When I was about seven or eight years old, my dad found a box full of music tapes in the bushes in front of our house. We asked around to see if they belonged to anyone but when no one claimed them, he let me take possession. There were about ten tapes in there and I know I listened to all of them but the copy of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" is the one that I nearly wore out. I knew every single word to every single song, including all of Vincent Price's voiceover.
As the news flew through our office of mostly mid-twenty to mid-thirtysomethings that Mr. Jackson had died I was surprised to remember how MUCH I had loved him as a kid. He got kind of creepy and strange as he got older but I don't know that anything ever got me quite as excited when I was 8 as when the Thriller video would FINALLY come on MTV after waiting and waiting and waiting.
There are just way, way too many good Michael Jackson songs for me to really pick a favorite but this is one that pretty well lives in my iPod. Because it's awesome and also because one time, many years ago, I was roller skating with exactly the right boy at the exactly the right moment when the rink filled up with this song. It never fails to make me happy.
I truly hope he finds some of the peace on the other side he clearly never got here.
5 comments:
aw that last line you wrote made me well up a little bit
amen to all of it. only i listened to the thriller record. over and over and over.
yeah, i was a michael worshipper as a kid, too. i had a michael jackson barbie doll that came with a white glove that fit me. i also had every magazine picture/newspaper article about him taped on my bedroom walls.
and...
when dusty and i lived in seoul, we got tickets on the front row to see him in concert...it was worth every korean penny spent, even though we were totally broke at the time ;)
I think I still have my Thriller record in a box somewhere. I told Jason yesterday when I heard he died, "Poor, screwed-up guy." Like you, I hope he finally found some peace.
Also, the end of the Thriller video STILL gives me chills. Those yellow eyes!
I remember those days! I can't believe I was a big fan of anything like that at the age of 8, but there I was - totally in love with Michael Jackson. I had a teal blue "80'S" dress with glitter and sequins that came with a single glove. Thought I was the coolest thing ever. I remember sitting in front of MTV waiting for his videos to come on too. You're right - he clearly never found what he was looking for here, but maybe he can continue to fill up the heavens with great music in some way.
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