We had victory parties after every home football game when I was in high school. Win or lose. Various parents hosted them at their homes each Friday night. Within a couple of hours after the game it seemed like the entire study body would be at the party enjoying the food and drink, the good company and replaying the game in vivid narratives.
I remember one such victory party at the Ligon home at Main and 4th. Someone had pulled back all the chairs le
aving a large space where several of the cheerleaders were teaching all the rest of us how to moonwalk while Michael Jackson songs blared from the stereo.
Of course, there are plenty of Michael Jackson moments to remember. He was everywhere during the 80’s – the decade my generation stood on that American cultural and social pedestal known as the teen years. He was at our victory parties, in our cars on the radio, at our birthday parties, on the ski boats during the summers, after school and on Friday and Saturday nights when we cruised from the bowling alley to the Sonic and back again – some weekend nights we’d make the loop through town 40 or 50 times and Jackson was playing on the radio, or a few songs away.
I remember the summer some of the girls traveled several hundred miles to Knoxville to see him live in concert. It was the talk of the entire town. The photos and stories endured the entire summer.
The marching band, of which I was certainly one of its star musicians, included “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and other Jackson songs in its musical line up. We were pretty cool hitting those throbbing, driving beats. Of course, we thought when Rick James sang “she loved the boys in the band” in “Super Freak” he meant she loved the boys in the marching band and those of us in the tuba line were certain she specifically “loved” us… but I digress.
Michael Jackson was a cultural behemoth. He set trends that continue today. His music defined pop and his dance moves changed dance. Jackson’s dance and music styles remain evident in today’s stars that I often think of him when watching Timberlake, Miley or the Jonas Brothers.
Quincy Jones, in an interview I once heard, shared that he once took Jackson to see Frank Sinatra perform. When Sinatra came onto the stage, Jackson remarked to Jones “he walks like a king.” I’m not sure why I’ve always remembered that comment. Maybe I liked the connection of two different generations; the link between seemingly two very different entertainers, but at the core it was all about command, confidence and poise. Sinatra had it. So did Michael Jackson.
In reality, I was one of those guys more than often in a pickup out in the country, away from Main Street, listening to Hank Jr. sing “A Country Boy Can Survive.” But, if I’m honest along with my friends, we must admit a Jackson tape or two was in our tape case, too. He touched us all.
I always thought he was probably a defining figure in tearing down race barriers simply because he captured a whole generation of Americans, white and black, regardless of region. We were lighting bic lighters and grooving to “Thriller” down in Mississippi just like they were on the Strip in Philly, the Village in NYC or the Presidio in San Francisco.
It’s funny now that Jackson has died we all want to remember Michael the conqueror, the King of Pop. We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years tabloid gawking and talking about his awkward and seemingly dysfunctional older life. But, death has a way of reminding us of the whole reality of a person especially when that person was just 50 when he died - and if that person was Michael Jackson.
Maybe it’s a reminder for us all to take a look at the person in the mirror. And with that I’ll leave you with my Michael Jackson favorite. O, I never did learn how to moonwalk. Is it too late?
My favorite Jackson song:
I remember one such victory party at the Ligon home at Main and 4th. Someone had pulled back all the chairs le
aving a large space where several of the cheerleaders were teaching all the rest of us how to moonwalk while Michael Jackson songs blared from the stereo. Of course, there are plenty of Michael Jackson moments to remember. He was everywhere during the 80’s – the decade my generation stood on that American cultural and social pedestal known as the teen years. He was at our victory parties, in our cars on the radio, at our birthday parties, on the ski boats during the summers, after school and on Friday and Saturday nights when we cruised from the bowling alley to the Sonic and back again – some weekend nights we’d make the loop through town 40 or 50 times and Jackson was playing on the radio, or a few songs away.
I remember the summer some of the girls traveled several hundred miles to Knoxville to see him live in concert. It was the talk of the entire town. The photos and stories endured the entire summer.
The marching band, of which I was certainly one of its star musicians, included “Beat It”, “Billie Jean” and other Jackson songs in its musical line up. We were pretty cool hitting those throbbing, driving beats. Of course, we thought when Rick James sang “she loved the boys in the band” in “Super Freak” he meant she loved the boys in the marching band and those of us in the tuba line were certain she specifically “loved” us… but I digress.
Michael Jackson was a cultural behemoth. He set trends that continue today. His music defined pop and his dance moves changed dance. Jackson’s dance and music styles remain evident in today’s stars that I often think of him when watching Timberlake, Miley or the Jonas Brothers.
Quincy Jones, in an interview I once heard, shared that he once took Jackson to see Frank Sinatra perform. When Sinatra came onto the stage, Jackson remarked to Jones “he walks like a king.” I’m not sure why I’ve always remembered that comment. Maybe I liked the connection of two different generations; the link between seemingly two very different entertainers, but at the core it was all about command, confidence and poise. Sinatra had it. So did Michael Jackson.
In reality, I was one of those guys more than often in a pickup out in the country, away from Main Street, listening to Hank Jr. sing “A Country Boy Can Survive.” But, if I’m honest along with my friends, we must admit a Jackson tape or two was in our tape case, too. He touched us all.
I always thought he was probably a defining figure in tearing down race barriers simply because he captured a whole generation of Americans, white and black, regardless of region. We were lighting bic lighters and grooving to “Thriller” down in Mississippi just like they were on the Strip in Philly, the Village in NYC or the Presidio in San Francisco.
It’s funny now that Jackson has died we all want to remember Michael the conqueror, the King of Pop. We’ve spent a lot of time over the past few years tabloid gawking and talking about his awkward and seemingly dysfunctional older life. But, death has a way of reminding us of the whole reality of a person especially when that person was just 50 when he died - and if that person was Michael Jackson.
Maybe it’s a reminder for us all to take a look at the person in the mirror. And with that I’ll leave you with my Michael Jackson favorite. O, I never did learn how to moonwalk. Is it too late?
My favorite Jackson song:
*Photo: Looking south along Main Street, from the town square, in Grenada, Mississippi. My hometown.
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