![]() We watched in denial while he financially settled one such case in the 1990s. Since late 1993, we’ve watched Jackson, his family members and/or representatives of his estate defend his name against allegations of child molestation. Then, for the next 25 years, things went terribly and irreversibly wrong. In our heart of hearts we knew that, even as compelling as those songs were, it was all a fantasy – there were likely no true loves in MJ’s life – but we went along for the ride while shoving aside all the weird “Wacko Jacko” peculiarities that dominated tabloid headlines… the “bleaching” of his skin, his strange friendships with Bubbles the Chimp and little boys like Emmanuel Lewis, his weird fascination with Liz Taylor, his sleeping in the hyperbaric chamber.įor nearly 25 years we experienced this type of MJ-related euphoria, unlike we had experienced with any other black celebrity before or since. Our need to humanize him caused us to try and draw from his music any hints of a romantic relationship, whether it be from the despair of “She’s Out Of My Life,” the longingness of “The Lady In My Life,” the trickery of “Billie Jean,” or the nastiness of “Dirty Diana.” We also wanted glimpses into his personal life, shameless as we were. We dressed like him, wore buttons bearing his likeness, bought all his albums, tried to dance like him. While being thoroughly entertained by Jackson, some of us even wanted to be like him. All of this was shrouded in a childlike innocence that – unbeknownst to us then – would shape how we would try to reconcile the later, turbulent events of his life and those around him. My earliest musical memories were of this group of five fine, upstanding brothers who looked like me and who were making this incredibly catchy pop and soul music, led by an 11-year-old charismatic kid who could sing his ass off…mainly about things no pre-pubescent kid should even know about yet!įor those first 25 years, as MJ grew from a boy into a man-child, we watched with wonder as he dazzled us with dizzying dance moves, enraptured us with iconic songs, and amazed us as he broke record after record with each new album or video release. And if you wind up loving music as much as I did and still do, then three or four is usually the age when you start to have your earliest memories of what initially impacted your childhood. That was the age at which most kids begin to understand what music is. ![]() ![]() I was three years old when Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” first hit in late 1969. I mean, this was the quintessential pop and soul music icon who for the first quarter-century of his career could do no wrong in our eyes and whose star couldn’t shine any brighter, particularly for a black kid like me who had never witnessed one of our own attain the kind of astronomical success Jackson would later achieve. How could anyone watch that program without being affected by the riveting, powerful and – admittedly – compelling stories told by the two men who were just boys when they say Jackson sexually molested them for years beginning in the late 1980s? (March 9, 2019) How does someone who has followed Michael Jackson’s entire career – ever since he and his four older brothers made their national debut half a century ago as the Jackson 5 – process the latest revelations about him as described in the two-part documentary “Leaving Neverland,” which premiered this past Sunday and Monday nights on HBO? From left: Wade Robson, director Dan Reed and James Safechuck pose for a portrait to promote the film “Leaving Neverland” during the Sundance Film Festival – James Safechuck, Leaving Neverland, Michael Jackson, Wade Robson ![]()
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