Sunday, June 28, 2009

Michael Jackson 1958-09


It's been a few of days now since it was announced that Michael Jackson died. Since that morning I had debated with my myself whether I should add to the millions upon millions of blog posts, tweets and messages of all kind. For a few of days now, the lump in my throat just won't go away!

At almost 29 years of age, I have been fortunate enough not to have experienced what it's like to lose a loved one. This may sound odd given the fact that I didn't know the man but I feel like I'm grieving! He's been a person that has been around since I can remember. He's been someone I admired as a child and felt sorry for as an adult.

It's strange even now to think of a world without Michael Jackson. Some how it doesn't seem quite real. It always felt like he was someone not quite of this world and could life forever. We know it happens to all of us. Death, the inevitable outcome of life and I would've seen this great man die of old age in 20 or so years. It just feels odd to think of a world without a Michael Jackson in it now. He was taken from us much too soon and so suddenly, before he had one last chance to show us what a great performer he was.

Here I am now listening to his last truly great album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1 and watching tribute shows celebrating his musical genius with a tear in my eye. There will never be a Book 2.

I have looked through the little book that came with the multi-disc album and it's somehow prophetic that it feels very much like a commemorative booklet, as though his career, if not he himself, was already dead.

It's hard to disagree – I've always been a fan of his and continued to buy his records including his last album Invincible. However, it really did feel like a man chasing his past glory. Be it his music or his signature dancing, it all felt so “dated”. I'd like to think that his up coming tour would've either been his last and he'd retire from the music industry on a high or that he was somehow going to re-invent himself and continue to be an inspiration for people the world over. And now, we'll never know...

I'll leave you with his last great music video, Ghosts from '97.

My thoughts are with his children and family.

May Your Soul Rest in Peace.

You will be missed.

God Bless.

1 comment:

Andrew said...

I've never been a huge fan of MJ's music, but I can respect the mark that he left on multiple generations of fans.

My biggest memory of the man was the enormous wave up hype in the lead up to the release of his "Black and White" video. My entire family actually tuned into Much Music (Canadian version of MTV) to watch the world premier of the video.