Michael Jackson

Many, many stories have been written about Michael Jackson in the last week. Everyone, it seems, has something to say about him. This article is no different. I want to put my feelings and memories of Michael Jackson into print.

When I was 12 years old, my family moved from Scotland to Canada. It was during that year (1969) that I discovered the music of the Jackson Five. For most of my early life, I constantly had a transistor radio stuck to my ear. I loved the music of the 60s; from British pop to psychedelic music to Motown; there was hardly any time when I did not listen to the radio almost constantly. The Jackson Five captured my imagination so much because it was the first time a group of pop musicians on the radio were around my age, the lead singer at least. Their music was popful, soulful, upbeat and totally enjoyable.  I remember telling my friends in grade 8 about their music and talking about Michael Jackson with them; many of them hadn’t heard of them before. I distinctly remember hearing and dancing to ABC at my grade 8 graduation dance.

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I began buying all of the Jackson Five albums; I got a couple for Christmas the next year, along with The Partridge Family’s first album (which is another story). When I started high school, I was still a shy teenager who was not very popular and only had a couple of friends. The Jackson Five got me through. I imagined what sort of great life Michael Jackson and his brothers must have. Of course, that was all a fantasy; their lives, Michael’s especially, revolved around work with not much time to enjoy their youth.  Believing the fantasy I read about in the teen magazines like 16 Magazine and Tiger Beat got me through. I would lip synch to their records in my bedroom and pretend to be Michael. My true crush from the band was Jermaine, he was slightly older than me and I loved his background vocals.

I watched all the shows the Jackson Five appeared in, watched their cartoon show from 1971 to 1973, and listened to their records for hours on end. I also started buying Michael’s solo albums when he began releasing them.

I grew away from the Jackson Five by the time Michael left the band and they changed their name to The Jacksons. I was growing up and moving on to other types of music and pastimes. Still, the band held a place in my heart.

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By the time the 80s came around, I never thought of the Jacksons or Michael Jackson. Then…I saw him on the Motown 25th Anniversary Special. Michael blew me and many, many others away with his performance. I couldn’t believe that the little boy I had idolized had grown as much as a performer. I bought Thriller like most of the world, but that is where it ended. I didn’t find his music that interesting to me after Thriller and Billie Jean. As I said, I had grown up and was more interested in following New Wave and Punk groups from England at that time.

I am saddened about how Michael Jackson’s life turned out. I would have hoped he could have settled into his adulthood as well as other child performers like Donny Osmond did. If only he had not locked himself away and had tried to have normal relationships with people. Maybe some therapy would not have hurt. I don’t believe he was a paedophile but just a man (boy) who never grew up and really thought at first that there was nothing wrong with having slumber parties with young boys. I was as angry as others when after the first allegation he did not change that fact. He was just asking for trouble in my opinion, and he got it. I think a lot of it stems from the fact that Michael Jackson did not have someone in his life to tell him “no”, someone who would tell him when he was losing touch with reality. Unfortunately, it looks like there was no one in his life that stood up to him. I feel that is the ultimate tragedy of his life.

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 Now, when I think of Michael Jackson, I can only think of the little boy with the sweet voice and the huge talent. He had as much soul when he was 11 as many of the greatest Motown artists and, like many of those great artists, he got the whole world dancing.