The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

I'm not going to sit here and say I was a big of his music or anything. Unfortunately, when I think of Jackson I think of this photo you're looking at. Plastic surgery gone wrong. A man accused of molesting children (who admitted sharing his bed with children). He was a running joke for a good decade or so: No one was talking about his music, just his ridiculous circus otherwise known as his life.

But having said all that...when I heard the news he passed away, I was stunned. He was still a young 50 years old, not enough time on this planet for sure. And whether or not I was a fan of his music, it took his death for me to realize just how big a star he really is (I heard a radio DJ call him this generation's Elvis. Perhaps that's not too far off).

I remember back in grade 3 when the Thriller video premiered on television. I actually did NOT see it. But EVERYONE in my class was going on and on about how scary it was and I felt like such an outsider for missing the whole thing. For 1983, it probably was scary. It was quite original in retrospect: A near 15 minute music/short story complete with Vincent Price's eerie narration. And everyone ate it up.

Time will likely forgive his surgery and courtroom shenanigans and perhaps that's the way it should be. Still, it's really too bad he couldn't have left on a higher note. Didn't he have just one more great album or even just one good song left in him? Or did his artistry peak and he simply had no more left to give?

Guess we'll never know.