Post by MaryAnn Layton on May 20, 2010 4:24:46 GMT -5
First, I want to warmly welcome one of our newest members to MJ's Army! I had posted a comment at Brett Ratner's blog because of an article he wrote about Michael, and while reading the other posts, I saw Cece's request for others to read hers too.
musicmichaelandme.blogspot.com/
THANK YOU Cece! Great article! When I read this part below, I practically fell over
Can you think of any child who has had a similar childhood? Can you think of any child at age 12 was sitting in the back of a limo watching cartoons on the way to perform in front of 20,000 people? Can you name one other 13 year old who was receiving 200,000 dollar checks in the mail monthly and whose only request was to buy bubble gum and candy? Can you think of just one? Michael was the one and the only - the only one.
I have been thinking exactly that for quite a while now, as kind of a response to those who stubbornly continue to think of Michael as weird. There is absolutely NO WAY that Michael could have turned out "normal" as we like to call it. But then what is "normal" anyway? We all have our own idiosyncracies and quirks, and they all stem from our childhoods. As adults, we all continue to carry some kind of burden or baggage or pain from either the way we were raised or what we had to deal with. Michael had to deal with so much more that we can't even begin to imagine, although those of us who are sympathetic can empathize with his pain, so we totally understand why he was the way he was.
About this part, Cece...
I chuckle when I hear people talking about Michaels' "Thriller" album phenomenon as the time they began worshipping at the alter of Michael Jackson. If you were born in the early 1980s' obviously you had no choice, this was your era. However, any Black American, age 43 and older knows The Jackson 5 and knows the phenomenon started with them. From the beginning they were ours all ours and we were theirs. We all loved them like family.
I didn't need to grow up an African American to feel this way. I'm a Canadian white girl, same age as Michael, who remembers sitting (in awe) on the livingroom couch with my mom watching the Ed Sullivan show and the Jackson 5 belt out their first hit. From then on, I was a fan, but unfortunately, I wasn't a fan like you. I loved the J5 and Michael when he broke away from the group, but I was never fanatical and never bought his J5 records, until maybe Triumph. As you will read throughout the forum, I still feel guilty about it, that I didn't take the time to get to know the amazing man he was and follow him and his career as closely as you did. Lots of us here feel the same way. It had to take his death to wake us up!
Thank God we know him now, and his beautiful spirit! I hope you find lots of comfort here at MJ's Army. Please do feel free to post!
It's all for love, L.O.V.E.
Mal
musicmichaelandme.blogspot.com/
THANK YOU Cece! Great article! When I read this part below, I practically fell over
Can you think of any child who has had a similar childhood? Can you think of any child at age 12 was sitting in the back of a limo watching cartoons on the way to perform in front of 20,000 people? Can you name one other 13 year old who was receiving 200,000 dollar checks in the mail monthly and whose only request was to buy bubble gum and candy? Can you think of just one? Michael was the one and the only - the only one.
I have been thinking exactly that for quite a while now, as kind of a response to those who stubbornly continue to think of Michael as weird. There is absolutely NO WAY that Michael could have turned out "normal" as we like to call it. But then what is "normal" anyway? We all have our own idiosyncracies and quirks, and they all stem from our childhoods. As adults, we all continue to carry some kind of burden or baggage or pain from either the way we were raised or what we had to deal with. Michael had to deal with so much more that we can't even begin to imagine, although those of us who are sympathetic can empathize with his pain, so we totally understand why he was the way he was.
About this part, Cece...
I chuckle when I hear people talking about Michaels' "Thriller" album phenomenon as the time they began worshipping at the alter of Michael Jackson. If you were born in the early 1980s' obviously you had no choice, this was your era. However, any Black American, age 43 and older knows The Jackson 5 and knows the phenomenon started with them. From the beginning they were ours all ours and we were theirs. We all loved them like family.
I didn't need to grow up an African American to feel this way. I'm a Canadian white girl, same age as Michael, who remembers sitting (in awe) on the livingroom couch with my mom watching the Ed Sullivan show and the Jackson 5 belt out their first hit. From then on, I was a fan, but unfortunately, I wasn't a fan like you. I loved the J5 and Michael when he broke away from the group, but I was never fanatical and never bought his J5 records, until maybe Triumph. As you will read throughout the forum, I still feel guilty about it, that I didn't take the time to get to know the amazing man he was and follow him and his career as closely as you did. Lots of us here feel the same way. It had to take his death to wake us up!
Thank God we know him now, and his beautiful spirit! I hope you find lots of comfort here at MJ's Army. Please do feel free to post!
It's all for love, L.O.V.E.
Mal