Dammit, now I have to buy some MJ music on iTunes...
All of his hits from the 80s are stuck in my head today...all of them. It's an endless montage of Billie Jean, Thriller, She's Out of My Life...etc. etc. etc. A reminder of how good those songs are/were, how deeply they've embedded themselves in my memory, rising up now and again like great whales, enjoying some time on the surface, getting some fresh air, then diving again into the dark, crushing depths.
(You may get a sense I have a little more free time today at work if I can work some over-the-top metaphors into what would have otherwise been a very brief comment on the death of Michael Jackson. Meh. It's Friday.)
Anyway, my dad always said that MJ was a perfect example of someone that had more money than was good for him. Either by choice or chance, he didn't seem to have anyone around to keep him grounded in reality. ("Michael, you don't really need a llama, do you? And what's with the chimp?") Surrounded by people who did as he directed, either because they just bought into his bullshit or they knew calling him on it would get them fired, there wasn't anyone to keep his eccentricities from spiraling into questionable, possibly illegal behavior. ("Michael, I know you mean well...but if you like kids, just donate to a kids hospital or something. STOP INVITING THEM TO YOUR HOUSE.")
I like to think that if suddenly I had enough money to do pretty much whatever I pleased, I'd manage to hold onto to some modicum of common sense. There's lots of folks out there who might say "we turned MJ into what he became," or "he was a troubled person as a child, and just didn't get the help he needed." Is. Our culture certainly plays its part in feeding the ego and providing the budget for superstars to indulge themselves. Then we self-righteously wag our collective finger when those poor schmucks come crashing back to earth in swirl of flagging record sales, lawsuits and arrests for various peccadilloes.
But I think we too often put aside personal responsibility when looking at people like MJ. He made the music, he made the money, he made the choices. It would have been nice for someone to stand there and slap him upside the head when he first thought about getting a llama, but ultimately, we have to be able to do that for ourselves too.
Laterz, all. Time to check how much "Thriller" is going for on iTunes.
- V -
(You may get a sense I have a little more free time today at work if I can work some over-the-top metaphors into what would have otherwise been a very brief comment on the death of Michael Jackson. Meh. It's Friday.)
Anyway, my dad always said that MJ was a perfect example of someone that had more money than was good for him. Either by choice or chance, he didn't seem to have anyone around to keep him grounded in reality. ("Michael, you don't really need a llama, do you? And what's with the chimp?") Surrounded by people who did as he directed, either because they just bought into his bullshit or they knew calling him on it would get them fired, there wasn't anyone to keep his eccentricities from spiraling into questionable, possibly illegal behavior. ("Michael, I know you mean well...but if you like kids, just donate to a kids hospital or something. STOP INVITING THEM TO YOUR HOUSE.")
I like to think that if suddenly I had enough money to do pretty much whatever I pleased, I'd manage to hold onto to some modicum of common sense. There's lots of folks out there who might say "we turned MJ into what he became," or "he was a troubled person as a child, and just didn't get the help he needed." Is. Our culture certainly plays its part in feeding the ego and providing the budget for superstars to indulge themselves. Then we self-righteously wag our collective finger when those poor schmucks come crashing back to earth in swirl of flagging record sales, lawsuits and arrests for various peccadilloes.
But I think we too often put aside personal responsibility when looking at people like MJ. He made the music, he made the money, he made the choices. It would have been nice for someone to stand there and slap him upside the head when he first thought about getting a llama, but ultimately, we have to be able to do that for ourselves too.
Laterz, all. Time to check how much "Thriller" is going for on iTunes.
- V -