So tonight gotta leave that nine to five up on the shelf
Michael Jackson has died, and it's going to be amazing.
I mean, right now MTV is playing actual videos - music videos! The channel guide says "The Real World: Cancun" is supposed to be on right now - but instead they are playing music videos, and some of it actually pretty damn good music (because they are all Michael Jackson videos). That is some serious power right there.
Of course, it is interspersed with commercials and a repeating announcement of his death by a black dude with what I assume are dreadlocks beneath his knit cap and do-rag that tells us how we are to think and feel about this event. "Michael Jackson the King of Pop has died. . . He truly was the King of Pop. He defined the era in which MTV came of age and his music was the soundtrack to a generation. More recently, his musical legacy has been overshadowed by his eccentric nature and legal troubles, but his impact on music and pop culture was so big it could never be forgotten, and as an artist he will truly be missed."
And I keep thinking that it was because of MJ that MTV started showing videos by black people to begin with. . . I guess that is coming of age. . . Heh.
It's going to be fantastic if Facebook is anything to go by. The expressions of devastation, the nostalgia, the personal reminisce associated with this song or that. I don't Twitter, but imagine it must be all. . uh, atwitter? (Oh! I get it now. . .) The people making crass jokes, the people taking it way too seriously and being offended by said jokes. . . it is like all the days following a "cultural moment" (for me they are like Reagan being shot, the Challenger explosion, 9/11, Obama being elected) compressed into a couple of hours.
I keep thinking about when Elvis died. The headline, "Elvis Dies at 40." He was 40! Elvis always seemed so old to me - but then again, I was six when Elvis died, but there was enough media craziness that it is a kind of touchstone. I remember arguing with my friend Anthony. He kept calling Elvis "the King" and I kept saying "We live in a democracy! He can't be King!" I was weird kid, what can I say? I didn't get it.
But now? Now we have 24 hour news channels and at least an hour of "entertainment news" shows on each of the major networks, not to mention MTV and BET and E! and whatever else.
It is really pretty amazing, actually.
I feel very aware of a great big mix of exploitative, hagiographic, crass, emotionally manipulative tactless inundating infotainment that is about to come crashing down on us.
Just wait til they get a camera in front of LaToya! Look out!
For the record, "Off the Wall" has always been my jam.
I mean, right now MTV is playing actual videos - music videos! The channel guide says "The Real World: Cancun" is supposed to be on right now - but instead they are playing music videos, and some of it actually pretty damn good music (because they are all Michael Jackson videos). That is some serious power right there.
Of course, it is interspersed with commercials and a repeating announcement of his death by a black dude with what I assume are dreadlocks beneath his knit cap and do-rag that tells us how we are to think and feel about this event. "Michael Jackson the King of Pop has died. . . He truly was the King of Pop. He defined the era in which MTV came of age and his music was the soundtrack to a generation. More recently, his musical legacy has been overshadowed by his eccentric nature and legal troubles, but his impact on music and pop culture was so big it could never be forgotten, and as an artist he will truly be missed."
And I keep thinking that it was because of MJ that MTV started showing videos by black people to begin with. . . I guess that is coming of age. . . Heh.
It's going to be fantastic if Facebook is anything to go by. The expressions of devastation, the nostalgia, the personal reminisce associated with this song or that. I don't Twitter, but imagine it must be all. . uh, atwitter? (Oh! I get it now. . .) The people making crass jokes, the people taking it way too seriously and being offended by said jokes. . . it is like all the days following a "cultural moment" (for me they are like Reagan being shot, the Challenger explosion, 9/11, Obama being elected) compressed into a couple of hours.
I keep thinking about when Elvis died. The headline, "Elvis Dies at 40." He was 40! Elvis always seemed so old to me - but then again, I was six when Elvis died, but there was enough media craziness that it is a kind of touchstone. I remember arguing with my friend Anthony. He kept calling Elvis "the King" and I kept saying "We live in a democracy! He can't be King!" I was weird kid, what can I say? I didn't get it.
But now? Now we have 24 hour news channels and at least an hour of "entertainment news" shows on each of the major networks, not to mention MTV and BET and E! and whatever else.
It is really pretty amazing, actually.
I feel very aware of a great big mix of exploitative, hagiographic, crass, emotionally manipulative tactless inundating infotainment that is about to come crashing down on us.
Just wait til they get a camera in front of LaToya! Look out!
For the record, "Off the Wall" has always been my jam.