The Love You Save: Michael and the Rear-Guard Boomers

It was called the "Third Album," by the Jackson Five -- but it was the very first album I ever owned. I'm pretty sure it was a Christmas present in 1970, when I was 11 years old and was ready for ownership of some of the static-ridden tunes I'd been listening to with Cousin Brucie on New York's Top 40 WABC. Actually, it wasn't the first rock or soul album in my house; my Dad was just 30 years old when the Beatles released "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" in 1967, and we had a couple of Beatles' LPs. maybe even the Rolling Stones. And I even remember Iron Butterfly's "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida" and the first Led Zeppelin disc in my friends' basement, when their older siblings with the peace-sign posters in their basements were out of the house.

But that was the whole point of owning a Jackson Five record -- they were the first group that didn't belong to the '60s, to young hippie-wannabe parents or to patchouli-scented or Nehru-jacketed brothers and sisters. Indeed, their first big hit -- "I Want You Back," with the killer piano riff that signaled a fresh new sound -- was released six weeks after the muck of Woodstock, and it was one of the first No. 1 songs of the 1970s, a new decade, our decade. The Jackson 5 and their strings of hits like "The Love You Save" was the first pop music that truly belonged to us -- the rear-guard Baby Boomers -- and their lead singer Michael Jackson, just 12 years old, smiled broadly bounced with a kind of energy that spoke of our new blood that would build something fresh atop the ruins of a tumultuous decade.

And then the 1980s came, the fulfillment of that promise -- for him, for us. When Michael released "Thriller," it seemed to speak yet again to my sub-generation, 20-somethings still grasping for a common identity in the bitter aftertaste of the Pepsi generation, sandwiched in between the grumpy elders and cleancut teens who were both trying to herd us into the Age of Reagan. Michael Jackson truly was, for that brief moment, our "man in the mirror" for a confusing new decade: Someone whose weird clothes spoke of rebellion yet made no coherent statement, not a radical but a careerist and a perfectionist who was moonwalking his way to the bank, totally apolitical and racially ambiguous, an artist who understood "new media" (remember when that meant MTV?) and thus was going to reign forever as the King of Pop.

Then we grew up -- and Michael Jackson didn't. Hot summer nights with "Billie Jean" on the turntable inevitably led to babies, and now that we were parents we rightfully recoiled from the horror stories coming out of the Neverland Ranch. In reality, Michael Jackson was never really what was so neatly packaged and gift-wrapped under the Christmas tree in 1970. We learned that he was the child of a physically abusive father, a celebrity who felt that he'd been robbed of his childhood.

Those things didn't give him the license to act in the irresponsible ways that he did, but it did make him a different kind of metaphor for my fellow tail-end Boomers, as so many of learned that even middle age doesn't always vanquish the demons that were set loose so many years ago. Some defeat those demons, and some don't. Michael Jackson epitomized our greatest fear of all -- he simply ran out of time. Maybe that's why we cut him so much slack in spite of it all -- the love you save.

In the end, 2009 -- the year that I and a number of my friends joined Jackson in turning 50 -- will be remembered as a remarkable year for my generation. Today, we have lost our rock star, but back in January we gained our first president in Barack Obama -- the first late-Boomer POTUS, pretty much unscarred by Vietnam or anything else from the '60s, like Michael Jackson (albeit in a totally different way) presenting a new spin on race in America, with the promise of some new moves and a vibrant voice. I think for a lot of us who voted last fall, our generation-mate Obama brought back faint but hopeful echoes of that remarkable piano riff from so many years ago, the same melody that seemed to be fading away as we lost Michael Jackson.

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Comments

[cobobs]

wow

[goodgravy]

you did not just compare barry to michael.

[JoyceBains]

Rear-guard Boomer my eye! Whoever decided an entire generation could span for over 20 YEARS (late 40s to early 60s) should be slapped. What does Generation Jones have in common with true Boomers, who, IIRC, came of age in the era of Vietnam and multiple assassinations of American leaders? This is almost as bad at putting Generation Y from 1981-1982 to 2000. That puts me in the same generation as my niece, who was born during my senior year of high school!

[Debru]

Generation is defined as the interval of time between the birth of a parent and the birth of a child. You can't have a generation that spans only 5 years; that's absurd.

