I was going to write my review of The Hangover, which I saw last night with the other Titans, but upon arrival at the movie theatre I received news that Michael Jackson, the King of Pop himself, passed away at the age of 50. Yes, I know you all know this by now. What can I say? Michael was and always will be a legend in the entertainment industry. And while I’m well aware and disappointed by the allegations of child molestation directed towards him, I think I speak for everyone when I say that his music and performances will certainly live on and elevate Michael Jackson to Elvis levels. I’m 32, and I come from that generation that remembers Michael as, not just a pop superstar, but as a cultural phenomena. When I was about 5 or so, Michael could do no wrong. His Thriller album was played in virtually every household when I was a kid, and I think that’s where a lot of people will have a personal connection with him. I know those songs were played ad nausea in my house while I played with my Joes, Star Wars or He-Man figures. I knew every song by heart. Thriller was the album where I learned to operate the record player for the first time, pretending I was a big man at the age of 5. That album too, in many ways – and along with reruns of Hillarious House of Frightenstein -- was my first introduction to horror. The song Thriller itself featured a monologue by Vincent Price’s frightening voice and the song was capped by a pause followed by Price’s maniacal laugh! That laugh frightened the piss out of me at that age, especially if I was alone in the room. And that video! Hard to believe now, but there was a time when MTV in the U.S. refused to play Black artists. There was a public outcry over this, and Michael Jackson became so popular that MTV made him the first Black artist to appear on MTV (please, no snivelling comments about how he turned white, we'll get the truth about what happened about that now that he's gone). Billy Jean was wicked, with the tiles that glow when stepped on, but Thriller defined the modern music video with scads of imitators to this day that try weakly to wrap a “story” around their video. Thriller was and still is a tour de force of 80’s ingenuity, creativity and fun. Hell, it was even played in movie theatres!!
Michael’s contributions to film were few but welcome. Michael’s first foray was the song Ben, the title song for the movie Ben (1972) which was the sequel to Willard (1971). It was nominated for Best Original Song at the Academy awards, for which Michael famously performed the song. And yes, the song was lovingly remade with a performance by Crispin Glover in the 2003 Willard remake. Michael appeared in The Wiz, the jazzed up version of Wizard of Oz, and I think that was actually him in Men In Black II. He was also the star of a special effects laden movie ride at Disneyworld called Captain EO which ran for ages but is closed now. I always wanted to see it, but never got the chance.
What else can I really say? I remember kids in my early grades doing the moon walk, Alvin on Alvin and the Chipmunks briefly dancing with Michael on the show, people walking around with that Thriller red jacket, the Moonwalker video game (which was wicked!), the We Are The World song (back when celebrities cared about something other than themselves), all that good stuff. It’s sad that Michael should go now, since I feel there was a serious hunger for Michael Jackson in recent years, beginning with that infamous Thriller scene in 13 Going on 30, and a whole generation from Usher to Wyclef John citing Jackson as their inspiration for getting into the music business. There’s a whole generation that grew up on Michael Jackson the phenomenon that is all grown up and willing to let bygones be bygones and give the man another chance. I think he would have made a killing if he became a Vegas staple ala Celin Dion or Dean Martin (hell, I would go see that!). Rumors surfaced that he was planning just that, but there are uglier rumors that suggest that he was advised by an inner circle that fed him too many prescription drugs and pain killers and pushed him too hard for his “come back”, thus killing him. Uglier still are the allegations that he molested children, an eternal cloud over Michael’s career that he could never fully shake off. I think in the coming years, the people who accused him of such things will come out in full disclosure. Will that hurt his legacy? Well, given that most people believe that these allegations are true but still love his songs and performances anyway, I don’t think it will hurt. And I can just hear the Hollywood big wigs salivating as they hurriedly ready a hundred “Life of Michael Jackson” movie projects.
But for now, we reminisce on what was a phenomenal body of work that will never be duplicated and we also think about what might have been.
Deceptisean
No comments:
Post a Comment