Off the Wall
I thought we had finally reached the peak of the Michael Jackson hagiography when Motown founder Berry Gordy called Michael Jackson “the greatest entertainer who ever lived.”
But that was too soon. Because later Al Sharpton claimed that Barack Obama (somehow) got elected because of Michael Jackson. Which threw the Jackson legacy into an even greater hyperbolic orbit.
But that was nothing compared to this: I then heard a man interviewed on the radio who said, “Some day people will look back and wish they could have known what it was like to be alive at the same time as Michael Jackson.” Kind of like… Jesus. Or the Buddha.
This shouldn’t need saying, but here goes: Michael Jackson was a talented singer, and songwriter, and dancer. That’s it; no more. He was also someone with an unnatural interest in children and a freakish desire for more and more radical plastic surgery designed to erase any trace of his facial heritage. And both elements — the career success, the personal carnival — form the Janus-like face of his celebrity.
Our culture’s current fascination with him is similar to the morbid interest many of us held for Howard Hughes in the 1970’s. After Hughes’ death, I remember reading every article I could find for more information about the reclusive behavior, the unclipped fingernails and toenails, the carefully stored and labeled rows of mason jars of urine. For a big Halloween party of that period, I went as Howard Hughes, taking care to paint broken hypodermic needles onto my arms and to carry a box of Kleenex around so I could dust every surface.
Whatever Michael Jackson’s musical triumphs, he looms large in our collective subconscious because we cannot stop wondering just what is wrong with someone with that much talent and money.
July 9th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
I have been avoiding as much of the Michael Jackson circus as possible. I don’t think that he was as “great” as some people make him out to be. Yes he was very popular 20 years ago, but what has he done lately? Besides being very strange.
Jackson did not change music or bring anything new to the industry. We are not through with all the over blown coverage of his death and I will continue to avoid it.
July 11th, 2009 at 5:54 am
More on the cult of personality/halloween.
A favorite friend of mine years ago went as a celebrity for Halloween.
She was dressed in a VERY proper (nearly Coco Chanel-esque) skirt
suit, a suitable ‘hair-do’, with a steering wheel around her neck,
that I gleefully provided.
She was Princess Grace of Monaco. I laughed my ass off. She won
the prize for best costume. The year was 1982, and the irish girl
that summered in Ocean City, NJ had just died.
It was the second best Halloween of my life, so far.
Jackson, pfft! Greatest entertainer of all time, my aunt sadie! Indeed.
I’m with Paul on his comment though…what HAS HE DONE LATELY???
July 11th, 2009 at 5:56 am
Yes he was very popular 20 years ago, but what has he done lately? Hilarious.
July 13th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Michael Jackson is called The Gratest Entertainer of All Time by those who don’t remember Soupy Sales.
July 13th, 2009 at 1:02 pm
You, sir, are a man of good taste!