by Ryan Barry

Created on: July 28, 2009   Last Updated: July 29, 2009

Thursday, June 25, 2009, 6:26, was a very shocking, sad, & upsetting moment - Michael Jackson was announced dead. I was watching the news, where they were talking about his cardiac arrest. Then, he was officially dead. At first I could not believe it, but then I accepted it. His music is the greatest, and no one can dance like him. There will never be another one of him. His music still plays today, which shows something about how great it was. Of course, we have to give a lot of credit to Quincy Jones, too, who helped him put it together. Michael Jackson met him on the set of "The Wiz," a movie Michael Jackson was in in 1978. Quincy Jones worked on the movie, and in 1979, they both put together Michael's first record "Off the Wall." It was a hit! Then, in 1983, they made the record "Thriller," which is the number one seller today. MTV featured it on their station. And back then, they did not always have a lot of black artists on, so it is really important to see how good his music was.

My favorite Michael Jackson songs (from one to ten) are: 1. "Thriller" (1983) 2. "Billie Jean" (1983) 3. "Bad" (1987) 4. "Beat it" (1983) 5. "Smooth Criminal" (1988) 6. "The Way You Make Me Feel" (1987) 7. "Rock With You" (1979) 8. "Off the Wall" (1979) 9. Don't Stop 'Till You Get Enough" (1979) 10. "Man In the Mirror" (1987).

As you probably know, a few years ago, he was held with a molestation charge, but was not found guilty. Many people say he should of been guilty, but I do not think he was. Also, he was exposed to strippers when he was nine-years-old, which could of had an affect on his brain. In my opinion, he wanted to give under-privileged kids a bed. As you can tell by his song "Man In the Mirror," he is a very caring person. He did not deserve any of the rudeness he got. Even though, people did call him "Wacko Jackson" for changing his skin color. Because in the late eighties, he claimed to have "Vitiligo," a disease where blotches of your skin turn a different color, and he said he had that, so he got his skin bleached to match it. Also, another theory is that is that he wanted to change his skin color because it was the same as his dad's, and his dad used to hit him as a kid and overworked him and his brothers.

On May 16, 1983, he performed the "Moonwalk," a dance move he was taught and perfected it, at Motown 25. The crowd went wild. People today still do it, but in my opinion, Michael did it the best. He did it in the song "Billie Jean."

It has now been almost five weeks since he died, so all I can say is R.I.P., Michael Jackson. August 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009.

Your music will live forever.

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