Music Blogs

I just called my wife to let her know the news. Michael Jackson's dead. She's not a huge fan, but even she knows that it's a big deal. Because as bizarre, macabre and overinflated the King of Pop's recent life may have become, the fact is, the man was a troubled genius who changed the face of popular music. Beneath everything, I don't think anyone can deny that.

So here's to you MJ, your final playlist. Because Farrah Fawcett had the sexbomb curls, but you had soul.

Billie Jean

You cannot even begin to traverse the face of modern rock and roll without referencing that ever insistent, circular bass riff. That riff. A thousand times imitated, but never mastered quite like he did. Years later, Chris Cornell would dump all over this song in what would be the beginning of the end of his career, but the fact is, this song cannot be harmed. It's invincible. Synth-stabs collide with the dirty funk slapback funk guitar of Eddie Van Halen. And that's proof enough - from the outset of his genre-defining journey, even the big shots knew he was someone to respect.

Bad

Tell me this song wasn't the king of your school disco. And the video was the ultimate package. You could dance, you could leather up like the best of ‘em. You were half-fame, all west-side story. Most rock stars would trade their hot pants for the kind of riffs you threw out of your morning bedclothes. This is still one of the world's favourite air-guitar jams.

Thriller

This was the moment you thrust a flagpole in the peak of music history. You earned the crown with this one. We don't think about this much, but this song upped the ante for music everywhere - part glam rock opera, yet a completely progressive and unorthodox song that tore the 3 minute 30 radio hit a new a-hole. And the dance that changed it all. You had the hooks, the looks, and the moves. A true performance that sent poseurs flying - that was the best thing about you, you cleared the floor, you set some standards around here.

Smooth Criminal

I must have seen a thousand high school dance troupes bust a move to this one. Bang. Stop. Heartbeat. Yowl! Enter the snaking synth riff. You doubled it in your most sinister rasp. As much as we wanted to pass you off as a disco flake, you had enough aggression to fend off the haters.

Dirty Diana

This is still one of my favourite songs. You were feeling the arched pain of fame and it was killing you. You can hear the strain taking it's toll on you. It wasn't about Diana, it was about the whole world giving you a break. If there was one thing that killed you, it was the suffering for your art. Luckily Slash was on hand with some of his most vitriolic axe-work yet. Poor guy was underutilised in a novelty-metal band, this was a breakaway moment for him.

And those faux sobs of yours towards the end...ouch. Shamon!

Man In The Mirror

This one showed us you had some heart. No matter how twisted things got for you, there were moments like this that made us realize you were still a little black kid who never got a childhood. When we busted your balls for being eerie we should have pointed our barrels at your megalomaniac dad who planted the seed of madness and an insanity-fuelled drive to please everyone but yourself.

At the end of the day, you were the dude who changed the world with music, got flagellated for it and crumbled because of it. Sure, a few reality checks would have been helpful, some down-to-earth friends, a stint in the real world - but a genius seldom lives in the real world.

We'll miss you Mickey J, not just because of your enduring tunes, the likes of which no-one has been able to write since. Not because you were one of the most important branches of the modern music family tree, a junction through which most of today's artists have passed. We'll miss you because at the end of it all, you were just a human. Something got lost in translation there.

At the end of the day, you were a genius. That's undeniable.

Your legacy reaches further than a few troubled kids and a decade of scandal - you actually unleashed some genuine beauty on the world. It might sound a bit grandiose to say that music changes lives, but most of us can testify to that fact. And you were a part of that. So, when all's said and done, cheers. Our lives are richer for meeting you. Sorry it all had to be so tortured towards the end there. And sorry you never got to say goodbye properly.