Michael Jackson, 1958-2009, died today at 2:26 pm (Pacific standard time) after suffering a heart attack and falling into a coma. He was rushed to U.C.L.A. Medical Center and was pronounced dead shortly there after. Even though the last 20 years have been pretty tumultuous for M.J., he was and will remain an icon in his own right. I know that for myself as for millions of others around the globe, his music, specifically the records from the early 1980's represent a time and a cultural phenomena that has yet to be matched. Its obvious that he suffered some kind of mental breakdown or trauma in later years and went over the edge not only with the facial surgeries he had, but with the charges of sexual molestation brought against him and the millions he paid out of court to keep the issue quiet. I can even admit that when Michael Jackson appeared as a character on South Park ("The Jeffersons", episode 807, aired 2004) I laughed until my side hurt when he tossed "Blanket" into the air, and later when part of his face fell off. Tacky, yes but then a lot of humor geared towards celebrities and otherwise is tacky and distasteful. However, when you google "Thriller" or "Beat it" or Billy Jean" and even "We Are the World" along with countless other songs from that time you'll find music that wasn't only monumental for the time but also strategic in the evolution of sound, style and rhythmic dancing.
I remember as a young girl sitting in my parents home, with my father soon after they had divorced. Leafing through the Thriller album (1982) and opening the cardboard folds, marveling at the pictures. My father played the record loudly, with the front door open sharing the music with the rest of the neighborhood. It was the early 80's and we altered between Michael Jackson, Boy George and The Culture Club and Billy Joel's "The Stranger". Good times.
Along with music, one can not ignore the stylistic choices of Michael Jackson who was also a fashion icon. I had a "Michael Jackson" jacket, red and black with diagonal zippers going down the front worn (of course) with a white glove. I wish I had a photograph of myself wearing the jacket, but that was before the digital era and photos weren't as disposable. The memory is imprinted in my mind in photographic form, as memories often are, but its not the same as an actual image plastered between pages of an album. Music has a way of documenting and making an imprint on life as does art. When I hear certain songs or records by particular artists I"m immediately transported back to that year, who I was hanging out with, how I dressed, and reminded of any events that may have transpired. Art in a similar way not only documents time (based on when it was made) but also makes a mark in the time-line of personal experience. I also remember when I saw Salvador Dali's "The Persistence of Memory" at the Museum of Modern Art. Music, the audio accompaniment of life like art the visual accompaniment carry us through, marking the wall as we grow and age.
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