Pop Goes the King

The "King of Pop" is dead.

But while the man may have mattered, his self-anointed royalty is just another example of the superficiality of our pop culture and its rotating cadre of paper-thin ambassadors.

Michael Jackson was yet another personality prized more for his ability to generate massive revenue than for meaningfully impacting peoples' lives. But yes, much of his music can still cause a body to move or transport one back to wistful youth; "ABC", "Got to Be There", "I Want You Back": blowing the world away on Ed Sullivan; crackling and popping on our Fold N' Play's; making our AM radio's twitch, buzz and jump; "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" arguably cultural touchstones, inspiring legions to mimic MJ's schmaltzy military fetishism and walking on the moon long after NASA deemed it financially unfeasible.

And yes, we look back on the innocent boy himself, pop prodigy, revelatory mini-dynamo, sporting all the moves, wielding the pure tones and the perfected 'fro of a truly singular talent, a velve-pre-teen idol, a bona fide Motown miracle.

And then over time we watch silently as the smiling strangers take the kid by the hand and lead him down a path a certain dysfunction, where money and fame are substituted for affection and affirmation.

A life of candy ensures decay.

Michael Jackson, the King of Pop is dead. And it's really not a big deal in itself, since scientific studies have proven that over time people do indeed die, whether by natural or unnatural causes. But as the super famous live unnatural lives, their similarly unnatural deaths seem, well, natural.

And while leading what must have been an extremely unhealthy life the real tragedy of it all is that perhaps it could have been saved, had he not gone down that damning path of fame. His handlers (read: parents) might have been able to prevent a life of exploitation and untethered eccentricity were they not themselves besotted by ambition and greed and yoked their children to a life of servitude disguised as gleeful performing.

At every opportunity for the young man to disembark from the one way fame train he was caught by the collar and pulled back on. Eventually he did this to himself, unconsciously mimicking his handlers' subliminal suggestions to eschew normalcy for commerce.

And he is not alone. So bombarded are we with comparable examples of what is supposed to constitute Success, where the only worthwhile life is lived in public, new generations are raised thinking "This is life's imperative. You only live if you're seen." Like the light inside the refrigerator.

The fame pandemic leaves a trail of broken bodies and fractured dreams, so much landfill for ever newly laid pavement. The funeral will be the best business in years, not since Anna Nicole. In lieu of humble admissions of culpability and/or introspective mourning, to hail the money-making/sexual deviant/pop icon with what will no doubt be garish, televised spectacles of calculated, high-profile grief, the "I'm A Celebrity, Hear Me Keen" reality show will be a ratings bonanza.

But by all means dismiss and underpay the teacher, the cop, the people who handle our endless refuse and when they die, give them no more than a backward glance, an absent "oh, yeah -- they kicked. Did you see the new iPhone?". It is such misappropriation of concern that leads to an unnatural life and its naturally unnatural death.

In fact the measure of one's existence should not be in dollars and cents, nor is life unimportant if not observed 24/7 by millions of paying subscribers. The recent spate of showbiz deaths only points to the fact that life, no matter how opulent or in debt, no matter how famous, infamous or unobserved is short and not always sweet. Why even Farrah, riddled with cancer, had the business acumen to maximize her commercial appeal to the end, filming her slow, tortuous demise when she might just have easily fought her fight in dignified privacy. Corporations and all who subscribe to their profiteering approach, seem to think that if they churn out cheaper and cheaper products and ever disposable cultural totems they will ironically, as the song in a certain film says, live forever.

Michael Jackson was another soul in torment who had his talent exploited, his singularity mass produced, his place in the natural order disrupted by greedy, insatiable masters. The king, it seems, was really just a pawn.

Comments

[ignoranceequalsfear]

I think you hit several nails squarely on the head.

I do greatly admire your keen observations and more-than-articulate expression of your ideas. And yet this time I am dissagreeing with you on the Farah thing. I actually think she may have filmed her decline as an inspiration to others to not give up the fight, if that's what they feet called to do. Some people do feel like they are not done living and want to squeeze a little more of the juice of joy out of the orange that is life. She may have had sincere motives. I actually watched it and was moved.

But I still love you for your ability to speak your truth, which more often than not makes all the sense in the world to me!

Don't stop sharing your gifts with us Steven, please!!!

[jobecky20]

Me, too....the Farrah documentary was moving. And life affirming. Which is one of the reasons why I think she did it. She also showed us that she was more than a celebrity...that in fact, she was one of "us."

[jade7243]

How can you say Mr. Weber hit the nail on the head when elsewhere you claim complete ignorance of Michael Jackson or his music.

I call BS. If you knnow nothing of MJ, you cannot know whether Mr. Weber is accurate in his article.

