*jaw drops*
Farrah's death was expected. Michael Jackson's was not.
I was a huge Michael Jackson fan during the Thriller album's height of popularity. I was in 8th grade/a freshman. My li'l bro and I loved the video, and watched it every night when it aired promptly at the same time every night on MTV (sponsored in part by Miller Beer, which had some hilarious commercials). I wore out a copy of the album on cassette. I had the book of the piano arrangements. I read the unauthorized biographies (most of which I'd be hard pressed to remember today). I was fascinated by his dancing (of course), and before he started in on all the extreme surgeries, I found him to be quite attractive. (He was such a cute little kid during the Jackson 5 era.) And at one point, I received as a gift (Christmas? birthday?) one of the collectable dolls. I think it might still be in my mom and dad's attic. He's wearing his Billie Jean costume, iirc.
"Beat It," "Billie Jean," and of course "Thriller" are probably my faves off that album, and I'm extremely familiar with the choreography therein.
I also really enjoyed the follow-up album, Bad, and the video to "Smooth Criminal" was excellent. Very cool.
I started losing interest after the Bad album, which is just about the time he started doing things like buying the Elephant Man's bones and all his extreme surgeries. I'd lost track of him by the time the pedophilia scandals broke. I watch the news footage now, and it's not even the same person I remember enthusing about back in high school.
Two icons from my formative and coming-of-age years have died today. I'm . . . not sure what to do with that.
I was a huge Michael Jackson fan during the Thriller album's height of popularity. I was in 8th grade/a freshman. My li'l bro and I loved the video, and watched it every night when it aired promptly at the same time every night on MTV (sponsored in part by Miller Beer, which had some hilarious commercials). I wore out a copy of the album on cassette. I had the book of the piano arrangements. I read the unauthorized biographies (most of which I'd be hard pressed to remember today). I was fascinated by his dancing (of course), and before he started in on all the extreme surgeries, I found him to be quite attractive. (He was such a cute little kid during the Jackson 5 era.) And at one point, I received as a gift (Christmas? birthday?) one of the collectable dolls. I think it might still be in my mom and dad's attic. He's wearing his Billie Jean costume, iirc.
"Beat It," "Billie Jean," and of course "Thriller" are probably my faves off that album, and I'm extremely familiar with the choreography therein.
I also really enjoyed the follow-up album, Bad, and the video to "Smooth Criminal" was excellent. Very cool.
I started losing interest after the Bad album, which is just about the time he started doing things like buying the Elephant Man's bones and all his extreme surgeries. I'd lost track of him by the time the pedophilia scandals broke. I watch the news footage now, and it's not even the same person I remember enthusing about back in high school.
Two icons from my formative and coming-of-age years have died today. I'm . . . not sure what to do with that.