Wacko No More

Grab your crotch, put your glove on Mrs Palmer and squeal like you just don't care. No, its not a standard Friday night at the Dawson residence, the King is dead.

Its no breaking news anymore but I couldn't let the day go by without a small tribute to MJ. I've never been ashamed to say that I'm a fan, even had a poster on the wall growing up, there are a few of his CDs gathering dust in my collection (as are the rest of my CDs!) and his songs always feature on any playlist I create.

I was very fortunate to see him on his (now) last tour in '96 which feels like an eternity ago. The concert, which was here in Perth, and the tour was absorbed by controversy regarding its ticket pricing. At the time they were the most expensive general admission concert tickets for any world tour. With some help from good ole' Mum and Dad, I handed over my $125 and I was there! 2 months after the concert, U2 toured (Zooropa tour I think?) and ticket prices were $200, record broken!

It was then and still is now, the best concert I have ever been to.

I saw him as 2 people. One person overcame an abusive childhood to become the greatest solo pop artist of the 80s. His music united and uplifted listeners and he was an inspiration for generations of budding starlets. No one could say he was ever a follower, MJ was an originator, a trend setter and most definitely a mould breaker. As soon as the world caught up, he swapped to something else until that took off. In many ways I think he can be compared to Madonna. They would disappear for 2 years at a time and then chuck out their new album - critics would say they've gone mad, they've lost it, blah blah. Then, a short time after, who's at the top album sales? who is everyone calling an innovator?

MJ's 2nd person was a media mardi-gras. I'm not going to waste time writing about the bizarre nature of his life as I think that there will be more than enough of that crap floating around today but I will just say without any doubt that he lived a very unusual lifestyle! While I understand scandal sells magazines, personally I don't see why anyone cared so much about his off-stage life. Its like throwing a story on the front page about how Lleyton Hewitt likes wearing odd socks around the house or Tom Hank's lifelong obsession with curry powder... as unusual as it may be, Hewey can still smash a tennis ball to the back corner of the court and the Hank can still act the shirt off a badger. Whatever they choose to do when the camera is off, shouldn't take anything away from their successes in life.

In addition to his musical career, his worldwide humanitarian accomplishments we're unprecedented for their time. His environmental dedication paved the way for events such as Live Earth and to a degree, Live Aid. His work in less fortunate countries is only relatively recently being adopted and copied by celebrities. Brangelina, cut the crap - Jacko was travelling Africa 20 years ago doing the same shit! I can only hope that instead of being remembered for his oddity, he is remembered for his musical triumphs and achievements spanning almost 2 decades.

RIP Mate.
Hiiiiiii-oooooo, shamone-A