It's a strange thing when I celebrity dies. There are news flashes, remembrances, and all day marathons of their work. It's like a version of a wake or prayer service for a person you loved but didn't even know. It's a whole other type of loss. When Heath Ledger died, I couldn't watch his movies for a good six months and once I finally watched The Dark Knight, I truly had to fight back tears upon hearing his voice.
Today, though, I lost someone beyond just a famous person I enjoyed. I lost someone who has given me the soundtrack for quite a large part of my life. I had "We are the world" on vinyl, watched the making of "Thriller" every Halloween, and one year for Christmas all I wanted was "Bad" and spent the rest of vacation memorizing every lyric (much to the dismay of my family). I was just truly a fan. I never really cared about his antics or plastic face. I just wanted more music, more originality, more him (even when it wasn't that great).
And after all of that I've been slightly annoyed while being inundated with texts and Facebook status RIP's from random people. I don't want to gossip about it and I keep feeling like it's my loss, a personal loss. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but now I think I understand. I am coming to the age where I will start seeing people from my childhood pass on and Michael is my very first icon that I've lost. He is among one of the first musical voices I heard and definitely the first that swept me away.
I'm not sure what else to say and I'm not even sure if it's really sunken in yet. It's a sad day in music, but at least people are back to talking about his music once again. Maybe Will.i.Am put it best when he said, "...I wouldn't be surprised if the world stopped spinning tomorrow."
I'll leave you with my top MJ songs...
1. Dirty Diana
2. Smooth Criminal
3. Billie Jean
4. Rock with you
5. P.Y.T
6. Black or White
7. Remember the time
8. They don't care about us
9. Ease on down the road (from The Wiz)
10. Human Nature
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3 comments:
Alli- thanks for posting that. I feel sad about it in the regular American way (if that makes sense) and it felt artificial for me to post something. I am really glad that you were able to share what he meant/means to you. Well said, thanks for sharing your thoughts with us.
My two MJ memories-
- When I was 3 or 4 I witnessed my neighbors, sisters Sarah Kim and Mary Kim, fighting over their Thriller record in their bedroom (It would have been '84 or '85- does this fit with Thriller?). The fight accelerated when Sarah Kim broke the record in half. I knew who MJ was, but not much else, and thought he must be a pretty big deal if they are going to fight this hard over an album.
- Embarassingly, I really loved the song MJ did for Free Willy (I don't remember really liking the movie- just the song), got the cassingle and had this AMAZING gift of turning on the radio right when the song started. It happened at least 5 times. We were connected :)
The thriller story is hilarious. Imagine how they feel years later knowing what the worth of that broken record would be now.
I also loved the song from Free Willy (and truly I loved the movie too. it was perfect for my age.) I'm jealous of your connection.
i have been listening to the song he did for Free Willy on repeat.
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