Forget the Wacko-Jacko lifestyle: the molestations charges, the bones of the Elephant Man, the surgeries, the masks, the dangling baby…
Michael Jackson was a brilliant musician and performer. He danced like an angel from a higher order of existence, and his work on Thriller is something that won’t ever again be topped by a single artist. He single handedly invented the modern music video, and the MTV world of the last two decades. He co-wrote We Are The World, and did more for charity long before Bono was a household name. Michael Jackson wrote the soundtrack of my childhood: Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Human Nature, The Girl Is Mine…he was both the 1980s in microcosm AND utterly timeless.
In the pantheon of iconic, burned-into-the-zeitgeist entertainers, there are The Beatles, Elvis, Michael Jackson…and no one has joined them since.
After all this time, remember him for his brilliant successes, not his controversies. Let the dead rest in peace.
