Off the Wall. That phrase was not only the name of the first album put out by Michael Jackson as an adult, it is also an apt phrase to describe his whole life. From being a superstar at 11, to being annointed the King of Pop by Elizabeth Taylor, from his purchase of the Elephant Man's remains, to dangling his infant child off a balcony, Michael had a flair for the dramatic. His home was off the wall, his clothes were off the wall, his almost surreal naivete about still thinking it appropriate to sleep with small children after dodging a legal bullet for molesting one was off the wall and three counties away. But when the news of his death hit the world, it was as though we had suffered his loss as personally as his family. Even those people who could not get past the molestation accusations were a little shocked at the sense of loss MJ's death elicited. The man was weird, there's just no way around that. And yet, we still , as human beings, felt sad when he was suddenly gone. For just a moment, we got to think of Michael Jackson as a true artist, someone who had genius like and Rock With You and Remember the Time in him and was generous enough to share his gift with us, before we had to remember the reality of his life.
Michael Jackson is like that cousin we all seem to have. You know the one - the cousin who is always in trouble, but always seems to get away with whatever he gets accused of, always while loudly maintaining his innocence. You never call him because you don't want him to think you condone his behavior, but you are always secretly glad to see him at the family pachangas, even though you know he is going to ask you for help to get out of some jam. Same thing with Michael. We danced to his music, marveled at his videos, got a little weirded out when he began to surgically morph before our very eyes, shuddered visibly when his fascination with young boys was made public, and ultimately, turned our backs on him when his flamboyance became too much to accept. To be sure, we never stopped keeping up with Michael. His latest exploit always garnered a hellish amount of media even though he hadn't been musically relevant for years. Before he died, we had forgotten what made him Michael Jackson in the first place. He became kitchy. Then he died, and that changed everything.
Before the real estate market imploded, there used to be a saying - Buy real estate - they're not going to make more real estate. Michael Jackson's death makes Michael Jackson's music that much more amazing than it was when we first heard it. When Michael was alive, there was still a chance that he might dazzle us one more time and make music that surpassed Thriller. But now that he's dead, we know that the genius of his music is a finite commodity, and it doesn't seem right to squander his contribution to humanity's artistic enrichment. We humans love to forgive people who are fallen prophets, those lucky few who have the spark of the Divine in them. But Michael never seemed to want that forgiveness. He wanted to keep up his a childish front - the man was 50, after all, and long past the age where the description of 'childlike' could even be entertained. He wanted to live his life exactly as he wished, and he did. But because he did, his foibles made it that much easier to dismiss his legacy as an artist. It just seemed creepy to say you liked Michael. There was just too much icky baggage that went along with it.
So What's Love Got To Do With Michael Jackson?
If Michael Jackson had lived to a ripe, old age, the spectre of his legal and financial troubles would never have given him rest. He more than likely would have continued having plastic surgeries and gotten stranger looking by the minute. As his kids got older, we might have seen them either shun him because of his eccentricities, or they might have turned out to be out-of-control celebrity brats who waved the freak flag right alongside their father. Either way, it's more than likely that his private life would have completely overshadowed his music. But now that he is dead, the opportunity for more weirdness from Michael is dead also, but, thankfully, his music will live forever. I keep getting the sense from news reports that people are almost relieved to know that Michael is in better place now that he is gone, not because he was suffering from illness, but because his soul seemed to be suffering. The funny thing is, we don't want to face the fact that we had a lot to do with how off the wall Michael became. Yes, Michael Jackson was weird, but maybe we should let his God sort that out, and just listen to his music. Shouldn't we all get at least that little bit of consideration when we die?
Rest in peace, Michael.
