Michael Jackson dies at 50...

[Usul_Princess]

I was already watching CNN waiting until they confirmed for sure until I posted. (The slowest news channel ever!)
It hasn't really sunken in for me yet. I'm still very much in shock about it all. It feels like I'm dreaming that I'm posting this right now. I'm making this thread just to see and hear thoughts/opinions.

[Madge]

Personally, I never really got how a celebrity's death is something we should care about, unless we're massive fans obviously.

50 year olds die of heart attacks all the time.

I feel bad for everyone who was looking forward to his come back tour.

[Jessi]

I kind of agree with Madge, heh. I was never a Michael Jackson fan as a child (which... well, I was rather young when he was at his peak as a pop star at least) - my biggest memory of him were the sheer number of students who had to do a moonwalk routine in our school's talent shows when he was popular. I've been indifferent to him most of my life so I'm not really broken up about his death the way I've been about other celebrities in the past.

Mostly I'm just sad he had a heart attack at 50. Madge may be right, and 50 year olds die of heart attacks all the time, but it's still terribly young to me.

Also... geez, this is just turning out to be a really bad week for celebrities, isn't it? O_o;

[AngharadTy]

Thriller changed my life. In a way, the guy that I loved died a long time ago; MJ changed so much in the past decade or so. But hey, he got me started on my love of zombies, and so many of his songs are so fantastic. It's a pity.

[Madge]

I was probably a bit brief and brash there, I'm sporadically typing with Dvorak in an attempt to learn it slowly rather than all at once in a fit of shock at typing so slowly, so that was a post I wrote in Dvorak where each word was a little hard to type.

I'd be crazy devo if a celebrity I admire died, and it's kinda scary that Michael Jackson is younger than my dad and still died. 50 is still terribly young, and that's a loss. He did lots of cool music as well as being an all around nutter, and for that we have to respect him.

But, I have to tell this joke. Don't read it if you're grieving, please! I have spoilored it so you can read it later. 'Cause it's kinda mean.

Spoiler: open/close

Michael Jackson's face has so much plastic in it that now he's dead they're going to melt it down and use it to make those little plastic toys you get in Happy Meals. That way, the kids can play with him for a change.

(also, I first heard this joke like 5 years ago, and I didn't make it up! I know I'm funny guys but I'm not that funny)

[Usul_Princess]

I took a walk on the MSU strip for a couple of hours, and every bar/shop was playing his music only. Everyone's mood seemed relatively the same: Sad, but mellow. The environment on campus was so pleasant it cheered me up quite a bit. My family on both sides grew up on him for 3 generations from beginning to end. And yeah, some people are going to be upset more than others obviously. Tomorrow I'm going to buy a newspaper. I collect newspapers with major events not even for the content, but so I can remember how I felt when said event happened. (9/11, Election day '08, etc.)

I shed a few tears immediately after I heard it, but now I feel a lot better than when I first posted.

[mellaka]

I was a fan when I was a kid (maybe that's why I still like zombies too - I never thought of it that way) but haven't cared about him or his music for many years now. I feel bad for his fans who are sad but really don't have much reaction to it except to think that it's surprising because he was relatively young.

I was also surprised when I talked to my mom yesterday and she brought it up. I said I was unaffected and she didn't believe me, going on and on about him being around since the Jackson 5 and all the hardship he had growing up in the spotlight (and reminding me how I used to watch Thriller over and over). It was just weird to me hearing what a different perspective she had on him. I have to admit that all the past accusations definitely tainted my idea of him but she didn't seem phased by them.

But I was sad for my cousin, who is 23 and a huge fan of his for some reason I just don't get.

[Rah]

I totally bawled. Him and Queen were basically my childhood. My brother and I used to run around the living room to the 'Bad' album ALL the time. I'm just upset. I feel like someone I know has died. And I really dislike all the people going around basically dancing on his grave.

I...don't think I'll miss him, because I already think he gave us the best of what he had. He WAS declining, and he had gone a bit crazy. And I can still listen to all his music and remember the good times. But this death is still sad.

[Officer 1BDI]

I'd be crazy devo if a celebrity I admire died, and it's kinda scary that Michael Jackson is younger than my dad and still died. 50 is still terribly young, and that's a loss.

This, and then some. I'm shocked that he died so relatively young (both of my parents have a few years on him), I respect that he did a lot of things for the music industry, and I can certainly emphasize with his devastated fans, but at the end of the day he just wasn't one of the celebrities that I strongly admired, so this loss has much less impact on me that it's having on others.

[Kantark]

A genius in the 70s. A defining artist of 80s pop. Less so in the early-to-mid 90's, although Earth Song is pretty epic if you can see beyond the pretentiousness.

I wasn't old enough when the likes of Thriller and Bad were released to really appreciate how he was ripping up the record books, all I knew is that he was never far from the top of the charts - and his music from that era, with near-perfect production & songwriting, still packs a punch today.

I doubt I'll remember where I was when I heard (I was half-asleep listening to a very distant thunderstorm with the radio on very quietly in the background, at about 5 am) and, to be honest, he'd looked pretty unwell for years. So not really a shock, but still a shame.