a legend has passed
Yesterday on CNN it was all about Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson though was still fairly young ( 50) and more some one Aba and my generation remembers. The kids asked who is he? Who is Michael Jackson? Well, that certainly won’t do. Aba gave him his education first. Aba grew up in the ghetto. In the ghetto the kids all learned to break dance in the streets on cardboard boxes. Aba could do the leg flap like nobodies business. He had the jacket, and the glove. He wore parachute pants and watched MTV.
Click on song name to see video. I couldn’t embed the ones from the ’80s. sorry.
He started his class with “the way you make me feel”
then moved on to “beat it”, where they danced instead of fought.
Then “Thriller” ( which I actually remembered watching too). Aba said it was scary.. He remembers everyone (kids) rushing over to Aunt Tony’s house to watch it, All his cousins – Mark, Frank, Judy, Benji, Andrea, Joey, everyone was there. I asked him wehre the scary parts was , and he keeps saying he was scared, that it gave him nightmares. Hmm.
and finally “Billie Jean.
Then it was my turn. I grew up in a well-off neighborhood. No breakdancing, Michael Jackson immitating kids there. Nope, we had more the Madonna, pretty in pink thing going on, with sweaters and ribbons, polo shirts and fancy cars. I had no older siblings, and therefore never saw MTV (plus we didn’t have cable). My Michael Jackson was from my father, of the old michael jackson the little kid in the Jackson 5.
I starting off with “ABC 123″ from teh Carol Burnett show no-less.
Moved on to Rockin Robin
and then finally to “I”ll be there”
Navi was bored during this, and now is pretending to be a zombie. Littles was jamming out to Rocking Robin, and Rockstar wanted to know “why is their hair like that?” ( reffering to the afros). Aba said its an afro and explained that Bampa used to wear an afro and that he has a picture of him with his afro wearing bell bottom overalls, a yellow skin tight t-shirt with a blue monter saying no more misternice guy and converse basketball shoes with the american flag pattern on them. Princess, was just scared during thriller.
A legend has passed, even though we all pretended that we didn’t like him at times, scorned him on his family life or stupid choices he made and his slowly dissapearing nose. We will remember him for his great music, the way he influenced a generation of kids dance choices, and the memories we have as children.
I remember being freaked out by Thriller, too…
I grew up in middle class suburbia… Men mowed their 1/4 acre patches of grass like it was a Saturday morning sporting event. We had a live-in nanny/housekeeper until my Dad re-married and were treated to a whole new school wardrobe every fall. My Mother lived in a gated condominium complex that had a team of gardeners and pool men. We listened to Michael Jackson- if he was on the radio. And I even went to a concert from Madonna’s Boy-Toy Tour. But really, I think the fashion of Michael hit the suburbs more. Kids went to school in parachute pants with zippers all over them, and a few even tried the *one glove* thing for awhile, but I think it was more the year-long sunshine to blame for that fad to be short lived. While I completely agree that Michael Jackson helped to shape the music world, I honestly remember other music of the time more. I danced away to show tunes for my latest after-school production, and my brothers sang along to *The Eye of the Tiger* and *Take These Broken Wings* on the way to soccer practice and Hebrew school.