A Text from a dear friend of mine who knows that I am a devoted Michael Jackson fan for years. I brushed it off thinking it's a rumor or he'll make it though. He injured his back years before, suffered burns on his scalp before that, he can make this. I continued to eat my burger with my son at the now defunct ESPN ZONE restaurant.
Paid for my bill. Stepped outside with son in hand.
"he's dead, Damian"
I think that text will haunt me forever. No way. No way did MJ die. Not now? I thought he would go out like Sammy Davis Jr. or his hero Gene Kelly-old but still dancing. I called my friend to confirm and I could hear the sobbing from her voice. I was speechless, shocked, in pain as if I lost my own brother. My son looked up at me and said, "don't cry. He's in a better place".
Ok that even screwed me up.
Tomorrow, August 29, two things: MJ BIRTHDAY and the 25th Anniversary of BAD album. My first intro to the greatest entertainer alive was 1979. My older sister bought the new release album of OFF THE WALL and she blasted the tunes and sounds of his wonderful voice through out the house, of course Mom and Dad were at work. We didn't have music video or cable TV back then but I loved the man's voice wooing during the song of "Don't stop till you get enough". My favorite was "TURN THIS DISCO OUT" at the time. Along comes the album TRIUMPH, The Jackson's best album besides DESTINY, with the thunderous song "CAN YOU FEEL IT" attached with a wicked short film that almost looks 3D (hint hint this needs to be on blu ray), with the marvelous performance on MOTOWN 25, you had to be a fool NOT to like him.
He was talented
Smart
Very good looking
Rich
Trend setter
And best of all
BLACK.
A brother that everyone, the whole world, loved.
Not even ELVIS had dealers from the hood listening to him, more less prisoners in jail.
Then he vanished after 1984. Where the hell was he, I thought. Where's the moonwalk? The glove???
Arrives another Jackson, JANET who came out with "CONTROL" and ruled the mid 80s.
Fine. But as years went by and I became older, I couldn't be any happier when the announcement came that MJ was back with his THRILLER follow up on August 29, 1988. A video was to be released publicly on national TV along with the album. I remember that summer day play the game of "TAPS" with my friends until it was 7:30pm, time to go upstairs. The video would air at 8pm.
Its on. The first shot is a tight close up on MJ. It's in black and white. And we all said in my house...
WHAT THE HELL DID HE DO TO HIS FACE? Why does he look lighter? Almost like Diana Ross. His Hair is THAT long? What's with the belt buckle thing? Wait, MJ is HARD core? He's a thug? A former thug?
.........BWWAHHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
What the hell
The world thought
BAD was bashed. It wasn't a critical success. People wanted another THRILLER where every song was a hit and it wasn't.
That didn't stop people from making it NUMBER ONE. It didn't stop him from making one of the best videos from the album SMOOTH CRIMINAL more less make that film MOONWALKER, a film that makes no sense but who cares, it's still a hit. It damn sure didn't stop him for doing his first world tour smashing records (remember he never had a tour for THRILLER). Yes MJ changed. A first that would be a line of changes to come sadly. MJ was gone to reinvent and to master his craft. He would create new dances, new routines, each video had to be bigger and better than the last. THIS WAS THE DEFINITION OF A GENIUS.
And the beginning of cruel ridicule till the day of his death. No one left him alone. It was so bad that the man has to make a song out of it called LEAVE ME ALONE.
WE could sit around and joke till the cows come home about how "white" this man was and how weird he acted only because he didn't follow the norm. He was viewed crazy because he had his own fashion style. We could ying yang all day and night but imagine walking in his shoes. Just think about that.
MJ WAS BAD. A BAD MUTHA%#>^*
Though I freaked out when I saw the BAD video, I still had love for him. I loved him through the DANGEROUS period where he was accused the first time causing his sales to drop. I loved him when he went through that vendetta that eventually killed him (another blog for another time).
The day of June 25, the music died but his anointing through music lives on.
Happy Birthday Michael Joe Jackson
You are BAD
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