by Urbansocialight

When my mother was a little girl she was in love with Michael Jackson, she said she loved him so much that it hurt.  She’s always talked about how Michael Jackson was her “boyfriend”,  Jermaine was my Auntie Phyllis boyfriend and their play sister Toni got stuck with Marlon.  My mother is recounting to me her memories now “I’ve always had dreams, even as an adult, about being with Michael and going to his house.  Ummmm…. I loved him so much I would cry.  Only my friends could tell you how I felt about Michael.”

More than 20 years later, when I was a child, I too fell in love with Michael Jackson.  I loved all his songs and had all videos on VHS.  When his videos would come on I would run to my room and get my shiny glove and try to imitate his dance moves.  Do you guys remember how much of an event his video premieres were? What other artist has had prime time TV stop it’s programming to premiere their videos?  Not MTV, not BET, not VH1, I’m talking NBC, ABC, and CBS stopping their shows, to play a music video.  Never before and never again will there be another star on his caliber. He was truly in a league of his own.

I asked my mom to tell the Jackson 5 concert story where she got kicked out.  “I can’t even talk about it right now…I’m not in the mood.”  No worries, I’ve heard it and told it a million times over.  In the 80’s my mother went to the “Jackson 5 Victory Reunion Tour” and although flash photography was forbidden she worked her way to the front and snapped pictures anyway.  Well sure enough, she got caught and got kicked out.  She was so devastated that she proceeded to break down and cry. She cried and pleaded so hard with security that he let her back in, under the condition that she wouldn’t take anymore pictures. She was still cried so hard that she couldn’t even enjoy the rest of the show.   But guess what? Another 20 years later and we’ve still got pictures of Michael in our photo album, so it was totally worth it.

My freshmen year of college, my dorm had a Halloween hallway decorating contest.  I was totally into it.  I suggested that we learn the dance from Thriller so when the judges walked through we could pop out and do the dance.  So for week before, we practiced the dance moves from Thriller and when the judges walked through, our RA cued the music and we came out of our rooms like zombies and did the dance.  Needless to say, we kicked the other hallway asses, thanks to Michael.

Although his death was untimely, I want to remember the good times and the effect that Michael Jackson has had on music and culture to this day.  In memory of MJ, I’ll give you my top 3 MJ videos and a few of my favorite songs.

Number 3 is “Thriller”…enough said.  A close 2^nd was, “Remember the Time”.  It had everything, great choreography, great story line, Iman, love, magic, who could ask for more?  My number 1 personal favorite is “Smooth Criminal” Seriously, who ever did movie length music videos before Michael?  “Smooth Criminal” favorite, for one reason: THE LEAN! How did they do that?!  Magnets?  A slanted floor?  HOW?!!  Will I ever know!?  It’s the best, most extraordinary video I’ve ever seen in my life!

My favorite songs are “The Way You Make Me Feel”, “Man in the Mirror”, “Human Nature”, “P.Y.T.”, “Leave Me Alone”, “Butterflies”, and many more, I could go on at on.  We love you MJ! The One and Only King of Pop, Michael Jackson, 1958-2009.