R.I.P. Michael.

I was shocked to read the Breaking news on CNN yesterday that the 'King of Pop' is dead. He was truly the king in terms of his talent and the kind of life he lead. His talent is unparalleled. Actually I did not follow his music during my college days when his albums actually released. But I knew who he was. I started following his music only after coming to U.S. I went back and heard all his famous songs and watched the videos. I have his CD called "Michael Jackson Number Ones". 

I have followed not just his music but also his personal life thru the interviews that Martin Bashir did in 2003 which gave us a glimpse of how the king lives his life. I also watched the movies made on his life. One movie about 'Jackson 5' was 5 hours long. I sat thru the 5 hours to understand his life. 

Like how the legend goes that every so many years the world gets a messiah to liberate the world from ignorance and show us the way. I feel in the music world too we get messiah's every now and then who liberate us from a particular kind of music we are used to hearing and give us a new sound. These people turn things on their head, break all conventions, start a new set of conventions. Every generation had its own musical legend. My grandfather had Beatles, my father had Elvis and I had Michael. 

After all the troubled life as a child unable to come out of his father's shadows, to going thru a series of plastic surgery to kill his old self, to battling the child molestation charges, to his last days where he had to rent a house without being able to afford to live in his own palace, I think it is time for him to rest in peace.