One Day Later: Michael Jackson 1958-2009

It's all a bit surreal

By: Brad Brevet
Published: Friday, June 26th 2009 at 6:39 AM

"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! My heart goes out to his three children and other members of his family. God bless."

~ Madonna

I had no intention of writing anything extra about Michael Jackson, but as yesterday wore on I began to realize how absolutely insane it was to think I ran a headline that was read by thousands of people and may have actually been the first place some people heard the news an entertainment icon the size of Michael Jackson had passed away. I grew up listening to this guy and buying his music the day it was released and now I may have actually been the first to tell someone he was dead. It's a bit hard for me to believe and extraordinarily surreal.

After posting yesterday's headline a few people visited and read the short article, but suddenly the site was getting hammered and eventually crashed for about 30 minutes. While the site was down I went out to grab my mail at the UPS Store down the street and pick up a few groceries. I didn't even mention Jackson's passing to the UPS employees I see every single day. I wasn't in a daze or anything; I don't really get that way about these things. I was just blissfully unaware of the magnitude of the situation.

I know some people will say his death means nothing and there are more important things in this world. Entirely fair and entirely true, but nonetheless irrelevant. People will also say he was just an entertainer, and one that fell under the scrutiny of the law for allegedly molesting children on top of several crazy rumors. That's fine, that's how you remember him, and who can't think of those things when Michael Jackson's name is mentioned? However, beyond all that there is his music, something that actually brings up different memories, none of which having to do with the negatives as much as they remind us of moments in our own lives.

For me, Michael Jackson's "Thriller" was the first tape I ever owned and it wasn't even the official version, it was a recorded copy on a black audio tape with a white and orange sticker. I remember the day my father's cassette deck in his truck ate the tape destroying any opportunity to listen to it again (not for a lack of trying). I was about six-years-old and it was not a happy day. My family at that time didn't have a lot of money and it would be years before I got an official replacement. As it turned out I wouldn't actually own "Thriller" again until about 12 years later when I got it as part of a Columbia House membership and by that time I was basically filling in the blanks in my collection.

I remember when "Bad" came out with Wesley Snipes in the Martin Scorsese directed music video for the title song, which I would only see once until much later when it came out as part of a video collection you could buy. I remember "Smooth Criminal" and the video that accompanied it not to mention "Moonwalker," which I watched who knows how many times on MTV.

Then there was the video for "Black and White," and the quizzical looks I shared with the rest of my family after witnessing more crotch grabbing than any one person should see at one time. Eddie Murphy then played a pharaoh with Iman in the "Remember the Time" music video that also included Magic Johnson of all people. I also remember being the only one at Tower Records the morning "HIStory" was released and then walking through Target to snatch up my copy of "Invincible."

Then there's Bubbles, the first Moonwalk, the red jacket, his marriage to Lisa Marie Presley and their kiss at the MTV VMAs, his hair starting on fire in making that Pepsi commercial, oxygen chambers, dating Brooke Shields, Macaulay Culkin, those giant HIStory statues, the ABC interview, "Scream" with Janet, his skin color, plastic surgery, the six times I saw "Captain EO" at Disneyland in the span of two days and so many other topics of conversation. And this is just off the top of my head. His life is unexplainable and to understand him is unfathomable and now impossible.

The death of Michael Jackson may not be a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but it does cause me to take a moment of reflection.

Of course, what I will remember most is his music and it is the one thing he left behind that we can all enjoy without prejudice. Of his classic songs "Billie Jean" and "Man in the Mirror" are likely my favorites, but my list doesn't necessarily start with the all-time classics as much as it centers on songs such as three mid-range classics "P.Y.T.," "Dirty Diana" and "Human Nature" (perhaps the best of them all) followed by "Another Part of Me," "Leave Me Alone" (love the Liz Taylor influence), "Why You Wanna Trip On Me," "Tabloid Junkie," "2 Bad," "Butterflies" (the remix with Eve is fantastic) and "Cry."

Finally, one of his best videos in terms of associating all of this with movies would be "Liberian Girl" and then probably my second favorite song of his after "Human Nature" would have to be "Give into Me". Both videos are included below.