I want to apologize to everyone if I had somewhat seemed rather 'half-hearted' in some of my most recent entries... not just because I am busy with work, but also because I am trying to cope with life after the death of my fave singer. I guess you feel the same way as I do... the following text is my personal thoughts on the legend who had such a big influence in my life...
It was the 16th of August 2002, on the 25th anniversary of Elvis Presley’s death, and some of Elvis’ greatest hits were playing on the radio inside the bunk that I shared with some close friends during my time in NS. One of my army friends told me, “It amazes me to think that Elvis’ music still lives on even though he died before any of us guys were born. I wonder how it would feel like to mourn the death of an international star like say, Michael Jackson?” Little would me or my friends or anyone else realize that the day would really come...
Fast forward to 25th June 2009. Michael Jackson died of cardiac arrest, news of his death had caused several websites to crash, and his albums at CD stores were sold at record speed. The whole world was in complete shock over the tragic death of an icon. He was scheduled to hold a series of concerts in a few weeks’ time in London. I could not believe it either, and even now on the 3rd of July, deep down inside like all the other MJ fans, I am still going through a ‘recovery process’ and trying to get over with the loss of my favorite singer. It was as if a part of my childhood was gone, because I grew up listening to MJ’s songs and watching his music videos. And yes, I finally understood the pain and grief that the people around the world felt on the day of Elvis Presley’s death, back in a time when myself and many young adults of today were yet to come into existence.
Of course, I am not ashamed to declare myself as one of Michael Jackson’s biggest fans. I may not be the type who would dress up like MJ, but rather I am the type who would try to dance like him and memorize the lyrics to most of his songs. And like many others who like MJ, I do have my share of fondest MJ moments.
I remembered the time when I first saw the Thriller short film at a shopping center... being about 4 years old that time, I was so frightened that I wanted to run away and hide behind my dad, but something told me to keep watching. It was this zombie’s dancing that amazed me greatly, and yes I did learn later that the zombie is none other than MJ.
I remembered watching the Smooth Criminal film at Marina Square for the first time when I was about 6 years old... I was so amazed by the special effects, I actually thought that Michael really had the ability to transform into a robot!
I remembered playing the "Moonwalker" video game (based off the 1988 movie of course) via NES console with a distant relative, controlling the 32-bit MJ to do moonwalk, defeat any baddie and save every little kid within the stage.
I remembered the time when me and my primary schoolmates organized an unofficial MJ dance party with the form teacher’s approval. The event started off with me who danced to “Jam”, then came another classmate who danced to Aaron Kwok’s music, then two people dancing to a MJ song whose title I forgot... and then nearly the whole class dancing to “Black of White”. A truly memorable day indeed.
I remembered during Primary 5 camp, about 5 of my classmates danced like Michael Jackson to some “Ging Gang Gooli Gooli” song against 4 other classes as part of some dance competition, and got first place. I was actually supposed to perform with them, but the others thought I was a rather lousy dancer. Thinking back, I realized they were right; I really did suck at doing a full routine MJ dance back then.
I remembered going to Madam Tussaud’s exhibition at the then-World Trade Center (some 2 years before it was renamed Harborfront Center) in January 2000, taking pictures with various wax figures of famous personalities. It was indeed a ‘dream come true’ for me to take picture with ‘Michael’, even if it was only a wax figure.
I remembered watching the news in my aunt’s house with my family when we were in Thailand in 1993... upon seeing footage of MJ grabbing his crotch during a performance, my mum told Dad, “This MJ always likes to touch his bird even when dancing, so disgusting.” And at another time, when my dad and I were taking a walk somewhere in Pattaya, he pointed to a random hill from afar and remarked on how much it looked like Michael’s nose, in light to his latest nose job.
I remembered annoying my parents at times by either speaking in a high voice like Michael or punctuating some of my sentences with “hee hee!!’, or even grabbing my crotch whenever I hear a MJ song being played on radio. My mum would then threaten to ‘cut that thing off’ if I continue to talk like that.
Deep down I am rather depressed and upset like many others who are trying to get over the shockwaves on MJ’s death, but not to the point that I ‘don’t feel like living anymore’... it was truly heartbreaking to read from the web that soon after news of MJ’s death were made known to public, some of his fans (mostly from the States that is) actually killed themselves in despair. That is a truly foolish and tragic thing, for people to actually end their lives over someone they idolize, but don’t even know personally.
Even though the King of Pop may have left this world, I believe that his music will continue to live on in many years to come... look at Elvis, he may have been dead a long time ago, but his songs are still being played in the radios til this very day; there was even an “Elvis 25” compilation album being released in 2002. I may have many personal favorites (be it actors, films or TV series) in my life, but none of them had such a huge influence as the amazing and talented performer known as Michael Joseph Jackson.
Coming up next... Part 2 of my thoughts on MJ (Man In The Mirror)
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