Just yesterday, during one of my youtube browsing sessions, I chanced upon a particular Pepsi commercial which featured MJ. Needless to say, it was amazingly invigorating with some cool dance moves. Immediately, I was lost in a reverie and was reminded of the rocking "Black or White" & "Beat it"s, the groovin' "Billie Jean" and the soulful "Heal the World". And suddenly, it struck me... all those wonderful moments deserve atleast one nice blog post! So here it is... specially for you, Jacko!
I would be fooling myself if I claim that I had been listening to Michael's music all these years. I was always a huge fan, yes... but somewhere during the past 5 years or so, MJ had finally managed to be "out of sight, out of mind". Unfortunately, his death brought back his music to me. I cannot describe the chill that went up my spine when I heard the Intro tune of "Thriller" again... after all these years. The high-pitched shrieks, the flashy costumes, the feline movements, the intricate plots surrounding the song...every single second is sheer pleasure!
The guy has teamed up with greats like McCartney, Eddie Van Halen, Slash, Lionel Ritchie and many more that escape my humble memory here. There are loads of people out there who believe that MJ's music is trash and when prodded, shrug off any arguments by referring to all the accusations heaped on him. Moreover, most of these people cannot hold a note to save their lives and cannot tell the sound of a guitar from a flute.
Ok! I am no soothsayer and maybe, MJ was no saint either! However, firstly, none of the accusations belie his musical genius and secondly, most of them seem to baseless now that, after his death, there are loads of people coming out in his defence. There is enough evidence now that MJ was nothing more than a victim of the big bad world which knew nothing better than to use his talent to fill its own coffers. The recently released movie "This is it" is evidently another such gimmick to cash in on the hysteria, and not a tribute as the makers claim it to be. Alas! MJ never had the childhood he wanted, nor the pleasure of spending his money the way he wanted to and died, a mere skeleton in his huge "Neverland" Ranch, wishing he had never grown up.
Jackson's entry onto the music scene was a landmark in the beginning of the Generation-X (whether one likes its ways or not is another matter). He was a phenomenon, like nobody has ever been nor anyone, in this fickle digital age, ever will be. He has left behind a treasure of music that will be cherished for decades to come, 'cult' moves that are as much a rage as they were 25 years ago and glimpses of a life so extravagant, so lavish, yet, so incomplete.
I pity the psychos who label him a 'freak' and mock him for a lack of anything better to do. Even in his death, they try to find something that might benefit them, even at the cost of putting Jackson's reputation into peril. Well, this might be going a bit over-the-top but I am reminded of a few lines from Julius Caesar, the play, here:
" You all did love him once, not without cause:
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgement! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
and men have lost their reason "
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