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hey dan from new jersey you couldnt be more wrong that Michael Jackson didnt use his money to help the world, how about getting people together for the We Are the World song and writing it, going to Africa to help children and being an advocate for people with AIDS,and countless other things.If your gonna try to bash a music icon like Michael Jackson make sure you have your facts straight before you run your mouth off about something you clearly know nothing about. RIP Michael Jackson, music icon, gloal humanitarian, and Forever the King

In 1971 I was teaching preschool in Boston - Commonwealth Day School. I'll never forget how the kids and I would dance to the Jackson Five's very first songs after lunch and before nap. We shared the transcend joy of that music. I wonder if Carmen, Marie, Jeneen, Renee, and the others, now in their early 40's, are thinking about those times, too?

he was a beautiful child, singer, and incredible dancer. i feel it is awful that he died so young, and that his life was so difficult. it is a pity.

I am shocked and disgusted by several people's reaction to Michael Jackson's death. No matter what he may have done - MAY have done that was wrong, he was still a beautiful child, an incredible musician, dancer. It's too bad he ruined his face and had to remain a child in an amusement park in order to compensate for no childhood. Blame his daddy.

Michael Jackson was the most overrated musician of all-time. I'll take Prince, Stevie Wonder, Marvin Gaye, and Otis Redding in a heartbeat over Jacko.

I am finding that I am learning about my husband,watching his reaction, discovering a deeper understanding of his roots and formative years.
He was born in Brooklyn and grew up with Michael. I was born in Canada 14 years later, so I can see from the differences in our emotional responses,I see and understand the gap in the ages.

You have to see what went down on the campus of NYU...

Michael Jackson Tribute on West 3rd Street / 6.25.09

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nOdexJThMNk

I think it's a really sad commentary on America when a celebrity such as Michael Jackson is eulogized as an important "icon". Was he talented? Yes. Did he use his talent and fame (not to mention money) in any real way to make for a better world to live in? NO. If anything he should be be remembered as a bad example of what money and fame can do TO people and not what people CAN and SHOULD do w/celebrity status.

2 vivid memories of MJ: the Jackson 5 were playing constantly during my first-ever time away from home—summer camp '70 in Vermont, age 10. "ABC", "I Want You Back" "Stop the Love You Save..." and the other J-5 hits were the soundtrack of that summer.
A few years later, in '73, I had a huge unrequited crush on a British girl in my 'hood. All she wanted to talk about was Michael Jackson which left little time for my inept attempts at romancing her. Aaahh, memories.

I am a Michael Jackson fan.

However I question the fact that with his emmense wealth and success, unlike many others who are equally successful in their field, (e.g. Bill Gates, Oprah), Jackson kept it all for himself instead of investing in his and other's community.

He never created a foundation to benefit anyone. He enhanced his own small Everland lifestyle & playground for his small coterie of child guests: hardly a fitting legacy for all his enormous and truly wonderful talent and success.

What a shame.

In fact, even recently, I was watching a video on YouTube of prisoners dancing to Thriller on the 25-year anniversary of the album. It is an astounding video, inspired by Michael's music. Whatever he was in his everyday life, Michael gave up his life for public consumption. He never ceases to mesmerize. I could watch him for hours on end. So sad, so sad. To use his sister Janet's words: Michael, I "miss you much."

Brian's dead on the money. These kind of momentous deaths seem to always create a reality or "unreality" of their. Comparisons to James Brown, his mentor, passing away on Christmas Day. Too sad for Farah Fawcett and Iran, Michael stole the show one last time, just like old James Brown did from Gerald Ford and Christmas Day.

When I was a kid, we had a Rock-ola jukebox--a real standing one!--in our basement. "Rockin' Robin" was one of the 45s and we loved dancing to it. When I heard it again yesterday for the first time in many years, I got choked up--and then I got up and danced.

I've yet to hear anyone mention his broad, generous and very consistent charitable giving, which extended beyond his best-known efforts: "We Are the World" and "Heal the World," which he said was his proudest achievement. That's part of his legacy, too. Please correct this omission.

He was, in many ways, a remarkably strong and fearless artist with an important message about our humanity and our responsibility to each other--in spite of it all.

"the day that moonwalk died"...

How bizarre that on the very day people were tributing Prince's PURPLE RAIN that the extremely troubled former King of Pop should die. The similarities between the two stars are many, the most obvious being their ability to transcend musical (e.g. racial) boundaries and draw people of all stripes to their music.

