MJ—Thoughts & Reflections, Part 2 - V
I have a lot of strong opinions on how the public has chosen to process the death of a previously persecuted man. Pop culture is a fickle beast, embracing innocence, mocking misery and championing legend. As I follow the news coverage, the phrase “If only Michael had been around to see this” is reiterated ad nauseam. Those words have haunted my thoughts for days, said with such predictability and lack of meaning. We go through the motions, speaking what sounds good on camera, thoughtful in conversation. But the blank stares that have accompanied every iteration of this statement reveal us as a conflicted public, wanting to celebrate a career and not a person.
The irony in the phrase is Michael knew he would never be around to see this. He was a man who lived to entertain and be loved by the public. When the very same public that defined him turned their back, he sunk into the most fantastic fairytale ever told. I strongly believe that Michael knew that only in death would he finally again know love.
Everyone is curious what track I will select to remember Michael with, but I will not be selecting one of his own. Haunting, sweeping, and ultimately peaceful I leave you with Grouper’s We’ve All Gone To Sleep.
We’ve all gone to sleep / We’ve all gone to bed / We wait for our dreams
Grouper – We’ve All Gone To Sleep (210 kbps VBR)
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There’s such a mixed reaction. I read a comment on a blog about how MJ’s death was taking away from the Farrah Fawcett coverage. Really?!
If you enter this world knowing you are loved and you leave this world knowing the same, then everything that happens in between can be dealt with.- Michael Jackson
So, I read CT via RSS usually, and it resides in a folder of other other MP3-centric blogs. That said, I began reading this post, unlike the hundreds of other MJ entries in recent days, because of the image – one I’d never seen. Now, while the track linked is great, I just wanted to leave you, V, a comment to tell you just how incredibly well-written and composed this piece was and how it, unlike anything else I’ve read in regard to MJ’s passing, truly spurred thought into his death and the odd emptiness the life that preceded it held… Thank you.
It’s really nice to see a thoughtful post with allusions to the darker side of MJ’s life. The bubble gum the press has given us neither does justice to MJ’s genius, nor to the torture of his life and the way he did what most trauma victims do, turned it on others. I don’t think he was vicious or anything like that (the baby over the balcony for example, was I think, his way of introducing Prince Michael, not intended to harm him, just thoughtless and foolish), but he made some really bad decisions and judgments. That said, so did Picasso and Hemingway, and we don’t forget their genius either. Thanks again.