Sort of figures: tonight was the first time in weeks I’ve been able to set aside some time to do some catch-up blogging. I have a list of things I’ve been meaning to write about — I was just trying to work the opportunity into my schedule. And now that tonight is finally here, I am completely and utterly distracted with the deaths of Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson.
So, I guess all of the insightful professional, career and business observations I’ve been collecting for the past few weeks will wait until another day (probably this weekend), because tonight I’m reminiscing.
I don’t know that I would specifically call myself a Michael Jackson fan, per se. The truth is that, unlike most of my friends, I’m not a particularly big music junkie — I’m much more moved by movies. But the fact is that, for someone born in 1975 (give or take a few years), Michael Jackson’s music is the soundtrack for most of my earliest pop culture and outside world memories. And despite always having been a pop culture contrarian (even as a child — which never made me very popular with the other children), there were songs of Michael’s that I did truly love.
Everything from the advent of MTV (and I vividly remember those, “I want my MTV!” commercials) to the one-glove, crotch-grabbing mania were all part of my elementary school memories. The sentiment that has been flying around Twitter and new clips today has been the idea that Michael Jackson was to my generation what Elvis was to my parent’s. And I think that’s a pretty fair comparison: it’s something that older generations will rarely understand, and younger ones will eventually experience for themselves when someone iconic finally makes the mark on them and then ultimately dies.
There are interesting things to note about today, though, that are new and which have whose impact is still TBD: social media. I have spent all evening on Twitter and Facebook watching the news unfold, while livestreaming the news from CNN.com. The irony, of course, is that I work in a TV station and I have a TV in my office (where I am still sitting after 8:30 p.m.) and it hasn’t once occurred to me to reach over and turn the thing on.
While Twitter has been dominated for the past week with the protests surrounding the Iranian election results (and didn’t Iran’s leadership get quite the break here: all of a sudden the world has instantly stopped paying attention to them for the first time in over a week!), I was only casually following that. To be online and “hear” it first via Twitter, then go searching out news sources to corroborate it was an interesting experience because of the time lag that traditional media experienced after social media, the unfounded rumors that were flying around social media (some of which have been debunked) and the transition from speculation to commiseration as the confirmed news spread across the internet. Watching both Twitter and Facebook visibly groan under the strain of the increase in users (see a snap shot of Google trends in the middle of it all), and watching the way that the detractors felt compelled to jump in and be snarky. All of it was fascinating to watch.
But I find myself thinking of a comment John Cusack made in the special features track of “High Fidelity.” He said that he, like many people, experiences music autobiographically. (Interestingly enough, he posted a Tweet himself that captured that sentiment.) And that’s what I keep thinking of. I imagine it was similar to how anyone whose childhood was marked by Elvis’ music felt after hearing the news that he died, but this was also different because Michael Jackson had symbolism beyond the revolution he caused in the entertainment industry.
As a black man (who later underwent so much surgery that he stopped looking like a black man) some of the biggest leaders in the black community (specifically Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton) were featured on the news today discussing their reactions. Elvis’ daughter was Michael’s ex-wife, who also issued a press release mourning his passing. And celebrities across the spectrum of fame — from Guns-n-Rose’s Slash to Alyssa Milano — made public statements reflecting on the impact that Michael Jackson had on culture generally and their life specifically.
Of course, it pains me that a gossip rag like TMZ was the first to break the story. Like many people, I refused to believe it until a credible source confirmed it. But eventually the LA Times did (followed by CBS and Time Magazine), and then it hit me: my first awareness of the outside music industry — the idea that music came from something beyond what my parent’s liked or listened to — was Michael Jackson. I’m sure my husband would probably quip that may be the reason I’m not really a huge music person (for the most part), but the fact is that Michael Jackson was one of the fun, positive memories of the 80′s — which were, by and large, a fairly dark decade, dominated by Ronald Reagan’s political ideology played up in the form of the Cold War.
Earlier this week I Tweeted about how old I was feeling at listening to the very young staff members in my office bag on Bon Jovi and make snarky comments about it not being 1987 (wah!), and I have to say, Michael Jackson’s death may make me feel even older than 20-year-olds capping on the “Slippery When Wet” album. But, then again, a 20-year-old has never owned an actual album. Yet one more reason for me to feel old.
R.I.P. Michael. Your passing is a sober reminder that we are all getting older, and that like the generations before, eventually we all become the ones who think the young kids music is crap and that things were better “when I was your age…” Generation X will mourn your loss because of what it means to our own timeline, regardless of our taste in music or the troubles that overshadowed your later years.
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