Rest In Peace, Mr Jackson
He was my idol when I was five years old. I admired him so much that I kicked my brother in the face and broke his nose when he dared call Michael a 'fag'. Five-year-old me was a badass, dontchaknow? :)
Anyways... I can't say I was a fan in the last decade or so. My childlike trust in him was rocked by the allegations and I never fully recovered from it. But as a child who loved to sing and dance and entertain, Madonna and Michael Jackson shaped the performer I was to become.
As a child, every Friday night I would ride my little pink bike up to the pizzeria on the corner (Lord St Pizzeria in Cooks Hill, for those playing along at home) and while I waited for "Uncle" Frank to make my pizza, I played the Moonwalker arcade game. I spent days, no weeks, trying to get the Smooth Criminal dance routine down pat. I hid the Thriller video my father rented from the video store for me, so that I wouldn't have to give it back. My cousin and I were glued to the stereo when HIStory was released. His music has marked so many moments in all of our lives.
All the great things have already been said so I won't bother trying to put them into my own words. He changed the way we see and hear music. Not just pop music, but all music. I grieve for my own childhood that MJ's music was the soundtrack to, I grieve for HIS children, that they have lost their father and I grieve for all those amazingly devoted fans that are devastated right now.
He wasn't a God, he was a man with flaws and problems and too many issues to name. It doesn't absolve him of anything, but I thank him for the music he gave us and the way he changed the face of music, videos and dance.
So I've had my chuckle, I've listened to some Eminem ("...I done touched on everything but little boys // That's not a stab at Michael // That's just a metaphor, I'm just psycho") and now it's time to relive his music, "Man In The Mirror", "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" "The Way You Make Me Feel".... Each song was a carefully constructed piece of musical mastery.
And who knows? Maybe I'll bust out the fedora and dust off those Smooth Criminal moves, one last time.
Rest in peace, Mr Jackson. Thanks for the music.
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PS: I'm in Melbourne from tonight, to Monday morning. Call my cell if you need me, or drop me an email. I'm also on Twitter. :)
PPS: I picked up my iPhone 3GS this morning. Yay!
Anyways... I can't say I was a fan in the last decade or so. My childlike trust in him was rocked by the allegations and I never fully recovered from it. But as a child who loved to sing and dance and entertain, Madonna and Michael Jackson shaped the performer I was to become.
As a child, every Friday night I would ride my little pink bike up to the pizzeria on the corner (Lord St Pizzeria in Cooks Hill, for those playing along at home) and while I waited for "Uncle" Frank to make my pizza, I played the Moonwalker arcade game. I spent days, no weeks, trying to get the Smooth Criminal dance routine down pat. I hid the Thriller video my father rented from the video store for me, so that I wouldn't have to give it back. My cousin and I were glued to the stereo when HIStory was released. His music has marked so many moments in all of our lives.
All the great things have already been said so I won't bother trying to put them into my own words. He changed the way we see and hear music. Not just pop music, but all music. I grieve for my own childhood that MJ's music was the soundtrack to, I grieve for HIS children, that they have lost their father and I grieve for all those amazingly devoted fans that are devastated right now.
He wasn't a God, he was a man with flaws and problems and too many issues to name. It doesn't absolve him of anything, but I thank him for the music he gave us and the way he changed the face of music, videos and dance.
So I've had my chuckle, I've listened to some Eminem ("...I done touched on everything but little boys // That's not a stab at Michael // That's just a metaphor, I'm just psycho") and now it's time to relive his music, "Man In The Mirror", "Dirty Diana", "Smooth Criminal" "The Way You Make Me Feel".... Each song was a carefully constructed piece of musical mastery.
And who knows? Maybe I'll bust out the fedora and dust off those Smooth Criminal moves, one last time.
Rest in peace, Mr Jackson. Thanks for the music.
---------------------------------------------
PS: I'm in Melbourne from tonight, to Monday morning. Call my cell if you need me, or drop me an email. I'm also on Twitter. :)
PPS: I picked up my iPhone 3GS this morning. Yay!