Webbready

I don’t normally write about the deaths of famous people. Plenty of people will miss the individual who has passed away, and I am unable delude myself to think that any words I write will be any more than self-serving reflections that will be rightfully be forgotten in time.

However, Michael Jackson was not just a celebrity. His impact on the entertainment industry goes without saying, but he wasn’t just an icon, a legend, “The King of Pop,” or any moniker — good or bad — you could throw on him.

Micheal Jackson was the type of man I never envisioned dying.

Realistically, death is certain for all of us who are fated to live, but in my mind, I never thought I would outlive Michael Jackson. To me, he was a fixture of my very existence. Since I was born after his Jackson Five days, I only know his earlier work through the Jackson Five as recordings, and portal to a time before I was even a thought. Many of his songs were the backbone of the soundtrack of my childhood, but, of course, as a child in the 1980s, it was his videos. which favorite video was Thriller. I remember watching the recording of The Making of Thriller on Beta over and over again. I remember going to Disney World when I was six and watch Captain EO — those 3D effects scared the daylights out of me back then! I had the privilege to see him perform when I was seven, but I was far too young to truly appreciate the concert for something other than noise in the dark.

Over the years his physical appearance changed, and elements of his music changed as well. I still vividly remember watching the video premiere of “Remember the Time” on FOX and falling in love with the special effects and the story it told. In later years, he became more well known for behavior and allegations, yet that voice of his remained recognizable and immutable, and he still possessed many of his signature moves. He was labeled as having a “Peter Pan Complex,” but you never expect Peter Pan to die.

There is much to analyze about the importance of Michael Jackson to music, to American and world culture, to the entertainment industry, to anything and everything. That I will leave to those who know what they’re talking about. Michael Jackson was important to me, both as a little girl who once saw him as the pinnacle of everything as a performer, and as an adult who is cursed with the knowledge that a greatness that will never be approached by anyone else is now lost to this world, forever.