Goodbye, dearest Jacko....we lost you too soon!

A legend has passed, and that deserves some acknowledgement and respect from this humble and infrequent blog.

Whether or not you considered yourself a big Michael Jackson fan (and I didn't necessarily) his music was so influential that it simply could not be ignored. He was a force, a brand-name unto himself, and he was our generation's Elvis Presley.

Like a lot of people, some of my earliest memories (I'm turning 30 this Fall) deal with M.J. I used to watch him on MTV with my big sister, and I remember when she bought an outrageous red leather jacket a la "Bad" with tassles all over it. I literally thought it was the coolest thing in the world. I remember watching adults try to do the Moonwalk, and laughing hysterically. I remember Ronald Reagan giving a speech with a white rhinestone glove on...or maybe I've just seen it so many times that I think I remember. M.J. was not merely a star, he was not a merely a phenomenon. If you lived or grew up during the 80s, he was a part of your life.

Anyway, I bought a few of M.J.'s albums over the years; Thriller, Bad, and Off the Wall were my favorites. But I was not a fan of his current music. He kind of lost me with "Black or White" which was a hit when I was about 12.

People are going to try and bring up some of the darker spots of his life, but I say just let it go. He was a tortured soul, he had his issues. Guess what? We all do. At the bottom of it, he was a human being and one of the greatest performers that will ever live. Five hundred years from now, when they study 20th century culture, a few names will come up; Michael Jackson's name will be one of them.

So, Rest In Peace Michael Jackson, you had a hell of run.