The Madness of King Michael

The Madness of King Michael

In a parallel universe, "World's Most Famous Pedaphile Dies" could have been the headline that screamed around the world almost two weeks ago. In this universe though, we got a news flash about a superstar who made great music and had a few "weird" tendencies. And like the so-called "king of rock n' roll" who perished under similar circumstances over 30 years ago, the "king of pop" was immediately immunized from any well-deserved criticism by a media that knew all too well its own role in driving him insane.

Let's get something straight - Michael Jackson, as a child, was a tremendous performer. As a man though, he lived and died a monstrosity. Never mind the child molestation charges - The pet chimp named Bubbles, the military-esque outfits, the music videos that portrayed him as a superhero, and the excessive, if not downright horrific plastic surgery all point to an entertainer who was never right in the head. Let's remember, that while Michael was at once an American icon, a person who's name and music was instantly recognizable the whole world over, he was also consistently ridiculed by the more astute cultural critics who saw him as a fitting metaphor for American ego. Yeah, Michael J's post-teen, post-Jackson 5 albums "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" remain superb records, but so are the Beatles "Rubber Soul" and "Revolver." The Beatles however, never saw it fit to procure a statue of themselves to be floated down a river like some Roman emperor/deity. No, the Beatles had integrity.

And while most of the mocking of Michael's out-to-lunch ridiculousness will forever be lost in the ether of party conversations and Halloween costumes circa 1989, a few random artifacts survive. Take Weird Al Yankovic's "Eat It" or "Fat" videos - okay, not hi-brow stuff, but funny and just a tad poignant, especially if you go back and watch the original over-produced videos they mock. Then there's Neil Young's "This Notes For You" video which features a Michael look-a-like who's hair catches fire while shooting a video for a product endorsement. As the wikipedia entry aptly puts it, the video "parodied corporate rock, the pretensions of advertising and Michael Jackson in particular." South Park also takes Michael to task with an episode featuring a Peter Pan-esque man-child named "Mr. Jefferson" who has his own private amusement park and enjoys sleeping next to little boys. And finally, my personal favorite, there's Pulp lead singer Jarvis Cocker running on stage during a Jackson concert and displaying his scrawny naked backside, just as the "king of pop" was being lifted into the air, under a white beam of light, high above the stage.

But if Michael was the supreme purveyor of unadulterated megalomania, he was also the victim of it. In a country where entertainers are treated as royalty and public discourse is keenly steered by a handful of media-conglomerates, Michael was yet another example of how Americans can take a good thing and run it into the ground. As a child, Michael was a trick pony, a very talented trick pony, but a trick pony nonetheless. He never had a normal childhood and as such, was completely shielded from the everyday realities the rest of us live by. Like so many other kid actors/musicians who have excessive and superficial acclaim heaped on them (ahem, Britney?), Michael was led to believe the world revolved around him. What's worse, our culture's incessant demand for anything and everything titillating insisted Michael act like a god when he wasn't. Alone with such delusions of grandeur, Michael lived in a fantasy world that only got more far-fetched and harder to prop up as he aged.

Paul Simon once sang, "every generation throws a hero up the popcharts" and it's never rang as true as in Michael's trajectory. Just like the previous generation's quintessential singer-songwriter-heartthrob-bad actor-entertainer Elvis Presley, Michael started off young, fresh, dynamic and died a hyperbole of himself. Whereas Presley's grotesque obesity personified the hypocrisy of a country obsessed with losing weight, Michael's horrifying visage personified America's warped sense of beauty in general and the amoral plastic surgery industry in particular. In both cases, the public's corporate driven perceptions have not changed.

In the end, Michael Jackson's death should be viewed as an appropriate metaphor for American culture - Despite all his lyrical pretensions about "making a change" and "healing the world," he lived as a narcissist of epic proportions with little sincerity behind his words. Just as every American politician is sure to utter the words "freedom" or "democracy," there's a thousand bombs, a thousand military bases, and a thousand soldiers to show our true colors. Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Pakistan - When I think of these places, the music that comes to mind is Marvin Gaye's "What's Going On," not "Man in the Mirror."