2AM Traffic

"His sudden death gives us all an opportunity to appreciate the enduring genius of his art but to realize that we have no musician that speaks to all of us... and that we haven’t for some time now."

- Stephen Thomas Erlewine, allmusic.com

I don't own any Michael Jackson albums and I never have. He was undeniably talented and the richer he became, the grander the terms in which he thought about his art became. If you were born in North America in the last 40 years, he was a part of your childhood. There's no getting around that. His face, songs and videos were everywhere.

My sister had a crush on him until she saw the Thriller video. It made her cry. My parents forbade us to watch the video for years, though I remember clearly seeing the discretionary warning that it didn't endorse a belief in the occult. It's the kind of thing you wouldn't see these days.

Michael had a love for the theatrical and the debuts of his videos on television were always an event. I remember tuning in to see the premieres of Bad, Black or White, Remember the Time and Scream on network television. They usually amounted to miniature films, each with its own complete vision.

"Dangerous" was the album I remember most. I heard it played in bedrooms and basements during the transition of my taste into rock music. The Weird Al parodies were huge, of course. I had a red leather jacket like the one from Thriller in the 4th grade and got made fun of for wearing it.

I wouldn't say that Jackson's music ever spoke to me personally, but it was impossible to not get chills over his grandiose presentation of a pop song. Nobody did it better. He was the total package of ability in voice, dance and passion. During the 90's, a societal shift in attitude away from the excess and pomp of the 80's didn't stop Michael from going to extreme lengths to promote himself, and while his ego went on trial around the same time he did, it was hard to not admire the guy.

People didn't want to believe that Michael had a sick side because of the way his music had made them feel. He was raised in the public spotlight from a young age and had everyone's attention. Nobody wanted to see such a creation turn into Frankenstein's monster. Michael's appearance was indicative of the insecurities of a person trying to remain high in the world's imagination. His skin disease was a nasty reminder of his humanity and he appeared to work against it rather than with it.

It's been nice to see people try to honour Michael as a brilliant artist instead of the freak that he seemed to become. A part of me was looking forward to his upcoming tour. It would have been one last shot for the master to go out on top - a final chance to change the world's minds and live up to old potentials, renew old victories and bring the people to dance again. It would have been nice for him.

One of the richest, most popular and most mysterious performers has passed on very suddenly. Time will tell how this will impact a variety of things - the media, music, the tabloids. It would be great to see changes made. As brilliant as he might have been, we don't need another Michael Jackson. No one deserves such a fate.