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Raz Jabbin: on the death of Michael Jackson
Though much is going on in the world at the moment, like many others, it's the news of Michael Jackson's death that has moved me the most this week.
Though much is going on in the world at the moment, like many others, it's the news of Michael Jackson's death that has moved me the most this week.Billy Jean was one of the first english songs I remember listening to, while trying to figure out what the lyrics were about.
But watching his music videos over and over again during the weekend, I realised that I had forgotten just how great he was. I had forgotten why my shoulders would twitch every time Thriller would play. I had forgotten how everyone wanted to show off their moonwalk as children. I had forgotten my brother's bad imitations of Bad, which always made me laugh.
However, out of everything I watched on television this weekend, it was the interview given by Uri Geller on Channel 4 news that made me think of what we all may have forgotten most about Michael Jackson.
Uri Geller told Channel 4 that he had Michael Jackson under deep hypnosis to help him tackle a food-related issue. He then claimed, at the same time, to have "unethically" quizzed Michael Jackson about the child molestation allegations made against him. Talking of the boy who made the first allegation in 1993, he asked: "why did you pay Jodie Chandler off?" to which, apparently, Michael Jackson replied: "I could not take it any more."
Initially, having been disgusted at the more than unethical admission, I then found myself feeling extremely sad.
I was sceptical at first, thinking whether the truth, much like the spoons Uri Geller had come across, had been bent a little. I then began to entertain the possibility of such a story being true.
Because if it were true, I thought, the point would not be that Michael Jackson was innocent, but instead, it would be telling of just how naive Michael Jackson was and how ready people were to exploit him – in the way Uri Geller's story proclaims, and in the way we watched Martin Bashir in his documentary, Living with Michael, in 2003.
Michael Jackson's work was that of a genius, out of this world, but perhaps we had forgotten that, as a person, he was just as susceptible as the rest of us.
When it comes to Michael Jackson, I am less likely to remember where I was when told the news of his death, but more likely to remember all the great moments he helped create throughout my childhood.
It's just a shame that, with headlines boasting "Michael Jackson's album reaches No1", as with all the greats, it was his death which bought him back to life.
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Wednesday 23 May 2012
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