I am, of course, talking about Michael Jackson, although I'm not suggesting he was a bum...just a nut job. At the risk of upsetting members of my family, immediate fellow bloggers and potentially everyone in the world, I feel compelled to write about this today. This is as much of a suprise to me as it may be to anyone.

I am 31 years old and Michael Jackson has been making records/being a nut job for as long as I can remember (technically longer, but I can't remember that). He started well, he achieved so much in his early years; his first 4 singles with The Jackson 5 reached number 1 in the States; his extended Thriller-video dragged MTV kicking and screaming into a new era of diversity, moving from being predominantly white spandex-clad rock music and power ballads to including more and more black artists; his music combined rock, dance, pop, and soul to make a sound that sold records like no other artist ever before. He worked with greats such as Qunicy Jones, Paul McCartney, John Landis (director, 'Thriller' video) & Martin Scorcese (director, 'Bad' video), and has been a major influence on many an musical performer over the last 20-30 years.

I can remember the Thriller video coming out, my mum got it from the video shop and brought it home for me and my brother to watch. It was a huge thing at the time, if you hadn't seen it within a week, you were to be ostracised by your entire school until you learnt how to do the moonwalk. I shared ownership with my brother the cassette albums of Thriller and Bad. Anyone who claims to have not danced to a Michael Jackson song at some point in their life is lying. Not that I was a massive fan, really. I lost interest after Bad; that's when I develpoed a love of spandex-clad rock, and when MJ started to suggest he might not be totally on this planet.

The only other artist who I can put in a similar bracket is Madonna, who has performed her own fair share of nut job behaviour, and is currently in danger of turning into Meryl Streep/Goldie Hawn in the film Death Becomes Her.

So. Where did it all go so horribly wrong? He bought a monkey? Well, he's famous and has lots of money and it all adds to the character profile, right? He sleeps in an oxygen chamber? Marketing ploy, or maybe just a tad eccentric, but that's allowed when you're an international superstar, right? He married Lisa Marie Presley. Enough said. He was probably the only person in the world to have had more cosmetic surgery than Joan Rivers, altering his appearance beyond recognition from his Jackson 5 self. In pictures I've seen of him today at his last public appearances, he looked more like Skeletor from the He-Man cartoon than the little black kid who sang a love song to a rat (the first sign of oddball leanings?)

But despite all the bad press, baby dangling, accusations of child abuse and subsequent court cases, and recent bankruptcy rumours and reclusive-ness, he is still regarded as a legend the world over. And that is the ENTIRE world. Even Azerbaijan and on through to the Hanging Gardens Of Babylon. And I will say that in all the footage I have seen today (which is probably not as much as the rest of the world as I'm in Mallorca with no telly!), he always made an effort to greet his fans, chat to them, shake their hands, and seem like he genuinely meant it, which so many actors and music stars aren't always so bothered about these days.

I'm not devastated like the uber fans who are holding vigil's arounds the world, but I am shocked, much in the same vain as I was when Diana died. He was only 50. He had young children, as well as his parents and brothers and sisters, who are all now left without a loved one.

My epitaph to him would have to read:

Michael Jackson, 1958-2009 - musically a legend - mentally a nut job

RELATED POSTS: This Conspiracy Theory Could Have Been A Contender
We love a conspiracy theory at Boggart Blog so when I saw a headline: The Illuminati Murdered Michael Jackson my eyes nearly popped out of my head ...

Shock Revelation: Obama and Michael Jackson Are The Same Person
... self - proclaimed King Of Pop Michael Jackson (tickets $2000 each - no concessions) the mourners were shaken by the latest revelation from the ...

Michael Jackson's Last Wish
Boggartblog learns that Michael Jackson's last wish was not to be buried or cremated, but, because he was 90% plastic, to be melted down and turned into ...

Michael Jackson's Death Was Faked - We Reveal How and Why
It is inevitable that people would quickly start to claim Michael Jackson is not really dead. It happened with Buddy Holly, Elvis, Marilyn Monroe, Jim ...

Are The Rumours About Michael Jackson True?
As the auctions of Michael Jackson’s personal effects grow ever more weird and in order to stave off bankruptcy the Wizard of Weird prepares to take ...

Celebrity Couple Split
Tiger Woods Apology
Nike Stands By Its Tiger
Ancient Rites - Guilty Feelings