It has been one year since the “Gone Too Soon” passing of one of the most unique human beings of a generation. There are many gifted entertainers in our times, but only a select few are so gifted that they are actually beyond explanation. There are rare occurrences were talent is a gift that is not taught, learned or even planned but just flows from within someone and is indefinable, even by the possessor. These gifted people are blessed with success both financially and socially to degrees that are unimaginable by most of us.
In this writer’s opinion, during the last half century, my list of these select few are:
Bob Dylan
The Beatles
Michael Jackson
I chose these three because they did not imitate or emulate others. They simply were. The sum of their art was not heard or created from others. They did not seem to plan or start out to achieve what occurred. They did not even seem to be aware of how or where the creativity came from. Their music and art flowed through them.
Although there are many more legends of the entertainment world, actually too many to list here, these three far surpass the lasting power, the emulation by others and the uniqueness of not starting out to accomplish changing our world through music, but carrying out a sort of mission of doing just that, as if being directed by an unknown force. The genius of the music and lyrics of these three could probably not even be repeated by themselves. They seemed to be vessels of some portal of art, which brought to the world, perfection that is timeless and only capable of being imitated.
As for any personal mannerisms, oddities or misunderstood behaviors, living through a lifetime of being worshiped and performing before waves of humanity would, I think, affect any of us.
The Beatles and Bob Dylan seemed to have lived a life that handled this fame very well and they appear to have been able to live fairly normal lives, at least as far as a legend of entertainment could. Michael Jackson is quite a unique case, in that his fame came at such an early age. He never had a chance to live in any form of normalcy. His life was one of becoming this vessel of art, every day of this life. Going all around the world and performing to what looked like oceans of human beings, behaving in the highest degree of emotional reaction, could only result in the object of such adoration being uniquely affected, especially if that is the only behavior that person was ever and always exposed to.
Michael Jackson lived the most unique life that a human being has probably ever experienced. Even throughout history, if perhaps some young child became a king or lord or a society, that was still only known within that nation and not all over the planet.
As we all watch the media replay various interviews of Michael, in retrospect, the most obvious of his behaviors was his loneliness. What a price to pay, to give up all sense of what we all take for granted, in our daily experiences of family life, when his only desire was to give as many of us the music and art that was only flowing through him, to all of us. Michael Jackson gave the world only the gift of music and kindness, of the purest nature.
source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP8G27jNEIU
source: http://www.allmichaeljackson.com/interviews/oprahinterview.html
