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by Philipina A. Marcelo
Just a week ago or so, I was watching cable news with a story about Michael Jackson’s 50-performance “This is it” tour, which was set to kick-off at the O2 arena in London in two weeks time. Just like all news about MJ these days, it was peppered with all those pedophile and extreme weirdness tales, plus a good serving of stories about his supposed gigantic debts and personal troubles… very little on
his music and his phenomenal achievements. If I weren’t following the Iran story, I would’ve pressed the “off” button in my remote control! I winced and sighed through the whole story.On Friday, June 25, at 8:17 AM (Manila time), I was still trying to get a good night’s sleep off my eyes when I received a text message from my sister saying, “Hey, you know what, Michael Jackson is dead!” Recalling the “weirdness stories” on cable news some days back, I waved the text aside with a sigh and jokingly texted my sister back with, “Good for him! Now his troubles are over!”
I got up and automatically switched on my computer while I did my morning rituals and made myself coffee. I sat down in front of my computer and went on-line… my browser automatically took me to MSN. A banner of a headline dominated the page. It was about the passing of a pop icon. Somewhere in the headline, I saw “Michael Jackson”! I blinked and gulped my coffee in one go – this might be a nightmare! The hot liquid burned my lips and throat, and I yelped, “aaaaawww!” All of a sudden an “Aaaww”-peppered music that accompanied me from childhood to adulthood filled the room, and my hands started to shake. At that point another sister stormed into my room and said in an I’ll-be-damned panicked voice, “you gotta see the news – quick!” I followed her blindly to her room and flopped on the seat in front of her TV, which was tuned in to CNN. I saw the grim look in the usually composed, if not cheerful, face of Anjali Rao and my heart started to beat fast. And then, I saw images of grief-stricken people frantically running around the UCLA hospital, and a current photo of Michael Jackson in a box on the corner of the screen… below the photo, it read, “1958 – 2009”. I froze. Cold crept from my toes to the tips of my hair, and all I heard was the loud thumping of my heart.
* * *
Michael Jackson is gone.
I felt my lungs constrict and a huge bubble blocked my air passage and my throat, it made breathing such a labor. I swallowed hard to clear it, but it sat there and plugged my throat painfully. It must have been more than an hour after I realized that my sister already left for work and I was alone in her room staring absently at the TV screen. In my head Michael Jackson’s songs were narrating my life….
“Happy” – the very first record I ever owned in my life – single, in vinyl disk. I learned the word “concert” through The Jackson 5 concert in Araneta
Coliseum in Manila where, at six years, I instantly fell for that cute teen with a sweet voice and groovy moves called Michael Jackson when he sang “Ben”. “Don’t stop ‘til you get enough” and “Rock with You” from his “Off the Wall” album veered us away from the cheesiness of “disco” music to a different kind of dance tunes and dance moves – the very ingredients that gave birth to “pop music” as we know it today. These were the songs that catapulted MJ to gigastardom. The same songs that my siblings and I used to dance to while growing up, copying MJ’s moves and trying to compete as to who had the fastest and fanciest foot works. That kept us away from all those trouble-inducing teen and pre-teen rebellious activities – a good reason why even my late Mom was a big fan of MJ’s. Indeed, "Off the Wall" was a fulfilment of the magnificent promise of Michael's brilliant star as a solo artist. And the world craved for more!* * *
In the 80’s, when my siblings and I were teenagers, “Thriller” came out. It was such a phenomenon! Michael Jackson grew from this prodigy to this phenomenal artistic force that was bound to capture every single individual whose soul responded to music. Michael’s soul, embodied in his music, was a consuming fire that caught the whole world. His performances revealed the powerful passion for musical artistry that defined every note he sang and every single move he made… and it set the whole
world ablaze! Those energetic yet graceful spins halted by a fancy foot work and a pose, those signature waist-high kicks accompanied by arm and head movements that went fluidly with the tempo of his music, and that moonwalk, oh yeah, that Michael Jackson moonwalk – awesome dance moves that put a signature on Michael’s performances, and copied by many until now. He was a performance dynamo on stage – totally elevating music concerts from a mere 90-minute entertainment to an unforgettable experience.
Seeing Michael’s unbelievable dance moves and impassioned rendition of his songs on screen, the music industry realized the power of music video in taking people’s appreciation of music to a different level. Michael seemed to understand this from the very beginning. Even when he was just this little boy from Gary, Indiana, in colorful matching outfits, he danced energetically with his brothers while singing “Rockin’ Robin” with such infectious gusto that elicited delighted response from his audience. As a solo artist in “Off the Wall”, he started concocting a formula for the now vintage Michael Jackson sing-and-dance performances. Gifted singer and dancer as he was, his star shone even brighter. When another music genius, Quincy Jones, gave him a powerful vehicle to explore his understanding of “total performance” in “Billie Jean” – another big song from the album “Thriller” – Michael took it. And, boy, did he hit home! He sang and danced his way to the heart of every single TV-owning individual all over the globe via MTV. When "Beat it" came out, thanks to MTV, almost every single teenager on the planet was wearing be-zippered red jacket over black trousers, and black shoes with white socks!
