RIP - Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

I have no great obituary, no epic essay on his career. There are other places for that. I was just a fan as a young child of the 1980s, like so many others. I have no profound words other than the sad sting of inevitability (the speed in which the feature articles went up implies that the news magazines and newspapers have been planning this for awhile). Obvious condolences to his friends and his children. So here's to one of the greatest albums of all time, Thriller (still and likely always to be the biggest selling original album of all time). Here's to Bad, a vastly underrated effort that's almost as good. And here's to the great comeback album that will never be. You have no idea how much I wanted one last good album from the King of Pop...

The thing that comes to mind is that famous Elton John refrain, sung about another living icon who died suddenly and prematurely. "Your candle blew out long before. Your legend never did."

Scott Mendelson