[BethS]

Mr. Weber,
I wonder if all of a sudden you became an "icon" in the entertainment world, what is it and who is it that would do you in? Easy to see a situation from the valley and not the perceoved mountaintop.

MJ-RIP

[Steven Weber - Huffpost Blogger]

Beth...
Admittedly, I am nowhere near the perceived mountaintop you posit. Very few are. But that shouldn't preclude us lower level artists from having an opinion. The post's point was not to attack Michael Jackson but to incite discussion on one of my favorite subjects, namely the ill effects of fame. Since I am of the opinion that fame can in many cases be toxic, that it is now as seemingly in demand as alcohol and almost as accessible, it applies not just to me but to anyone in our society.

[writerjohnny]

I always enjoy and learn from your posts Steven but let me add one small addition to your insights. The ill effects you speak of with fame go hand-in-hand with greed and the idea that some few of us are meant to live better and safer than the great majority. As long as there is a profit based system greed and fame will devour rich and poor alike, Happy am I that i was and still am able to have Michael Jackson's love and soul wash over me through his music and sad am I that he suffered greatly for that gift.

[Delphine]

You are willing to say what others will not say.

It's speculated that he mutilated his face so he would not look like his father. He wrote a song "Have you seen my childhood" but no one talks about that one, the one where he begged us to understand and not judge because his childhood had been so excruciating.

He was told from an early age that his only worth was bringing the family fame and money - being a spectacle apparently so his father could feel real.

It's tragic but not unexpected. The man self-destructed before our eyes, and we mocked or ignored, some even thought they loved him, but we were helpless to save him from himself. He crawled toward the fame that was destroying him.

It's sad.

[Emerald1943]

Thanks, Steven, for your article. It is sad to see the aftermath of a life of fame and fortune. But isn't that what everybody is seeking....fame, fortune, and immortality?

We, in this country, worship celebrity ad nauseum. One only needs to watch a little TV news to see this. We extol the virtues and marvel at the wealth and extravagance of our "heroes".....but, just as soon as the celebrity "gets there", he/she is taken down by the tabloid press for reasons either real or contrived.

It always saddens me to see any "star" ripped apart by rumor and innuendo in the press. I never believed the horror stories about Michael. If anything was responsible for his demise, it was that, stories from which he was never able to escape. It was as if he had suffered a mortal wound from which he could never recover, even though he was found innocent of all charges. The continuing stories in the tabloid press sapped the life from him. Small wonder that drug use is a part of this picture, used to escape the pain of a cruel world.

Rest now, Michael! You will be remembered always for the joy you brought us!

[powerlift2201]

Steven,

I agree that fame can be addictive and toxic. There are a great many examples of people continuously seeking fame, even without the fortune. However, these are sentient beings perfectly capable of making choices for themselves. Fame, like all other drugs is first taken in a small dose then a person choses to stay - or at least try to stay - famous.

I am no fan of Michael Jackson. I never have been and I never will be. I put him in the same creative spectrum as Britney Spears in that other people wrote music that he just sang. There have been (actual) artists that have died and I have lamented that I won't hear anything new from them but that's as far as it goes. I don't know these people personally and I have zero connection to them other than enjoying their craaft. Entertainment is incredibly superficial and that's as far as it goes. When a musician such Layne Staley, Jimmy Hendrix, Jim Morrison or (the lead singer for Sublime) dies I don't feel sad and I pitty those who feel like the world has ended because this person has died.

As for the myriad people showing up and crying over Michael Jackson's death; maybe they too are seeking some of that fame.

[Jeffrey Barea]

While I can agree that the pleasure center of the brain that is stimulated by all of the substances (including fameballers that you note) there is this insidious notion that people are not capable of self-control.

As if the substances themselves control us or that we need some outside influence to self-control.

Even the 12 step programs, while advocating a higher power, neglect to show that it is this "belief" in the higher power that self-empowers us to self-control for if any higher power was extant then the self-destruction would not have occurred.

In short self-control is the issue, not exterior forces that need to be controlled.

Also, release my earlier comment Steven. Unless you feel you are that power that needs to control the truth.

[cckrueger]

Amen! I think those who manage people of the stature of Michael Jackson usually have ulterior motives (their own paycheck!). I do think some of these stars are "fragile" and look to others to tell them what to do, usually a bad move!

C. K.

[doctarr]

Yeah, but "Thriller" was a great album and video.

Michael Jackson rose to be perhaps the most sought after star of his generation, in a world of billions of people. That's quite an accomplishment.

And to say he was a pawn, well a very well paid, adored pawn perhaps. A pawn who had his own amusement park.

Fame has its price. Yesterday Mr. Jackson paid his debt in full.

And he was quite a talent.