* * *
Accompanying MJ’s bright star’s rise to universal level was the boom of music videos, and the (re)birth of MTV as we know it today. Suddenly, music became a visual art, too! And Michael started re-painting himself through unique and colorful, albeit eccentric, wardrobe and bling-blings, such as those sequined gloves and dark glasses that made every single appearance on TV totally interesting to his
fans. But his music and his to-the-max performances remained to be the reason why he was the undisputed King of Pop.
Not satisfied with the blings, he started experimenting on cosmetic surgery, too. That time, his music, which was brilliant, was all that mattered that any such eccentricities were overlooked… or forgiven. He was the King of Pop, he can’t go wrong. His records and music videos continued to dominate the charts. Because of the rise of MTV, partly through Michael’s stardom, the influence of music became more widely encompassing. In fact, when “Thriller” came out, the world was one in singing and dancing to the same song – “Thriller”, breaking all kinds of cultural barriers. And it made Michael Jackson and his music the iconic legend in the glorious days of the pop music era!
Needless to say, I was one of them teary-eyed fans whenever Michael waved his gloved hand.
* * *
He used his gigastar status to help alleviate problems in the world, too. He played an important role in putting together “USA for Africa” to bring about much needed relief from hunger to Ethiopia. Wherever he went to perform, he would visit places of grief-stricken individuals to bring cheers to them through his music and
company. He promoted music among young people as a means of expressing themselves in a positive way. His example was emulated by other artists, putting a humane face to the entertainment business. Young people, like myself then, were all about good music and good cause… and the King of Pop was in the center of it all.
And then, the cosmetic surgery experiments were brought to the extremes. Suddenly, he emerged as a very different person – physically… and yet, he oozed the same Michael Jackson magic when he performed. His music was constantly evolving… a real genius, he kept his music current... because he can! From the fast dance rhythm of his “Off the Wall” songs, to the rock/dance concoctions of the “Thriller” songs, to the angry pop/rock sound he offered in “Bad”, he was brilliant. When his 80’s contemporaries retreated to being superstars of the past, he and his music remained relevant even when a wave of new artists were coming in.
Privately, however, he seemed to be succumbing deeper and deeper to the pit of his lonely existence in the glory of his legend. And, the more extreme the eccentricities went. In the meantime, the pop music landscape was slowly changing, and the pop media became more and more ferocious in its transformation to an industry of extreme sensationalism of celebrity stories. The discrete curbing of celebrity privacy became a complete disregard of privacy – it became almost a human rights violation! And, the King of Pop, was the easy target. Because more and more new artists were emerging and planting themselves in the new pop landscape, the genius of the Michael Jackson artistry was reduced by the overbearing pop media, to a mere laughing matter. More than anything else, they were interested in reporting how many cosmetic surgeries MJ had had within a month… perhaps, there was nothing else to report, too. Or, perhaps… it was human nature?
Then came the child molestation charges… the ferocious pop media had a field day, and Michael underwent a trial by publicity… all the music genius forgotten, all the record-breaking achievements set aside, all the humanitarian activities all throughout his career thrown out of the window, his privacy ignored and disrespected. All the public saw, especially those who knew very little of Michael’s great legend, was the image painted by the pop media of a recluse cosmetically deformed pedophile. At that point, I started avoiding any news story about MJ. I consoled myself with the beautiful music he made and the wonderful things that it did to people in a generation where artistry is most important rather than anything else.
* * *
No, I’m not about to say that Michael Jackson is the greatest pop artist to grace this lifetime as an apology for all the horrible publicities he endured while he struggled to embrace his life on stage. Although some people might say he did it to himself, and it may not be completely untrue, he still deserved so much more than that. It was sad that when he most needed it, the industry that thrived on his genius for a long time couldn’t come up with anything better than calling him Wacko Jacko. If it’s any consolation, at least he could say he had “Music and Me”.
After another hour of Michael Jackson’s death coverage in the news, I switched off the TV defeatedly and went back to my computer. I surfed through my iTunes list of Michael Jackson music… I had so many. But at that moment, there was only one Michael Jackson song playing in my head…
“… get me out into the night time
four walls won’t hold me tonight.
If this town is just an apple,
then let me take a bite.
If they say why, why, tell ‘em that is human nature…”
I saw my childhood, teenage days and young adulthood passing before my eyes, engulfed in Michael Jackson’s soulful voice… my heart was breaking. I tried to
breathe, it was hard. Suddenly, the bubble in my air passage burst, and it sent me convulsing in tears.
I may not have known Michael Jackson the person, but I do have a 'relationship' with his music, like most 80's people do - his artistry totally defined that era. And he taught us how to yelp, “aaawww” with feelings! It's sad, of course, that he couldn't handle the brilliance of his star and, in the end, it sent him to a downward spiral that even him cannot save himself from... not that he knew how to. And people didn't make it any easier for him either.
But what the heck… go ahead, MJ, take a bite, "Don't stop 'til you get enough"… and if they say why, why, I’ll tell ‘em that is human nature.
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