Michael Jackson is NOT Bon Jovi

Michael Jackson passed tragically at the tender age of fifty this summer. May he rest in peace. "Rest" being the key word. It is time to let his memory again rest with the rest of him. With the exception of a comeback album with a single headlined with Justin Timberlake, MJ had been long gone from our iPod party playlists. We have not seen this much MJ propaganda since the early 90s when he rocked Dangerous into our mother's CD players on the way to soccer practice. Quite frankly, it needs to stop. There is an air of poseurdome that exists in bars and in private homes wherever MJ's music is being played. I almost feel that a contest is being held in our subconcious minds between our desire for popularity and our strive for reacceptance.

The more we hear his music, the more we can talk about it as if we have actually memories from our childhood of listening to his music. Furthermore, I do not remember hearing any MJ songs in all my visits in the last year to any NYC tavern. Now all of a sudden everyone inside can drunkenly sing along to any random MJ song played at any point of their drunken state. I'm sorry, but Michael Jackson will never be Billy Joel. An icon yes, but a staple to every person's iPod list who was born in the early 1980s? Fuck and no. By contrast, everyone who owns a music player device has downloaded at least "Wanted Dead or Alive."

It's not even the leaches who have attached themselves to this fad - it's everyone across the world who seemingly can't get enough of Michael Jackson's music. I sat next to an overweight hoodrat the other day coming back from Long Beach outside of Queens, and he was sporting a very decorative Michael Jackson RIP 1958-2009 black t-shirt. Now I am not one to judge unless he who will be judged asks for the judgement cometh, but it did appear that this fellow was wearing his recently purchased item to show to the world that he was a fan of Mr. Jackson (who isn't?) and that he should be praised accordingly for wearing a shirt that calls for respect to the artist. Pure ballocks, if you ask me. When was the last time Michael Jackson was on tour and/or left his Holmby Hills compound? He was, for all extensive purposes, gone from the public eye, only set to make his comeback tour this summer presumably to pay off his debt, estimated at $500 million.

So enough already. MJ might as well have been gone from the world the way people treated his music. Nobody has frequently listened to "Bad" since the clock hit 1996. The idea that he should be remembered because he has passed to the tune of constant overplay in every media format imaginable is absolute nonsense. It's just a way for people and establishments to capitalize on the singer's death and promote themselves. Unfortunately for Michael, this is not something new and may have ultimately contributed to his death.

I wish you could take your long-lost friends with you, but rest in peace Michael...