Michael Jackson's afterlife - a round-up

Wednesday, 1st July 2009

I'd hate to get into an argument with Danny Finkelstein on the question of stats, but is it really true, as he claims, that Jacko's death made more of a media splash than Elvis Presley's? Or John Lennon's? Unless my memory is playing tricks, I'd say that Jackson's passing has generated much the same response. Except that we didn't have the Internet back then.

My friend Martha Bayles, Serious Popcorn vendor, offers a provocative take on Jackson's reliance on Quincy Jones's production skills, and his failure to come to terms with cultural values shaped by Britiain's post-punks.

Not taking his cue from Danny, Forbes columnist Tunku Varadarajan attempts to breathe new life into the culture wars theme by arguing that the relative lack of coverage of Farrah Fawcet's demise is yet another symptom of change and decay:

The contrast between Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson could not be clearer. He was a grotesque, and in every way. He's an American icon in spite of his fondness for small boys, his skin-whitening and his general lunacy. So where does that leave us? Ululating for a Martian, and brushing aside the girl next door. Or, put another way, celebrating our own decline.

Well, I can happily live without "Thriller" and the records that came after it, but I have a sneaking suspicion that if Jackson hadn't died last week, Varadarajan would have written a column bemoaning the media's obsession with Charlie's Angels and Seventies poster pin-ups.