Michael Jackson

It was very likely that Michael Jackson was never going to be anything but tabloid fodder for the rest of his life. While he prepared for his curtain call - a 10 show engagement at London's O2 arena that, even with uncertain dates, sold $85 million worth of advance tickets - it was hard to imagine his reemergence as a performer without the headlines, the bizarre interviews, and the videos of his weird superfans espousing their opinions on Jackson's bizarre life.

A cursory glance at celebrity Twitter accounts and music websites reveals that Jackson died well before anybody knew how to classify him. The King of Pop was, maybe even for himself, a mystery. Do we focus on his music, which was great and influential, or do we focus on his personal life, which is full of scandal, even beyond alleged child molestation and plastic surgery disaster? It's a tough call, but I think his death has closed so many doors that his music remains one of the few that is open. Like him or hate him, everybody has some experience with his music.

The first music I happened to own was a cassette tape of the Jackson 5, a compilation that had "ABC" and "I Want You Back" on it. My sister and I played the hell out of that cassette, which is, I think, one of the reasons I got into Motown, then Stax, then Chess, and so on and so forth.

Those songs, as well as a few from Jackson's later career, are still great. When I washed dishes at a banquet hall, after hours of being forced to listen to line dance song after line dance song, "PYT" or "Billie Jean" would play, some white trash guy would try to do the moonwalk on the dance floor, and all would be right with the world. I imagine 20 years from now, those songs will still be playing, and everybody will still know them.

Which is why I think it's insane to be sad for Jackson's passing. The man reached his creative apex in the '80s. When Dangerous was beaten out on the charts by Nirvana's Nevermind, Jackson stopped being relevant...then the tabloid headlines started. By 2001, when Invincible came out, you'd be a liar if you said you were more interested in his music than his personal life. It's been 18 years since Jackson's music was relevant. To put that in perspective, Thriller came out 25 years ago.

So while Jackson's passing and the rumors surrounding it dominate the headlines for the next few weeks (just wait until autopsy results are released), I'll be doing my damnedest to ignore it all. I never much cared to begin with, but now that Jackson is dead, all rumors and speculation about what he did and didn't do are officially nothing more than rumors and speculation. All I'm left with is a cassette tape and the boom box my sister and I played it on. That's how I prefer it.