It is said realisation of true value sinks in when a possession is not there with us. The man who changed the face of entertainment around the globe and touched a billion lives through his music, dance, charities and values, left us two months ago. The whole world suddenly wants to relive the magic of Michael Jackson, the same helpless person who was rejected and made fun of for the latter part of his life. On August 29, he would have turned 51, and may have also provided us so much more joy with his concerts, a chance to be immersed in his world of musical performance.
As humans, we are bound to make mistakes. Yet to treat the pure soul as an outcast in recent years now seems an unforgivable sin – more so when we realise that the overflowing love that he gave to the world was repaid in the same quantity the opposite way. For the past few years he lived lonely and in intense pain, yet lived it with a smile. The men and women who laughed at him for his freaky ways turn his fans all of a sudden. Why does this happen?
Michael Jackson’s life was as magical as an illusion.
Since his groundbreaking album ‘Thriller’ as a 24-year old, he has always been in headlines and under heavy media scrutiny. From the rumours about his changing appearance in the mid 80’s, his choice of pets and criminal charges, cynics always saw him as an odd, eccentric persona who could defy human logic in his entertainment abilities as well as lifestyle.
As an artist he was a revolutionary trendsetter. With the high pitched ‘Aaow!’s and Hoo!’s in his songs to the recording of his own heart beat as an introductory rhythm in ‘Smooth Criminal’, the robotic dance, the anti-gravity lean, the moonwalk, the sideways slips, and countless other eye-popping innovations in his videos, live performances and records along with his extraordinary musical talent, Michael Jackson’s craze in his peak years literally crossed all boundaries. Wherever he toured the world over, millions would scream when they saw him on stage, weep like crazy and some of them would always faint. Indeed, he possessed the power of hypnotising masses perhaps comparable to Adolf Hitler many decades ago.
In a survey conducted in 1997, Michael Jackson was declared the most famous personality on the planet. The brand that was Michael Jackson was so well-known; one would have to live under a rock to not know who he was.
With unsurpassable fame and recognition, his desire for humanitarian initiatives, of teaching the world full of war and hatred the joy of unconditional love, peace and unity could not be suppressed. Along with countless charities, he established his ‘Heal the World Foundation’, provide medicine to children and fight world hunger, homelessness, child exploitation and abuse.
The foundation also brought underprivileged children to his Neverland Ranch, to go on theme park rides that Michael had built on the property after he purchased it in 1988.
He holds the record for the maximum charity recorded by a pop-star.
In the 35th Grammy Awards, he was given the ‘Living Legend Award’. Michael confessed then, “My childhood was completely taken away from me. There was no Christmas, there was no birthdays, it was not a normal childhood, nor the normal pleasures of childhood...But as an awful price, I can not re-create that part of my life. However, today, when I create my music, I feel like an instrument of nature. I wonder what delight nature must feel when we open our hearts and express our God-given talents.”
The same year he faced criminal charges, an ordeal that took light out of Michael’s life. Media started to get hold of the negative fodder that they thrive on – Michael was blackballed and the media largely tore him to shreds. For these allegations he annulled the release of his single ‘Dangerous’ and cancelled the Dangerous World Tour. It was in this phase of his life that he got addicted to anti-depressant drugs. His next album HIStory saw a new avatar of a highly outraged and emotional Michael, cross with the injustices to him and to people around the world.
Some of his singles in the album, out in 1996, was directed at the media, especially tabloids. ‘Scream’, the most expensive video ever made and a Grammy award winner was a direct attack on tabloids, and so were the singles ‘This Time Around’ and ‘Tabloid Junkie’. One of his most popular songs ‘They don’t really care about us’ was based on violation of human rights, and ‘Stranger in Moscow’ themed loneliness and dejection symbolic of how he felt during the trying phase of his career. HIStory sold over 40 million copies to date, making it the best-selling double disk album in the world.
After his 1997 album ‘Blood on the dance floor’, which is currently the best selling remix album in the world, Michael rarely saw the brighter side of life and career.
He put his heart and soul into his new album ‘Invincible’ (released in 2001), for which Sony did not support him with the funds. At wars with Sony chief Tommy Mottola, Michael could not promote his new album. Radio stations refused to play his songs yet the album was a hit – it sold 13 million copies worldwide, a remarkable feat of continuous string of hits. In 2005, he was again victimised for criminal allegations.
He was freed of all charges after a few months, but his image was tarnished. By now the damage was done – Michael became a recluse, only comfortable in the other world in his Neverland Ranch. It was a knee jerk reaction.
He had once explained his attraction to simple and innocent fun. Robbed of his childhood, he had himself revealed he was a Peter Pan at heart, and hence the name ‘Neverland’ to his home, which resembled an ultra-luxurious theme park.
“I wanted to have a place that I could create everything that I never had as a child. So you see rides, you see animals, there's a movie theatre. I was always on tour travelling, you know, and I never got a chance to do those things. So I compensated for the loss by - I have a good time - I mean, I can't go into a park, I can't go to Disneyland as myself. I can't go out and walk down the street. There's crowds and bumper-to-bumper cars. So I create my world behind my gates,” Michael had said. He invited tons of underprivileged children in Neverland for them to have an idyllic taste of childhood.
A fresh lease of life was provided to him by AEG for a string of live performances in London in July this year. Tickets sold at an astonishing rate of 11 per second. His true fans, troubled by the injustices in his recent times, wanted to see him perform, ‘remember the time’ and grab hold of his magic a last time.
On June 25, we awoke to a rude shock. Michael Jackson had passed away.
Hollywood director Steven Spielberg had described Michael as a ‘fawn trapped in a burning forest’. As the police searches for the one who killed Michael, deep down we all realise that we had killed him long before.
For his fans, Michael was an angel – naïve, innocent and childlike, who could not deal with this cruel world. People kept ignoring Michael, and when he left for heaven, crib and weep for him as they now realise his true worth.
They realise Michael was special. Perhaps death serves him well, for he will not have to face the “strange behaviour” of earthlings anymore.
