I remember being about 8 years old when my dad bought my brothers and I a cassette copy of "Thriller" for one of our birthdays.  Our next door neighbor, A.J., came over and he, my little brother Dan and I all put on our windbreakers and slicked back our hair with water and commenced to have a dance party.  We must have listened to each side 4 times (always fast forwarding through "The Girl Is Mine" because we didn't have the patience for it, being small children) before breaking out the Ninja Turltes or something else along those lines.  As I grew up I went through all kinds of musical phases, but even when I thought that Type O Negative was the greatest band ever I couldn't help myself from wanting to tear up a dance floor when "Smooth Criminal" came on the radio.  Of course, having a life-long obsession with all things zombie related, the "Thriller" video still stands in my opinion as the absolute zenith of the art of the music video.  Don't even get me started on the bassline for "ABC"...GOOD LORD that's funky.  Although, I guess we have Jermaine to thank for that.

Today we lost one of the most singular, trailblazing phenomenons in the history of pop music.  Any kind of music, really.  Yes, Michael Jackson has been inarguably nuts for some time now, but that doesn't take a single thing away from the massive influence he has had on pop or the huge number of smash hits he released in his career of over 40 years.  

A toast to the King of Pop.

~Mike, Cassavettes