Michael Jackson

     When I was reading the Sunday Arts section of the Plain Dealer the other day, there was a mention that the Complete Jackson Five animated series was being released today. At first, this news made me nostalgic for my childhood. I remember watching those cartoons. I remember Jackie (real name Sigmund) being my favorite Jackson. I don't really remember why; I was just a kid. I must have been into them, because my parents bought me a Jackson Five album, which unfortunately I no longer have. Then, I started thinking about Michael. I've never known what to make of Michael Jackson. When he was in the Jackson Five, he was this little kid with a huge voice that sang amazing songs like "ABC" and "I Want You Back". It seemed so strange to see a kid starring in a group with his older brothers. Then he was off my radar when I started buying my own records. I barely noticed when Off The Wall came out, I vaguely remember him doing songs with McCartney and I was into hard rock and metal when Thriller was released.
     It seemed like I was the only person that didn't own Thriller. Of course that's not true, but it seemed like it. It was a badge of honor. I was listening to awesome stuff like Def Leppard, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden. Alright, you can stop laughing now. Anyhow, Thriller was everywhere and it represented everything I hated about the music industry. So how is it that it's in my collection now? I inherited it. In my introductory blog post, I discussed how the idea for this blog came from people giving me inherited record collections that they didn't want. Out of the hundreds of horrible albums I managed to find a few gems. Thriller was one and I decided to keep it. In fact, here's a list of excellent albums that I got from these collections.

* Thriller
* Dark Side of the Moon
* Out of the Blue- ELO
* Rumors
* Double Vision- Foreigner
* Tapestry
* Journey
* A bunch of Buck Owens albums
* News of the World- Queen
* A bunch of Elvis 45's
     - I noticed that Elvis records were all in horrible condition. Probably because they belonged
       to young girls.

     Around the time of Thriller, Michael Jackson became Jacko the Whacko. He began buying monkeys and having his face hacked up. Then there were all his legal problems and strange marriages. Then after years of being out of the spotlight, he was trying to make a comeback. Unfortunately, it killed him.
     Now that I'm older, I can look back on his legacy and respect what he accomplished. A little kid from Gary, Indiana became the King of Pop. And his songs really were fantastic once you peel back all the other nonsense. Rockin' Robin. Rock With You. Beat It. Bad. Thriller... I intend to buy the Essential Michael Jackson cd and would recommend it to my kids. Peace.