Michael Jackson Dead, RIP!

I have always liked Michael Jackson, in spite of his strange behavior in the last 25 years. The news of his death shocked and upset me. I have so many memories of Michael Jackson, like the first Europe my first time in the early 90's and he was on top of the world, his music videos being played all of the time, his songs on the radio. Both times while in I was in Iraq, having Iraqis asking me what the matter with Michael Jackson was. Watching MTV in the early 80's back when they actually played videos, epically the Thriller album that had like 7 number one singles
and dominated MTV for months, (Maybe over playing Michael Jackson justified in the executives there not playing any other black artists for years). The NYT wrote, at the height of his career, he was indisputably the biggest star in the world; he has sold more than 750 million albums. Musically and physical appearance wise, it has been all down hill since 1991. Michael came out with Black and White that year, which remained at the top of the singles chart into 1992, for a total of seven weeks, making Michael Jackson the first artist to get number one popular hits in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. Yet from here, things get very ugly for him. This is a great link if you want to see how his addiction to plastic surgery transformed him from a regular guy to what he had become. I doubt that any recording artist, especially in this day and age, will ever be as huge as Michael Jackson was. He put MTV on the map. His success as a childhood star with his brothers in the Jackson 5 was a compete career in itself. He will be missed, even though ever since the early nineties his off stage lifestyle and appearance has been disturbing, his accomplishments and his music are a totally separate issue. RIP Michael! BET award show - Weekend ending with tribute to Michael Jackson.

Michael Jackson - New Music - More Music Videos

Update

I watched MJ's memorial service today and it was very well done. The two saddest part were when towards the end, one of Michael's brothers said that whenever he told Michael that he love him, Michael would respond that he loved him more. His daughter Paris was the final word that the Jackson family would have on stage and it went like this...

The LAT notes that "the signature moment" of the service may have been when his 11-year-old daughter, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, took the stage. "I just wanted to say, ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine," she said through tears. "And I just wanted to say I love him so much."

That was very sad.