Memories of MJ

to the man who made highwaters cool.

please share your Michael Jackson memories. anyone alive literally grew up with or on michael (maybe save for the folks born in the 00s), so i know you have something to contribute.

black loafers, glittery white sweat socks, black highwater pants, white v-neck and button-up, tape around fingers (which i’m wearing for the next year in commemoration), some form of glove (sometimes fingerless, sometimes a solitary sparkly one).

We had the Michael Jackson Moonwalker VHS and I would watch it at least once a week for the greater part of my youth.

My favorite parts were in smooth criminal when he would lean but somehow not fall (inspiration for my numerous attempts at achieving said lean, failing, and concluding it was special effects), the part where he would sing the hook from “Leave Me Alone” and drive off in the little car, and the “Bad” video with the little kids.

I used to want to be a Michael Jackson impersonator. Unfortunately, this grand idea never really got the shine it deserved except at parties when “Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough” would play, and I had the chance to show off my 3 moves: the kick, the crotch grab, and the moonwalk. Yep, I can moonwalk.

I wanted the Michael Jackson Moonwalker video game for my Sega Genesis for a long time (my first and only game system), but for some reason we could never find it for sale. So we rented it over and over again (twice, really) at the local blockbuster.

Then there was The Jacksons: An American Dream which was about 49 hours long and played on ABC for weeks on end seemingly for no reason at all.

My favorite part of that was when his hair caught on fire.

On my way to day care, my mother would play the Bad cassette tape every morning for about a month.

As a child who watched In Living Color and other shows that were inappropriate for children on the regular, I think I saw Tommy Davidson’s parody of the “Black and White” music video more than I saw the real thing.

As the years went on, shit changed. Remember that absurd 70 part interview MJ had with that one guy? It too aired on network television in a bajillion parts, and while I had the feeling it was supposed to make me think Michael was crazy, it actually only made me love him more.

To close, here’s an MJ Pepsi commercial gone right!