If the summer of '84 was Prince's summer, then the summer of '82 was obviously Michael's. THRILLER dominated the world in a way probably no album has since. That summer I was a 14-year-old camp counselor, and I can't say I was plugged into Jackson's music before THRILLER. That is until that moonwalk on the Grammy's in 1983! I never got the glove thing, or all that sparkly stuff, but that man could perform! The combination of his Tourettes-like yelps and rubber-band-man dancing made him the most kinetic entertainer I'd ever seen. (Even Prince, with all his stagecraft, had to take a back seat to Michael in that regard.)

Another great memory was during some random free period at Music & Art high school, back at the old Harlem building. I was sitting in the auditorium reading an X-MEN comic when the "Thriller" music came on somebody's boombox. I looked up on stage and there were about twenty of my fellow students doing an impromptu yet perfect step-by-step run-through of the "Thriller" video choreography. Freakin' awesome!

In the end, you have to agree that no matter your personal musical tastes, there was no way of escaping Jackson's music or it impacting your life. The closest personal connection I have to this moment is when my mom woke me up on a cold December morning in 1980 to tell me John Lennon had been shot. As with Lennon, this is my generation's Elvis moment. I'll remember this day for the rest of my life.

My Michael Jackson Top 5 — probably not too many surprises here:
5) "The Way You Make Me Feel"
4) "State of Shock" (with Mick Jagger)
3) "Ease on Down the Road" (with Diana Ross)
2) "Beat It"
1) "Billie Jean"

Me, too, Daron K. Harris. I keep thinking he'll magically come back to life. It's hard to imagine he's gone -- someone has had such a deep and huge impact on our lives from when we were little all the way until this moment. I had his poster on my wall growing up, had a big crush on him. How can we truly state the effect he has had on our lives small and large moments?

Michael Jackson absolutely transcended the color barrier. i don't believe anyone associates him with race. why does it even enter in this discussion?? i'm thoroughly disappointed that WNYC would air a sound byte of Al Sharpton's comments. there is no need to give Sharpton the time of day when it comes to this very sad occurrence. all you are accomplishing is to empower Sharpton and his divisiveness.

Still can't believe he's passed away. Was sort of hoping I'd wake up this morning and that the news from last night would all be a bad dream. I got the call about his death from a close friend while I was singing karaoke for a crowded room of people. I had the distinct displeasure of notifying everyone there on the mic about what just happened. The collective sense of shock was palatable.

I think Micheal Jackson has done a lot to bring American and particularly African American pop music and culture to a global stage. African American music is known and loved the world over and with that African American culture. American anything being popular anywhere is good for all of us.

In response to Michael from Rockville Centre,

"child molester"

Michael Jackson has never been convicted of child molestation. In fact just the opposite. The case in which he was last involved with was an extortion case.

Having grown up in the 80s and 90s, I've always been a fan of MJ's music and like most people, was obsessed with the "Thriller" album (on cassette tape). When I was about 7, I went on a family trip to Disneyland where I had the chance to see MJ in 3D in "Captain EO." I think that was the pivotal point where my love of his music became solid and my friends and I were determined to make our own "Thriller" music video in our living rooms.

Michael will truly be missed. He's the Elvis of our generation.

Image gallery: New Yorkers reacting to MJ's death yesterday.

http://archive.davidbrabyn.com/c/dbrabyn/gallery/Michael-Jacksons-Death-New-York/G0000vGUWo6PvgT8

If MJ identified as Black so much, explain the 2 white wives and 3 white kids!

Michael Jackson and The Jackson Five were important icons of my growing up.
I chose to ignore the personal life of this talented artist and focus on the amazing body of work.

I am still in total shock. We have lost one of the greatest musicians and style icons of the past century. I am reminded of the fragility of life, and that we must live our best lives each and every day.

My tribute:
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=27017482

His death is allready old news.I'am not sorry that he is gone.How many times is WNYC going to pay tribute to an over the hill,self hating,child molester.If he was not a "star" he would be rotting in jail.

The music of Michael Jackson and The Jackson 5 are an important part of the soundtrack of my life.
From my middle school music teacher letting us dance to ABC, to the very best music videos ever, his music is pure classic pop with great hooks.
I always loved his music, but chose to ignore his confusing personal life.
I hope that the moonwalk will become the new macarena.

I scored some scalped tickets to his anniversary concert in 2001 at MSG. I have never screamed so much in my entire life.

