Michael Jackson’s definitive record, “Thriller,” was released in 1982, when I was 14 years old. Teenagers all over the world went crazy for the record, but I didn’t. Why? Because I was all self-consciously wrapped up in the indie/new wave scene. I was pretty full of myself, as 14 year olds tend to be, and I thought MJ was way too “mainstream” to be of any interest. Although my friend BBK and I loved listening to early 70s Michael Jackson stuff as teenagers, for me, I always listened in a sort of affectedly ironic way. I loved “ABC,” but I loved it as hipster kitsch.
Fast forward 25 years. I still love music, but now I actually get the genius of “Thriller,” and when I listen to a young Michael Jackson sing “I Want You Back,” I listen in awe, as a grown-up and a mother – recognizing that Michael Jackson was a true, honest-to-goodness child prodigy – rather than listening as a cooler-than-thou adolescent.
What a tragic life. And if anyone has ever created a more perfect pop song than “Billie Jean,” I’m not sure I know of it.
3 Responses to “My later-in-life Michael Jackson appreciation”
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I would argue that Man in the Mirror is his greatest pop song. Not as musically cool as Billie Jean, but lyrically the message is a hammer. And it is a song that clearly shows the grown-up side of him. Most of us would agree he was someone who lost his childhood and never seemed to stop searching and yearning for the innocense of children, but he truly did have a mature side to him. “If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make that change!”
No. Billy Jean is the one. It kills me, and I was an out of control Jackson fan. Say what you will about him, he had genius.
I mean to say I was NOT an enormous Jackson fan.