A Few Thoughts on the King of Pop from a Devoted Fan

Michael Jackson was arguably the greatest and most important internationally popular musician, entertainer, performer, singer, and dancer ever to have lived. And losing him this week is a tragedy of epic proportion, to say the least. I wanted to write a few things about him because I feel like I owe it to him… Because he has time and again been such a major inspiration to me and so many others, he has shaped my musical development since the beginning, and I am permanently indebted to him for the constant joy his music has brought to my life and so many millions (billions, even?) of others.

Listening to “Thriller” is my first musical memory, as I’ve told many a friend over the years, and as my parents know all too well. They played it for me when I was no more than 5-years-old, and I just freaked out. Ran around the house, danced like a maniac, and let it all hang out. And as I listened to “Thriller” again last night, I was consumed once again with that same joy and ecstatic, uncontrollable mania… If you can believe it, after the hundreds of listens I’ve had to each of his songs since childhood, I STILL managed to hear things last night that I’d never noticed before… That, folks, is just a TINY testament to the sheer genius and total mastery that is MJ’s music.

For every party that kicked off with “Billie Jean,” for every dance-off that “PYT” ignited, for every wedding/bar mitzvah/awkward-family-gathering at which “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” yanked people from their seats, there is still something current, fresh, and visionary in each of his songs… I never wanted to be one of those “they-don’t-make-’em-like-they-used-to” types, but for MJ, the rule actually applies.

His ability to reach people of all ages, races, and religions, from all around the world, decade after decade, is simply unparalleled – his music deserves the extremely rare title of “universal,” and believe me, there can’t be more than 5 or 10 other people on the definitive list… Bach, Mozart, Miles Davis, The Beatles, being a few others.

I’d like to take a moment to list some of his classics, because even though we all know every word to every one of these, it’s nonetheless remarkable to see them all side by side (and mind you, I’m not even getting into the Jackson 5):

Bad
Beat It
Billie Jean
Black or White
Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough
Heal the World
Human Nature
Man in the Mirror
PYT
Remember the Time
Rock With You
Smooth Criminal
The Way You Make Me Feel
Thriller
Wanna Be Startin Something

I’m not even close to listing everything here, but just reading these over opens the memory-flood-gates for me…

And on that note, I’d like to invite any and all of you reading this to comment below with a happy MJ memory of your own, or perhaps a way in which his music has affected you positively, or inspired you at some point in your life…

Michael, thank you. It goes without saying that your songs will live on, but we will miss you so much.

-Alan

Add comment June 26th, 2009