* Top 10 Memories of Michael Jackson:

*Note – At the time of writing, my video-enabler wasn’t around to video-enable. Since I’m useless, the links will have to do for now. Give me a break, I’m a child of divorce! (10 Pimlico Points for the first person to post what film that line is from. **PIMLICO POINTS HAVE NO CASH VALUE BUT DO HAVE OTHER QUALITIES THAT ARE JUST AS NICE**)

1. Watching him and Roberta Flack singing together on the Free To Be You And Me TV special.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wSNwxeY09bE

2. Sneaking over to my friend’s house to witness the Thriller video debut and being kinda scared of ‘Zombie Michael’ but even more scared of being the saddo loser who hadn’t seen it at school the next day. (The couple of kids who didn’t see it were treated mercilessly. Kids – it’s worth it to sneak these kinds of pop culture milestones and risk your parents’ punishment. Your parents will be much more forgiving than your peers.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Xs9OQHpwDE

3. Wearing one glove that my Mum sewed sequins on and it was SUPER-COOOOOL!!

4. Thinking it must be BRILLIANT to have a monkey. Hey, when you sell 25 million albums, I defy you to not go a bit mad and buy crazy stuff. When you have a bajillion bucks, you can buy a monkey with no questions asked. Well, people can ask but you don’t have to pay them any mind; because you have a bajillion bucks. When I have a bajillion bucks, I am absolutely going to buy a monkey. 10 monkeys!! AND a Unicorn!!!! Unicorns don’t exist, you say? Huh, if I had a bajillion bucks, you can be damn sure they WOULD.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h5KAJw4y8wE

5. Trying to Moonwalk (and failing miserably)…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEKFZhSrcKQ&feature=related

6. …But being quite good at the ‘Billie Jean’ dance! Four years of ballet and toe-shoes, thank you! (I thought the lyric “So take my strong advice” was “stroke advice”. To which my Grandsir replied, “Yep, I’ve already taken that advice. Didn’t like it.”)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=En-cHBv7UpA

7. “Well doncha know that other kids are starving in Japan?!?” (OK, technically not Michael Jackson but ‘Weird’ Al wouldn’t, nay, couldn’t have done this without ‘Beat It’ to parody.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyfcOriVKBM

8. Wanting to go to Neverland so much that I was prepared to shave my head like some of those Make-A-Wish kids. (I didn’t UNDERSTAND! I was still at the stage of thinking, “kids don’t die…”. I thought that to get their wish, these kids had to give up something – like their hair. It happens in fairy-tales all the time! The Little Mermaid; she wanted legs, she gave up her voice. It made sense when I was 8. Ahhh, what do you know…Sheesh. Here’s The Wiz.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ztDwyEuiBY&feature=related

 9. In college, seeing the devotion that the girl who worked in the shop ’round the corner from my flat lavished on him. She had the jacket, the T-shirts, pins, EVERYTHING, probably knickers too. She played every CD over and over again and couldn’t be found for 5 days before tickets for the HIStory tour concert in Dublin went on sale. Camping on the street for 5 days in rainy Ireland; no small thing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JhFy_4Lh6g

10. Finding out that my partner, Matthew, could sing ‘Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough’ near-perfectly and being the proudest girlfriend-person at karaoke.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_hz2am90Hk

 Despite the past 15 or so years, the demons, the weirdness, the skin-bleaching, the last few albums, the suspicion, the marrying of Elvis’ only child, almost thowing a baby off a balcony, ect, ect, ad nausium….I felt a bit sad. A great pop culture icon died and Jacko took a piece of my formative years with him. At the same time, the news also made me remember all the fun times I had listening to and watching what is now his legacy and once-in-a-generation contribution to the worldwide zeitgeist. Everywhere I went today; I was hearing “Shacka-Ooooohs!”, Vincent Price’s haunting laugh – that caused me to pull the needle off the LP just before the end of the song when I young – and several “Annie, are you OKs?” I saw kids with their dad waiting at a crosswalk doing the Moonwalk and two rather large gentleman gave me the ‘Air-Punch’ sign when hearing I Want You Back on my car stereo.

Thanks for the memories, MJ. Safe trip to that oxygen tent in the sky… (Avoid John Merrick, he may want to know exactly what the hell you were doing with his skeleton. Could be embarrassing on your first day and all.)

And, in the words of a Smooth Criminal – “OK, I want everybody to clear the area right now!” Let him RIP. Who knew? The man was human after all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yceOk1t5EQ&feature=related