I have tons more in common with first-wave Boomers than Gen-Xers. I remember Viet Nam clearly, and the assassinations of the Kennedeys (JFK's assassination is, in fact, one of my first memories) and Martin Luther King. I remember the riots and war demonstrations.

I don't feel the slightest fellowship with Gen-Xers, and have no need to create a phony generational distinction like Generation Jones.

I don't understand why Gen-Xers have this compulsion to slice up Boomers into smaller groups. My guess is it's an insecurity issue.

[newworldman777]

I was also born in 1958 -- as was Michael Jackson, Madonna and Prince. Evidently, that was a good year for producing future music icons.

I remember the first time that I saw the Jackson Five perform. They were on an old 60s show, "the Hollywood Palace" one night in 1969, I believe, and the song was "I Want You Back." The next day in my 5th- or 6th-grade class (I can't remember which), all of the kids were buzzing about the phenomenal Michael Jackson, since he was our age, yet was performing in a way that we could never do. After all, we were just kids, and so was he...yet there he was, dancing, spinning and singing a beautiful song with a beautiful voice...basically owning the stage with his monumental presence.

Throughout the following decades, Michael was always a part of the music scene that served as a backdrop for all of the events that those of my generation experienced: partying, cruising, and just hanging out alone or with friends. His "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" albums blew us away with their new sound, totally unlike the J-5 music. His reserved later years paralleled our own, after our having sown our wild oats and settled into a more sedentary lifestyle.

Now, Michael has left us, having given us his all and consequently paying the ultimate price. RIP, Michael.

[rabb046]

You, sir, are a JONESER!

http://generationjones.com/2009latest.html

Welcome to the club.

[Lombard1006]

The Love You Save is my favorite Jackson song. You need only witness this performance to see the coming of age Michael to understand how unbelievably talented he was. He transitioned musically from boyhood to manhood. Sadly he wasn't able to make this same transition in his private life. He was the icon of my generation and I think we all started missing him ten years ago as he slipped away. RIP Michael.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2NENqnR9UAM&feature=related

[GoodNews]

S is for save me
T is for take it slow
O is for Oh No
P is for Please,please don't go!

RIP MJ

[toypiano]

Brilliant and true:

"Someone whose weird clothes spoke of rebellion yet made no coherent statement, not a radical but a careerist and a perfectionist who was moonwalking his way to the bank, totally apolitical and racially ambiguous, an artist who understood "new media" (remember when that meant MTV?)"
________________

Loved the Jackson 5, couldn't stand the Osmond Brothers, their white contemporaries (although I'm sure I still know the words to some of their songs, too, as they were difficult to avoid!).

MJ's solo career was lost on me, though. The dancing was great, but musically he just didn't seem to have much to say, at least I didn't think so at the time. Good to dance to, maybe.

[ModerateMiss]

OMG

My older sister and I used to have vicious arguments over whether the Osmonds or the J5 were superior (J5 of course!!). The two cartoon shows were on back-to-back on Saturday morning.

Loved the Off the Wall album when it came out, and Thriller. Somewhere around the molestation accusations and the face-altering surgery he was lost to me.... I think you could tell even in his music. He just wasn't the same.

[Buddhabman]

Great take Will. Farrah and Michael, two of the biggest Pop Culture icons of our generation up to heaven in one day, wow.

Like someone else wrote, the passing of another of our childhood memory snapshots. God willing, at least we will be to dance to "Dont stop till you get enough" till the day we go.

RIP Farrah & Michael

[sfden50]

Truth be told, baby boom is 1945 - 1960.

[csavage]

Truth be told, Baby Boom considered by epidemiologists to be 1945-1964.

[PATina]

A little younger that you... but this was a great read. I can remember the Jackson 5 posters... me and my cousins arguing over which brother we thought was cutest (Jermaine was my favorite).

[Paula Cooke]

Fantastic article. As someone whom also turned 50 this year, I can really say this article hits home.

[LeBelAge]

Great article, but Barrack Obama is a post-Boomer.

[paxaquarius]

Au contraire, mon freir: While some debate the precise period of the Baby Boom period, it is generally accepted that it goes from the end of WWII to the early 60's, though some place its end as late as '64:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baby_boom.

