In the waning days of the 20th Century, a popular singer would shatter, redefine and transcend all concepts of sexuality, gender, race and class. The world would embrace him, shower him with untold riches, indulge his whims, then turn on, persecute, ostracize and then ignore him. David Bowie notwithstanding, singer Michael Jackson was the true Man Who Fell to Earth. Obscenely wealthy, with only a passing resemblance to humanity, Jackson flitted between being an angelic ambassador of goodwill to a horrific monster that preyed upon the innocent, sometimes simultaneously. The true tragedy was just prior to his sudden death due to cardiac arrest on June 25th, Jackson’s albums languished on music store shelves, a casualty of the ever fickle public.
The youngest son of the musical family the Jacksons, Michael would delight prepubescent girls with his elfin appeal as the lead singer of the Jackson Five. Jackson’s childhood, according to some reports was a very dark one. Under the whip of a demanding father, Jackson would learn about the facts of life from the groupies his elder brothers would pass around after concert dates. His 1972 breakthrough hit “Ben,” a love theme crooned to a rat, allegedly drew upon his own lonely hours with only the household vermin to speak to.
Bigger things lay in store. His album Off the Wall rocketed off the charts, and his stratospheric follow-up Thriller galvanized the music industry. His popularity also shattered the then-apartheid American music market. Rock music radio stations tacitly didn’t play “black” artists, but Jackson’s overwhelming popularity simply could not be ignored. Jackson’s videos for “Beat It,” “Thriller” and “Billie Jean” also pushed through the concept of the music video as art form, miniature movies with drive and narrative comparable to full-length motion pictures.
Perhaps the crown jewel in the Prince of Pop’s crown was in corralling diverse musician and personalities together for the hit single “We Are the World.” Taking a cue from the British hit “Feed the World,” Jackson gathered singers of every stripe and genre to sing out for African famine relief. A shining example of pop music giving back to the global community, countless other music-related efforts have since concentrated on helping the less fortunate.
In spite of this, there was definitely something drastically wrong with Michael Jackson. Whereas other singers traded on raw sexuality, Jackson embraced an androgynous innocence. In spite of arranged dates with Brooke Shields and Madonna, there were whispers that the Moonwalker was perhaps gay, or possibly still a virgin. Furthermore, Jackson refused to grow up. Seizing J. M. Barrie’s storybook hero Peter Pan as a role model, Jackson christened his sprawling ranch “Neverland,” a perverse personal playground open to all children of the world – in particular young boys with poor families anxious to turn a quick buck.
Mutilating his features with countless plastic surgeries and bleaching his skin white, Jackson would mutate into a disturbing approximation of Lon Chaney’s Phantom of the Opera. Enormous nostrils, unnaturally large eyes and smooth complexion framed by black hair cascading down in ringlets. Bound and determined to stay in international headlines, in spite of dwindling record sales, Jackson would stage stunts to stay in the public’s hearts and minds. Appearing in public wearing a surgical mask, offering large sums of money for the skeleton of John “Elephant Man” Merrick, posing in a hyperbaric chamber, Jackson made sure he titillated tabloids throughout the Eighties and Nineties.
Jackson’s attempts at notoriety would backfire. Accused of child molestation in 1994, Jackson settled with his accusers out of court. The parade of kiddies continued unabated through Jackson’s countless hotel rooms, up until 2003 when new allegations surfaced. In and out of court, Jackson would appear in newspapers as an unshaven space alien. Acquitted of all counts in 2005, Jackson would return to his own children, reportedly sired through artificial insemination with anonymous mothers. Further fueling paparazzi, Jackson would dangle his new born baby son “Blanket” from a fourth floor balcony in Berlin. Any other father caught doing this would be given a one-way ticket to the Stony Lonesome, but not Jackson.
Leading up to his death, Jackson was preparing for a series of concert dates in England, prophetically dubbed the “final curtain call.” Collapsing after s series of rehearsals, Jackson was pronounced dead due to heart failure at the much too young age of 50.
No one sold as many records as Jackson did. No one crossed as many lines defining race or gender than Jackson did. The scariest, most satanic Goth rocker could never hope to be a fraction as horrifying as Jackson was.
Michael Jackson was the entertainer the world deserved. His public demanded an unhappy ending, and he gave them one. A true star.