Like much of the rest of the world — or at least that segment of it that cares about such things — I was shocked by the unexpected death of Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, last week. He was rushed from his rented accommodation in L.A to a hospital just six minutes from where he was staying. Michael was suspected of having a sudden heart attack in his home, on arrival to the hospital it was announced that he had slipped into a coma. Family members rushed to his bed side but the entertainer’s hopes for survival were rapidly fading. Two hours later the devastating news of his sudden death reached every corner of the world. Michael Jackson was one of the worlds best performers ever to walk the earth, there hasn’t been anyone like him since he took the stage at just 10 years old as part of his family’s group the Jackson 5 in the late seventies. In the early 70’s Michael broke away in pursuit of a solo career but remained loyal to the family group The Jackson 5.
It wasn’t until the early 80’s , where he took the world by storm all by himself. Michael wrote alot of his own work and made up his own spectacular dance moves to string along to perform on stage. In the early 80’s his work was so different and so outrageous that it actually worked and took everybody by surprise, which resulted in the sale of millions of copies of his first album Off The Wall. All his life he was a victim of his own success from the riches he accumulated with his brothers he pumped into his next album Thriller. To this day there is nobody in the music industry to top the sale of his Thriller album, we are 40 years on from then and it is unlikely that it will ever be topped.
As a singer from the age of 5 he lived a very sheltered life from the outside world, he couldn’t walk to the shop like normal kids could, he could only watch through windows at other children playing knowing that he could never join in, knowing that level of fun he could never feel. From much success of his first album and the support of his fans he went on to reinvent himself as a performer and began work on his Thriller album. Due to popular demand between African American and the white race he broke onto the music scene, a solo artist black man was not heard of in these times due to the discrimination between the two races in America. Everybody went out and bought his Thriller album not just in support of the movement in the industry, but because he was breaking all boundaries from the music he invented and the dance moves he had. Everybody wished they could dance like Michael Jackson back then and if you could pull off a few moves of his today you would be considered as a dancing phenomenon. Now imagine doing them moves back in the early eighties when peoples dance moves were limited to a shimmy or shake or a bounce of the knees.
When Michael took the stage people honestly thought he was a phenom with moves no one could copy or imitate. After the release of Thriller and the sales were huge, he took on the world with a world tour to promote his album, just as his Thriller album did back home his concerts followed suit by selling out across the globe. As I was born in '82 I had a small bit of catching up to do, by the age of five I knew all the words of all his songs and I was hooked on my parents collection of the Jackson 5 and the first two solo albums he released. His music didn’t only captivate my parents but from a very young age I was hooked on the phenomenon. I remember in school when I was very young, might of only been my second year, the teacher was asking the boys who was their favorite superhero, I was one of the last to answer, I listened to answers like superman, spider-man, batman all the eighties superheros to hit the screens.
When it came around to me I said Michael Jackson, of course the other kids laughed at me and the teacher couldn’t hold in the snigger’s either, when she caught her breath she asked me why Michael Jackson? I replied because he is real. She then nodded her head as if to say I’m with you…. From dance moves like the lean above and the moon walk he was as much as a super hero to me than superman was. In the early 80’s Michael was going from strength to strength his music was spreading far and wide, people that couldn’t speak English knew all the words to his songs, they probably never understood the meaning of the lyrics but they didn’t care. They were as captivated as I was with the level of performance he had.
If you have been lucky enough to see him live as I have you could see that he poured everything he had into his live performances, to be able to sing while you danced at such a pace is brilliant by itself, not even Britney Spears could manage that. Most of today’s performers mime as they do their dance routines there wasn’t such technology back in the eighties so he done it all in his stride. Michael Jackson was untouchable by any other leading artist at that time even the Beatles and U2 knew they were fighting an uphill battle, and thought it dumb to even compete in album sales with Michael Jackson. From Thriller were Michael’s best years of his life he went on to release other albums such as Bad and Dangerous and History album. These albums gave Michael the boost he could only dream of, well maybe he did dream of such success but his imagination couldn’t prepare him for what he became. His global success made him friends in far reaches of the planet.
Kings, sultans, princes, presidents and leading politicians from nearly every country of the world knew Michael Jackson as a close friend. If you ever hear the term Live Aid in your life its a charity music concert performed to raise money for the worlds starving and under privileged. Michael was the first one to start that up, he has done endless work for the poverty stricken across the world and donated millions to setting up foundations to better peoples lives. Everything turned sour at the top of his career people judged him for opening up a wildlife park and a theme park in his back garden. Everyone thought it strange that he would invite kids to come and check it out and have them stay over in his mansion. Michael Jackson missed out on playing with kids when he was a kid himself, he invited every child to come and spend time in the never-land ranch for free. The children’s parents came along and trusted Michael with the supervision of their children for the night. All of the parents knew that their children were in capable hands and that they were safe with the amount of staff he employed to aid him in the supervision of the children.
In my opinion and this is more believable than the accusations a couple of parents claimed to have occurred. Sex abuse charges went in against the world famous singer that he was touching a couple of children while they slept. These are seen to me to be the worlds most evil money grabbers of all time to ruin a mans whole life and career for a few bucks, 10 million dollars that was settled out of court only to be faced with another money grabber a couple of years later with the same claim. I bet you one seen how much the other got and how well they did from extorting money with false claims, so they decided to do like wise only the second time he was found innocent and they didn’t get a dime for it. On the other hand it is easy to make such wild claims but it is not as easy to prove your innocence, and Michael found this out the hard way. In order to prove his innocence he would need the best team of lawyers. The bill for these court appearances and to pay the lawyers saw the multi-million dollar singer go broke to prove his innocence.
I have never met the man myself but I know from those that have met him, they said that they have never met a nicer man. He sees the good side of people all the time, he takes the love of his fans straight to heart and repays them with great performances and songs and energy. He was once asked after the first claim of sexual abuse do you not worry what people say about you walking around with children ? He replied no it doesn’t matter to me what people think of me I am innocent as long as I know that it doesn’t worry me. The interviewer followed up the question and asked him why he does it ? He looked him straight in the eye and said because they tell me the truth...When you read into it he has been lied to by everyone, people turned their back on him when he needed them the most. Michael focused all his attention on the good in the world and never imagined that someone would be so evil as to destroy his world. As I have said before Michael was my super hero for the last twenty years or so and I for one will miss him considerably and I know the world has been deeply shocked by his death but he will live on through his music and videos. May you REST IN PEACE Michael and thank you for your music you are a legend for the youth of generations to come and all those you have already inspired thank you...
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