RIP MJ

I really don't want to be "that guy" and start posting about how amazing Michael Jackson was, but let's be honest here OK? The guy was beyond incredible. It's one of those things where you realize you've taken someone for granted for so long and now we realize that we let go of Michael Jackson the performer and hung onto someone who was just a little different than everyone else, and exploited him. I don't want to defend or accuse Michael of anything. But I just want to talk about his music.

Having not entered this world until 1985, I never knew music without Michael Jackson, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Bach, Mozart, Miles Davis, Coltrane, Parker, etc. It had ALWAYS been in my life. The media was ALWAYS following Michael Jackson and was ALWAYS reporting on what he was doing no matter how private it should have been. My parents grew up with Michael Jackson, then I grew up with Michael Jackson. It would have been great for my kids(or pets since I don't have kids) to grow up with an old Michael Jackson, still touring like The Stones, Aerosmith, etc at the age of 65. If you look back on Michael's life, you'll notice something.

Michael Jackson spent most of his time, trying to please others.

Whether it was fans, friends or family he was always just trying to please everyone. He holds his new child up in front of a mass crowd to let them see and we claim he was "dangling his child from a balcony" and call him a bad father. Unfortunately that's just one of the many instances where we misunderstood Michael. Whether you think he was guilty or innocent in his recent court trials, you have to admit that he was shaped by us, the public, to be who he was. If you'd like to know what someone is like when their entire life is made up of making mass amounts of people, in excess of tens of millions, happy...now you know.

Unknowingly and unintentionally through his family, the media, and yes you and I, the fan we collectively denied Michael Jackson a childhood. He spent his entire adult life trying to relive it and just when things looked like they were looking up for Michael, having been equitted on all charges in his trial, and getting ready for a 50 date stint in London at the 02 Arena, he was denied his old age.

I quote Bob Lefsetz when I say, "How fucked up is that?"

I watched in 2001(at least that's when I viewed it, but I think it was live) as Michael took the stage with his brothers to be on stage once again as The Jackson Five and although he stood out like a sore thumb, the performance gave me goosebumps. Michael Jackson was the epitome of the word "performer". No one could out dance him, out sing him, or out entertain him. He was the Michael Jordan of music. The best, EVER.

Every couple hundred years someone comes along that defies everything we know and hold true as a standard to the threshold of human beings. Bach created music notation and was the foundation for what we now know as classical music and contemporary music notation. Mozart was unmatched in his ability to compose and hear arrangements. Miles Davis revolutionized jazz and contemporary music as we know it. Michael Jackson is in that category. Everyone knows Bach, Mozart, and Miles Davis. And 500 years from now when we're all gone and music has reached levels we'll never be able to comprehend in our lifetime, someone somewhere will be popping in Thriller for the first time(probably downloading it directly into your body for listening pleasure from within...no headphones or speakers...hey it's the future I can dream!) and wondering, "so who's the Michael Jackson guy?". Then they'll be blown away.

We won't remember Brittany or Justin. But our history books and archives will always have Michael Jackson.

Michael is now being welcomed by the musical genius' of the past, but he will forever influence our future.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson.