by Antonio Jacobs

Created on: November 27, 2011

The creative brain never stops working; it is in a constant state of invention. One idea can trigger several other ideas, each one as captivating as the next, not unlike how the multiverse develops. To some this may appear a blessing, but to the blessed, it often becomes a turmoil of disorganized noise, a miasma of motifs. The constant din is often difficult to drown out or shut down using even the most dramatic of means. Ask any college student writing that all-important term paper. After a diet of caffeine and speed, winding down falls into the category of not an option, and sleep no longer contaminates the lowest level of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, its prominent position replaced by insomnia, hallucinations and paranoia.

For the artist, especially the famous artist, the blessing is a curse, exacerbated by the pitfalls and excesses of fame. The ideas are consuming, as is often a need to satisfy the fans.  Celebrity and wealth offer an inappropriate level of access to substances both legal and illegal, as well as unscrupulous individuals blinded by stardom to supply those substances, and anything else the famous artist may desire.  Consider the curious case of Michael Jackson: wunderkind, record breaker, household name, with a reputation for unusual behavior.  Many argue that Michael was the greatest entertainer of his time, but if you consider the quality of the last decade of his life, an argument for most tragic entertainer of his time is plausible as well.

Does a creative brain want sleep? Possibly not, as sleep is the state upon which the brain processes the myriad experiences one encounters during the time awake. Creative people do that already through composition, making sleep less relevant. However, since composition is an unnatural way to process, it is less efficient than sleep. Therefore, after a while the brain becomes starved for sleep, which results in mental instability. In Michael Jackson's case, however, there are several additional factors that contribute to the questionable decision-making that led to his untimely death. 

Michael didn't want to sleep - he wanted to stop the music for a while. Amidst the adoration of fans, the demands of his career, and the suffering caused by a troubled and abusive upbringing, the pain management as a result of his burn accident in 1984 and the subsequent plastic surgery, the mental anguish caused by the allegations of child abuse and the criminal trial that followed, and the psychological instability created in his mind as a result of the pressure of being labeled the "greatest entertainer of all time," Michael Jackson turned to drugs, and like many of his musical comrades, succumbed to its entropic power.   

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