I know I’m probably going to get third degree burns from the flames I’ll get about this, but it’s really something that I feel needs to be said. In my opinion, this whole Michael Jackson thing is being blown so out of proportion by the people of our generation. I can understand being sad about someone who has had such an influence on the music industry passing away but this is just getting ridiculous now. I’ve seen so many Facebook/Twitter statuses saying “MJ WAS THE KING I AM CRYING SO MUCH MY LIFE IS SO SAD RIGHT NOW DUE TO HIM DYING” and it just makes me wonder how much of an influence he could have had over the people of our generation.

As most people who read this know, I’m seventeen. Michael Jackson’s last real album was HIStory in 1991 (yes, I know Invincible came out in 2001 but it had no real noteworthy songs on it). That was the year I was born. I grew up with his songs present in my life but they didn’t really have an influence on it. Any changes Michael Jackson had made to the music industry were all ready well included by the time I was old enough to appreciate his music. I imagine the generation before me respect him on a different level because he was the king of pop during their era – they probably had posters of him during his prime on their walls and the like. But my generation only got the end of his life, really.

What I’m trying to say is, whilst he was (and always will be) a large presence in my generation’s lives, I don’t think it was large enough for his death to warrant the amount of grief that some people my age are giving it. It just screams bandwagon to me, because this are all the same people who were making pedophile jokes not two years ago. It sickens me, almost, to see how involved some people are getting when they really have no claim. Like I said, I can understand to a point my parent’s generation getting upset (like Mariah Carrey at the memorial, from what I heard) but I find it insulting to his memory when people my age try and stake a claim to his grief so much.

As far as the memorial goes… I didn’t watch it. I find grieving for someone to be a very private thing. I’m sure it was a very moving ceremony, and the people included were probably glad to have a way to show their respect for their loss, but I personally couldn’t be as intrusive as that. He wasn’t a major part of my life and watching his memorial/funeral and grieving for him wouldn’t have felt right. I respected him as a musician and enjoyed his music, but that’s it.