Michael Jackson: Mourning his death, celebrating his music

It was early in the morning here in Manila when I checked my Gmail, and saw, to my shock, first a breaking news e-mail alert that Farrah Fawcett had passed away, and then another alert saying that Michael Jackson had been rushed to the hospital.

I went to the microblogging sites Twitter and Plurk, and was quickly updated on the latest news by the tweets and plurks.

Michael Jackson was dead.

Just like that.

News of his death filled the timeline of my Twitter and Plurk accounts, as well as my Facebook and other social networks. I told my shocked wife, who just a few minutes ago had learned from me that Farrah had passed away and MJ was in a hospital. Like millions of people around the world, like the news outlets which found themselves scrambling to cover the event, we were caught off guard.

I'll be honest with you. I was a big Michael Jackson fan in the 80s, when Thriller was the album. Nope, I never learned to moonwalk. I never dressed up like him or wore that glove, but the first time I heard Beat It and saw the music video, I was hooked. And then of course I realized that he had other great songs as the lead singer of the Jackson 5. But it was Thriller that made him the idol of millions -- and how remarkable is it that more than 20 years later, it remains the best-selling music album of all time.

How influential does Thriller remain after all these years? Here's a viral video that became an instant Internet sensation in 2007, which shows over a thousand inmates of the Cebu Provincial Detention and Rehabilitation Center maximum security prison in the Philippines dancing to Thriller. This video was named as one of the Top 10 viral videos of the year by Time magazine.

Of course, after Thriller, even before the 80s was over, I moved on to other genres, other artists, other idols. I fell in love with New Wave (or New Rock, if you want to be strict with terminology), and no longer considered Michael cool in my teenage years.

Then came all the controversy, from the cosmetic surgery, to the bizarre behavior, to the child molestation charges, to that horrifying day he dangled his child outside a window. The King of Pop had become, well, a freak. Yes, he still had great songs, still made beautiful music, but it was pretty hard for me, as well as for many others, to overlook what had happened to the man.

His sudden death, however, has filled me with a sense of loss. I'm not as big a fan of Michael anymore to find myself weeping or holding a vigil for him, but he was part of my childhood, and his music inspired me and continues to inspire me.

Whatever you might think of him, whatever his faults may be, what we cannot deny is that he was a very talented musician, whose songs made a huge impact on the lives of many people in many countries over many years.

From the Philippines, here's the latest performance from the Cebu dancing inmates of Thriler viral video fame, who paid tribute to the King of Pop. The dance routine, which interprets songs spanning Jackson's career, was completed by the 1, 500 CPDRC inmates 10 hours after receiving word of his death, according to the video details.

The video has been viewed 860,354 times as of this writing, and is #2 Most Viewed (Today) and #19 Most Viewed (This Week) on YouTube.

That's why I don't understand those who are wondering aloud why people are making a big deal about his death, when in the eyes of these critics MJ was nothing but a freak. I guess it might be a backlash against all the media attention, but let's face it: it was the public which demanded news about him. It was the public which was so hungry for news that they caused several sites to go down, as I noted on my CNET Asia blog.

The thing is, you can appreciate an artist's work, whatever his shortcomings might be as a person. Imagine what would happen, if we held up to scrutiny all our favorite singers, authors, or filmmakers, judging the quality of their work and our enjoyment by what they are doing with their personal lives. For instance, would our appreciation of William Shakespeare's works be diminished by knowing what kind of person he really was?

As if gifted with prescience, this print column by Jessica Zafra came out in the Philippine Star today, where she examined Michael's transformation "From idol to freakshow." Read it to get the perspective of someone who had never bought the Thriller album, who never became a fan of Michael because she thought his music wasn't cool.

Also, here's an excerpt from the post "On The Sudden Passing of Michael Jackson" that captures my own sense of loss.

What I think a lotta folks are feelin’ now is a regret. Not regret that a man died; no. They regret that for almost three decades they been mockin’ this guy. This guy who wrote Thriller, and PYT, and Billie Jean. You know who you are, you Michael deniers, listenin’ to your The Cure or Aerosmith. You always considered Michael’s music silly. Not serious. Lame, mainstream. “Popular.” And his life — everyone gets a kick outta’ watchin’ the mighty fall. It sells paper. It makes us feel falsely superior, from our low places. Yet now, now that he’ll never sing another note, you listen to those songs anew — ABC, I Want You Back, Beat It — and you know who he was. Michael had more talent in his little finger than any act today has among four men. Try wakin’ up tomorrow and writin’ We Are The World. See what you come up with. See if you can get Stevie and Tina to come down to the studio, along with Bruce and Billy and twenty other people who cost a whole hell of a lotta money at the time.

Rest in peace, Michael. Thank you for the music. Thank you for the memories.