In the immediate wake of the news of Michael Jackson's sudden cardiac arrest, coma and ultimate death (a process that damn near exploded Twitter), I have few worthy words. He was undoubtedly one of the greatest talents of our time, creative or otherwise. That a young boy from Gary, Indiana, would make his way to Detroit and Motown is our profound fortune, not his. Jackson inspired intense love from people all over the world, a kind of love that is difficult for me to so much as attempt to articulate. For my part, I remember being nine-years-old and weeping at the video of "Man in the Mirror," so moved I was. (UPDATE: Thanks Mark B. for finding the link to the full video; makes me a bit emotional still.) Jackson's troubling family story, and distressing, often maddening later years offer no easy answers to the many billions of us who, despite ourselves, really care.
Which is not to imply that we didn't feed off his pain and his problems like scavengers, dignity be damned. We should be ashamed of ourselves. There are those out there who are spitting more than a few sick jokes even now. I am repulsed.
I hope he was happy, at least for a time or two.
Jackson, in his 50th year, was launching a serious of 50 concerts in London, scheduled to start in just a couple weeks. The concerts all sold out in nanoseconds. It is a testament to his immense genius that we are, still, loyal.
With that, let us turn our attention once more to a selection of the greatest moments of Jackson's artistic life, and in the lives of any music-lover.
My god, that voice, that music, those moves, that style ... Michael Jackson, we hardly knew ye.
Jackson performs "Billie Jean," a song from his new album, at the Motown 25th anniversary concert in 1983. Here, he debuted the moonwalk. UPDATE: In Jackson's 1993 interview with Oprah (his first television interview in 14 years), the artist said that after this performance, he cried backstage because he felt like he hadn't done good enough. He didn't feel better about the show until a kid complimented him in the parking lot; he trusted that the kid had no reason to lie.
The Jackson 5 performs "I Want You Back," a 1969 number-one single from the group's debut album (which in turn was titled Diana Ross Presents the Jackson 5). Michael was ten-years-old.
Jackson performs "Smooth Criminal," a single off the 1987 Bad album, at a concert in Gothenburg, Sweden, in 1997. "Smooth Criminal" was part of Jackson's film, Moonwalker--which in turn inspired this little gem.
At the 1988 Grammy awards, Jackson performed "Man in the Mirror" with a gospel choir. "Man in the Mirror" was a number-one hit that spring and was nominated for Record of the Year at the awards ceremony.
And of course ... this little revolution in 13.41 minutes.
Image Credit: The New York Times
Ho Ho! Interest and schadenfreude, eh?
It's curious that de Botton claims that receiving a "daft review" causes one to mature and take responsibility for their words, when, if in fact Crain's review was daft, de Botton's resulting maturity leaves him to spit schoolyard lines like, "I will hate you til the day I die." Dressed up, of course, with schadenfreude.