He was one of the greats.

P.S. Someone has set up a makeshift memorial at the Ridgewood Theatre on Myrtle Avenue.

Being only a couple of years younger than the man himself, I grew up listening & dancing to Michael Jackson while watching him grow up as I did. The King is dead. Long live the King!

The shocking exit of Michael Jackson is the stuff of legend. It seems to me this man had very little if any control of an extraordinary life. Then again show me any man that could control something of this magnitude.

I will miss MJ's contribution to music, music video and dance. He was very talented and gifted but he also was a very tragic figure. His music and videos will live on forever. We will forget about his personal tragedies.

When I think of Michael Jackson moments I remember 1983 and how obsessed I was with Michael Jackson and the Thriller album. Growing up in upstate NY, I think all of us kids loved him. We had the t-shirts, the posters, the doll, jackets and even a hand-beaded glove my Mother made me that I wore to my 5th grade class.

Now living in NYC, I remember and miss roller skating at the Skate Key in the Bronx and the skaters going wild to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough". Classic!

Having survived the deaths of Elvis, John Lnnon, Frank Sinatra and Leonard Bernstein - to mention just four musical/cultural icons - I can assure all of MJ's grieving fans that Life does go on.

I remember having breakfast with a friend, last year, at a café in the Lower East Side. Out of the blue, a Michael Jackson song came on the radio and it just felt so right.

One of my first memories is of my neighbor who had this cool red vinyl purse and a Michael Jackson pin on it. I thought she was the coolest. Also, our cousins had the Thriller video taped and we watched it over and over and over when we were at their house. I was like 5 so it is a good thing my mom liked me watching scary movies.
He is one of the artists who I have loved from the time I first started thinking about music (4 or 5) until now when I still regularly listen to Off the Wall. It is heartbreaking that his psychological issues overshadowed his artistic contributions for the last decade plus, and it is now, only in his death that people are focusing on his music again.

I know I'll anger people who are under 35 who say that they totally get the Michael Jackson thing. But if you weren't at least 10 or 12 years old in 1982, meaning old enough to also remember a time before Thriller that potentially serves as a normal baseline, I don't think you can really fathom just how incredibly huge Michael Jackson was. Words defy it. It wasn't just popularity. It wasn't just fame or stardom. There's no trying to conjure an equivalent in your mind if you didn't experience it; it was categorically unique. You can't try to mentally multiply the Jonas Brothers times ten, throw in a few Bonos and a few Princes at their peaks and think you have some idea of how deep and pandemic Michael Jackson's fame was. I missed Elvis and the Beatles at their height, but I wonder how the manias they inspired compared to Michael Jackson in 1982. His fans--his real fans, not momentary admirers--ranged from pre-adolescent girls to middle-aged men. Seeing a glimpse of his face on a TV commercial for three seconds was indescribably electrifying. Watching Thriller on network television was a happening. I was a teen at the time, and I'm male, and I will never forget the social phenomenon that it was. I don't think it's possible to replicate this today, not due to the changes in the music industry but due to the Internet. In 1982, Michael Jackson’s every image and utterance was controlled by a label or a network, and he was meted out to fans in very, very careful doses. The immediacy and pervasiveness of the Internet would make keeping such firm control of his exposure next to impossible. There weren't new YouTube videos of Michael Jackson every three days in 1982. You had to wait weeks--months--to see or hear the slightest new thing from him.
Sorry to ramble. But if you were there in '82, you'll know what I'm talking about. In 1982, Michael Jackson had humanity agape.

I was never a particular fan of Michael Jackson's music - his solo career took off at a time when I was still into punk and the emerging "new music" scene. But the genius of Michael Jackson was that his music could appeal to pop fans, R&B fans, and MOR listeners (a minus in my book, as MOR, or Middle Of The Road, was barely music) - but it could also appeal to the kids into punk, metal, and other styles. "Beat It" is a great pop song, and the fact that I like allegedly more "sophisticated" genres, like classical, doesn't stop me from appreciating a really good pop song.

Having said that, Jackson was the King Of Pop - not the King Of Pop Music. For a period in the 80s, he may in fact have been the biggest thing in the music world. But after that, he became instead an increasingly bizarre figure in the landscape of Pop Culture. The music became secondary to the glove, the lurid child abuse charges, the baby on the balcony, the compulsive plastic surgery.

