The Ethics of Dancing

So, is it wrong to encourage your kids to appreciate the talent of a young man who has turned out to be a creepy middle-aged man, even if the talent and creepiness are not directly related?

Earlier this evening when listening to some music with the kids a Jackson 5 song tipped the random shuffle and we were dancing around the kitchen. Little Michael Jackson was around Connor's age when this particular song was a hit and it seemed innocent enough. I mentioned to them that the singer was also known as a great dancer and they wanted to see for themselves. Now, little Michael Jackson could hoof it best of 'em but it was "Thriller" era MJ that really cemented his reputation in all respects -- at least in all of the ways worth remembering.

In 1983, when I was 15, I didn't see his performance at the Motown 25th anniversary concert when it aired on TV. But within days I saw it through the magic of betamax -- my friends Phillip and Alan were gushing about it and showed me the clip ASAP. As an aging hipster wannabe, I hate to admit that I was entranced for awhile as anyone by Jackson's unique and charismatic style. That performance of Billie Jean was the beginning of Michael-mania. In the annals of popular music it is probably in the same ball-park as the Beatles first American tour and Elvis Presley's first Sun Studios sessions -- watershed moments that both defined the course of popular music for a generation of teens (i.e. a 5 year era), and the bathos of that course's decay.

The Beatles demise was not as sad or twisted as that of the King or MJ, but it was still a product of the fact that they deserved the feral adulation of millions at the beginning. At least that was my opinion. I wanted to know what two kids (aged 8 and 5) who know nothing about Michael Jackson, then or now, thought of that performance. After all, I lived through the backlash as well and was a Jackson hater (even before the unsubstantiated but probably too-close-to-the-truth accusations began to circulate) for many years before I managed to start appreciate his early work with the Jackson 5. I've spent a lot of years considering him to be a media-darling, not a talented entertainer. So I looked that performance up on YouTube and played it for them.

Mika couldn't stop moving to the music and they both watched silently, but intently through the entire performance -- until he broke into that moonwalk. Then they gasped and fluttered in the joy of witnessing a miracle of art. They made me replay it and needed reassurance that it was not special effects, just talent. In short, I know that this is just anecdotal evidence and my fingers are burning as I type this but, I think that Michael Jackson just might be timeless.

But don't worry, that doesn't mean that you have to start liking him any more than you like Elvis or the Beatles. I'm just lobbying for grudging respect for the talent that opened the door to the creepiness that was to follow.

Yeah, slow news day.

Cheers

Check it out here if you haven't clicked above.

PS Mika's both fashion conscious and observant. Half-way through the clip she asked in entranced bafflement, "Why's he only wearing one glove?"