In early 90’s when there was a wave of Bollywood music making waves across India, I was also naturally a fan of Indian film music. The music was more of traditional kind of music with some western beats here and there. That was not an era of Techno music and no one had heard something like “Remix”. Music was dominated by veterans like Lakshmikant-Pyarelal duo, R.D. Burman and more hip hop kind of music was from Bappi Lehri.
King of Pop (August 29, 1958–June 25, 2009)
That’s when few of my senior friends told me about Michael Jackson and his music. I bought my first English album “BAD” for 60 rupees and it took no time for me being carried away with the music. I became instant fan of MJ and went on collecting his albums one by one… Dangerous, Thriller, History… Though compared to Indian film music, the MJ albums were quite expensive at that point of time (Being student, saving bucks from my monthly pocket money and buying a cassette was a real crazy stuff). But the madness towards his albums was more and more with introduction of satellite TV (though it was in 92 when Star TV made mark in India, we only got cable connection during mid 90s) and watching his video albums over MTV and other channels .
MJ in Mumbai
MJs Mumbai concert was one of the big news in India and was carried all over newspaper and TV. Though it was his only performance here, I was hopping just like any other bands he would surely come to Bangalore once in future.
As there were more channels and exposure to internet grew, I started to keep a track of MJs life and controversies that surrounded him. I later started listening to Boyzone, Backstreet Boyz, Madonna, Dr. Alban and so on just like any other college going fella, there were not many MJ releases as well. But MJ remained a special and any news about him used to immediately catch my attention. Off late I had stored many of his albums in my PC and they were a best entertaining stuff for me. I was a great fan of his dance and choreography, especially “The smooth criminal”… His Bad, Smooth Criminal, black or white, they don’t really care about us, remain my favorite songs forever.
MJ Albums on YOUTUBE…
Bad
Black or white
Smooth criminal
As the time passed there were less and less work of MJ, and the last thing we wanted to see was his concert in London in July 09. Early morning on 26th June when I browsed usually, Time of India website splashed stunning news of MJs demise due to cardiac arrest. Just like the entire world, I too shell shocked with this breaking news. A person who lived his life surrounded by controversies had bid goodbye to world in the same way. His death was also much speculated with different versions coming out about the circumstances lead to his death.
One of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records, including one for “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.” He has won 13 Grammy Awards. Though his personal life remained a controversial subject, MJ was indeed “King of Pop” and will be remembered so. May his soul rest in peace…
MJ profile on Wikipedia
www.michaeljackson.com
Article about MJ memorial service
The real world.. 