Published: November 03, 2009 08:12 pm      

Thriller was it, when it comes to Michael Jackson

Steve Boggs, Democrat Publisher

The documentary about Michael Jackson, “This Is It,” hit movie theaters this past weekend, raking in more than $100 million at the box office. It is based on rehearsal footage for Jackson’s 51-concert stint in London that was canceled after his unexpected death in late June. Apparently, a cobbled together group of grainy clips, start-and-stop music and some prerecorded video highlights are enough to draw people to the movie theater these days.

Michael Jackson was once a huge, huge star. Yours truly was as big of a fan as anyone in the days of Thriller. The guy could dance, his music was good and he represented the cutting edge of cool back in the early 1980s. Then he got weird. He began to look strange, and he began to act even more strange. I’m not sure I believed the allegations of misconduct leveled against Jackson over the years, but I must admit his behavior did make him a rich target.

I haven’t purchased a Michael Jackson release since Thriller, and I never went back to get that one on CD. My Thriller album remains in my closet, along with Bat out of Hell, Physical Graffiti, Dark Side of the Moon and Frampton Comes Alive ... all relics of a bygone era when music was good and even original from time to time. For some reason, I never transferred any Michael Jackson music over to CD. I still listen to Frampton and the like quite regularly on the CD player, but haven’t felt the urge to plug in any Michael Jackson music, even since his death.

My children like Jackson 5 music, but can’t understand the draw to the Thriller phenomenon. Of course, they refuse to like anything popular. Their taste for indie music ends as soon as the band breaks through with a hit single. (Do they have hit singles these days?). I, too, like the early Jackson 5 music, and think Michael’s best album was Off the Wall.

I’d love to say I’m picky about my musicians’ behavior, but I’m not. I don’t know if my taste outgrew Michael Jackson, or if he became too weird to listen to. If I’m going to endure a musicians’ weirdness, the music needs to be pretty good. Jackson’s never was after Thriller. My collection is populated with tons of colorful characters, including the lovely Alice Cooper. I’ve also been known to listen to Metallica, Cheap Trick and Abba in the same commute, so I guess there’s no accounting for taste.

Jackson’s music changed after Thriller. He became more political, more self-centered and less rhythmic. His songs were too repetitive, and much harder on the ears as he got older. There just wasn’t enough there to hold my interest, at least against the backdrop of his bizarre behavior. Of course, it’s hard to top the greatest album of all time. It always seemed like the success of Thriller was more than he could handle.

However, I have to hand it to the guy, though. Thriller was a great album and is still the best video ever created. In those days, Michael Jackson knew how to blend rock, pop and soul into some excellent songs that will live on for a very long time. Jackson’s performance at the 25th anniversary special for Motown records remains a seminal moment in many people’s lives — mine included. Nobody had ever seen anything like that before, and probably won’t again. It isn’t often the performance outweighs the hype, but his performance of Billie Jean that night was one of them.

Perhaps one day, maybe a year from now when all the mania has faded over his death, I’ll buy a copy of Thriller on CD and listen to it again.

In the meantime, I’ll wait for “This Is It” to hit free cable in a few years. Even then, I’m not likely going to take the time to watch it from start to finish. Michael Jackson ceased to exist for me after Thriller.