My friend Laura called me yesterday and said, "Did the 80's just die today?"
I sighed and said, "I guess so, Farrah's gone."
Laura said, "and Michael Jackson."
WHAT?!!!
As much as I Twitter and Facebook, I had completely missed this newsflash. They don't typically break in on Yo Gabba Gabba to report breaking news. Note to Wade: THIS is why I'm on the computer so much.
TMZ was reporting he was dead, but please, they'll report any rumor on the hope it's true so they can be the "first" to break it.
I got on CNN.com, NYTimes.com, EOnline.com, People.com....most were only confirming cardiac arrest and/or coma.
Then, it was true. My pop icon was gone. A huge piece of my history....gone.
You know, I didn't get it when Elvis died. I remember that I was sitting on Amy Teufel's bed when I found out and I understood that he was HUGE and there was shock. But I didn't get it. To this day when I think of Elvis I think of a fat, sweaty guy w/lamb chop sideburns that wore elaborate jumpsuits (JUMPSUITS) in Vegas and lived at Graceland. We even visited Graceland when I was young. It was closed for renovation (bummer), but we toured the property. I still didn't get it. I remember thinking "why on Earth would you want a swimming pool that was that shallow?"
I understand that when Elvis first arrived on the scene he was this new controversial pelvis shaker (c'mon, I saw Forrest Gump) and that he made his mark on rock n roll, but I will never truly get it, because I wasn't there. I didn't experience the buzz of Elvis. I didn't experience him only being shown from the waist up on T.V. and how even THAT outraged people.
They were talking about this on the radio this morning: if you are in your early 20's or younger, Michael Jackson was probably to you like Elvis was to me. A weirdo. A freak. Some musician that got a lot of (well deserved) bad press. To you, Michael was just this plastic-surgeried, baby dangling, alleged child molesting, mask wearing weirdo who named his kid blanket. Jacko the Wacko. I get it. He became all those things to me, too! And you probably realize that a huge pop star is gone.
But let me tell you something, if you didn't grow up listening to Thriller on vinyl or cassette tape in the height of the hype, I'm sad to say, like me with Elvis, you will probably never really get it. Jacko the Wacko is just not how I will remember him.
I have so many memories tied to Michael Jackson.
I remember Tracy Haas and I went to Willow Bend Country Club in Plano to be a part of one of the worldwide recordings of We Are The World. I felt really close to Michael that day.
Julie Hairston Livingston and I watched the premier of Thriller on the floor in her living room. NOTHING could have pulled our attention away from that T.V. unless MJ himself walked in. Then we watched the making of the video immediately following thinking how cute Michael was in his Mickey Mouse sweatshirt and feeling so sorry for him when he was telling about how those yellow contacts he wore for the video stung his eyes. Poor baby.
Not long after that, I became really close friends with a girl that liked MJ as much as I did. We'd known each other since kindergarten, but it was Michael Jackson that sealed the bond between me and my lifelong friend Amy Fry Gorman. I will never forget her telling me that her Alabama gradma couldn't stand that she had him on her wall.
Years later, my amazingly talented dance friend, Katy McDermott Eggleton took a dance class from a well known dancer who had been one of the zombies in the Thriller video. WICKED COOL!
I remember when his hair caught on fire shooting that commercial....was it Pepsi?....and I remember how silly my dad thought I was being about it, but I was SO worried.
I remember the jackets with all the zippers and the sequined glove.
I remember how badly I wanted some of those sunglasses that he wore. Remember? They were aviator style and they folded in half. When I finally got some, I thought I was the BOMB!
Michael Jackson's death deserved the breaking news and show interruptions it got, but let's be honest, this news story will have a fly's life. Next week, it won't be dominating headlines anymore (which is good, there's really only so much you can say). But, as cliche as it is to say, his legacy will live on. He was definitely weird and I didn't get why he did most of what he did, but he was a musical genius and a true entertainer and he paved the way for so many.
And now, I moonwalk.
R.I.P. P.Y.T.
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