I’m not one to give in to overt sentimentality over the passing of a pop culture icon like Michael Jackson. Certainly, I used to listen to his songs back in the 80’s, and for a certain period of time I, like just about anyone else on the planet, thought he was the best thing since sliced bread. There’s no denying that his Thriller album was the pinnacle of his career, the prime of his physical talent and creativity. He not only redefined pop music, but he reinvented “cool” in a way that only the very honest will look back on and admit to. I mean, the man invented the quirky dance moves that were his signature style, and everybody on Earth has, at some time or another, tried to do the moonwalk.
His career was definitely tainted in 1993 onwards with scandals of child abuse and molestation charges, and his eccentricity began to push him away from the mainstream popularity he had enjoyed, almost without apparent effort since the early 80’s. The Neverland ranch, McCauley Culkin, the surgical masks, and the constant plastic surgeries had a lot of people shaking their heads. But when you look back at his entire legacy, this was still a guy who managed to transcend any racial barriers, and dominate on the top of the charts in a country with the most powerful music industry in the world. And the man could sing.
But nothing is meant to last. Even the greatest grow withered and die. Nothing gold can stay…
Nature’s first green is gold
Her hardest hue to hold
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.
- Robert Frost
Sony music won’t let YouTube users embed any Jackson songs, so I’ve chosen another oldie and goodie from another artist with sublime talent, eccentricity, and an all-too short life:
