Today, the King Of Pop died.
Like most people my age, (early thirties), I've experienced a few of those days where 'you never forget where you were when..." and to be fair this was one of them for me.
I know some people aren't fans of MJ, then again I'm not a fan of our national game (rugby), but I can appreciate people's passion for it. I am a fan of Michael Jackson - I would never go so far to say a die-hard fan, but I have at some stage:
a) Thought I could dance like him.
b) Anticipated every new song/video with great expectations.
c) Owned all of his albums, though admittedly a few of those are now in a second hand bin somewhere, (this has less to do with the quality of the album and more to do with the compilations generally being a lot more fun to listen to).
At the time of writing this - it's only about 6 or 7 hours since the news came through - and already so much has been said about Michael's impact (positive and negative) on the world.
And for all the spectacle and controversy, it was my own experiences linked, albeit very indirectly, to Jackson that I remember the most.
I remember the day Mum took us shopping for music, I bought The Eurythmics 'Revenge' on cassette, and my brother bought Thriller on vinyl. Upon getting home and taking turns at playing the two albums (we only had one stereo back then), I quickly became insanely jealous of my brother's music purchasing decisions as I realised just how much cooler MJ's album was. It was the first time that music had got me REALLY excited, I love almost all the songs off that album to this day - 'Human Nature' is my fave - if you're asking.
Our family took a wee while to get a VCR, but my Aunty and Uncle had brought one back from japan just as they were being released here in NZ. I recall the afternoon I got to go around and have my first VCR experience. There were three options to view, Cyndi Lauper 'Girls Just wanna have Fun', MJ's video for 'Thriller' and 'Return of the Jedi' - I thought I'd get the music videos out of the way first.....I watched Thriller first, the other two came about an hour later - once I'd calmed down from those yellow eyes MJ flashes to the camera at the very end of the video - the scared me shitless for weeks!!!
In the early 90's I became fascinated with basketball - I sucked at it, still do to this day, but in '91 MJ released a song called 'Jam' which starred Michael Jordan in the video - I became pretty fanatical about a song featuring two MJ's and I remember shooting baskets all summer with that song playing on my walkman or stereo.
The photo, (see above), is my ticket to MJ's concert in Auckland, on Monday 11th of November 1996, if I recall correctly, it was his second show, but I didn't care - lining up at Just Jeans to get the ticket, then at Ericsson stadium for what felt like days, was just something you had to do in this situation.
I'm not gonna get into hyperbole about the concert; it was dubbed for the most part, poorly sung in others, but man-alive - there was some supreme staging and choreography, THAT, you can't deny. I hold no grudge about MJ's lack of live singing ability, many successful singers are best in studio - true back then, and certainly true today.
What I remember more than the show itself was taking the wrong exit out of Ericsson and pitch darkness trying to meet a distant relative whose place I was staying at - the show finished about 11pm - I didn't find my ride until about 1am!
Buying the wrong album....gutting
Getting the bejeezus scared out of me by a music video.....gutting
Failing epically at basketball....gutting
Getting lost in Auckland...gutting
But, all these are experiences, experiences that are indirectly linked to an amazing talent, an amazing talent that is now gone forever...now that's gutting.
Like most people my age, (early thirties), I've experienced a few of those days where 'you never forget where you were when..." and to be fair this was one of them for me.
I know some people aren't fans of MJ, then again I'm not a fan of our national game (rugby), but I can appreciate people's passion for it. I am a fan of Michael Jackson - I would never go so far to say a die-hard fan, but I have at some stage:
a) Thought I could dance like him.
b) Anticipated every new song/video with great expectations.
c) Owned all of his albums, though admittedly a few of those are now in a second hand bin somewhere, (this has less to do with the quality of the album and more to do with the compilations generally being a lot more fun to listen to).
At the time of writing this - it's only about 6 or 7 hours since the news came through - and already so much has been said about Michael's impact (positive and negative) on the world.
And for all the spectacle and controversy, it was my own experiences linked, albeit very indirectly, to Jackson that I remember the most.
I remember the day Mum took us shopping for music, I bought The Eurythmics 'Revenge' on cassette, and my brother bought Thriller on vinyl. Upon getting home and taking turns at playing the two albums (we only had one stereo back then), I quickly became insanely jealous of my brother's music purchasing decisions as I realised just how much cooler MJ's album was. It was the first time that music had got me REALLY excited, I love almost all the songs off that album to this day - 'Human Nature' is my fave - if you're asking.
Our family took a wee while to get a VCR, but my Aunty and Uncle had brought one back from japan just as they were being released here in NZ. I recall the afternoon I got to go around and have my first VCR experience. There were three options to view, Cyndi Lauper 'Girls Just wanna have Fun', MJ's video for 'Thriller' and 'Return of the Jedi' - I thought I'd get the music videos out of the way first.....I watched Thriller first, the other two came about an hour later - once I'd calmed down from those yellow eyes MJ flashes to the camera at the very end of the video - the scared me shitless for weeks!!!
In the early 90's I became fascinated with basketball - I sucked at it, still do to this day, but in '91 MJ released a song called 'Jam' which starred Michael Jordan in the video - I became pretty fanatical about a song featuring two MJ's and I remember shooting baskets all summer with that song playing on my walkman or stereo.
The photo, (see above), is my ticket to MJ's concert in Auckland, on Monday 11th of November 1996, if I recall correctly, it was his second show, but I didn't care - lining up at Just Jeans to get the ticket, then at Ericsson stadium for what felt like days, was just something you had to do in this situation.
I'm not gonna get into hyperbole about the concert; it was dubbed for the most part, poorly sung in others, but man-alive - there was some supreme staging and choreography, THAT, you can't deny. I hold no grudge about MJ's lack of live singing ability, many successful singers are best in studio - true back then, and certainly true today.
What I remember more than the show itself was taking the wrong exit out of Ericsson and pitch darkness trying to meet a distant relative whose place I was staying at - the show finished about 11pm - I didn't find my ride until about 1am!
Buying the wrong album....gutting
Getting the bejeezus scared out of me by a music video.....gutting
Failing epically at basketball....gutting
Getting lost in Auckland...gutting
But, all these are experiences, experiences that are indirectly linked to an amazing talent, an amazing talent that is now gone forever...now that's gutting.
