I was not surprised when I heard the news from my father that Michael Jackson was dead. I was expecting it to happen considering what all shit he had been subjecting his body to for such a long time. That was day before yesterday. And it still hasn't sunk in that he's indeed dead. Like many others, I am a very big fan of MJ. He was the first international artist whose name I had heard even when I did not have cable TV.
It was in 1995 when I bought the audio cassettes of History. The moment I heard the first track, Billie Jean, I was mesmerized. That album was the only one that played in my house and my car for continuously 4-5 years (till I became Enigma fan). It was the time when the cable TV was a new thing in India and MTV made most of its money playing Michael Jackson song. (Ironically on the day of his death, these people showed no respect and kept on playing Punjabi tracks. What a shame!!!)While MJ mania was on the decline overall, India was going crazy about him. I remember a boy in my school who had obtained special permission from the Principal to keep long hair and hat ala MJ. (I am talking about Madhur Mittal from Slumdog Millionaire.)As far as I was concerned, there were 2 kinds of international artists: There was MJ and there were the others.
Not only were,nay, are MJ's songs brilliant as far as melody is concerned, some of them have the power to inspire you, so great, you could not be not affected. Be it Heal the World, or Man in the mirror (which at the time i heard, thought was a song about some ghost :P), the songs are legendary and it was not uncommon for me to hear many songs inspired at least partially by MJ's works. And then there was his dancing. The whole choreography industry owes a lot to Jackson thanks to his distinct dancing styles and moves.
There are those who see him as a weirdo child molester who turned from a black person to a white person because he was ashamed of being a black man. If you are one of them, then one day you might accuse me of purposely changing my skin color to white since I suffer from the same disorder called Vitiligo . And he was no child molester. The first time he was accused he settled it out of court which made people think perhaps he was guilty. Well if I had been a rich man, and knew I was innocent, I would have done the same thing. The second time he was completely acquitted. Sure he had his problems, but which human being does not?
You may say Elvis was the greatest or perhaps the Beatles were. But I have not seen Elvis mania or Beatle mania in my living memory. As far as I am concerned, Michael Jackson was the greatest entertainer ever to set foot on earth.
