IT IS IMPOSSIBLE FOR ANYONE TO HAVE MISSED the fact that Michael Joe Jackson, the popular singing and dancing entertainer, has recently died. There can be no doubt that he was one of the prime movers and shakers in the pop world over the last half of the XX century, and although I never witnessed him “live” on stage, have never bought any of his singles or albums and have never seen his famous Thriller video-clip from beginning to end, I have to admit that there must have been something extra special about him.
AS I HAVE BEEN BUYING RECORDS REGULARLY SINCE 1972, spending a considerable amount of my sometimes hard earned money on music, the above detail may be a little surprising to those dozens of commentators, analysts, experts and journalists who have repeatedly come out with expressions such as “We all have a Michael Jackson record somewhere at home”, and “Every one of us has bought a record of his”. This despite my record collection being as catholic as to go from Abba to The Zombies, with almost everything in between except for Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, or any gentlemen with very long hair except for the lead singer of The Human League, although that was only on one side of his head.
ANOTHER STATEMENT UP WITH WHICH I have been reluctantly putting over recent days is “Everyone has their own ‘Michael Jackson moment’.” I am not quite sure that I do, although perhaps the best I can offer is what follows.
COMMENTATORS ARE CONCERNED, it seems, about Michael Jackson’s legacy. “How will he be remembered?” they worry. Among their concerns is whether history will see Jackson as a great artiste or as a man with a troubled personal history. He may equally, I imagine, be remembered for his charity – the vast amounts of money he gave to children’s associations, in particular one case of him giving 20 million United States dollars to one boy in Massachusetts. For me, however, it must be his sense of humour: on a rare occasion when he appeared on stage alongside his beloved sister Janet in 1995, he quipped the following to the audience, “This is just for you to see that we are not the same person.”
AS I HAVE BEEN BUYING RECORDS REGULARLY SINCE 1972, spending a considerable amount of my sometimes hard earned money on music, the above detail may be a little surprising to those dozens of commentators, analysts, experts and journalists who have repeatedly come out with expressions such as “We all have a Michael Jackson record somewhere at home”, and “Every one of us has bought a record of his”. This despite my record collection being as catholic as to go from Abba to The Zombies, with almost everything in between except for Heavy Metal and Hard Rock, or any gentlemen with very long hair except for the lead singer of The Human League, although that was only on one side of his head.
ANOTHER STATEMENT UP WITH WHICH I have been reluctantly putting over recent days is “Everyone has their own ‘Michael Jackson moment’.” I am not quite sure that I do, although perhaps the best I can offer is what follows.
COMMENTATORS ARE CONCERNED, it seems, about Michael Jackson’s legacy. “How will he be remembered?” they worry. Among their concerns is whether history will see Jackson as a great artiste or as a man with a troubled personal history. He may equally, I imagine, be remembered for his charity – the vast amounts of money he gave to children’s associations, in particular one case of him giving 20 million United States dollars to one boy in Massachusetts. For me, however, it must be his sense of humour: on a rare occasion when he appeared on stage alongside his beloved sister Janet in 1995, he quipped the following to the audience, “This is just for you to see that we are not the same person.”
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