Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Michael Jackson: The "thriller" lives on

Shrine outside a music store in central London.
Michael Jackson continued to be on the front pages of all British newspapers. He has become more valuable in death. Overnight, he has topped the singles and album charts with UK radio stations playing his music non-stop. His songs have now become the most downloaded, chalking up record sales, partially driven by newspapers which campaigned for his fans to make him the No 1 over the weekend.

Certainly the UK media has not made the news of his death a one-day affair. Many tribute events have been lined up even as interesting bits of news come out - that MJ was a living skeleton, he was bald, he only ate once a day, he had 13 plastic surgeries and that his body was riddled with needle wounds.

The revelation that his personal will has not been found has added more mystery to the story. Why would a rich man, despite his mountain of debts, not keep a copy of his will? The man, even in death, has certainly made sure he dominated the front pages. The BBC has continued to provide daily "live" crossovers to Los Angeles.

At the O2 Arena, where he was supposed to perform in 50 shows - fans have placed flowers, candles, posters, messages and pictures at shrines as a mark of respect for him. I saw the same scene at the busy HMV Trocadero branch near Picadilly Circus and outside the Lyric Theatre, where the musical "Thriller" is being played.

It's becoming more difficult getting tickets for the show where reviewers have generally given nasty comments. People have been known to walk out of the show, which is sometimes described as patchy.

Meanwhile, out in the streets, young black men, known for showing off their audio gadgets in their cars, are playing loudly his songs, instead of the preferred hip-hop songs.

British politicians, however, must have expressed relief that the media has lost interest in them after weeks of having their expenses scrutinised by the media. For the time being, Michael Jackson is the man of the hour. The media frenzy is expected to peak at his funeral, which has not been determined, as autopsy reports are being compiled and investigations being conducted.

The Thriller is not about to abate...


4 comments:

HeadLiner said...

Read this and see how MJ was in KL:

http://24abib.blogspot.com/2009/06/jacko.html

Anonymous said...

OK I can understand there are a lot of people who like MJ's music and dance, and that this is a talented singer and dancer with a string of successes. But there are many like myself also, who cannot relate to MJ. For a start, I was too busy struggling to make ends meet as a fresh graduate when MJ came to the music scene. Secondly I was raised on a diet of hippie music from the Beatles and Rolling Stones era, and our generation still think the best music came from that era. I have nothing against MJ and his music, but after one full day of nothing but MJ on the radio and TV, I am already crying out for some other music. So you DJ's out there please don't subject us with too much of the same music, it can go from interesting to boring after a full day saturation.

Anonymous said...

The media is running out of news, so the death of MJ provided the media with something to talk about. And the entertainment industry is just cashing in while the going is good. MJ was a bad role model for the kids, but I guess once a person is dead, his sins are forgiven. But really it is getting stale. So let's move on. The media can come back to MJ stuff when the potential beneficiaries of his estate slug it out in court. Anyway MJ fans will soon be treated with talk shows and autobiography by people who will claim to be very close to him, and wants to treat his fans to a "Tell All, Bare All" talk shows and books. But meanwhile, can the radio and TV people, and yes the Press people, please treat us with some other music and stories???

Anonymous said...

You can round up a lot of great leaders, politicians, actors, singers, etc of every era into one whole bunch, but they can never match Michael Jackson's single handedly unites people around the world.