On a musical genius

This doesn't really fit the ethos of my particular blog, but I have to just say how sorry I am to hear of Michael Jacksons death. I am not a devoted fan, but grew up in the heady years of MJ. I saw the stories people published about him, and never really gave a thought to which part of the mix - his genius or his madness - was the more important. He wasn't really on my radar much, but now that he has died - and taken his gift with him - I've thought about this dilemma a bit more.

Undoubtedly, the musical legacy that he left behind will live on forever. When an artist is alive, it is easy to overlook just exactly what they give to the world. His looks were odd, sometimes his voice was a bit too high pitched for my liking. Taking these things in isolation, MJ seemed a bit quirky, a bit mad. However, take a huge leap in the air and view his tapestry from above and those images and sounds diminish. What you see overall is an incredible manifestation of talent.

From his concerts to his strings of number one hits, to his accompanying video masterpieces, his amazing dancing abilities and his enigmatic style, this was someone that we can all look upon as reaching the very height of mastery of his talent. I cannot look upon anyone from the modern musical age and say that they can match MJ on all of these aspects simultaneously.

And herein lies the real crux of what I am going to say. When a legend is truly living, and giving as much as they do, our appreciation of them seems to unfold as the reciprocal of their talent. We start to examine other aspects of their heady existence, and instead of rejoicing in what their talent gives us, we villify what we find in their private lives. Never do we stop to wonder what impact we may be having on them, and the possibility that by treating them this way, we may be expediting their demise, and the loss of their gift.

This truly happened to MJ. It is only upon looking back - now that he is gone - that we want to partake of his gifts further than we had done when he was alive. Look at the sales of his music now that he is gone! If only the press, and his life, had been more genuine and normal, maybe he'd now be a picture of health - maybe his gifts would once again have kept on giving for us all to enjoy?

Everyone enjoys watching genius at work, and it is this genius that attracts both good and bad into orbit around such people. The bad is an inevitable sideband to an otherwise worthwhile signal, and some people are more able than others to filter that sideband and get on with producing the signal. It is open to question how affected MJ was by his wretched sideband, given the strength of signal he produced. I think he courted the conjurers of his alter-ego, the man in the hyperbaric chamber. His love hate relationship with this schizophrenic persona - half innocent child, half megastar - led to a dichotomy that even he himself could not resolve, and it gave birth to this monster of transfromation that overtook his life.

It is at the crest of a new rebirth that MJ fell victim to his own innocence. At a time when he appeared to be getting back onto the stage, the sideband of greedy people swirling around him came to bring him downonce more. Ten concerts turned into fifty, and he himself complained of this. Yet in his nature, he went ahead with it to avoid disappointing his fans. I wonder if he was at peace with his decision to go back on the road before the magnitude of his commitment hit him?

MJ, I and countless hundreds of millions of fans will miss what you gave, and be thankful that you will no longer have to live in the shadow of all that ailed you anymore.

Rest in peace.