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Thrill On — MJ


The untimely death of the legendary Michael Jackson has saddened me, like millions of his other fans, to the very core. MJ for our generation has been an integral part of our growing up years. In the farthest reaches of Indian North-East, at Itanagar, MJ represented for many of us our first brush with western pop music as an object of attention. Until the BAD album, we considered English pop music as something that only the Khasis of Shillong listened to or something that blared from the buses on cold days so that people could tap their feet and keep the blood circulation going. Nothing that had the depth of either Indian or Western Classical Music.

Then BAD happened. (I had missed the Thriller mania at the time it was released being too young to know what I liked).

BAD was a turning point in my adolescent life. If the sheer energy of the BAD music video enthalled me, the lyrics of “I just can’t stop loving you“, transported me to the different world with its beautiful lyrics and soulful music. The “Man in the mirror“, song opened my eyes to the real world. Indeed BAD changed our perception of Western Music altogether. My brother and I became instant fans of this phenomenon called Michael Jackson. Then started the highly satisfying journey of discovering his earlier works - The magic of Thriller - Off the Wall, even his songs from the Jackson 5 days. Voracious reader that both of us were, we read up every scrap of info on MJ we could find. Even today, I know almost every reported trivia of his early life. - Like how their family radio went bust and gave us the biggest star of music this planet has ever seen, stories from Jackson 5 days and stuff. Bro and I proclaimed our fanhood by putting up a lifesize poster of MJ in our living room. Though, my father, a great singer of Indian Classical style himself was initially skeptical - his natural open mindedness ensured that he could recognize great talent when he saw it and MJ adorned our living room as long as we stayed in Itanagar.

Over the years we have remained fans. The stories and controversies around him pained us at times, but we always felt that MJ would spring back and dazzle the world again with his brilliance. Perhaps destiny had something else in mind and we were deprived of having a giant in our midst.

I pray to Lord Krishna for bestowing peace to his soul.

MJ remains and shall remain one of the greatest figures in history of music.


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