The King of Pop is dead. Long live the King!!!
It was raining in Mumbai. The long overdue monsoon seemed to have finally arrived and I was on my way to an early morning breakfast meeting when I received the SMS from Usha, my wife. Suddenly tears welled up in my eyes as I was overcome with a tremendous sense of loss and I was actually surprised at my extreme reaction. Here was a man who had been playing music since I was a kid and had countless hits to his name, yet for the last decade, the world remembered him only for the disgusting controversies that surrounded his personal life. Child molestations, the marriages, the plastic surgeries, the baby dangling episode; everything he did was always sensational and bizarre. His music seemed to have been long forgotten! Yet for me, Michael Jackson meant music as no one else did.
I was in my teens when I first heard Michael sing with his brothers. I was just out of school and we used to go to Blow Up, the discotheque at the Taj to dance and chill out with my friends. The Soul music of the sixties was very popular then and Tamla Motown, the record label, was one of the leaders of Pop music. It was great dance music with a fantastic beat and singing. The Pop stars in that genre were artists like Wilson Pickett, Marvin Gaye, Supremes, Otis Redding, Temptations to name a few. One day, we heard about this great new band that was discovered by Berry Gordy, the owner of Tamla Motown. It was a family of five sons who sang together and were said to be incredible.
To top it all, the lead singer was a boy who was just 11 years old!
The Jackson 5 went on to become one of the biggest singing acts in the history of Pop music but obviously, Michael was not content to remain confined to the management of his strict father who wanted them to follow the traditional path. He saw huge possibilities in combining Rhythm & Blues with Rock and other musical influences. And so it was not long before Michael launched his solo career. As a young man, Michael had worked with the legendary Quincy Jones, the jazz trumpeter, music arranger and record producer for a film called “The Wiz”, a black adaptation of the famous Hollywood film “The Wizard of Oz”. He chose Quincy to produce his first adult solo album called “Off the Wall” and there was no looking back ever since!!!
Michael Jackson established himself as a legitimate adult Pop star with that album which went on to sell 20 million copies but the best was still to come. The next album “Thriller” exceeded everybody’s expectations and today stands as the highest selling album of all times at 109 million copies! Michael, by then, had discovered the enormous power of Television as a promotional tool and he introduced the launching of lavishly shot videos which were almost like mini films. Michael has many such firsts to his credit and among them was the charity work that he did for the poverty stricken children of Africa. At the height of his popularity he co-wrote “We are the world” with Lionel Richie and sang it along with 39 of the world’s most famous vocalists. It sold over 20 million copies and generated millions of dollars towards charity.
The Jackson albums to follow were “Bad”, “Dangerous”, “History” etc. and although they sold many million copies each, especially “Bad”, none of them came close to the success of “Thriller”. I guess, after attaining such great heights, the only way was southwards! The press, however, were still obsessed with him and when they could not find any music news from him, they covered his bizarre lifestyle in great details. As he himself said “Why not just tell people I'm an alien from Mars.”!
Michael, on July 13th 2009, was to launch a 50 concert stand at London’s O2 stadium which was sold out in a few hours. It is said to have sold 11 tickets per second and holds the world’s fastest selling concert record. The first 10 concerts itself were said to make him 50 million dollars! Yet, this man was perceived to be broke & crazy before untimely death took him away. He had the most incredible musical & business brain in the entertainment world and the music world will mourn his death which ranks with icons like Elvis Presley & John Lennon. Here was a much misunderstood man who brought limitless joy to millions of people around the world, black, white, brown, yellow, made and lost billions of dollars and yet found time to be listed in the book of Guinness World Records for his support of 39 charities, more than any other entertainer or personality in the world! I’d like to see anybody else on this planet do that!
May his soul rest in peace.
Nandoo Bhende
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