Remember when I asked "what the hell is going on?" Well, if the last 24 hours didn't prove that something in the universe is out of whack, nothing will. Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson died within about 24 hours. WTF? Ed and Farrah were ill and their passings were not entirely unexpected. But Michael Jackson?
I am very sad. Michael Jackson's music was a huge part of my life growing up, and he set the bar impossibly high for pop music entertainers. Perhaps that is why I do not really embrace current popular music. No one can hold a candle to people like Michael Jackson and Prince, who are truly musical geniuses. Even Madonna, who is a superstar and brilliant businesswoman, does not have that quality that set Michael Jackson apart from everyone else.
Everything Michael Jackson did was groundbreaking: the music, the choreography, the videos, the costumes, the staging - everything. Jackson's videos were films, with directors such as John Landis, and special effects that rivaled Hollywood blockbusters. A Michael Jackson video included people like Eddie Murphy, Iman, John Travolta, Magic Johnson, Steven Speilberg - it goes on and on.
It's almost too late for anyone else to have the kind of impact on the music industry that Michael Jackson had. He broke all the barriers, including racial barriers, and set the standard for entertainment. He advanced the art form more than anyone else of his generation. I fear we are too jaded to see an entertainer in the same light again.
His strangeness was part of the genius. We talk in my philosophy classes about this - the level of genius that gives a handful of human beings incredible gifts, but makes it nearly impossible for them to tolerate a "normal" existence, or to live in the world as a "normal" person. I hope he has found peace, and that his children are allowed to grieve privately and live a good life.
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It was a strange week, indeed, K. As you're well aware, MJ was big in my world, too. Not so much in these later years, but OMG...I had posters of him (when he was black) all over my bedroom on 57th St! I bought flight pants, had the jacket, had pom routines to his stuff.
ReplyDeleteMTV had 24 hours of MJ videos on the next day. I almost forgot just how GOOD of a dancer he was, and how passioned he was in his performances. It is indeed, a tragidy.