At around 5:30 pm my time, this afternoon, June 25th, for some reason I began hearing from three different row-houses on my street various songs from Michael Jackson's Thriller album. "Billie Jean" coming from directly across the street, "Beat It" coming from the right, and "The Way You Make Me Feel" from the left.
Odd, I thought, because normally the ambient noise is a low cacophony of Biggie Smalls, Jay-Z, and a number of other artists whose names I don't know but can be sure to hear again in passing cars.
Then I heard the news of Michael Jackson passing, and it started to make sense. But, since this afternoon, all cars audible from our front room (most cars) have been blaring "Bad", "Thriller", "Billie Jean" et al.
I've gotten the feeling living in a black neighborhood that their feelings about Michael are a complicated mix of hero-worship and near-revulsion, leaning heavier towards worship, because of his success and influence, but never fully reconciling the, eh, strange lifestyle or molestation accusations.
I remember favoring "Beat It" to "Billie Jean" as a kid, even favoring it over "Thriller," but until today, I'd only heard those songs in random bars in the boonies over the last eight years, and I'd have to say I've enjoyed it. If anything, it beats the misogynistic hip-hop or utterly incomprehensible Jamaican pop that usually floats around here like the sound of I-80s of yore.
I'm guessing it'll be MJ for a good solid two weeks. I'm remembering why I enjoyed it in the first place.
Over 750 million albums world-wide. Golly.
My bad..."The Way You Make Me Feel" is from the "Bad" album...
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