Current mood:	mourning
Current music:	Anything by Michael Jackson

It's Time to Play the Music
When I woke up today and saw that the nonstop news coverage was still on, I realised it had actually happened.

Michael Jackson died.

He was the first musician I can remember really being a fan of who wasn't specifically making children's music. It was all mixed together in my young mind at the time, of course--original artists and Mini Pops covers held about the same status on my record shelf--but listening to Thriller on vinyl and cassette tape, I managed to make the distinction, because I could tell that Michael Jackson was a Big Deal.

That was also when I started to watch music videos (probably on Video Hits) and truly understand what a music video was. Once again, the videos for songs like "Billie Jean" and the all-time classic "Thriller" (a video so long it has end credits!) are what made that clear to me. Say what you like about that album and that video, but their enduring influence cannot be overstated.

So many of my earliest memories of pop music and popular culture in general are tied to Michael Jackson that it's hard for me to think of one without associating the other.

There've been so many iconic figures lost just in the last little while (Bea Arthur, David Carradine, Ed McMahon, Farrah Fawcett), but Jackson has already drowned them all out, the only one who could slow down the entire Internet. I imagine this will be another Princess Diana moment, where this is the main event any of us remember about this month in the future--yet another legendary entertainer gone too soon.

For all of the excesses and general weirdness that Michael Jackson became known for over the years (Is it too early to make an Elvis comparison?), my main inclination last night and this morning has been to just listen to his songs, concentrating on that golden period from Off the Wall to Dangerous when (in the realm of song and dance, anyway) it seemed like he could do no wrong.

That's how I choose to remember him.