I Still Think About Michael Jackson

A few days after Michael Jackson had died a coworker had said that he was not over his death while another proudly proclaimed that was very much over it. The way he saw it Michael had not released any material in years and was out of the loop anyway. I go back and forth between putting it out of my mind and then being reminded of it when I see a news clip on television or a magazine article. Songs of Michael Jackson’s I had not heard in years continuously play through my head; I even found myself going back and playing Triumph from his final years with his brothers. Sometimes a song is a classic that demands to be revisited. I was young, mesmerized by the special effects, and fascinated with the concept.

It goes back that far for me and if Michael had never attempted to take over the world with Thriller I would still have enjoyed his work; I was a true fan and it did not matter that no one might ever sell as many records as he did. The numbers do not mean anything; if you adjust record sales for the times of the climate that we were in during the late nineties and particularly after 2001 plenty of artists had a similar impact in terms of sales. Arguably Britney Spears first record at over nine million has had a similar impact, as did those artists that conveniently sold more than 500,000 their first week, which Eminem continues to do. The problem is that in the first part of this decade almost everyone was selling between nine million and eleven million; perhaps five million on the low end. Downloading has not killed album sales, rather it is the fact that no one is crushing the game the way that artists have then. Again if you adjust for the times this is no different than what Michael, Prince and Madonna were doing back then; we just do not have anyone that much further ahead of their competition. In the United States, the Eagles “Their Greatest Hits (1971 – 1975)” has actually outsold Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Worldwide, however, Thriller has sold 110 million where as the number two album, AC/DCs Back in Black, sold 49 million. Not far behind is Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard soundtrack, at 42 million worldwide and 17 million in the US. If she can sell 17 million in 1992 clearly it is possible for someone to do so again. The obvious elements need to be in place, a record in which singles are still being played on the radio well after a year, the same singles nonetheless, but it is possible.

Two days ago I heard about Aaliyah’s death and hadn’t realized just how many years it had been. I remember other singers hating on Aaliyah wondering why she was so great. I never thought that Aaliyah was great or that there was anything particularly special about her, but the honest truth is that she was on her way, in that period of ascension in her career. Aaliyah, as a solo artist should have been where others like Beyonce and Rhianna are today; she had the right people behind her, and had that potential and charisma as an entertainer. She was taken away too soon for us, but God knows what he is doing.