The Last Goodbye : Michael Joseph Jackson
Haihs.
Last night, Michael Jackson was finally put to rest. The world mourns the loss of arguably the world’s iconic, celebrated, controversial and most definitely, unforgettable artist.
I didn’t want to write about this the moment after his passing. There were far too many posts and articles, hundreds of thousands floated, possibly. Information overload! All I did was send out some tweets and that was it.
So this will be my first and last post on the passing of MJ.
For all you people that have the least appreciation for his work, who never was his fan, who cannot forgive his alleged child molestation cases for personal reasons, save yourself the agony, turn away and don’t read this.
For everyone else, it’s good to be with y’all.
To begin with, I too, agree that child molesters can’t be forgiven.
I will also never understand how he could hang Prince Michael II over the balcony as he did 4-5 years back.
We all know MJ was a freak, a weirdo. I was in a forum just now and read on some MJ bashing action going on.
It’s true. MJ was never able to be normal in public light. He had a peculiar fashion sense, a strange mannerism, and probably the most famous nose on the planet.
But what do you expect from a boy who’s been in the limelight since he was 4?
His music, performance and fans were his life, and for that, he doesn’t know how to live a normal life. He lives to try pleasing his audience, not only audio, but visually.
I once read a quote that goes like this:
‘Don’t hate him for it. Hate the culture that made him like this’.
I couldn’t agree more. People accept much more easily, a high chiseled nose, Caucasian complexion, thick, long eyebrows and deep-set eyes….typical American features. But hey, Michael needed to satisfy a global audience.
1982 – Michael releases his second album, ‘Thriller,’ which spends 37 weeks on top of the charts and produces 7 hit singles including ‘Thriller,’ ‘Beat It,’ and ‘Billie Jean.’ In 1985 it became the best-selling album of all time, a title it held until the release of the Eagles’ greatest hits.
I guess this was when he saw that he was contending with other people with more ‘American facial features’, leading to his drastic move of adjusting his skin tone, when he released his next album, ‘Bad’.
People loved him for his originality in music and dance moves, and there won’t be any other who can replace that. No Usher or Chris Brown comes even close. And the most impactful element that he brought on was his showmanship. He was quite a perfectionist and stretched a huge budget when it came to filming videoclips, or his giant concerts.
Then came….Neverland.
This was something else, though. I was introduced to the Neverland ranch when I heard news on Michael and Macaulay Culkin (Home Alone star, whom I also admired when I was a kid). Neverland was probably one of the silliest mistakes Michael ever made..cos it seemed to people (including me) like ‘The Ultimate Kid Trap’. Like a place to lure kids in and play with them in some unimaginable way. I must admit that it gave me the creeps. Come on, when your hero turns out to be a paedo, wouldn’t you give him a personal demotion?
Then, people say that he loved children with all his heart..which may well be true. And that could be the main reason why he built Neverland. After all, he had a traumatic childhood, where he was physically and emotionally abused by his father (I Wiki-ed this out wei). I stopped a moment, and I wondered, what if he really was innocent and wanted to give the kids a (genuinely) good time, which contradicts all allegations against him?
I don’t know. I felt a sudden surge of remorse..and the pain..that this guy has gone through in his life.
As we all know, he was acquitted of all charges..I guess the truth may never be known.
Here’s something else I read at the forum. It’s a very casual, spontaneous type comment, but I read it twice over and it has a point.
I suppose the above is true for many people out there. They just hate him because there’s too many people who love him. Being the minority, with or without any basis at all, has its appeal to some people.
The pressure that also came from tabloids were so great that Michael told reporters:
Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, "I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight," people would say, "Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth."
— Michael Jackson
I’m just quite surprised that through the news, nothing was mentioned about MJ’s philanthropic contributions. OK, to do him a final favour, here are some of his efforts (taken from Wiki) :
- Jackson gave his $1.5 million settlement to the "Michael Jackson Burn Center" which was a piece of new technology to help people with severe burns.
- Jackson co-wrote the charity single "We Are the World" in 1985 with Lionel Richie, which was released worldwide to aid the poor in Africa and the US.
- 1984 Victory Tour, headlined by The Jacksons, showcased much of Jackson’s new solo material to more than two million Americans. He donated his $5 million share from the Victory Tour to charity.
- The Dangerous World Tour began on June 27, 1992, and finished on November 11, 1993. Jackson performed to 3.5 million people in 67 concerts. All profits from the concerts went to the "Heal the World Foundation", raising millions of dollars in relief.
- There could be more, I’m not informed.
And anyway, he did go bankrupt (almost or did? I’m not sure). Apparently he spends tens of thousands bucks monthly on cosmetics. Wow.
The memorial was quite an affair with half the world of celebrities gathered at the Staples Center early this morning. I was asleep laaa sorry have no personal account of the event haha.
Paris Michael Jackson, MJ’s daughter, gave quite a heart-rending speech during her dad’s memorial. Click here for the video. Keep in mind though, that children are easily emotional, and may be more expressive than others.
P.Diddy : “Michael Jackson showed me that you can actually see the beat. He made the music come to life!! He made me believe in magic. I will miss him"
Madonna : The world had lost "one of the greats" of pop music. I can’t stop crying over the sad news. I have always admired Michael Jackson. The world has lost one of the greats, but his music will live on forever."
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband : “Never has one soared so high and yet dived so low. RIP Michael.”
How true that last statement is.
Time magazine captured the impact of Jackson in his heyday as it labeled him as a:
“Star of records, radio, rock video. A one-man rescue team for the music business. A songwriter who sets the beat for a decade. A dancer with the fanciest feet on the street. A singer who cuts across all boundaries of taste and style and color too.”
2009 – Michael announces his concert comeback with 50 London dates at the O2 Arena, London, and calls it his ‘final curtain call.’. Guess some things were not meant to be.
There will never be another entertainer like MJ..not in this lifetime. And while the odd behavior and legal drama has overshadowed talent at times, nothing negative could be said about Michael’s heart. He was full of love and compassion, which unfortunately was seen as perverted by some. Bye Michael, hope you find peace with yourself somewhere else. I still feel a certain emo when I hear your songs on radio man.
Now, we can start thinking about what to do for poor Farah Fawcett’s passing lol.
-EVo-
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