Two years have gone by, like the blink of an eye, since a musical genius was taken away from us. Here's my insignificant attempt at paying homage to a man who may have moved on physically, but whose legend will live on forever! Thank you Michael!
On a quiet day in August of ’58, a revolution in dance and music began. So humble were the beginnings of this little boy, born to a working class family in Chicago, that the world would never have chanced a second glance. But that boy was to become the Michael Jackson, a legend in every sense of the word and a phenomenon that would forever change the world of pop music and dance.
Michael Jackson was a living legend, much more than just a singer, a musician or a dancer. Beginning with his early days with the Jackson 5, Michael was forced to achieve perfection, by his no nonsense father, Joe Jackson. Michael and his brothers spent hours on end in the studio practicing and perfecting what would soon become the marvel that was five preteen boys that would shake the world of Motown and soul. The short tempered Joe Jackson was known to keep the boys on a very short leash, and the smallest mistakes in the studio would result in severe whippings. Michael lost out on the bulk of his childhood years and often expressed his grief at this loss. Of his childhood years, Michael would say “Well, you don't get to do things that other children get to do, having friends and slumber parties and buddies. There were none of that for me. I didn't have friends when I was little”. Michael also tearfully spoke of his relationship with his father in an interview saying “My father was a management genius. But what I really wanted was a dad”. This, among other things, would shape the person Michael was soon to become.
Michael Jackson was the epitome of perfection. Michael would later say “I was a veteran, before I was a teenager”, and the world knows this to be true. While most black musicians were still playing with the sounds of Motown or going so far as to experiment with rap and blues, Michael Jackson entered the world of pop music and changed it forever. His signature ‘voice of an angel’ which spawned such hits as ‘Billie Jean’, ‘Beat it’, ‘Thriller’, ‘Black or White’ and the mellower ‘Heal the World’ was what set him apart from most other artists. Michael wrote or co-wrote most of his greatest hits, choosing to base them on subjects that were relatable to the youth, to the common folk, to simply the average Joe of that generation. His songs spoke about ending racism, beating drugs and peer pressure and building a better planet for future generations, among other things and the fans loved him. Michael performed at sold out concerts across the globe, even visiting our very own India in 1996 to perform.
And Boy! M.J. had the moves! He took break dancing and turned it over on its head, inventing his own moves and giving his fanbase a run for its money. His iconic choreography, seen in every single one of his videos drove his fans crazy. Every 4 year old boy who aspired to be a dancer was trying Michael’s ‘moonwalk’, a move that he took mainstream, without actually inventing it. Michael Jackson’s stylish, high-concept choreography and music videos were more than just song and dance; they lifted his audience to another realm. His jaw-dropping, theatrical style, the electric twists and turns and eclectic over the top performances would inspire generations of performers to come including Usher, Chris Brown and Justin Timberlake. Michel not only revolutionized the art of break and popping and locking with pure unparalleled showmanship and stage presence, he also forever changed the way a human person would move to a beat on the dance floor. To this day, noted choreographers across the globe will slow down a good Michael dance video to learn the complexities of dance routines that can be copied but never improved on, because the unflawed genius that had come up with them in the first place could not be matched.
For all his fame and fortune, however, Michael Jackson was the quintessence of humility. For several years of his life, Michael contributed to over 20 different charities. The proceeds from his song ‘Heal the World’ that he co-wrote with Lionel Ritchie went to help the poor in the U.S. and Africa and provided famine relief for millions of struggling people. After burning his fingers several times with negative publicity, Michael gradually became more reclusive from the paparazzi and the media; however he never stopped trying to please the fans. Michael Jackson would do absolutely anything for his fans, going so far as to give needy children the grand tour and endless fun in his sprawling 2,700-acre, $17 million ranch – Neverland, which was equipped with everything a child could ever dream of dreaming about. ‘Neverland’ came from the tale of Peter Pan, a story about a boy who never wanted to grow up and essentially that was exactly what Michael was – the boy that never grew up. Michael was always a child at heart, and his greatest love was spending time at his ranch with Bubbles, his pet chimpanzee. In rare footage shot for a documentary on Michael, British TV personality Martin Bashir asked Michael what inspires him to write music and where he found ideas for his songs. Michael took Bashir to a tree he called ‘The Giving Tree’, and climbed into its uppermost branches from where he could see Neverland in its entirety. Michael said that the tree was one of his most sacred spaces and that he had been inspired to write or had written some of his best work while seated in that tree. In essence, this single incident captures the simplicity and childlike innocence that was Michael Jackson.
Michael lived a lonely life, always in the glare of the media. Ironically, the very folk that celebrated his success and set him up for glory would use his shortcomings as fuel to bring about his ruin. I am sure this irony did not escape Michael as he fought a solitary battle against the lies that were being spread about him. Michael Jackson may have had several personal demons to deal with from allegations of child abuse, to stories of his impending bankruptcy, later on in his career and his issues with his skin disorder. However, I will not dwell on these things; instead I choose to celebrate the good that Michael was and still continues to be to the millions of fans he left behind. M.J. will continue to inspire generations of people to simply make a change by starting with the man in the mirror, to make this world a better place for future generations. God rest your precious soul, Michael! Like the rainbow, fading in the twinkling of an eye, you too have gone too soon!
