another Michael Jackson post

This post is partly here due to my old schoolmate middleman’s words about Mr. Jackson. English people have a habit of knocking successful people, especially Black entertainers. Michael jackson’s life was both starred and flawed.
Michael jackson means different things to different people. For a Black British person growing up in the 1970s and 1980s Michael jackson was an oxymoron: he was a hero to us: before him you did not see Black popstars that went into superstar status, no other Black artist sold as many albums as he did and he supassed all other artists: Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye and his brothers and sisters who were themselves accomplished musicians. Michael jackson left an immense and high quality body of creative work that transcended both the visual and audio cultures. Michael jackson also broke down barriers: the first Black artist to be truly accepted on to MTV – and his videos didn’t disappoint! they were of a consistent high standard. Black people looked up to Michael Jackson from the 1970s through to the 1980s.

However, the other side was he made us cringe with his publicity antics: the oxygen tank, the issues with children, the high spending on trinkets, baubles and trivia, the skin lightening – ok he said he had vitilligo – some of the cringeing singles like “Heal the world, Black or White, Earth Song”, the peter pan-like behaviour, the high speaking voice. Michael Jackson was an oxymoron but he did make a stand for Black musical artists, protesting with Rev Al Sharpton against the Sony Music group. he was highly influential to his and the next generation of american musicians such as justin timberlake. I am not a michael jackson devotee but i do recognise his contribution to the world, makng millions of people in the world happy with his music and his entertainment.
When Michael jackson died I was browsing the internet whilst my lady was sleeping and i saw some breaking news on MSN – i switched on the television and within an hour- at 12:30 am his death was confirmed. Some friends told me that they were devastated and had felt a loss when they heard the news of his death. I was shocked but not surprised – this was someone who for me had achieved his dreams in life – however twisted they may have seemed – he had done more in his time than most of us dream of. One person – who was a university lecturer- tried and failed- to get a minute’s silence from the students at a lecture he was giving (hah hah). Other people said that they shed silent tears and whispered prayers. In fact the week following his death you could hear his music playing from many cars passed by driven by Black men and women. I went to a carnival launch party the following weekend and when the DJ put on “Thriller”, the place erupted with mothers, grandmothers, getting out of their seats to crowd the dancefloor to dance and sing along to tunes such as “bad” “rock with you” and “billie jean”. Also in the week following his death many shopping malls blasted his music over the tannoy systems.
The more afrocentric spiritual and esoteric discussion forums debate michael jackson’s life and its spiritual meaning,they say that he came to the earth to unify people, bringing joy through music and entertainment, but his death was caused by negligence, a lack of care – as a result of which he may become a lost soul, a desperate dark deceased, stuck wandering the inner plains ignorant of his impact to the world. They will have to do some work to get him to recognise the light!
Michael jackson’s family celebration of his life showed that no matter what anyone else says, he was African-America’s Michael Jackson, a family man, a friend, a star, an icon, a father, a brother, a son.

I do not subscribe to the British habit of knocking successful people who achieve what they could not perceive to be possible. You see any of his videos today and they are exceptional compared to the dross that we have to endure today masquerading as “pop music” or “rnb” such as lady “madasahattershutyourmouth” gaga. Michael left a fantastic body of work.
Rant over.

Tags: entertainment, michael jackson