Saturday, June 27, 2009

Farewell, Michael Jackson!


Michael Jackson is the icon of my generation. As a colleague of mine rightly pointed out, the tragic news of his death is the "Elvis" moment of our time, in reference to the death of the then King of Rock and Roll of the 60s generation.

For the 80s generation, the King of Pop was Michael Jackson. He was our undisputed King. No other news has been of relevance for the past few days. But now we mourn the passing away of a legend, who brought the world together much more than any politician.

In his words, his was a world of "neither black or white" and Michael went to great lengths to change that even physically himself. The world is grieving for him because he brought joy to all of us and we also saw the pain he had to go through from the child molest charges against him to his financial dire straits.

Many saw him as a money machine to be used. Despite his obvious poor physical condition, he was signed up to perform in 50 shows in London. It can only be described as sheer madness, if not exploitation. The tickets for the shows were all sold out in an hour.

But there was also a price to be paid as the man prepared for the tour. The toll must have been too much. Michael, the world would never forget you and your songs. Farewell.

See also my On The Beat column today.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Michael's passing has to be one of the most depressing news for a world already in financial turmoil.

America for all it's might couldnt protect one of its icons from self destructing...like Elvis..a combination of money, media and medicine finally killed him..a talent, a light to brighten our dreary lives is gone for good.....God bless his soul.

canopy rentals said...

Very Bad News, We have Lost an Extraordinary Person who rolled his life completely on dance and music. Jackson is No more but god will soon gives a solution.

jackson said...

I've spent much of my adult life arguing for the importance and significance of pop culture. So I have no choice but to address the legacy of Michael Jackson.