I was in school at that time in Speech class, which was the only subject I take every Friday. On that day, our professor asked the class to say something about living life and how to live life. A classmate of mine who was Filipino-American, gave his own piece that made me browse in the college's Internet lab. He mentioned something about this 50-year-old superstar guy who died earlier in California from cardiac arrest, and it was June 25 over there in America. This superstar was supposed to have his last world tour beginning in London and it was still the rehearsal phase. That concert was going to be his last before he gets to retire from performing. And that superstar was Michael Jackson.
Michael Jackson is dead? The news sounded so incredible to my ears as soon as I read it the Net. No way. All for the love of God, the King of Pop is gone. Then I checked out my Tweeter account, and there I read Mariah Carey's updates, one of them was like this, "No one can ever take his place, his star will shine forever". It was devastating. Around the world, newspapers, radio stations and television networks carried one and the same headline: Michael Jackson, 1958-2009.
The day the music died, June 25, 2009. It seems as if the whole world stopped spinning. At once, news of his sudden demise spread like wildfire. And while the world was mourning for him, I began to look back in my own perspective as a music lover. Who was Michael Jackson to me then?
I'm not a big fan, but I know him as the King of Pop, period. That was the only moniker I call him. He was a phenomenal singer, dancer and entertainer. The first time I saw him on the television, he was like a superhuman being, ready to bring the stage down with his dance moves and all. "Black Or White", "Billie Jean", "Thriller", and "Will You Be There"(At last I got the title of this song after years of trying to know what's the title.) were the first MJ songs I heard. I'm a big music enthusiast since when I was little, and I enjoy different sorts of music, except for heavy-metal; you can't hear the melody. But with rock, classical and pop, there's the rhythm and the beats. My parents didn't tell much about Michael, and I suppose they just don't care about the crap that was going on about him. And so was I, for I was mostly preoccupied with school, homework, Sailormoon and music.
Tabloid terms like "Jacko" put me off. It meant that he was weird;strange;eccentric. I myself had been treated like a weirdo when I was in high school, especially when I was in my senior year. The teachers were okay, but my classmates were kind of cold. That "J" word is an insult, in my opinion, and they should have termed him like "MJ" or "KoP", meaning King of Pop. And I don't like it when some people do nasty jokes on him. I just felt bad when I read negative stuff about him and they too piss me off. So what about it if you're different from anyone else? I have my own dislikes and likes, and you have to deal with it.
Okay, he's a black American, but why do many people still say he did some skin-bleaching? Because they think he had the money to do so. Yeah right. but he didn't and never thought of it. He said it in the 1993 Oprah interview - that he has a skin condition that destroys the skin color. The medical term is vitiligo or purlac. It is quite a rare condition that the only remedy for it at present is make-up. And I say it again: he is a black guy. Get that into your pre-mature/adult brains. Then we have the nose topic. He just had a nose lift, and it's still the real nose. He may seem to be an emaciated bag of bones to many, but the female fans will tell you how slender he was and try to watch the video "Dirty Diana". How I wish I had his figure- long legs, thin waist, aargh! The only fake part he had was the cleft on his chin. So there you have it.
If I were to ask any pop singer or band, it is sure that they will list Michael Jackson as one of the biggest musical influences. Ask Justin Timberlake or Lady GaGa or Mariah Carey who are their influences in music, Michael's on their list too. Ask Westlife, the Kings of Pop, who are the artists who influenced them to become famous and they'll give you Madonna, George Michael, Boyzone, Take That, Backstreet Boys, and Michael Jackson.
To me, he is a performer who can't be easily imitated. He is just unique as I am. He was a singer who had that talent since he was a child. Music wasn't his job. It was his companion. I still remember when I was in Kindergarten and it was a few days before the school's Christmas party, and I had to sing a Christmas song. We owned a cassette tape of the Jackson 5's "Christmas Album", and I was practicing "Santa Claus Is Coming To Town" and "Give Love On Christmas Day", which until now are my holiday favorites. Music was always there when I need it most, and it grew up with me.
Sometime ago, when I was surfing on YouTube, I was watching this old video of Michael back in the 1980s. Then I read on some of the comments, here was this one that seemed to me as poetic and somewhat the writer's metaphorical description of Michael:
He was quite an extraordinary and distinctive genius! Ethereal rays seem to emanate from his tall and slender frame as he innovated pop music with the complexity of his art and the simplicity of his mind. His music and philosophy is beautiful because it comes from the soul.So Michael's music is borne out of his emotions, feelings and thoughts. Not only that, he was an innovator in modern music, a creative genius, an inspiration to many. Now all of you better give this man some respect.
Last 2009, Madonna said in the MTV Video Music Awards, "He was so unique, so rare, so original; there will never be another like him again". While there are the impersonators like Navi and E. Casanova, they're just here as, you know, physical renditions of Michael. But the two guys I mentioned, they're like Michael's shadow.I know it, but what the Queen of Pop said was obviously true. Was there any bloke who sings(and says stuff like "SHAMONE!" and "HEE HEE!" and "AAOW!"), dances, moonwalks, makes music and still finds time to help kids in need? Yes. And that was, and is, Michael Jackson.
I'm pretty sure that as long as people remember him, history will not, cannot and will never forget Michael Jackson, the King of Pop.
