A few days ago, we remembered the 40th anniversary of the death of Judy Garland -- and now this shocking development.
I heard the first bulletins of the sudden death of Michael Jackson as I drove around Provo running errands. During the 3 o'clock hour MDT, I heard on my car radio.BBC Radio announce sketchy reports that an ambulance rushed Michael Jackson had rushed him from his home to hospital.
In the 5:00 hour, I heard National Public Radio report as its first story that Jackson indeed had died. As I write these words, I am listening to continuous coverage of KNX-AM Radio Los Angeles and of KSL-AM Radio Salt Lake City.
Farrah Fawcett died today as well. This is one of those rare days when two celebrities died on the same day. When Elvis Presley died back in August 1977 -- and my memory of that day recalls his death generated the same sort of big disorganized public displays of grief -- Groucho Marx died with a day. I remember the day in 1985 that Yul Brynner and Orson Welles died on the same day.
I cannot say Jackson's death surprises me.
All those plastic surgeries take a toll on the health, especially considering how badly some of the surgeries turned out. The trouble with having lots of money is that it can procure one all kinds of medical procedures whether one needs them, whether they are actually good or not.
Enduring all the public worship and hatred for decades takes a toll on the health.
Drug abuse takes a toll on the health, too.
Performing live before the public for decades takes a toll on the health as well -- all those adrenalin rushes, all the panic attacks, all the highs and lows.
Mr. Jackson possessed enormous singing, musical, and dancing talent, and most people do not understand where that sort of creativity comes. Thus he had to endure the insults and the sniping of the little talents and the jealous wannabes.
I heard one of his more vocal supporters say tonight on the radio that his upcoming revival tour of live performances would have restored him to triumphant stardom again, but there is no shred of physical evidence now to support that contention. He was 50 years of age, and few singing stars have returned to greatness after dissipating themselves so spectacularly in their 30s.
I remember something that Bernard Shaw wrote in the notes to Caesar and Cleopatra . He compared-contrasted Caesar, and Charles XII, and Joan of Arc, and Admiral Nelson "who were like most modern self made millionaires half witted geniuses, enjoying the worship according by all races certain forms of insanity."
The adulation that the public heaped on Jackson seems today to validate Shaw's assessment --
but we didn't realize how insane Jackson really could get. Worshiping Jackson could get rather uncomfortable.
For example:
Jackson settled that 1993 pedofile accusation out of court, and the 2005 jury found him not guilty of child sexual abuse by getting kids drunk -- yet somehow he never quite shook off the negative image. It is one thing for an adult to like kids. It is quite another thing for that adult to appear to like kids more than adults. No amount of sophisticated public relations can fix a public image problem of that magnitude.
My mind goes back to the little boy who performed with his brothers in television variety programs of the early 1970s. My mind goes back to the young man who in an early and highly influential music video of 1983 observed wryly that he was different from the other boys. That turned out to be one of the great understatements of that time. Fortunately, much of his performances have been saved on audio and video recordings so that the future generations can make their own judgements about Michael Jackson and his talent.
No comments:
Post a Comment