids best interest at heart. Ok, I took a strange tangent there, but its related right?

To sum it up - I hope that you find peace Michael. I have and always will enjoy your musical gifts. I will explain to my children, as they have already asked why I think the person on the Thriller video is the same person in the Bad video, that sometimes people change and that pressure can be a very difficult thing to deal with, and also never to talk to strangers no matter how appealing that offer may be...