Michael Jackson died at the age of 5o today, and whether you love(d) him or hate(d) him, you can't deny his unique pop cultural influence. To date, Thriller is still the biggest selling album of all time; the album became emblematic of the 80's, a generation marked (culturally) by unfortunate fashion options, an enthusiasm for slasher flicks and music videos, designer drugs (and subsequent government initiated anti-drug programs), and a reinvigorated belief in the transformative power of capitalistic ventures. A weird era, to say the least. And, appropriately, when I re-watched the music video of Thriller-- I hadn't seen it since I was a kid-- I thought, "This video is seriously one of the weirder music videos I've ever seen." (Not that I've seen a ton of music videos lately. But still.)
Now that Michael Jackson is dead, I have to wonder, just how much of his legacy will live on after him? I imagine that many of the social and moral debates he sparked in his later years will fade from memory, but what about the moonwalk? I'd be sad to see it go for good. And I personally think it'd be a shame if people didn't continue to occasionally reference and/or parody the once ground-breaking products of the man's performative, um, genius (see link below).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UkTQwP2gFxU
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