I am a Michael Jackson fan. Probably not a normal fan; most of my favorite songs of his are from The Jackson 5 era. Nor am I the biggest fan I know- that would be DVJS. And I'm not a diehard or anything- definitely not one of those people who, despite being completely unrelated to him and never having met him, started crying when they heard the news that he died; or even one of those people who will forever remember where they were when they heard the news that he had passed away (this isn't a knock on the people who will remember where they were when they heard the news....I just tend to remember exactly where I was for different moments in my life, like when the Rebel Alliance blew up the Death Star and ended the reign of the Sith, or when Sonic added chili cheese burritos to the extra value menu.
The King of Pop's influence on me isn't so much "His music changed my life/inspired me/brought me through my childhood" as much as it is "His music makes me do ridiculous things, especially when alcohol is involved."
- Every time we walk into a dirty old man bar, I immediately scour the jukebox for Michael Jackson songs, because it's the quickest way to annoy grizzled old men who have already been bellied up for nine hours and hate any music that isn't Johnny Cash or Willie Nelson. I have been known, on occasion, to attempt to play the same song of his 12 times in a row.
- One time in some bar in Minneapolis, Billie Jean came on and I was successful in uniting the dance floor in stepping on the different floor tiles and pretending they were lighting up. I mean everybody, too. Us white kids in El Tigre polo shirts (that's Spanish for The Tigre) black dudes in Fubu jerseys and chains, everybody. It was glorious to watch. My triumph was short-lived, however; shortly afterwards I was thrown out for wearing my hat backwards and then I threw up all over the parking lot. Booyeah.
- Another time, at some random house party in some random town (my memory is failing me- did this happen during the infamous Mighty Ducks Minot trip?) since we didn't know a single person at the party, we decided to draw attention to ourselves by blasting Beat It on the CD player, pretending to bind our hands together, and re-enacting the knife-fight/dance scene from the video.
So anyway, the last few days have been Michael Jackson Appreciation. I haven't listened to anything but MJ since he died; we had an extra long MJ session on the jukebox at Raffy's on Friday night; and I've been substituting MJ words in place of regular words during everyday speak. For example, instead of saying "I'm going to softball at 6:30 tonight" I would say "Yah'mo softball at 6:30 tonight." It's been fun.
Without further ado, here are my top 10 favorite Michael Jackson/Jackson 5 songs (with apologies to the many, many honorable mentions.)
10. Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough
9. Billie Jean
8. Beat It
7. ABC
6. Wanna Be Startin' Something
5. Black Or White
4. Thriller
3. Shake Your Body Down To The Ground
2. The Love You Save
1. I Want You Back
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