You Rock My World

The voice from the single I Want You Back did more than transfix us; it opened vistas in our souls and transported us to a surreal place. How could one so young sing with such vocal eloquence? Trying to dismiss it as big things sometimes come in small packages was akin to impugning understatement. Serenading a girl with that song evoking a tenth of the vocal power of the lad would have given you opportunity after opportunity with her. Michael of the Jackson Five was definitely a star. And he got four of the group’s albums to shine all the way to Top 5 albums on the Billboard LP chart.


When he broke through Music Television with Billie Jean being played in heavy rotation, he did more than become the first black to have his song screened on the channel. He paved the way for the likes of Whitney Houston and Prince to also receive airplay and changed the focus of the channel from the rock genre to R&B and pop. According to one critic, the video of Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough "was the squall of an audiovisual genre that Jackson would shape and dominate."


The thing about Michael is that he had it all. And this was what made him who he was: The King of Pop. One very defining moment was when he performed Billie Jean at Motown 25 and we all saw that move dubbed the Moonwalk. We wore the jacket from Thriller and went about with one hand gloved in white and we tried to dance like him. Yes, tried, coz I remember seeing people leaping and spinning in the air and making a mockery of landing on their toes. It made a lot more sense to dress like him. You know something is really up when celebrities get in on the act and they did.


The influence he had upon people was like a long clound stretched over a vast landscape. Sometimes it was risible like when the entire student body in a New York school was banned from attendance with one gloved hand. At other times it was pure mimicry as in Bollywood adopting Michael Jackson inspired choreography for its staple singing and dancing scenes. This trend was present on every continent. Before we knew there was something called "swagga", we posed like him, leg somewhat askew and our thumbs tucked into our pants.


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