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June 26, 2009
Michael Jackson (1958-2009)
I remember when Elvis died. I was driving down the Harbor Freeway in California on my way home from somewhere, and heard the news on my radio.
I remember when John Lennon was assassinated. I simply could not figure out why someone would want to kill him.
I went online late this afternoon, June 25, 2009, to check the news, and there it was: Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, dead at 50.
It almost seems surreal when someone that famous passes away. You keep checking back to make sure that it really happened. Then the flood of news stories begins, and people talk about it for days.
Others will say this, but I will say it as well; set aside all the weirdness that surrounded him since the early nineties. When he was at his peak in the 80's, it seemed that he could do anything. Sing, dance, write songs, sell 50 million copies of one album, break through the “race barrier” on MTV.
There are countless folks who turn up the volume when one of his songs comes on the radio (as they undoubtedly will now), especially a song from the unprecedented run of hits he had from his “Thriller” album.
They do it to this day, although they may not broadcast the fact.
Jackson was preparing to do a run of 50 shows in London and had been rehearsing for the last two months. Now we will never know if we missed the comeback of the century, or...well, there's no need now to think about the alternative.
Posted by leonolguin at June 26, 2009 12:05 AM
Comments
I'll admit, I was really looking forward to that said comeback show. What are all his fans who were going to actually go watch that concert live going to do with those tickets, I wonder? They must have some surreal value in being passes to MJ's last scheduled performance that never was.
Posted by: The Kid at June 26, 2009 04:15 PM