The Elvis of My Lifetime

No matter the opinion of him, the death of Michael Jackson is one of the most unfortunate losses in the history of entertainment. I wasn’t alive for the death of Elvis or John Lennon, but Jackson was easily on that same level.

Of course it may sound strange for me to say something like that, but upon looking at his impact on the music industry, the “muddy water” should become a bit clearer. I should note that I don’t think he is the greatest of all time or that I listened to him that much. I’ll even argue against his nickname ‘The King of Pop.’ Jackson, however, is the Elvis and Lennon of my lifetime.

For a second, ignore the side stories that pretty much everyone knows. Also ignore musical preferences, as we all have our own favorites. There’s one statistic that stands out by far compared to anything else when talking about Jackson. That’s the best selling album of all time.

Everyone’s heard of “Thriller,” the song and the album. The 1982 smash LP has been reported between to have sold 100 and 109 million copies. The next closest is AC/DC’s “Back in Black with 45 million copies sold. That’s absolutely astonishing.

The album also had seven hits make the top 10. Only two other albums ever have done that with Bruce Springsteen’s “Born in the U.S.A.” and Janet Jackson’s “Janet Jackson’s Rhythm Nation 1814” tying the accomplishment.

His death put a jumpstart in the record business as three of his albums took the top three spots on the charts. Many more filled the top 100 at a rate that’s never been done before. Again, more records are falling left and right.

And come on. I couldn’t imagine a better time to listen the radio than in the mid-1980s.

There are numerous other stats that could be listed, but I think the point has been made and heard well enough.

Jackson faced a level of fame many people won’t and can’t ever reach. Most probably don’t want to. Even the Boss himself mentioned so in an interview in an issue of Rolling Stone magazine in 1984.

"The type of fame that Elvis had, and that I think Michael Jackson has, the pressure of it, and the isolation that it seems to require, has gotta be really painful. I wasn't gonna let that happen to me. I wasn't gonna get to a place where I said, 'I can't go in here. I can't go to this bar. I can’t go outside.'... I believe that the life of a rock 'n' roll band will last as long as you look down into the audience and can see yourself, and your audience looks up at you and can see themselves—and as long as those reflections are human, realistic ones. The biggest gift that your fans can give you is just treatin' you like a human being, because anything else dehumanizes you. And that’s one of the things that has shortened the life spans, both physically and creatively, of some of the best rock 'n' roll musicians—that cruel isolation. If the price of fame is that you have to be isolated from the people you write for, then that's too high a price to pay."

So many have reported the eerie circumstances relating Jackson’s death to Elvis’. Even Jackson himself confessed the thought to Lisa Marie when they were married.

I’m not going to lie. A little bit of me has been interested in this last stint in London’s 02 arena he was supposed to start next week. A total of 50 shows were sold out in around five hours. Only few know what it was really going to be like, but I’m sure it would have been top notch. After all, this guy stood on stage at the halftime show of the Super Bowl way back when doing nothing for a couple of minutes and still put on a great show even if lip-syncing was involved.

But then there is the nickname: the King of Pop. I disagree. There is only one king, and that’s Elvis. Even Lennon said, “Before Elvis, there was nothing.” There is another one, I’m not sure who it’s from, that said, “Before anyone did anything, Elvis did everything.” Another says, “There have been a lotta tough guys. There have been pretenders. And there have been contenders. But there is only one king.” It’s that simple.

Still, as I sat in my bed watching the coverage of when he first died, I thought if there was any one person in the world who could ever come back to life, it’d be Michael Jackson. Half of me honestly wouldn’t have been surprised if the the news stations popped up a lower-third that said “He’ll Be There (or) You Want Him Back?: Michael Jackson Revived.”

Then he’d moonwalk out of the hospital to the sidewalk where he’d be catapulted, somehow, onto an Escalade or whatever big vehicle like that he rides in, give a peace sign, scream, and start dancing before riding off into a sunset.

You know if that happened some of you would utter, “I’m not surprised.”

But anyway, back to reality. Many people are saying the coverage in the media is too much. I think it’s fine. If it was in the life of Elvis, I think it would have been twice as much. When Lennon died, Monday Night Football (in its hayday mind you) was interrupted to announce it to everyone.

Either way, Michael Jackson was very influential to music and no matter what people say, it wouldn’t be the same today if it wasn’t for him.

As aforementioned, I didn’t listen to him that much. But when I did listen to his songs, they were so catchy and flowed well. The weekend after he died, I almost opened the gate of my fence to park my car in the back yard so I could roll the windows down and play his music as loud as possible while lounging in the pool. Oh well.

I’ve got to say though, one of my favorite concert moments would have to be watching Distorted Penguins (when they were together) and they’d break into the Jackson 5 cover of “I Want You Back.” Whether it was on the campus of West Liberty, Alderson-Broaddus, or in a small one-car garage crammed with about 100 people, it was great.

Even though other songs were played I enjoyed, the J5 cover added to it, and Jackson had a piece to do with that. Thanks.

I can’t wait to do a choregraphed version of “ABC” like in Clerks II, Logan