Jeez! I never thought I would write a post on this MJ, ever! Michael Jordan, oh yes, most definitely! Magic Johnson... maybe, but not likely. But Michael Jackson? Very very unlikely! But here I am writing one specifically on him before the other two got a chance!
No, I am not a fan. Have never been one. I have watched him, listened to his songs, admired and enjoyed his performances, sure, done all that. I would even say that no performer danced like him. Not many can, without looking ugly and/or risking total realignment of neck and other major joints in the body. His performances were full of passion and rhythm, and if you had even the slightest bit of that innate urge we have as a species to move our limbs with no specific purpose or pattern as a means of expressing emotions, he could make you dance. He was seriously electrifying.
But his eccentricities defined his legacy as much as his dance moves, the turns, the twists, the twirls, the moonwalk did. He remained somebody you would love to watch but would not venture anywhere close to. He remained somebody whose personal exploits you would want to filter out and only talk about his musical exploits. We would never know what caused him to fall from "The Thriller" he was to the loner he died as. But that is not my concern now, anyway.
The reason I am writing this post is not Michael Jackson, per se, but pure nostalgia. Seeing so much coverage, on TV and internet, of MJ's death, kinda pushed me back into the days I used to listen to him, and brought me back some memories. Back home in my school days, he was probably the most "known" face of western music. That was before I discovered other greats. At that time, it was fashionable to talk of or own a few Beatles albums, and we listened to "Osibisa", "ABBA", "Dire Straits" etc., but the real craze was Michael Jackson. His posters were everywhere. Indian youth gobbled up everything Michael Jackson produced, and contributed to building a huge international fan base. Again, I was not a big fan. My music preference was, and has always been, over everything else, Hindi movie classics, Carnatic, and Hindustani, not necessarily in that order, but I followed him with a kind of curiosity and amazement that ensured I didn't reject him though I never accepted him.
And then I discovered my most favorite western musician, Eric Clapton (via "Unplugged" and "Slowhand"), which influenced me in a big way. The kind of western music I listened to changed drastically. I stayed away from hard rock and moved onto soft rock, blues and jazz, and a bit of R&B. I was so much into Blues that I even got a chance to shake hands with one of the most successful Blues musicians of all time, Buddy Guy, who even autographed a poster for me at the end of his stunning performance in front of a private audience at House of Blues, Chicago. And the very next night I watched "The Temptations" perform at the same venue in front of the same private audience. Joy!
When I moved to US, Janet Jackson, MJ's sister, was one of the top singers and was on TV all the time. But even that failed to re-trigger in me any interest in her brother's music.
And then MJ's downfall began. And now, the end. Or, is it?
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