Daniel Gee's Caravan of Hate: The Boy Who Never Grew Up

Saturday, 27 June 2009

The Boy Who Never Grew Up

It can be so easy to write an half-arsed and ill-informed article about the much-maligned but musically-brilliant Michael Jackson, so I’ll try to keep it brief and to the point. Plus I don’t have anything new to add, as everybody has had their say.

True, the man changed the face of music. From a little 8-year old black lad from a small town in America, (which at the time was still racially segregated) to the world’s biggest star in the 80’s and early 90’s and then his demise from then on. It’s been a quite eventual 50 years but I think it’s fair to say that Jackson never had a chance to grow up. A child star aged 50 is the best way to describe him.

His career started with ‘The Jackson 5’ (later ‘The Jacksons’) before he revolutionised 80’s pop and arguably invented a new sound. His music has influenced many artists and the video for ‘Thriller’ is one of the most memorable of all time. He had everything he could have dreamt of, so where did all go wrong?

Throughout his life, he’s been badly advised and managed, which saw his career come to a shuddering halt. Debts, skin grafts and child abuse cases will sadly maim the memory of the ‘King of Pop’. Anyone who now thinks of Michael Jackson won’t think of that bouncy little lad who sung ‘Rockin’ Robin’ but of the weirdo who spent too much time with monkeys and children. Which is probably the biggest shame in this story – some people won’t remember him for his music at all.

For me I’ll always remember the 1996 Brit Awards when Jackson himself was starting to unravel (both physically and mentally, it has to be said) but he was still the world’s biggest star. He’d thought that his performance of ‘Earth Song’ would go down well. But after rumours about his act, where Jackson would try to portray ‘Jesus’, with children (and a Rabbi, quite bizarrely) all around him and almost worshipping him, it all got a bit much for a few of the other artists, who thought this was bang out of order. It took Pulp’s Jarvis Cocker to run on stage and take the piss, to make people see what a farce it was. Jackson would never really be held in the same esteem in the UK ever again. You can watch the video below and to me, it was well out of order.

Regardless of his shortcomings, I salute Michael Jackson for his music but as a man he was utterly bizarre and I don’t think he even knew what he was doing. We can talk about him all we want but nobody will know the truth about the boy who never grew up.

1996 Brit Awards