This Is It!!!

"It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die. That is true, it's called Life."

— Terry Pratchett (The Last Continent)

Something similar happened to me last night. Now, now….there’s no reason to worry (or rejoice, you sadistic bastards!!). I didn’t have a near-death experience. However, I did watch something that I feel should be witnessed by everyone! This Is It people!! This is Michael Jackson’s untimely swansong!

It was close to 2 hours of sheer magic. And I say that I could see my life flashing before my eyes because every scene in the movie took me back to some point in my past where MJ had a huge influence on me. This got me thinking about what I would consider the most influential MJ moments were. So here’s the Top Ten MJ Moments In My Life (chronologically as far as I can remember)…this post is uncharacteristically long….but its for MJ….so here we go…..

10. It's close to midnight and something evil's lurking in the dark!

I was terrified by the Thriller video. Anyone from my generation who says he/she wasn’t scared shitless is just plain lying. And the laughter at the end *shudder*! But call it a morbid fascination if you will, I just couldn’t look away when the video used to come on. That’s the power of the thriller!

9. No one wants to be defeated!

I don’t know how many people have noticed this. There’s a dude in the Beat It video who’s on roller skates and does this step where he acts like he’s pulling himself up holding his own jacket. That was just incredible to me then. And the gang war going on with MJ dancing through it….trying beating that!

8. Jiggy Jiggy Motte??

The first time I heard Smooth Criminal, I was hooked. I was barely 4 years old but the beat and the video had me going crazy! I loved the song so much that I made it my personal mission to learn it entirely. Mind you, this was a time when you couldn’t get the lyrics at the drop of a hat. And for the life of me, I couldn’t understand the ‘Annie, are you okay?’ part….so I came up with the closest thing possible… ‘Jiggy Jiggy Motte’…yeah..REALLY!

7. Jiggy in the car

My initial years were spent traveling around in an ambassador. Then one clear night, my dad brought home a shiny red Maruthi 800!! And what’s more, it had a tape deck!! Can you imagine the joy of a 5 year old??? So the first thing I do when I see the tape deck…I run up home and get my ‘Bad’ tape and play it in the car!! I rocked to ‘Jiggy Jiggy Motte’ all night long!!

6. Remember The Time?

During the ‘90s, Eddie Murphy was synonymous with comedy. ‘Coming to America’, ‘The Golden Child’….he had several hits back then and I was a big fan. So you can imagine the joy when I saw the ‘Remember the time’ video, with an Egyptian theme, Eddie doing his stuff, and MJ doing his thing!! Brilliance!

5. Making history

During the promotional campaign for HIStory, MJ had several statues of himself erected across Europe and paraded throughout the continent! I was watching this on TV thinking ‘Only he can do things on such a large scale!’. Though HIStory didn’t do as well as people hoped it would, its not a campaign people will soon forget.

4. He rocked my world!

The video for ‘You Rock My World’ had a lot in common with a lot of his older videos. The theme was similar to that of ‘Smooth Criminal’. He had a comedian (Chris Tucker) in the video like he did in ‘Remember the time’. But what he had never done…and according to him, this is one of his biggest accomplishments….was to get the Godfather himself to star in the video.

The ‘Invincible’ album was anticipated for a long time and this was the first video from the album. And what a video it was!!!

P.S.: I think this song is one of the most underrated MJ songs! Its one of my personal favourites!

3. The End of an Era!

June 26^th, 2009. Friday morning and I was in bed in Goa after a night of drunken revelry. A friend of mine came barging into my room shouting “MJ’s dead”! It took me quite a while to realize the gravity of his words! But when it hit me, I didn’t really know how to react. No more moonwalking. No more rhythm in the true sense of the word. NO MORE MJ!

2. Better on the other side

Soon after the fateful day, the lyrical genius The Game came out with a tribute to the King. He came out with the single ‘Better on the Other Side’ featuring Chris Brown. The lyrics are powerful. The beat is in sync with the emotions he conveys. A fitting homage to the King.

1. This Is It!

October 28^th, 2009. The release of ‘This Is It’. I booked the tickets for the show a few weeks in advance. The expectations were obviously sky-high….And the movie didn’t disappoint. It just brings out the genius of the man!! At 51, he was still as energetic as the guys less than half his age. And he still had it! Judging by the rehearsals, the ‘This Is It’ concert would’ve perhaps been his best yet! Sadly, it was not to be. L

So there you have it! I can think of a million other MJ moments. But I guess I’ll leave them for another day.

Let me know what your favourite MJ moments are!!