[RedDogBear]

Its kind of a silly thing to argue about. All the various baby boom, gen x, y, z, are pop sociology with no real basis in science. There's no real way to say who is right because there's nothing concrete to the idea in the first place.

[OkieIntellectual]

Great article but uhh... Boomer? Dude, you were born in 1959, a full 14 years after WWII. That's not a Boomer. Actual Baby Boomers were born between 1944 and 1950. The term "Baby Boom" refers to the years immediately following WWII when GIs returning from Europe and the Pacific were cranking out babies (well, their wives were) like crazy to make up for all the lost time (and nookie) they missed out on during the war. 1959 simply does not count, I'm sorry.

[AlexFTW]

There was a second baby boom during the 60s, and note that he uses the term "rear-guard boomer".

[jazzycafe]

What you say here makes sense. I always thought of Baby Boomers as just those born in the 40's and 50's. But everyone speaks of the Boomers as those born just after WWII through 1963 or so.
I was born in 1962 and though I never thought of myself as a Baby Boomer, I've been lumped in as a tail end boomer by everyone who talks about it on tv or writes books about it.

[Laserbeam]

As someone who was born in 1963 I have to agree with you. I'd add that I've always found it irritating because I have nothing in common with the so-called boomers.

[PATina]

I think that's the problem. I've heard and read so many different time spans for boomers... althoguht this is the first time I've read it limited to 5 or 6 years (typically its around 15 to 20 years). This from Wikipedia.org

Baby Boom Generation is a term which portrays a generation born during the middle part of the 20th Century. The birth years of the Baby Boom Generation are the subject of controversy. Historically, everyone born during the post-World War II demographic boom in births was called part of the Baby Boom Generation. However, as numerous experts have pointed out, generations have traditionally been based on the shared formative experiences of its members; this was the only time a generation had been named by the fertility rates of its members’ parents.[1][2] Many analysts have defined two separate cultural generations born during this demographic birth boom: An older generation usually called the Baby Boom Generation, and a younger generation usually called Generation Jones. This article deals with the Baby Boom Generation from a cultural perspective, while separate articles deal with "Generation Jones" and with the "Post-World War II baby boom".

[toypiano]

Generation Jones?!?! I LOVE that. Never heard of it before, and now I are one.

Very glad Wikipedia has updated the info because I never felt I had anywhere near the same life experience or trajectory of my sibs who were just 10 and 15 years older than me.

We so-called late Boomers (used to be called post-Boomers) have been given short shrift in the culture. There are many celebrities in this age group, but when it comes to everyday ppl, you only hear about the Boomers who came of age in the '60s and then Gen X, as if we didn't even exist or have any impact. Maybe there is hope for us yet.

Generation Jones. GenJo. Ok, I'm liking this so far. Hey, at least they finally noticed we're in the house. It's progress.

[toypiano]

Yeah, interesting. Once upon a time, the Boomer gen WAS much more narrowly defined than it is now.

As the decades pass, the glop of "post-war" babies has grown to mean a 20-year span -- usually said to be 1945-1964. I agree, that seems strange.

I used to be called a post-Boomer, but now I'm a rear-guard Boomer. Ha, next it'll just be Boomer, then it'll be ... dead, I guess.

[GaNavy]

A lovely piece, thank you.

You don't have to be a late Boomer to feel like this - I'm old enough to remember all of the Big 3 in their heydays - Elvis, the Beatles, and Michael, they just don't come any bigger or better than these. I was in college when "I Want You Back" came out, and a lot of us made fun of these guys and the little kid in front, but then Rolling Stone, of all people, went nuts with adulation over them (I remember RS practically jumping for joy that the brothers pronounced the word "bay-BEE" not "bay-BUH"), and you either got on board or the train left the station without you.

Was he crazy as a loon? Probably, but we always love the ones who may be moving in a different orbit from ours - admit it, dinner with John would have been more interesting than dinner with Paul, if only for the unpredictability of it. So put the record on - yes, my people, the RECORD! - and remember the good times.

It's been 30 years since "Off the Wall," but that album still blows me away. I think I'll go put it on - it would be easy to shed a tear at a time like this, but it's a whole lot easier to dance.

R.I.P.