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RIP Michael Jackson :(
Jun. 25th, 2009 04:22 pmLe Roi du Pop est Mort, Vive Le Roi!
Sharing my favorite song of his:
Sharing my favorite song of his:
Jun. 25th, 2009
[RTS] Celebrity
Jun. 25th, 2009 06:40 pmBack in 1989 I wrote a poem called "Somebody Famous Just Died Tonight", written a few days after Lucille Ball passed away. It was a commentary on how some people view the passing of celebrities, whether by natural causes or by drugs or suicide. Part of it was commenting about how some fans would grieve while others would merely be momentarily sad and then move on.
When I wrote it then, many of those passing celebrities were of an older generation...actors and actresses, musicians and artists whose fame shone well before I was even born. There was a detachment then, because although I may have watched their movies or seen their shows or listened to their albums, and although I felt sad at their passing, it never really felt like a big blow. Even when John Lennon died, I was only nine and couldn't really understand the loss, even though my love for the Beatles was strong by then.
When Kurt Cobain took his own life in early 1994, that was probably the first time I felt a kinship to a famous person passing away. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Nirvana then, he and I were both part of the same generation--the reviled/oversold/forgotten Generation X--and by that time I could understand the feelings both he and his fans were feeling, and I could understand why he did what he did. But he reached out to a LOT of Gen-Xers out there during the early 90s--the whole alt.rock movement did, let's be honest--and his suicide understandably hit those same people, and hit them hard.
I can't say for certain that I feel shocked, angry, or overly saddened by the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson over the last few days. I suppose I could file it under "contemplating my mortality", though. I'm thirty-eight years old: I grew up with these three people.
With McMahon, I watched The Tonight Show just like everyone else, and I even loved watching those goofy and corny 'bloopers and practical jokes' shows that he did with Dick Clark. I'll always remember his signature HAW-HAW-HAW laugh and his being a perfect foil for Johnny Carson's silliness. Sure, he wasn't exactly an actor I actively thought about, even when he popped up on various commercials. But he was an icon by then...someone to make you smile because you remember what he's about. With Farrah, well...I'll admit that I didn't have "The Poster", but I watched Charlie's Angels with my sisters all the time. Back then I thought she was just the ditzy blonde, but in watching reruns, I find she was actually quite funny and smart. And over the past few years during her illness, I have to say I found myself deeply impressed by her strength and conviction. Still...their heyday was when I was younger, so I don't feel as much of a connection with them, though it's sad to hear of their passing.
With Michael? Well...I've never been the biggest fan of him, but I appreciated what he did. I remember liking "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" when it came out in the summer of 1979...and let's be honest, those videos he did for all the songs off Thriller were all kinds of fun, even if they were corny or cheesy and haven't exactly aged well. I stopped listening to him around the time Bad came out, but "The Way You Make Me Feel" is still my favorite of his. And I remember back in 2005 when he was acquitted of child abuse, I'd watched the verdict live (I'd just gotten home from work) and wished him congratulations on LJ. MJ was never my favorite musician, but you know...he was damn entertaining at what he did, and that's what impressed me. I will definitely miss him.
I have to say that I understand today's media response to MJ's passing. Let's face it--he was the King of Pop. One of the most famous musicians of my generation, and even the generation before me, hands down. His passing is on par with Kurt Cobain's--it's affecting an extremely large amount of people, even me. I may not be overly saddened and grieving, but I'm certainly feeling contemplative about it. And being the almost-extreme music lover that I am, watching the waves of grief and remembrance is truly something to witness. To me that's a way for me to connect with the rest of my generation, to know that I feel the same way they do, that we're going through this together.
When I wrote it then, many of those passing celebrities were of an older generation...actors and actresses, musicians and artists whose fame shone well before I was even born. There was a detachment then, because although I may have watched their movies or seen their shows or listened to their albums, and although I felt sad at their passing, it never really felt like a big blow. Even when John Lennon died, I was only nine and couldn't really understand the loss, even though my love for the Beatles was strong by then.
When Kurt Cobain took his own life in early 1994, that was probably the first time I felt a kinship to a famous person passing away. Even though I wasn't the biggest fan of Nirvana then, he and I were both part of the same generation--the reviled/oversold/forgotten Generation X--and by that time I could understand the feelings both he and his fans were feeling, and I could understand why he did what he did. But he reached out to a LOT of Gen-Xers out there during the early 90s--the whole alt.rock movement did, let's be honest--and his suicide understandably hit those same people, and hit them hard.
I can't say for certain that I feel shocked, angry, or overly saddened by the passing of Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett, and Michael Jackson over the last few days. I suppose I could file it under "contemplating my mortality", though. I'm thirty-eight years old: I grew up with these three people.
With McMahon, I watched The Tonight Show just like everyone else, and I even loved watching those goofy and corny 'bloopers and practical jokes' shows that he did with Dick Clark. I'll always remember his signature HAW-HAW-HAW laugh and his being a perfect foil for Johnny Carson's silliness. Sure, he wasn't exactly an actor I actively thought about, even when he popped up on various commercials. But he was an icon by then...someone to make you smile because you remember what he's about. With Farrah, well...I'll admit that I didn't have "The Poster", but I watched Charlie's Angels with my sisters all the time. Back then I thought she was just the ditzy blonde, but in watching reruns, I find she was actually quite funny and smart. And over the past few years during her illness, I have to say I found myself deeply impressed by her strength and conviction. Still...their heyday was when I was younger, so I don't feel as much of a connection with them, though it's sad to hear of their passing.
With Michael? Well...I've never been the biggest fan of him, but I appreciated what he did. I remember liking "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" when it came out in the summer of 1979...and let's be honest, those videos he did for all the songs off Thriller were all kinds of fun, even if they were corny or cheesy and haven't exactly aged well. I stopped listening to him around the time Bad came out, but "The Way You Make Me Feel" is still my favorite of his. And I remember back in 2005 when he was acquitted of child abuse, I'd watched the verdict live (I'd just gotten home from work) and wished him congratulations on LJ. MJ was never my favorite musician, but you know...he was damn entertaining at what he did, and that's what impressed me. I will definitely miss him.
I have to say that I understand today's media response to MJ's passing. Let's face it--he was the King of Pop. One of the most famous musicians of my generation, and even the generation before me, hands down. His passing is on par with Kurt Cobain's--it's affecting an extremely large amount of people, even me. I may not be overly saddened and grieving, but I'm certainly feeling contemplative about it. And being the almost-extreme music lover that I am, watching the waves of grief and remembrance is truly something to witness. To me that's a way for me to connect with the rest of my generation, to know that I feel the same way they do, that we're going through this together.
