I don’t know how Michael Jackson spent his time off the stage. I’ve had a variety of people in the last 16 hours tell me about his abilities in crafting a pop song, how he was tortured and his legal woes regarding his unhealthy obsession with children. We will continue to be talked to death because Jackson was bigger than life when it comes to celebrity.
He was talented though.
He changed the way videos and music converged in the early days of MTV and I watched him sometimes with wonder of how he actually “made” MTV in many ways. The revolution always starts in the arts and he was an early leader. I grew up with him from his early appearances on variety shows of the early 70s, watched the TV show and was pretty much wowed like everyone else when he went solo. I didn’t buy his albums though because it wasn’t as much my thing as The Police, The B52s and new wave music from the UK during the Thriller years. You couldn’t help but appreciate him though. Eddie Van Halen’s guitar riff in Beat It was brilliant as was the distinctive bass line in Billie Jean. I don’t know if that was as much Jackson or Quincy Jones being pretty damned gifted.
There is no doubt that Jackson went into bizarro world later in his life but in the beginning, there wasn’t anything purer than the way he did things. I’ve always heard that our greatest strength are also our greatest weaknesses. I have no doubt that this is true in Michael Jackson’s case.
On another level, I’ve seen Twitter and Facebook blow up before over some issues when it comes to dying celebrities but yesterday proved that news has indeed changes faster than any of us could have predicted. It was a trial by fire yesterday. News outlets on Twitter reported his death, retracted, we waited for the credibility of someone other than TMZ and ultimately it came while my family played CNN in the background. I think TMZ had it first and news outlets need to watch web sites like it. You may not like them (I personally think they are too busy and a bit predatory) but they have become a force to be reckoned with. We also need to give some of the cable newsers credit for making sure the story was accurate with verification. It was a bizarre dance off between new media and traditional media both working. It was frustrating to watch but I think yesterday was that moment that news ultimately shifted permanently.
I went to my nieces softball game last night and, of course, this what people were talking about. The social event was filled with the discussion of some of us sandwichers who always grew up with Jackson around us. From his music, his celebrity, his bizarre physical changes over the years and ultimately the legal troubles he had, he was always around. There was some talk about his videos, which I think everyone can admit were fantastic.
So Michael Jackson is the celebrity death for this generation that rivals Elvis’ 32 years ago. Except Elvis’ passing was not broadcast on the Internet and back in the day we only had a handful of television channels. We have compared the value of the younger Elvis to the older spandexed-wearing Elvis and I’m sure we will do that to Michael Jackson as well.
With Farrah Fawcett’s passing and that of the King of Pop, I’m feeling all of these four decades, campers. Intangible reminders of our own mortality always rears it’s head when celebrities pass. It’s real, yet we watch from a safe distance and wonder when it will be our turn.
