Thursday, June 25, 2009
For my sister
Powerful memories are tied to songs in our lives. To me, Michael Jackson will always be that kid that my little sister adored. I'm only 1 year older than Michael Jackson. My sister is only a year and a half younger. When we were girls, we loved the Jackson 5: ABC, Never Can Say Goodbye, I'll Be There, Got To Be There (1972) but she especially loved Michael. She had his poster on her wall, while her best friend was a Donny Osmond fan.
I lost my taste for his music with "Ben" and never really got it back. Sure, Thriller entertained me-- I met my boyfriend Bill at benefit for a dance magazine at a lesbian bar in San Francisco when we danced to Billie Jean; he won a dance contest for being the wackiest dancer out there. I loved meeting a guy who could let go on the dance floor, and I remember thinking that I didn't care how stupid the lyrics to the song were because it was so much fun to dance to it. I recognize his genius, but his music as an adult was not important to me.
I despised the way he mutilated himself, I loathed what he became later in his life. But every time I hear one of those early songs, it brings my little sister back to me.
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2 comments:
Yeah, me too--he's tied to potent memories from childhood.
Like, when I was in first grade, a black girl in my class informed me that black girls had Michael Jackson and white girls had Donny Osmond. Even then I knew this was a bad deal. (I think that was maybe my first social awareness of race, come to think of it...)
My reaction is quite complex. There's the music, the man, and the media response to his death. All have hit me differently. I hardly know where to begin.....
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