Long Live the King - a Tribute to Michael Jackson

The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, died last night from a heart attack. He was just fifty - my mom's age. My mom's adoration for him I guess caused all of us to get into his music in the 80's. I can remember her playing the Thriller album and Jackie, Joey and I would be bouncing off of the red couches of the living room trying our best to dance like the King.

I can always remember the excitement the King gave us on the television and through the media of the '80's. The fascination of the public was similar to an early Simpsons episode when Bart has a mental patient move in with him who thinks that he really is Michael Jackson (oh, have the times have changed). He invented the Moonwalk, made a movie with Joe Pesci called Moonwalker and even had an awesome arcade game tie in to go with it, he showed us that Pepsi was the taste of a New Generation and he even filmed an awesome Sci-fi 3D adventure ride for Epcot that was later replaced by the Honey I Shrunk the audience ride.

Unfortunately, the '90's weren't as graceful to the King - especially when you are best friends with Corey Feldman and Mac Caulkin. He was up for molestation accusations, hanging his baby out the window and many other scandals and issues - oh yeah, when he temporarily married another King's daughter. But looking back, I'm sure many of these issues and moments with the bizarre (such as owning the skeleton of the Elephant Man and paying for a ticket on a private jet for his Pinocchio doll) probably stemmed from his own fractured childhood.

Was Michael Jackson something that we took for granted that touched our lives with inspiration and entertainment? When the public chastised him and called him a sick molester over the accusations of his bedroom. And who really knows what happened in the Never Land Ranch. Were there parents that figured they could take Michael for all he was worth? Perhaps he was just someone that wanted to give so much love back to under privileged children so that they might be able to enjoy a childhood that he never got since he was either poor at an early age and abused by his father Joe, or because his later adolescent life was growing up in the spotlight with no privacy. Finally, just like Dave Chappelle once said, "He didn't do it. He made Thriller man......Thriller."