When I was six going on seven in the fall of 1991, a period of my life started where I would NEVER miss "The Simpsons." For me, it was the biggest deal on television...and in all of culture. How could you make a great thing even better?
Fox found a way...by premiering all of Michael Jackson's new videos from the "Dangerous" album after some episodes. Every week there would be commercials, teasers, building it up so now I would be wishing the show would end so I could see "Black Or White" (and this was the full eight-minute version ending with the black panther dance), "Remember the Time," and "In the Closet." Hearing him sing, watching him dance, both of which he did with exuberance and charisma to spare...there were few things in life more entertaining.
Michael Jackson was a part of my life evr since I was little...Mom has told me so many times how in preschool I would love to sing along with his "Rockin' Robin." And my parents owned "Thriller," although who didn't? Funny thing is, except for "Billie Jean" and the often-overlooked "Human Nature" (which Miles Davis would brilliantly reinterpret) I never liked "Thriller" as much as "Bad," the last of his three albums with Quincy Jones. "Bad" is one of the more perfect pop albums ever made...three great get-off-your-butt-and-shake-your-booty singles in the title track, "The Way You Make Me Feel," and "Smooth Criminal," and two beautiful ballads, "The Man in the Mirror" and "I Just Can't Stop Loving You." All off the same record. All but "Criminal" number-one hits.
And all the videos...it was ahrd to watch VH1 or big concert specials and NOT see Michael Jackson cutting a rug, a shining smile on his face. He was a ubiquitous part of my childhood.
Then came the molestation scandal...the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley...the surgery...the bloated, mediocre albums after "Dangerous"...he was still the King of Pop, but in the way Elvis was always the King of Rock 'n' Roll even as a fat, impatient, secluded man.
My last major impression of Jackson was his 30th Anniversary Gala at Madison Square Garden. "You Rock My World" had made me think he was genuinely coming back, but the CBS special of the shows revealed a stiff, blustering man going through the motions, striking psoes for a freakishly-smiling Macaulay Culkin and a bloated Brando and Liz Taylor. It was embarrassing, and sad...
That a man who had given so much joy to the world died what was really a decade-long death breaks my heart, never more so then when I see one of my favorite performances ever from "The Ed Sullivan Show," of the Jackson Five in 1970 singing "I Want You Back," still a marvelous record today, and this carefree powerhouse of a twelve year-old with a giant Afro and dark, dark skin in center stage, loving the music and the moment. I see it now and I wonder how he turned into what he became.
But above all, I thank him for "Rockin' Robin"...and everything else.
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