RIP, Michael Jackson
Bellas, I feel devastated. I can’t even fully put into words what I feel right now. So instead, I turn to you.
What’s your favorite Michael Jackson memory? What’s your favorite song? And how do you feel right now, after this awful, tragic news?
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Sites That Link to this Post
- RIP, Michael Jackson | afrobella | MICHAEL JACKSON CD | July 2, 2009
- Michael Jackson. Last Goodbye. | Afrobella | June 24, 2010
I am shocked. My favorite song was Ben and so many more. I feel like I have lost a family member. I remember playing his records as a child all day long, over and over again. He will be missed. I hope that the media and people will let his family grieve in peace and just remember to pray for them.
i had that picture of him in the yellow sweater…i used to kiss it every day before i left the house. i had to stand on an old air conditioner to do it…
he will be sorely missed. a true legend.
Okay, I will make this short and sweet b/c I am sooo emotional over his passing.
I remember how the Thriller video used to scare me. And I remember how Black & White was my favorite song ever. I remember thinking he was so cute when he was in The Jackson 5. I remember my Dad (also a singer) saying “Wow….look at Michael Jackson. We are the same age and he is rich and famous. That could have been me.”
R.I.P Mr. Jackson.
i’m n shock! it is so hard to believe that someone we grew up w/like Michael Jackson has passed on. i loved the jackson 5 cartoon that i HAD to catch every sat. a.m. as a child. too many of his songs were my favs-would be hard to list here. thx for the post & outlet.
luv,
cipytweet
The first memory I have of Mike was in I wanna say 90 (not positive). It was during the BAD tour & HBO showed the tour. My mom & I went a friends house to watch it on the big screen tv. There was like 15 of us. I was sitting under the coffee table. I was like 5. I jumped up from the table during ” BAD” and started singing and dancing. That was when I proclaimed to the world that I was going to be a singer. That’s when my Mike love began
My best MJ memory is jammin’ to “P.Y.T.”in the living room with my parents as a kid. Michael Jackson’s music was the soundtrack to my childhood. RIP MJ.
I can’t believe it. RIP Michael your music gave us joy.
Another day has gone
I’m still all alone
How could this be
You’re not here with me
You never said goodbye
Someone tell me why
Did you have to go
And leave my world so cold
Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay
But you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
But you are not alone
‘Lone, ‘lone
Why, ‘lone
Just the other night
I thought I heard you cry
Asking me to come
And hold you in my arms
I can hear your prayers
Your burdens I will bear
But first I need your hand
Then forever can begin
Everyday I sit and ask myself
How did love slip away
Something whispers in my ear and says
That you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
For you are not alone
Whisper three words and I’ll come runnin’
And girl you know that I’ll be there
I’ll be there
You are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though you’re far away
I am here to stay
For you are not alone
For I am here with you
Though we’re far apart
You’re always in my heart
For you are not alone
This song always brings tears to my eyes for some reason. I havent heard it in years and now Ive listened to again. The effect is still there. I grew up in the 80′s so Michael Jackson was a great man on MTV- he ruled it really. Although Im not his biggest fan (at least not the latest 15 years or so) I know he will be missed
As a lifelong fan of his music, I am still in shock. His music was so important to me, my friends, and the rest of the world, and I could not imagine a world without Michael.
I loved Michael Jackson. I was 4 and Thriller came out. my older cousin let me watch it. I was terrified, but had to leablirn the dance.
I had a scrap book from the Victory tour. I learned to breakdance. I felt like I knew Michael. He also taught me that you can love a person and not know them. you love the public image.
Driving through the Grove on Halloween, dressed as a pimp (borrowed a long coat of yours, I believe) listening to Thriller with pals. Good times.
Unlike most of you I am not shocked, i am saddened and sorrowful, but he Michael i loved the beautiful young man big afro and dark chocolate skin died a long time ago.. I hope he has finally found peace with himself and I pray he was welcomed into Jesus loving arms as the dynamic person we all loved.. God rest his soul!
I can’t believe we lost Michal Jackson… it’s just to soon this man is an ICON… MUSIC ROYALTY… i remeber back in the 90s when they used to debut his music videos on Fox (i believe). I would always have a vhs tape ready to record it … my fav was Do you remember the time? I love that so many of my fav celebs were in the video (IMAN , Eddie Murphy, Magic ETC) I remember watching that video over and over again trying to learn all the dance moves… I’m watching BET now and listening to the radio and i can’t believe that i remember every single word to all the songs they’re playing and i know i’m not the only one. THat’s just proof of how much this man and his musical genius has impacted us… My prayers go out to his family… RIP MJ your music will always keep you alive in our hearts
My favorite Michael Jackson memory is one that got me in a whole lot of trouble. I actually called Encino, CA information and got listings for Michael Jackson in hopes that one would be his and that he would answer the phone. What would happen after that, I don’t know…
I’ll never forget learning what long distance charges meant. Oh to be young, dumb, and in love with a celebrity again…(sighs)
I’m just really shocked and saddened. I grew up listening to Michael Jackson and when a new video or album was coming out, it was an EVENT. My favorite memory is when the “Black Or White” video was debuting and my 1st grade class was buzzing about watching it. I believe that was also the same controversial video with the vandalism of the car, etc. Well, needless to say, many of us were sad that we didn’t get to see the whole video because our parents yanked us away!
But Michael is a legend and I doubt we’ll see such an influential pop star in a long time.
Now I’ll going off to listen to “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough”
wow im in shock when i heard he died i didnt beleive it at first but wow he waz a true legend he will truly be miss but never ever forgotten he alwayz be in my heart my favorite song is thriller and my favorite moment is when him and james brown was on the stage together at the bet awards
I hope he finds in death that peace that he was never afforded in life.
RIP to the KING of pop
i don’t have a favorite song but i do have a favorite video: “Remember the Time”. that video, IMHO, is really beautiful. regardless of what you think of him, he really was a great artist. i will remember him for all the beautiful music he brought into my life. RIP, MJ.
I ran over a mile in to my friends house to catch the premier of Thriller on MTV when I was 12. It was the greatest video ever! We screamed and cried with emotion. I can’t believe he’s gone.
I’m in shock along with so many…I remember the Bad tour in ’87 and leaving not being able to talk b/c i was screaming soo much and soo loudly!!!!..in the ’80′s an award show was nothing without MJ performing. No matter what turmoil he may have gone through in his personal life..that man was and always be the ultimate in entertainment!…RIP MJ you will never be forgotten.
I can recall taking the Thriller and Off the Wall records out of their jackets to play on Sunday evenings when I was about nine. They were revered in my household. My favorite Michael Jackson song – and it’s phenomenally hard for me to choose – Human Nature.
i cant believe it I hope many will remember him for how he was not all the crap that was later published on his life but for the entertainer he truly was.
He can finally be at peace.
My favorite MJ song is a tie between Remember a time and of course Thriller
Love live the King of Pop.
Wow. I remember being in my mom’s living room, playing “human nature” over and over and over again. Le Roi est mort; vive le Roi.
Still in shock – just don;t believe. Too many songs to pick just one. As a teenager I had his poster on the back of my bedroom door, and another one on the wall. I still remember crowding around the TV to watch the Grammy awards where he moon walked, performing Billie Jean, I think. What a talent.
Ah, so many puppies here, Bella. Just shared with the BF my memory of getting a $6 ticket (best in the house!) to a J-5 concert for my ninth Christmas.
But you know, he’ll never really be dead. The music never dies.
Thanks, Michael.
I must be old school because I remember the Jackson 5′s first album and attending the first concert promoting this album at the Olympic Stadium in Detroit. My friends and I screamed throughout the entire concert. We wore early ’70′s garb at that time. Maxi-coats, leather newsboy hats, etc.
Oh boy the way,we chased his limo at that first concert with the Jackson 5 in tow.
i have loved you from the youngest of my age.
and i havent lived long.
but you being my inspiration, Michael, I cherish what you have brought.
you are always to be remembered and we all know it’s true. – even though they hated, we all love you. |
and the one’s who LOVED, have now seen the worse and experienced the cruelest of their life.
Honestly, I will and cannot let myself forget you and this particular day.
I WAS LIKE YOUR STALKER, looking up the weirdest so i can be in contact with you. and as a little 12 year old Just listening to your music from my younger days til’ this very, it… it just breaks me. and turns my poets and songs into tears. CAUSE’ YOU ARE INSPIRATION, YOU ARE LIGHT. you are the reason I always fight, my justice FOR JUSTICE.
- and my dream from this day on, that i have now realized early on today,
is to continue the works and positions of your music.
I LOVE MICHAEL JACKSON, FOR DAYS ON. </3 :’( _
if you feel the same tell the world. we know he’s no God. but he’s a Legend. THE LEGEND. OUR KING OF POP. So get it straight and DO NOT hate. cause’ look what you got a man with a sudden fall against the world’s attacks.
R.I.P.= forever loved. FOREVER.- cry yourself to sleep, he’s there next to God. I CAN BARE.. can you bare?
- I’ll be there Michael, just call my name. and I’ll be there. ( i Know your here, i dont need to look over my shoulders. Cause’ yea my loved on I know Your here. ]
@omi – Me too gyrl! I had lipstick marks all over my PYT poster…LOL…
But seriously,Bella,my heart is so heavy since I heard the news. I was unprepared for how strongly this news would affect me. Cause in the post-Thriller years, I just felt weird about dude…
But then, I thought about it & realized that as a child of the late seventies & eighties, Mike was a HUGE & integral part of my childhood/girlhood/teenaged memories.
From “Free To Be You & Me” where he sang w/ Roberta Flack, to the Jackson 5 cartoon, to the variety shows, then (my personal fave) The Wiz, to Off The Wall, culminating with Thriller, Michael was the object of my adoration & affection from the age of 5 thru 15 or so…I LOVED him.
I went to the Victory tour in Chicago at Soldier Field & cried my eyes out.
I remember running to my room & sobbing the time his hair caught afire during taping that Pepsi commercial…I seriously thought he was gonna be my husband.
The dude was a gigantic chunk of my growing up experiences.
So for that, & for so much more, for the great music that I still listen to (Off The Wall is the best ever), I wanna give a BIG ups to him. And may he find the peace now, that he never seemed able to achieve in life…
RIP Mike & my condolences to your friends & family.
Growing up in the eighties, Michaels Jackson’s songs and influence seemed to punctuate my childhood events. He was the first celebrity that I could recognize, endeared, mimicked… I LOVED him very young, mainly because my big sister was crazy over him and the rest of the Jacskon Five, and because I ached to be just like my big sister. Elisa, 11 years my senior, played his records constantly, kissed her immense Jackson Five poster on her side of the room daily, and regaled me with the story of their trip to Trinidad in 1977 when they visited the Princess Elizabeth home that resulted in a newspaper photo of her getting a kiss from the group. When we switched from b&w to color tv, the Thriller video was our favorite thing to watch. When there was any good news to share, the Moonwalk was our victory dance of choice. We loved Michael Jackson, his positivity, his hope for what the world could be…we believed him: “It don’t matter if you’re black or white…” He INSPIRED us, and did exactly what he sought out to do—he entertained us thoroughly! My big sister succumbed to kidney failure in 1990 at age 23. Born with spina bifida and confined to a wheelchair, she was plagued by illness all her life, but she remained positive and hopeful, and seemed to draw strength from Michael Jackson’s music, and moreover his inspiring messages of hope and love. Every time I heard his music or read about him, I thought about Elisa, and how his optimism prompted hers, which in turn prompted mine. Forever and always, these two are linked in my memory. Wherever they both are now, I hope she gets to kiss him again. Gone too soon. RIP.
Long before you were thought of Trice, I saw Jackson 5 perform at GrandStand in the Savannah right here in Trinidad. I got lovely colour photographs of him – I think it was Mark Lyndersay who took them..the huge ‘fro etc. I love all his songs past and present but “Man in the Mirror” always makes me get goosebumps.
Fellow Bellas..Trice and I were saying just tonight that life is too short to keep grudges and rifts especially among family…and my prayers go out to his family but especially his Mom and his children.
I’m just in shock. But my favorite moment was watching his video Thriller on MTV. It was totally iconic and revolutionized the world of music forever. I love him…I am just so devastated….so devastated…
I grew up in foster care and Michael Jackson’s music was the one constant in my young turmoil-filled life. I’m so crushed right now. Does anyone remember that movie, Moonwalker? I remember finding a copy in a stack of VHS’ when I was 9 years old and I watched it a gazillion times. Yeah…good times.
My favorite memory was of me kissing my Michael Jackson poster every morning before school.
My favorite song/performance is The Jacksons at Madison Square Garden in 2001 singing “Can You Feel It.”OMG, even grown men were screamin in the audience. Michael owned that stage.
I feel a profound sense of lost.
definitely i’ll be there by the jackson 5 and remember the time
even though i am only twenty my favorite love song of all time is and will always be “lady in my life”.
at twelve i crushed on the beautiful brownskin michael with the huge fro (even though he was much different in appearance at the present time) .
my favorite memory would be coming back from a party and stopping the car in the middle of the street to moonwalk to billie jean.
A true musical genius and a bittersweet post for me to write. My favorite MJ videos are Remember the Time and Smooth Criminal.
Beat it!–Loved it….
I remember seeing Michael Jackson at the Motown Review in Detroit Michigan when he was a child…
His life is a message about being a creative genius in a world where you don’t have that many friends you can trust,and a personal life that makes money for the media!
The greatest is gone: let’s remember him for the light he has brought to the world.
I grew up in a family that loved Motown. My mom’s group was the Four Tops. My dad’s group was The Temptations. My sister and I were (still are) devoted fans of the Jackson 5. Next to our Sesame Street albums were those from the Jackson 5.
I was fortunate to see him during the Bad tour. But before that, with the Jackson 5, I saw him in Dallas when they were visiting selected recreation centers.
There’s not much he has done during his illustrious career that I didn’t follow. He was truly the greatest entertainer of Generation X.
And while this YouTube video says one thing, I’m so glad that he will have a place in R&B and Rock and Roll history.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0mcxmCGetI
this is what I wrote on Field Negro’s blog:
I grew with MJ too. I just KNEW I was going to marry him.
I saw a picture of him this morning circa “ABC” and burst into tears. I’m kinda surprised at how upset I am given the MJ I loved “died” many years ago.
I breaks my heart to see what happened to him post Thriller. The surgeries, trials, money troubles. I heard on the news there were days when he spoke to nobody. So strange as he always seemed to have people around him.
He IS Norma Desmond. I wish there was a happier ending for Michael.
But I will always remember jumping for joy whenever he and his brothers were on American Bandstand or Soul Train, the GENIUS that is OFF THE WALL, The Motown 25 special, the opening bass line to “Billie Jean” , how love for his talent transcended race, generations, countries. He along with Price and Madonna built MTV back in the 80s. (how weird they are all the same age!)
RIP Michael. I hope he has some peace now.
Michael! All I can say is thank you for the music and your generosity expressed through your too many talents. You touched our hearts and for that we thank you and wish you to RIP. My prayers go to you and your family.
I love every single song you wrote and sung.
Michael, King of Pop, I wish you to be happy for good. It is a little bit of my childhood which is gone with you yesterday.
LOVE TO ALL, BELLAS! THANK YOU, MIKE!
It’s hard to have a fave. Loved his work in the Jackson 5 particularly the Christmas album and Ben. Even as a child his aura was there. Don’t stop til you get enough, Thriller ,We are the World and so many others were music I couldn’t get enough of.
On another note follow me at brownsugawoman:)
Growing up my first and only album until I could buy them myself in high school was ABC. I was so thrilled I took it to elementary school and while lining up to go in, the record slipped out and a big chunk came out. I was devastated. I never understood until yesterday why I never threw it away and it’s still a part of my music collection
My first album and my first crush. I remember watching in on the Dating Game and wishing I was in the girl’s shoes that he picked.
My fav videos – Remember the Time and Jam. My fav song – Man in the Mirror
Michael may you RIP and my heart goes out to your family. I’ve been watching MTV as he is being the honored the way I wish to remember him, as an amazing entertainer and hearing the statements from celebrities who held him in high regard.
The one person I wanted to see in concert. I am so sad, RIP MJ. Your music will be remembered.
It feels like a piece of my childhood died yesterday. My dear husband, bless him, just doesn’t understand why I’m so upset. All of my friends, all of my female cousins, if you had asked any of us in 1983-1985 who we were going to marry, we would have all answered Michael Jackson. His sweetness, his talent, his soft kind nature. Every performance I ever see I compare in my mind to his appearance on that Motown special, and I find them all wanting for the pure magic of that performance.
I remember writing fan letters of love to Michael with my cousins when I was 9 years old. We memorized all the facts of his life to pretend we were closer to him (only person’s birthday outside my family and close friends I had memorized). The only poster I ever had on the walls of my childhood room.
Seeing him perform was always pure joy. Insane talent with dancing, a voice that was probably underappreciated, songwriter, it goes on. I never saw anyone who just left it all on the stage and connected one on one with everyone in a screaming arena or even over the airwaves.
I still am lying to myself and telling myself it’s a hoax and it’s not really true. I cried at the gym yesterday when I heard the news and have been numb since.
It’s so funny reading Ericka’s post because if you substitute 1983-1985 with 1973-1975, that could be me speaking.
In a small sense I agree with those who said that the MJ they loved died a long time ago. However, with his physical presence gone from the earth, the little girl in me is mourning today.
I still can’t believe it. I couldn’t even cry when it was confirmed he was dead,but as the evening went on I began to cry. I cried as I watched more and more coverage before I turned it off for awhile. I just needed a break,and then I decided to listen to the radio to hear his great music. My kids and I danced the night away. I couldn’t single out one song. He had so many great songs. He will truly be missed. R.I.P Micheal Jackson
while staying up late yesterday i heard the sad news on cnn and simply thought it was not true. now. i am sad.my mind refuses to let this sink in. even in rural germany where i grow up every kid had a MJ poster on his/her wall and “Thriller” was our drug of choice. RIP, Michael and thank you for blessing us with your music. May your soul find peace.
I, too, had posters of MJ all over my walls. The picture I used to kiss all the time when I was a kid was the one where he was wearing a brown leather jacket and jeans with a big belt buckle. It was a 24×36 pic on the outside of my bedroom door. I had the doll, I made my own glitter glove, I got the jacket from “beat It” for Christmas one year. I have too many favorite MJ songs.
I am over here hurt like I lost a distant but beloved relative. May his soul find peace at last. I am bracing myself for all the tabloid speculation and for people trying to make a quick buck out of this. It makes me sad. What amazes me is that despite the strange turn his life had taken over the past 10-15 years, his legacy was already cemented and could not be denied. In this age of ringtone superstars and iTunes, his sales will never be matched. No one will even sell that many records or have big tours like his ever again. RIP Michael!
Thanks Bella’s! I can’t seem to stop crying it is amazing that we all have similar stories of MJ! Your comments have helped me, he is resting now!