"Michael Jackson" could very well be a name to be given to a syndrome or, more specifically, to an occurrence in someone's life. He was nothing short of a deity in the 1980's just to become little more than a curiousity and a laughing stock in the late 1990's until the very end of his life. One thing is to be popular for a given amount of time and then disappear from the face of the earth, but another very different thing is to be the king of entertainment and being eradicated from the tops only to resurface once in a while as the main character of a freak show. He had everything ... money, power, recognition and an insurmountable horde of followers and wannabes. But then disease struck, childish behaviours were commented as being disturbances and perversions, obsession with image led to self destruction and extravagance resulted in self-inducted ostracism. His career, in spite of its powerfulness, failed to serve as a sufficiently strong shield against all of these backlashes. Soon, nobody wanted to be identified as a Michael Jackson fan on the risk of being labelled as a freak lover by their mates.
Last year, when he said he was ready to embark on his final tour, nobody believed that he would be either mentally or physically fit so to endure a 50 show marathon. Fact is, many shows had already been postponed and many more would have been as the tour would have progressed. He was undeniably in poor health and it's evident from the filming of his rehearsals that his famous moves were all but gone. Nevertheless, his gruesome financial situation made the need for successful box-office event compulsory, so he was literally shoved to the streets to "dance for money", as Tina Turner once said. The question will remain if he would have ever be able to perform all the 50 shows ... that, we will never know.
Anyway, and like all legendary artists, he proved to be rather more profitable in death than he was in his latter life. Immediately after his death was announced, people rushed to record stores and to download sites to buy his songs and records. Soon after, a movie about his last days came to the cinemas and was an instant hit. Given all this and more, most likely, and to my personal happiness, his huge debts will soon be completely paid and his children will have their future quite well assured.
Last year, when he said he was ready to embark on his final tour, nobody believed that he would be either mentally or physically fit so to endure a 50 show marathon. Fact is, many shows had already been postponed and many more would have been as the tour would have progressed. He was undeniably in poor health and it's evident from the filming of his rehearsals that his famous moves were all but gone. Nevertheless, his gruesome financial situation made the need for successful box-office event compulsory, so he was literally shoved to the streets to "dance for money", as Tina Turner once said. The question will remain if he would have ever be able to perform all the 50 shows ... that, we will never know.
Anyway, and like all legendary artists, he proved to be rather more profitable in death than he was in his latter life. Immediately after his death was announced, people rushed to record stores and to download sites to buy his songs and records. Soon after, a movie about his last days came to the cinemas and was an instant hit. Given all this and more, most likely, and to my personal happiness, his huge debts will soon be completely paid and his children will have their future quite well assured.
All in all, I cannot begin to imagine what it would feel like having the world in my hands one day just to be pushed from my throne the next day and transformed into the court jester, forced to witness the slow decay of my life and the estrangement of those who were once my friends and fans. It must be one of the most devastating mental pains anyone can be forced to endure and this man lived it for 15 years plus, watching himself become "obsolete until nobody listened to him anymore", to rephrase Salieri in the motion-picture "Amadeus".
However, Michael Jackson's revenge was to prove that you cannot send a legend to the mists and hope that he stays there until his very own name dies ... whether in life or in death, a legend sooner or latter reapers and claims back the place that was once his.
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