I could very, very easily do a post just on the different ways Michael Jackson has influenced me.  How many aspects of Mike have I co-opted into my own identity?  Soft spoken shyness?  Check.  Unbridled show biz ambition? Check.  Reclusive private life?  Check, check, check.

Anyway, Thriller is by far my favorite album ever, one of the few I can still put in the CD player now without having to skip a track.  You either have or had this in your collection, so I’ll spare you the ‘historical background.’  Instead, nine stories…

Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’

Ma ma se, ma ma sa, mu ma cu sa!

Ironically, the best moonwalk I ever did was to this song.  My first ‘adult’ trip to Atlanta, the girls we were hanging out with took us to this all night bowling alley.  Wanna Be Startin Somethin came over the loudspeakers, and after my first strike, I hit the ladies with the slide to get my point across.

Baby Be Mine

Baby be mine (baby you gotta be mine)/And girl I’ll give you all I’ve got to give

Every time I hear this song, for a split second I think I’m listening to Off the Wall.  Easy to forget because of this album, but Mike was a legitimately good singer before he became a one man phenomenon.  I’ll still argue that with anybody.

The Girl Is Mine (w/Paul McCartney)

Cause we both cannot have her/So it’s one or the other/And one thing you’ll discover/Is that she’s my girl forever and ever!

This one reminds me of one of my old college roommates.  Hear me out.  I forget exactly where we were at, but one time this song came on, he did Paul’s part, I did Mike’s, and…it didn’t sound half bad.  Never did anything with it though.  It’s funny, because in real life we became inverse images of each other: I’m an Alpha, he’s a Kappa; I’m in LA, he’s in NYC, etc.  Life can be funny like that.

Thriller

So now’s the time, for you and I to cuddle close together.  All through the night, I’ll save you from the terror on the screen, I’ll make you see…

I imagine this will find its way to YouTube at some point, but in my best bootleg movie from undergrad, there was a dream sequence where my character went through a Thriller type transformation:  The full moon appears, he goes from ‘regular black guy’ to hip hop thug.  my Kangol turned into a skullcap, my specs turned into shades, my regular teeth turned into gold fangs.  The joke still makes me laugh a little honestly.

Beat It

You got to show them that you’re really not scared, you’re playing with your life, this ain’t no truth or dare!

The wedding reception for my Captain.  (A few people are already laughing.)  After some friendly party-walking turned into a one-on-one pop locking contest between me and ‘the Joker’, the DJ had the nerve to throw on Beat It.  Taking full advantage of the ballroom, I hit every trademark move from the video: sitting up in my bed, blasting through the double doors of the ‘pool hall’, the West Side Story style go home sequence.  Somebody was taping it, but hopefully that’s been taped over at this point (fingers crossed).  Yes, I know every dance move to every big Michael Jackson video. Don’t test me.

Billie Jean

She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son…

My freshmen year of college, I did ‘Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough’ at this little karoake contest.  (One of the guys who became a best friend to me was my backup dancer as I recall; man life is funny).  Of course, after I nailed that one, everyone was trying to get me to do ‘Billie Jean’ for an encore, but I knew my moonwalk wasn’t that great.  Nevertheless, the next day at Mrs. E’s (school cafeteria), I kept getting ‘coaxed’ into breaking out the falsetto again.  But I have to be feeling it.

For the record, I’m one of those people for whom Mike’s performance on Motown 25 really changed my life.

Human Nature

Why, why?  Why do they do me that way?  I like living this way.  I like loving this way.

My favorite song of all time.  There are other favorite songs, but no real challengers.

He might not remember this, but my college roommate from USC makes me think of ‘Human Nature’.  This was pretty early in our friendship, but we were in my car going somewhere, and SWV’s “Right Here” came on the radio (great use of the sample, I’ll be the first one to admit). 

Anyway, to get a rise out of me, this cat says, “Yep, that’s the best use of that music ever!”

I almost threw that fool out of my car in the middle of the 405.

P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

“Girl, I think it’d be nice, if you and I could, you know, just…get together?”

P.Y.T. makes me think of my second cousin (more like my niece, you know how families are).  When she was a baby, she’d always want to sing and dance with me.  At that age, ‘dancing’ meant just hopping up and down with the music.  She couldn’t really talk yet, but she tried to do the chorus, “Na na na! Na na na na!”  It was very cute.

Lady In My Life

And baby through the years, even when we’re old and gray, I will love you more each day, cause you will always be the lady in my life.

I can’t relate this song to a particular woman or episode from my past.  For me it’s just a great ballad, another of those rare examples of Mike just straight up singing, not being ‘Michael Jackson’. 

And not a bad movie title either.