by Stephanie Horne

Created on: June 26, 2009   Last Updated: June 30, 2009

Music has created many memories and captured the true heart of many moments of my life. I can listen to a song and be transported back to a particular time or feeling, and it is as new and fresh as yesterday. Having just turned 30, I grew up with Michael Jackson's work as a solo artist and his music provided a soundtrack for my childhood, from pulse-pounding "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" to the socially conscious "Man in the Mirror" and "Black or White". I can still remember his performance on the Motown Anniversary show where he unveiled his signature moonwalk and I watched, mouth-agape, astonished at how he got his feet to move like that.

News of Jackson's death today brought back many memories, as I reflected on the life and times of one of music's most innovative and controversial icons. One memory stood out and here is that moment...

The moment is in the third grade, Mrs. Vickers' class. It's a Friday afternoon and all of Mrs. Neal's class is piled into Vickers' room for a little free time. Every couple of weeks the classrooms would merge, again, on a Friday, and we would watch music videos or cartoons as a treat.

The tv cart had been rolled in and the video cassette inserted into the VCR. The lights were dimmed and we all waited with baited breath while the television flickered. We generally loved any excuse to watch television but our 8-year-old selves were fascinated by this relatively new world of music videos. Still, we had our favorite.The red creepy letters scribbled onto the screen and we cheered. The video was three years old but we didn't care; we asked for it every time.

It was "Thriller" and we were enthralled again, even though we had seen it countless times. We sat, glued as Michael Jackson transformed before our eyes from the shy, young man on a date to a green-faced zombie, cavorting with a whole cemetery of creatures of the night.

We marveled at the special effects and swayed and mimicked the dance moves from atop our desks where we sat. But mostly we just watched - in awe. We didn't know that we were watching the most expensive video ever (at the time) , we just knew it was really cool. And we knew that Michael Jackson scared us every time, as the credits rolled and he turned his evil cat-like eyes to the camera. And then Vincent Price would laugh and I would cringe, but I was ready to watch it all over again.

Thank you, Michael, for the memories.

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