"Do You Remember The Time?"

Everyone can relax now, the anticipation and anxiousness that was the Michael Jackson trial is finally over. Wow, I can't believe I just wrote that. I think the real tragedy here is not in the fact that Michael Jackson was prosecuted (or persecuted, depending who you ask) for heinous crimes against children, it lies in the fact that everything was so believable. Not one of us actually said to ourselves, "There's no way he did what they are accusing him of." Jacko has gone so nuts in the last 15 years that nothing is beyond the scope of believability. Is that fair? Just because he has a ferris wheel in his front yard, said publicly that it is OK for grown men to sleep with boys and has already settled lawsuits with molestation accusers in the past; is that enough to automatically think he was guilty in this situation. My answer is: It doesn't help.

Do I personally think he was guilty? I believe the story has to be given some credibility (mostly because of his past eccentricities), but the case was handled poorly. The fact is, the prosecution could not produce one shred of physical evidence and had only the accusations of shaky witnesses combined with some hired guns to come in to attempt a failed character assassination. The prosecutor apparently forgot about that pesky burden of proof thing.

In any case, Michael Jackson has experienced one of the most dramatic falls from grace in our lifetime. This guy was the friggin' King of Pop at one time! He sold records like nobody had since Elvis. The album "Thriller" (at one time the best selling album of all time, now second to The Eagles) sold 26 million copies in the US. To put that in perspective, "Hit Me Baby One More Time" by Britney Spears and "Abbey Road" by the Beatles sold 26 million albums combined. Oh, and it did all right in the rest of the world too, at over 63 million copies sold. His worst selling album ever, 2001's "Invincible," still went double platinum. Looking back on his body of solo work (not including the huge successes with the Jackson 5), he only released five major albums and sold 57 million units in the US alone.

Michael also had an unrivaled marketing touch. He pitched for both Coke and Pepsi and LA Gear named a shoe after him (quite an accomplishment in an era where only tall guys named Jordan had shoes bearing their name.) Even when he inexplicably started turning white and wearing what looked like military commander Halloween costumes, he was still the biggest draw in the free world and otherwise. He was The Beatles of his era.

Since the first whispers of molestation began, Mikey has been on a free fall at what seems like terminal velocity. He's had facelifts apparently done by the George Lucas Creature Shop. He's dangled one of his children from a balcony window. He's admitted that he thinks it is "natural" to sleep in the same bed with young boys. He named a kid "Blanket." Even in his most trying hour, with his freedom for the better part of the next two decades on the line (in the recent criminal trial), he seemed to be blowing off the "real" world. He showed up late to court, showed up once in pajama pants and once did a dance routine on top of a vehicle while leaving the courthouse.

My take is that it is a case of us expecting too much from a fragile human being who happens to be famous. From some accounts, Michael Jackson is a broken man and the butt of countless jokes. He will probably go down in history like Howard Hughes, Mike Tyson, and Ol' Dirty Bastard, remembered more for his eccentricities and scandals than for his professional accomplishments. Somehow, I just managed to make a correlation between one of the biggest pop stars of all time and a rapper that wanted to be known either as Dirt McGirt or Big Baby Jesus. Perhaps such an eventual eulogy an unfair punishment for a man who seems tormented in his own skin or a fitting sentence for someone who thumbed his nose at much of the things we consider normal. Even now the talking heads refer to him as the "self proclaimed King of Pop" as if they never bought in to the hype in the first place. They bought in just like acid wash and New Kids on the Block and every other "embarrassing" thing from the past. Maybe it feels good to disregard him now as "Wacko Jacko." Every once in a while however, it is nice to look back on him as "The King."

I'm finished,
Nate