Michael Jackson

Okay, I said I would address the sad Michael Jackson news, so here goes. I have a lot of mixed emotions about the death of MJ. He was a great entertainer. No question there. He knew how to get to an audience. He had learned that as a child. He knew what buttons to press. He had a good sense of what the audience wanted. He wrote some very memorable songs. Many have been played that I had forgotten about and are once again enjoying. On the other hand, he had a lot of problems. There were allegations about drug use and child molestation. And, the term "Wacko Jacko" may have been justified. The stories of the mummy in his house of the Elephant Man and his bizarre lifestyle come to mind. But, there was no doubt that he was an original. I first saw him on "The Ed Sullivan Show" with his brothers. I liked his music for its upbeat style. Yes, I even danced to it. And, for those R&B fans, his music was probably the standard that all others looked up to. But, couldn't we have said that about the generation that grew up with James Brown? And, what about the fans of Elvis or The Beatles, which I am a part of? I understand that the MTV generation knows nothing of music history. But, let's set the record straight. Michael Jackson didn't invent the music video. It was around long before him. In fact, The Beatles used music videos all through their career, although they were called "promos". Michael Jackson may have been the so-called King of Pop, but he was not the greatest entertainer that ever lived, as some commentators have said over the last couple of days. As good as Michael Jackson was, in my humble opinion, he can't touch The Beatles or Elvis or even James Brown. He learned from those people and so many more. And, for all of those folks so amazed as to how well MJ's music is selling in his death, I will tell you the story that I have told before on this blog:
I was working at a department store in Fort Worth in the music department, when Elvis died. I was in my car going to work, when I heard the news on the radio, and I floored it. When I got to work, there were crying women wanting everything Elvis. We sold out of all our records and tapes. Even some promotional material were gone. There were people literally screaming at us. Where were these fans, when Elvis was alive? We couldn't give his stuff away, but then he died, and everybody had to have the stuff. We started taking names to special order his stuff. Page after page of names. It was the same scene at other stores around the country. Every music store, big and small, sold out of Elvis records. All in one day. I called my distributor, and he said that there was a warehouse in Oklahoma that might have some, so he got into his truck and drove up there and got them. He brought them back to our store the next day, and we opened with enough records to fill our special orders. We had a lot of happy people that day. As far as I know, we were the only music store in the entire Dallas-Ft. Worth Metroplex to have Elvis records the next day thanks to my distributor. And then, it took RCA about three months to ship the reissues to the stores. There were several special issues they came out with that didn't do as well as the albums. But, it was everything Elvis. I had never really listened to Elvis, when he was alive. I was more a fan of The Beatles. But, I listened to his music after he died and liked it. I wasn't working in the music store, when John Lennon was killed, but I heard similar stories about people grabbing all of his stuff, but not quite on the same scale as Elvis. John had just released his first album in five years, so his sales were already good, when he was killed.
Now, one other thing, or maybe two. I am not going to say that I had a lot in common with MJ, but one thing is similar. He was a very shy person off stage. Me too. He turned on, when he was on stage. Me too. People have often said, including my parents, that I became a different person, when I performed. I was my happiest on stage. MJ too.
Another thing. I know that the death of MJ was unexpected, but mention Farrah once in a while, please. She was my icon.
And, one more thing. There have been a lot of entertainers, whose lives were cut short. Buddy Holly. Jimi Hendrix. Sam Cooke. Otis Redding. Janis Joplin. Jim Morrison. Jim Croce. Ricky Nelson. Elvis Presley. John Lennon. George Harrison. And now, Michael Jackson. All of these people touched the lives of others in a profound way, and their music lives on. Last Thursday was another day that the music died, but it will live on in our hearts and minds. As for Michael, it is better to dance than to cry. He was a "Dancin' Machine".