Jackson's fans left with the hurt

Published on Friday 26 June 2009 22:04

SOME will ask, regarding the death of Michael Jackson: why all the fuss about a scandalised dead rock musician? Has the world gone crazy?

Perhaps. But Michael Jackson was no ordinary rock star. Anyone who sells 750 million records has touched something deep in the popular imagination. His 13 number one singles are more than any other male artist has achieved. Even aged 50 and after turbulent personal and financial crises, when Jackson announced a farewell tour in Britain, a quarter of a million people tried to book tickets online. In the end, 750,000 tickets were sold for those 50 London shows. Sadly, we will never know if the King of Pop was still his regal self on stage.

It is easy to dismiss Jackson as a talented performer lucky enough to peak just as MTV and the pop video came into being. Yet there are worse things than making people want to dance to your music. Michael Jackson made more folk happy than most artists politicians have done – and more than the world's politicians combined will ever do. And while he led a privileged life in many ways, his troubled personality was the result of the battles he had to fight to get there. Whatever his sins, alleged or otherwise, Michael Jackson is now at peace. As he sang in Thriller, the best-selling album of all time: "No one can hurt you now".