RIP

I was never a HUGE fan of Michael Jackson, but I didn't dislike him, either. He was someone who was simply always... there. Whether in remakes of Billy Jean playing overhead in the club, splashes of tabloids, and white gloved inappropriateness in comedy sketches. I heard the news of his death while I was at work and my cell phone went off with texts and people in cubicles across my floor started gasping and saying, "Oh my dear, that's just so sad." (I work with a lot of older women who have at least 2 kids) And though I wasn't an avid follower of his personal or work life, a flash of his life's details - that he had married and divorced Lisa Marie Presley, had a Neverland Ranch, multiple plastic surgeries, and dangled a baby from a balcony - all passed through my mind. Why did I know these things about a man I do not, for all intents and purposes, know?

Because he was someone everyone just knew, and at some point tried to emulate, most famously his moonwalk which even after all these years, people are still trying to do. I saw it most recently on Britain's Got Talent as an Indian man danced his way onstage with a bhangra accompaniment. It was epic. What other artist has so influenced an entire world with a single move? It's like the theme music to "Jaws." With just two notes, everyone was on the edge of their seats. And it somehow found its way into kiddie pools and two hands clasped above the head sinking under the water for hours of fear-inducing fun. I think it's an apt analogy, and yet disturbingly so given the kiddie reference. (I am neutral as far as those allegations go)

But aside from all that, and I'm no expert on the history of how certain artists were pivotal in the movement to revolutionize music, I felt, without knowing exactly why, a great loss. I can't pretend to expound on why Michael Jackson was as popular (and in some cases infamously so) as he was. I don't know how he exactly changed music, I couldn't point out the notes or the details of his success. I just know that he did. I couldn't tell you how he garnered so much attention, when stars everyday do a lot stranger things (I don't recall Michael ever eating a live bat onstage) and are found guilty of crimes far worse than those alleged to him.

He was a man no one really knew, but everyone said they knew and in that way, we were connected to him through ignorance, lights, and paparazzi. And despite the fog of this pretension, I think I feel a loss because there was more to him, as with anyone, than what was published. So here's to MJ, the king of pop, a man who shared his life through music, dance, and a little TMZ.