Michael Jackson 1958-2009
With all the news of the death of Michael Jackson I am truly saddened. There was a question asked by one of the news commentators " How will you remember Michael Jackson". Michael was a contemporary of mine we were born the same year so I can remember when they first hit the music scene. I remember Michael and his brothers from the very beginning. I remember seeing the Jackson five doing a promotional in store appearance. My mother took my brothers and sisters and I and some of the neighborhood kids to see them. It was a instore promotion at a department store called Whitefront, it was a precurser to stores like target. The one thing I can tell you about that in store appearance was that I was terrified. I remember the crowds and the pandemonium surrounding all of them. I almost got crushed under the limo they were in. I was shoved against the window and I remember seeing Michael in the car crying. I have always felt sorry for him, because he was so scared and then with all of the turmoil in his life in recent years.When they finally did get in the store it was a mad house.
I was standing there watching my sister and my friend Vanessa walking towards me and the Jackson 5 were right behind them. I had my back to the crowd and when they spotted the Jackson 5 they charged them. There was a security guard that grabbed me took me to the storeroom to safety. The Jackson’s security grabbed my sister and Vanessa and took them with them. We all met up in the back storeroom and all I wanted to do was go home. I could tell that Michael wanted to do the same thing. He was so small but then again we were only 11 years old. What I find truly interesting was his stage presence, he commanded the stage. From the little scared kid in that huge wild crowed to the fearless performer on stage. The one thing I can tell you is that after that store appearance was that I never wanted to be famous.
I have most of the records that he made on vinyl. And I just listened to them in the order they were released and I can tell you that I was impressed. They still hold up after all of these years. When you think about it Thriller is 25 years old and it is still effecting music to this day. Just look at the current batches of performers that were babies or not even born when it came out and how they all pay homage to it in they’re acts. You have Neo, Beyonce, Justin Timberlake, Rhiana, Chris Brown, Usher etc. His music is still to this day relevant. But in the music industry you are really only as good as you’re last hit. Michael Jackson was an electric performer and those that he emulated were also electric. His favorite performers were Jackie Wilson and James brown and Elvis and his favorite dancers were Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire and who can forget Sammy Davis Jr.
Michael Jackson is and will always be the "King of Pop". He took the pop music genre and took it to the next level and made it an international sensation. Just like Motown records, which took R& B to the next level Michael did the same thing and took it even higher making it more broad and acceptable. Michael’s style took Dance music (disco/funk) mixed it with bubblegum pop and Rhythm and Blues and Rock and Roll and he made it all meld to a cohesive style that will forever be identified with him. This is a fact that can not be denied. Michael took his influences and made them known throughout the world. His music is known the world over and there is not one country you can go to and not hear his music or feel his musical influence. In the later part of his career he did start to become strange with the changes in his appearance and his reclusive behavior.
He was dubbed "Whacko Jacko" and I will agree that he did bring allot of that on himself. But he was also under so much media scrutiny that I could see why he became more and more bizarre. There were all sorts of allegations made against him and none were ever proven to be fact. But once you label someone with a negative in the media it is a no win situation. It also appears that Michael Jackson’s insurance company paid the settlement out to Jordan and his father. Who basically took the cash and moved to the East Coast. Jordan’s mother still maintains that there was no inappropriate contact between Michael and her son.With the first case being settled out of court by his insurance company against the wishes of Michael and his attorneys the taint and the stigma still haunted him. Then 10 years latter came the second allegations and the trial where he was acquitted but even after the court cases and the legal settlements he is still being remembered as a child molester, a fact that I might add has never been proven. Funny thing is that no one wants to remember all of the good that he did.
Michael Jackson is in the Guinness book of world records for being the most charitable performer ever. But that is eclipsed by the negative allegations that were never proven. He is the biggest selling recording artist of all time. He was a loving father to his three children; he was a brother to 8 siblings and a loving son. He is adored the world over yet every news media outlet still wants to focus all of the negative things. I will admit that he was not perfect but the way that he was hounded by the media when he was alive and to this day he is still being drug through the mud and it sickens me. The media took the allegations made by these people and took them as fact but never published all of the details that lead up to the allegations nor did they even try to get to the truth.
Well I did a little Internet search on Jordan Chandler and I found some interesting stuff. Seems that Jordan and his father Evan are having a little domestic dispute. There is a court case pending in New Jersey. Jordan has taken out a restraining order on his father. I am not sure what the deal is with Jordan’s accusations of sexual abuse are but his mother testified for Michael Jackson’s defense at the child molestation trial in 2005. It also appears that there has been no contact between Jordan and his mother since the first case was settled. Evan Chandler got full custody of Jordan after his divorce from Jordan’s mother. They then moved to New Jersey. It is where Jordan alleges that his father hit him in the head with a 12-pound dumbbell and sprayed mace in his eyes and tried to choke him to death.
So whether the child abuse allegations are true or not it is really up to Jordan to tell the truth. And the real fact here is that Michael was acquitted on all charges. And now in death there is every crazy and their brother trying to get on the gravy train to get a chunk of his legacy. Now the real question is does any of this matter now? Michael Jackson is gone and he has left three children and a devastated family and the whole world to grieve his death. He has left a legacy of great music and a musical vision to be enjoyed by generations to come. He music has effected the lives of multiple generations from my parents to me to my nephews and there kids and that says allot about and artist. To me that says Icon.
This is Elmysterio and I’m out.
