The Day Pop Music Died

I have been wanting to start a scrapbook apart from my family scrapbook, that concentrates on the things we witness, day to day, in the news. Mainly about things that really are meaningful to a lot of people, but at the same time I've wanted to write my own perspective on such events. I was never more prompted to write about a news item until last week. You know, it is so easy to forget that none of us are promised tomorrow. We make all these plans thinking that we have all the time in the world but really none of us knows when we will leave this earth. I was reminded of that in a sermon given by the minister of my church, Danny Saltz, a couple of weeks ago. So with that said, please read my journaling that is in this scrapbook page (it is a little long). Here it is:

On June 25, 2009, I was at work listening to the radio, specifically KDES 104.7, when the D.J. came on and said that Michael Jackson had been hospitalized. I thought to myself, “Thank God he’s not dead.” Around 3:30 that day I heard from my boss that they were starting to announce on television that Michael Jackson had died of cardiac arrest. My heart dropped and I immediately felt this sense of loss. Seriously, I have never felt this way about any celebrity! I mean I was so saddened when Princess Diana died. But this was something else. I couldn’t understand it. I got in my car and drove home from work. By this time the radio stations were starting to play his music sporadically. In that moment when I heard I’ll Be There, the tears came. I’ve mourned people close to me but like I said this was something else! I was feeling so much sadness and thinking this is utterly ridiculous, I don’t even know the man personally! It took some time for me to realize maybe I never talked to this great music icon but I did know him. Here are the details!

· I remember sitting in front of the T.V. watching the Jackson 5 cartoons; I was entertained by that cartoon as a kid.

· My Mom used to play the Off The Wall Album day and night. Well, maybe it wasn’t that much, but I remember hearing all of the songs from that album. I also remember thinking as a kid; I really like a lot of this music!

· I remember hearing Billie Jean on the radio and absolutely loved that song. I also remember sitting in front of the T.V watching the 25th Anniversary Special for Motown. I was enthralled by Michael’s dancing! You could feel the awe from the audience coming straight through the T.V. as he did his moon walk! It was special!

· When I heard Thriller for the first time, I didn’t really think the song was that special. The video changed all of that! Growing up in a time where MTV was all about music videos was not a big deal to me until the Thriller video came out. As a pre-teen I couldn’t get enough of seeing it. If you would have asked me then, they didn’t play it enough!

· Lastly as a part of my early 20’s I went out to nightclubs a lot. I remember all the fun I had dancing to Remember The Time.

So maybe I didn’t know Michael Jackson personally, but I did know his music. I could go on and on about it but I don’t have enough room. Yes, there will always be scandal attached to his name and people will always think he is weird or a freak, ultimately though, he was a musical genius and that is the way I will remember him!

Well that is my post for today. I hadn't seen any others out there of the blogs I follow about any historical type of events and so this is my first but not my last. Yes, for some, death is a depressing subject, yet for others it is a celebration of life! For me Michael Jackson's music will always be associated with some good memories. Thanks for reading and looking :)