In the Richard Dreyfuss film Mr Holland's Opus there is a memorable and crucial scene in terms of the narrative involves the death of John Lennon. In the scene Mr Holland, a music teacher by profession, is crushed by the news that Lennon had been shot and killed. He gets into an argument with his deaf son Cole who can't understand his father's misery.This scene becomes pivotal in the denouement of the movie – the opus of the title - which ends with Mr Holland singing Beautiful Boy - a Lennon song in which a father sings to his young son to help him overcome his fear of bedtime monsters.
The scene as I said is an important one in the story but what has always struck me most about it is the significance that Lennon's death had not in only Mr Holland's life but also in the cultural profile of America and in fact the world as a whole.I remember thinking the first time I saw that scene how I would feel the day that someone that important died.
In the last few days I have felt a bit like Mr Holland having to deal with a world filled with deaf sons who cannot understand my grief.
It is without question that Michael Jackson is one of the most important cultural figures of my generation.
Whether you love him or hate him I think everyone can agree that this man changed the world's cultural landscape - in fact I think it's almost safe to say that his success was the genesis in a lot of ways of the popular culture we accept as the norm today.
He is originator of the music video. MTV's decision to change its programming and only play Michael Jackson videos on the day of his death is testament to that.The way in which the media has scrutinised his life you could argue in many ways led to the paparazzi culture we see today. From the cover of Time Magazine to the front page of the National Enquirer - Michael saw them all before anyone else did.The top-selling artist of all time - Michael Jackson revolutionised performance. His stage shows were bigger and better than anyone’s – pyrotechnics, jetpacks, dance moves, choirs, laser shows - MJ was the best.I could list the facts and figures that prove that Michael was the greatest of all time - but that would be missing the point of why I started writing this in the first place.
MJ will always have his naysayers - those who will say - why all the fuss - the man was a pedarast? And to be honest these people have made up their minds and no arguing about how he was not found guilty of molesting a child will change that.
To be honest I am not sure that he did not have wholly inappropriate relationships with young boys and it would be naive to think that history will remember him without the controversy which characterised the last decade of his life.I will not attempt to explain the things that Michael did or did not do because if he was indeed guilty of them there is simply no justifying them. They are abhorrent and no child should be made to experience anything like that.Added to that to say that I have found the way we the media have created a feeding frenzy around his death stomach churning would probably be an understatement but that is an unfortunate side effect of living in the information age.
What I will try to do in my limited way is to convey what it was that made relatively rational people like me turn to mush in the last week. Try to understand the mind of someone whose earliest childhood memories are of a young Michael Jackson in a red and black PVC suit dancing in synchronicity with a row of ghouls. That Thriller video was something I imitated at my parent’s dinner parties from the age of four or five. Off the Wall and Thriller were the soundtracks to family roadtrips for nearly a decade and You Are Not Alone got me through my first break-up. I learnt to dance to Billie Jean and had my first existential experience to Man in the Mirror. The point is simply this – I understand how Mr Holland felt when Lennon died - because Michael although he is the King Of Pop spoke to me in a way that not many musicians today can.
In a quote in the latest Time Magazine Lenny Kravitz compares Michael Jackson to Mozart. It is a comparison which on reflection is not unfair. Both were child prodigies who revolutinised the popular music of their day. And that was the thing which made you love Michael – it was the music. It was the heartbreak of She's Out My Life and the sheer danciness of Blame it on the Boogie. It was the raw sexuality of Dirty Diana and The Way You Make Me Feel. It was the self-reflection of Childhood and Man in the Mirror.It is difficult to express just how much Michael touched you without getting soppy - I think it is just one of those things that you needed to experience yourself.
It as difficult for people who don’t understand why Michael was important to grasp how people can so truly mourn a man they never knew. Love him or hate you can never ever ignore the fact that Michael Jackson was the King of Pop and will forever have changed popular music as we know it today. I never ever thought I would see the day that I would quote the right reverend Alan Sharpton but here goes - for all the Michael fans remember this:"He outsang his cynics and outdanced his doubters. Michael Jackson never stopped."Not many stars have an entire edition of Time Magazine dedicated to them when they die. Then again - not many deserve to. http://www.time.com/time/specials/michael-jackson/0,31708,1907409,00.htmlRIP.
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