So what will his legacy be? When the details of his life become a semi-interesting footnote in some future generation's history class, people will probably still be watching some form of music-video. And I think THAT is where Michael Jackson's legacy lies. Like Haydn with the symphony, he took an emerging art form and brought it to maturity.

PS was Michael Jackson ever convicted of chld molestation? (I ask you this as one of the one in 3 or 4 children (depending on gender) in this country who have been molested.

Regardless of his strange personal life, I think that it's very sad to see such a musical icon go. Twitter shut down temporarily due to such high volume of tweets about Michael Jackson. He was such a revolutionary talent, but it just goes to show that sometimes so much fame and praise can go drastically wrong.

Is it possible that Jackson was trying to transcend racial and gender classification? For reasons unknown, it seems to me, that he had created a unique character for himself, personally and musically that was not specifically black or male.

Brian, again refuses to ask difficult questions with a Black guest, this is a moronic interview, to raise another black artist to a leadership role and focus on music is an insult to the race. Could you imagine this conversation about a Jewish Artist or any other group, no. It is insulting

I watched an American Masters piece on Marvin Gaye the other night (always loooved him) - the impact of his seriously abusive father on his stage presence and otherwise in his life.

I see the same tragedy in Michael. I didn't ever think the coloring issue was only about race - his father exploited and terrorized him from his tinyhood! His father told him when he was really small that he'd better keep moving on teh stage because people in the audience have guns and they'll shoot him! - children everywhere loved him - my sister, an OT who works with children, noticed how the downs children she works with were completely in love with Michael. I never could understand the hostility toward and dismissal of him. We are so shallow. He was really a huge talent.

I also looove any time you invite Tricia Rose on - love her mind adn interpretation of this culture!

Am I the only person on the planet who was not sorry to see Michael Jackson go? All of the commentators I've been listening to keep referring delicately to the "controversy" surrounding him. Why is it verboten now that he is dead to openly call him what he was - a child molester?

That creepy, over-rated, hyped child molester is gone. A thousand great bands could have been launched and supported using the millions to shove his "Pop" music down the throats of the public. The majority of his music was disposable junk with zero shelf life. The most fascinating thing about him was his dysfunction.

I said farewell a long time ago to the MJ whose talent I admired so much for so long. The man who died yesterday was, for me, the overloved/underloved/unloved/much loved/abused/self-abused mass of scar tissue that is often left when a person becomes the subject of adoration/contempt/jokes, the possessor of huge wealth and small trust, the victim/perpetrator in our fame-obsessed world. The fact of all that is pretty sad, not to mention his other frailties.

A couple of months ago I found myself searching for old Jackson 5 vids on YouTube - Sullivan show performance, specials etc. They were a juggernaut, among the most-played (and danced to) on the juke box in my Nebraska college's coffee shop in the 70s. It seemed like it would never end, as MJ continued a path to greater and greater musical effect ...
today I'm finding myself hoping that recordings were made of new material for the tour that was to being in a couple of weeks.
And the soundtrack for the day is Remember The Time.

I'm not a particular Michael Jackson fan, and never really have been. Not a detractor, either, through.

Last night I wanted a few of his videos, from little Michael with the Jackson 5 though his some of his videos from the 1990's.

I've to to say, he was the best. He could sing -- really sing!. He could dance -- oh, could he move! And had that smile, and all the charisma.

Without saying anything about his personality or his personal life, the many was such an entertainer, such a showman. He never made my favorite music or my favorite videos, but he's up there with Prince, Bruce and a small handful of others.

I respect and appreciate Michael Jackson's importance as an artist, but seriously, the guest is an embarrassing Michael Jackson apologist. To say that his behavior in later life "makes sense" given the context of the America and world he grew up in, and as a result of his experience, is a bit hard to swallow.

I also watched the "Thriller" video at a slumber party in 4th grade, but what stands out just as much as the video is that this slumber party was both Black and White little girls. We were all friends, still, at this point. We squealed and screamed and sang to "Thriller." Only a few years later, in middle school, we self-segregated. That video reminds me of a time in my life when it didn't matter--as much--if we were Black or White.

I hope it will again become--and stay--fashionable to admire Michael Jackson. For me, I connect with his innocence, wonderment and the little boy inside. He delivered his message time after time in such a dazzling package: music, choreography, and clothing, it became and becomes spellbinding. I am sixty but each time I hear a song like "Billie Jean" I feel the 16 year old inside me. God Bless him and his family, fans and future fans.