I wanted to do this last night but thunderstorms were hitting my area badly, we also had a power faillure so that made it impossible.
I know many people on my LJ are talking about him... maybe a lot of people are fed up with hearing about it. But the King of Pop marked us as much as the King of Rock and the King of Soul did other generations.
The difference with Micheal, I think, is that even though all the contraversies, you could always see the child in him. was it part of his charm? had it become something that he was holding on to sheild him from the world? We'll never know. Also if you see his fans, they come from every walks of life, every nationality all over the world. If you say the name Michael Jackson to someone they know exactly who you are talking about. You either love or hate him, but no one goes oh him shrugs and move on.
I first learned of Micheal with a song called: ABC from the Jackson Five on a Cartoon show I looked on as a child. I was 5 at the time and already fluent in English due in part to Television and cable that brought us the American channels ABC, NBC and CBS.
Then Micheal dropped out of sight... It wasn't until I was a young teenager that I heard about him again with a song called "Don't stop till you get enough" which I didn't like cause I found too repetitive. As if also his voice hadn't paced yet.
The came "Thriller" OMG and the start of the MTV like show Musique Plus in Quebec. I remember staying up late on a school day, just to see the debut of the infamous "Thriller" video. It was the longest and the first video to actually have a story in it (I think) not just just singers and band playing. Micheal had something there, something that got reproduced in all of the eighties. I had his album Thriller... in VINYL... I still have it, probably all worn from listening to it.
when Billie Jean would start, people would dance and try to do the Moonwalk, wearing one glove was fashionable. (although I was more of a jean wearing Cindy Loper...) Then we learned he had plastic surgery, we didn;t see it as a problem.
Beat it, Bad, another sucess for Micheal. then more plastic surgery... and he removed himself a bit from the world.
Then he came back... his fans still loved him even if sometimes we didn;t all undertsand him too much. Then came the alegations of sexual misconduct... To this day, I don;t know what to think of this. Because I always felt he loved children because he loved their innocence and their way of being. Why would he destroy that?
Then with Janet he did a video that resumed a lot of inner thought I think Micheal had about the media and people who judge too fast. Also to quelch the rumors that he and his sister Janet the same person. (Click on the link because not hotlinking is allowed.)He also saw the influence Anime would have soon.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vNl2Pm9-7VkBut I think the video that really showed Micheal view on the world are the following 2 videos, they are his legacy and how I see him. A man who saw Children as the future, a future of peace. also a man who wanted us to see that we had so little difference with the other people around us. Lecons we should learn.
Heal the World
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W61Q-EZ8R7MBlack or White (I also think it was a Tribut to Twister Sisters: We ain't gonna take it at the beginning)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZI9OYMRwN1QRest in Peace Michael... You know have the peace you always wanted. Let's hope we can achieve what you talked about in your videos.
We'll miss you