The other day I made the mistake of cracking wise about the Michael Jackson memorial service that was held at the Los Angeles Staples Center. I cracked that while Jackson is there at the home of the NBA Champions he maybe should try out for the Lakers. The person was scandalized, like I besmirched the Pope or called Mother Theresa a strumpet.
To say the least, the Michael Jackson death watch has gotten way, way out of control. Or, rather, it is very much in control. In fact, it is a money machine, generating multiple millions in primary and ancillary markets. Those in control of the Jackson’s estate are milking this for all it is worth. For the entire last year, there were approximately, a million and a half music downloads of Jackson tunes. In the last week or so since his death, the music downloads alone have totaled over two million.
Then of course there are the tee-shirts, coffee mugs, assorted memorabilia, and all the money made before an after the Staples funeral service where thousands of adoring fans splurged in a bad economy is well in the millions. To make it sweeter, all this money is being raked in without Michael Jackson partaking in his legendary spending. Huge debt loads are now being worked back to substantial profits, and the troubled estate is troubled no more.
Now there are plans for a second memorial service. An annual memorial service review couldn’t be far behind. Then could come the memorial service roadshow where singers and performers hurting in income thanks to a bad economy, can do the music theater version of the Michael Jackson memorial service. This should generate some revenue from the adoring fans.
I am not the only one who finds this Michael Jackson Funeral Death Tour anywhere from in bad taste to absurd and grotesque. Far from it. Still, we are in the minority. We are among the seemingly few who wonder how the American memory, not the best in most times, can conveniently forget about his past transgressions. Okay, so he was never convicted of child molestation, but the lack of belief that it is possible, is, well, unbelievable.
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I am sorry if I don’t find Michael Jackson quite ready for deification. I cannot put him up there with Albert Schweitzer and, yes, Mother Theresa. I think he was a notable talent, but I find it arguable whether he was the king of all pop. I loved the Motown sound but, frankly, I was never all that much of a Jackson Five fan. Forgive me for preferring the Temptations, the Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, etc., over one talented child and several less talented siblings.
In fairness, I loved Thriller. I think it was a seminal record as it was the first to really combine the visual effects with the music on such a major scale. It was a truly wonderful work that neither Jackson or anyone else ever duplicated. Michael Jackson’s reputation as a music great could stand alone on Thriller.
But back to reality. The reality being this–are we so starved and so hollow that the death of a pop singer could generate so much emotion? Is his death more a comment on the cynical marketing activity to make a buck on anything than it is his actual passing? Years ago, while still in the music business, I remember clearly a discussion among friends where one commented that Jackson, who was undergoing some controversy at the time, was fated for a tragic and early death.
But nevertheless, we are being saturated by the news media and every other source that can distract us and pull money out of our pockets. Forget the North Koreans and their misguided missiles. Forget the recent Ahmadinejad power grab in Iran. Forget this economic disaster, the job layoffs, our casual slide into our status as a second tier nation. What’s all that when compared to an eccentric celebrity who insisted on welshing on loans to support his personal amusement park and zoo. For the children, of course.
Maybe some day, if we haven’t dumbed down any further than we already have, generations will look back at this and shake their heads in wonder. They may have no idea why we behaved like idiots and gave our emotions over to a cyncial marketing and money machine. They may not have a clue. They will, however, still have Thriller.
