It's always sad when icons die. I wasn't a rabid Michael Jackson fan, truth be told. Even as a kid in the '80s I thought he was a bit odd and, while I loved his signature dance moves, he didn't really appeal to me. I only really developed an appreciation as a teenager, looking back on all his classic music videos and realizing the spectacle of his concerts and record-breaking successes. His album "Thriller" has sold 100 million copies, a feat unlikely to ever be beaten. Then came the allegations of child abuse and the mid-'90s slump, which he never really recovered from...His life got crazier, mud stuck, and the hit singles dried up. Over the past decade, he became a bizarre, lanky caricature of himself. There's probably a whole generation (or two) that equate his fame with nothing but bizarre behaviour, controversy, dangling babies out of windows, court appearances, making his kids wear face-masks, and being mobbed on the street by screeching fans in white gloves. Fortunately, his heyday was so phenomenal that the music cuts through all that nonsense. "Thriller", "Smooth Criminal", "Black Or White", "Bad", "Billie Jean", "Man In The Mirror"... it's quicker to list the singles that weren't hits for Jacko.
Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest at the inconsiderable age of 50, on the eve of 50 comeback gigs at the London O2 Arena that, honestly, nobody thought would go ahead. He'd already postponed the first batch, there were reports he'd barely attended rehearsals in L.A, and it felt like he was being pressured into doing these concerts to pay his bills. The first 10 gigs alone were rumoured to net the singer £50 million.
Upon hearing the news he'd been admitted to hospital after a heart attack, the cynical part of me suspected it was all faked to give him an excuse to cancel his summer shows. That's the kind of outrageous stunt you wouldn't put past him, really. Sadly, I was wrong.
Was the heart attack tied to his general ill health or plastic surgeries? Was it brought on through stress about his final gigs? Or was it just "one of those things"? Maybe we'll find out in a few days, but one thing's for certain: Michael Jackson may have left us, but his music will never die.
