by Charles Tyson

Created on: August 11, 2009

First of all, the very title of this article is faulty. "Resurrection" implies death. Michael Jackson provided the world with a musical legacy (albums, videos and performances) that will live on forever. The problem everyone seems to have with his musical career is simply this: every album after Thriller was compared to Thriller and deemed wanting if it did not meet or exceed Thriller's record breaking numbers. Unfair! To expect a freak occurrence to repeat itself is ridiculous. To fault the artist at the helm of such a phenomenon is even more so! You can say what you will about the selling power of the albums following Thriller...just compare those sales against everything ELSE that came out that year....OH...THERE'S the power! Michael set the standard for all things musical with his groundbreaking and visionary style...things we take so much for granted now (production value, music video storylines, stage concert spectacle) so give credit where credit is due!

As for his personal life: let us remember Michael Jackson never knew what it was like to be a normal human being. He was constantly in the limelight on and offstage, rarely if ever knowing a moment's peace. And as a media saturated society and culture who idolizes celebrity, it was OUR fault he turned out that way! Instead of simply enjoying the music and videos he created for his fans to adore, we just had to know what ELSE there was to get out of the man. Like rabid dogs we were a constant nipping at his heels. Romantic interludes, personal outings, hell, the man couldn't even grow facial hair without the public HAVING to have a say...as if he owed us our opinion of him.

As to his supposed financial problems: what many people fail to realize is that celebrities of a certain stature exist as two entities - the individual and the business. This has happened several times before in the music world, specifically in the cases of the bankruptcy of the R&B group TLC and singer Toni Braxton. In those cases the public entity that deals with record companies, studio execs, etc....the public name that is essentially OWNED by the label may have gone bankrupt but the individuals were doing just fine! Now, I'm not an accountant, but I'm pretty sure all the financial drama taking place in Michael's world wasn't neccesarily having a noticeable effect on his ATM balance, especially if the contents of his last Will and Testament are to be believed!

We always like to think we KNOW a celebrity just because we know one or two things ABOUT them...and when we don't know, we often make the rest up!

Also, let me be frank. Michael Jackson was NOT found guilty of any acts of child molestation. Therefore, to paraphrase the Reverend Al Sharpton, continuing to refer to him as a pedophile or a child molester as though it were common knowledge is highly irresponsible. I might point out that most of the people who make many of the snide comments about MJ did not grow up with him in the way that those of us from the seventies and earlier did. So, I'm sorry if all you know is a punchline to a bad joke but MJ was and will always be much more and respect to his legacy is due!

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