I am not, white, anti-reggae, rich nor any of the other criteria people place on pop lovers, but I gotta have my 'Pop'. I was and am a huge fan of Michael Jackson, note that I did not use the word fanatic.
He is a wonderful musician, his voice is extraordinary, his words are extraordinary and his moves were a phenomenon in themselves, in that each one deserved there own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Regardless of the genres that came after, the artists, the trauma that came with having a public personal life (as all the big stars do), his music is a lifetime unto itself.
On hearing of his death I was surprised, I mean , I didn't even know he was that old. I was by no means counting the years.In my youth he was such a strong figure, it was easy to think he had just come on the scene as an artist. For all I knew he could be thirty. He certainly moved like an agile youngster. I , like many other persons who grew up in the 90's, absolutely fell in love with 'Speechless' (early 21st century and the time most of us were falling in love), it was soulful, well written and magnificently sung.
He deserves all the accolades that are attributed to him in his death, 'King of Pop', 'Icon',' person'. It seems like only his death could have prompted news anchors and journalists to finally look at him as he was, a person. Not just someone to seek trash on, not just someone to find guilty outside of the courts, not someone to compare to a chimpanzee (in case you saw those emails). We are all persons caught up with our own demons, from realizing that we cant save the world to realizing that we cannot save ourselves in all instances. We are born, we live and we die. Some of us, like MJ, spend almost all this time in front of the scorching white lights - or a sneaky, hidden paparazzi, flash-turned-off one.
He lived, he died. Let us just appreciate the legacy, listen to his music some more, mix in some Britney, maybe some Justin and hold our breaths to the impossibility that someone will come along as great as him.
He was the greatest (and since I wont live forever), that's my Truth.