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Two years ago, the music world came to a standstill. Michael Jackson was dead. He had died in his room, barely 50, and the world fell silent in shock. After all, he had been preparing for a series of shows in London. He was excited about it. He didn't even seem to be in ill-health.
Almost immediately, the Web was awash with pics, video, messages... even footage of MJ's last rehearsal was leaked.
When the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It arrived, fans were in a state of delirium. The movie left those fans with some last memory as it slowly dawned on them that the most recognisable figure in music was no longer with us.
The love was all around for MJ. Even Idols paid tribute the only way they knew how. A posthumous album release racked up sales of 3 million units.
Opinions about the death of music's premiere icon were plenty. Channel24's Miles Keylock posed a moral question to the masses.
And the trial of the doctor who attended to him rages on. The latest hiccup came courtesy of the ever-self-serving music industry , as Sony refused to release footage to be used at the trial.
It's a shame that the legacy of Michael Jackson may be tainted by uncertainty over his death, and fights about what it meant financially. To date, insurers are refusing to pay promoters for the This is it concerts, asking a judge to nullify a $17.5m policy taken out by promoters, saying they were never told that the singer was taking powerful drugs.
Perhaps it's best to remember MJ as the man who captured the imagination of the world with albums like Bad and Thriller and Off the Wall. Perhaps we need to go deeper, and remember him as a man with that rarest of talents - universal appeal. Somehow jackson was able to unite people from all over the world like nothing else could:
Almost immediately, the Web was awash with pics, video, messages... even footage of MJ's last rehearsal was leaked.
When the Michael Jackson documentary This Is It arrived, fans were in a state of delirium. The movie left those fans with some last memory as it slowly dawned on them that the most recognisable figure in music was no longer with us.
The love was all around for MJ. Even Idols paid tribute the only way they knew how. A posthumous album release racked up sales of 3 million units.
Opinions about the death of music's premiere icon were plenty. Channel24's Miles Keylock posed a moral question to the masses.
And the trial of the doctor who attended to him rages on. The latest hiccup came courtesy of the ever-self-serving music industry , as Sony refused to release footage to be used at the trial.
It's a shame that the legacy of Michael Jackson may be tainted by uncertainty over his death, and fights about what it meant financially. To date, insurers are refusing to pay promoters for the This is it concerts, asking a judge to nullify a $17.5m policy taken out by promoters, saying they were never told that the singer was taking powerful drugs.
Perhaps it's best to remember MJ as the man who captured the imagination of the world with albums like Bad and Thriller and Off the Wall. Perhaps we need to go deeper, and remember him as a man with that rarest of talents - universal appeal. Somehow jackson was able to unite people from all over the world like nothing else could:
