He was a big part of my childhood. I remeber obsessing over him back in the nineties when i was five and owning a vhs casset with some of his performances and music videos. Unfortunately i played it so much it broke so now i don't even have that to look back on. Did you see one of his tributes where his little daughter was saying how much she missed him and broke off crying in janets arms? Least to say niagra falls had a run for its money.

Hey,
Reading this is so strange, because it's exactly what I feel like. I have always loved Michael Jackson's songs, but I have never been his number one fan.

I found out he died when my mum woke me up on Friday morning (living in England we only found out he had died at 10:26pm) and said something about it. I was in shock then. It affected me more I think because one of my own friends had died the week before, and I had only just recovered from his death when I found out about Michael's death. It affected me so badly, and I'm still upset about it now. I watched the memorial yesterday and I couldn't stop crying, and when I saw Paris's emotional tribute all the sadness I had been feeling during the whole memorial was just trebled/quadrupled/times ten.

I've been watching TMF and 4Music all the time, just to hear Michael's songs. He has so many songs in the UK Top 40, and he is Number 2 with "Man in the Mirror". I think he deserves to be number 1, and have all of his songs in the Top 20. His music was legendary, and will never be surpassed.

My friends at school have been saying horrible things about him, and even though I'm not his biggest fan, I have had to defend him because we should respect the dead no matter what our opinion of them.

I love this statement "How can a man who wrote beautiful songs like “We Are the World,” “Heal The World,” “Man in the Mirror,” and “Earth Song” be the monster that he was portrayed by the media and the family who accused him? How can an individual who worked so hard to make children happy, to help children, to help PEOPLE all over the world, be guilty of the horrendous crimes he was charged with?" and I think it perfectly sums up all of my feelings about the whole child abuse scandal. I never believed it, and I never will. He could never be a child abuser.

He never had a childhood, so it was no wonder he wanted to experience one when he had control of his own life. The world's media made him the person he was when he died, but I think that his life went downhill after 1993. It's just a shame that despite everything he had done before then was forgotten when that scandal ensued.

I have listened to Michael's songs growing up, and he has always been a part of my life, subconsiously, and now he has gone I am so upset and sad. I haven't been able to stop crying for one day. On 4Music they have made their own tribute video to "Man in the Mirror" and the first time I watched it I cried so much.

I believe we should remember Michael for his music and his humanitarian work, and for only that.

He was a true legend, a musical genius that will never be outclassed.

Thank you so much for writing this. I am moved by it because you are writing what I am feeling.

Love HollywoodGirlxx

RIP Michael forever.

It's like we are the same person. I was going to write a essay like this but after reading this I didn't feel the need. You spoke out for all of the Micharl Jackson fans out there. Like I said, I felt we are the same person:

I said I wouldn’t watch the news. I didn’t want to watch them transport the body. I didn’t want to watch the media shove their noses into a family’s private business. Yet I saw them transport the body. I watched Jermaine Jackson’s statement on behalf of his family. I witnessed first-hand the heartbreak and celebration of life that was immediate following the news of his death outside of Michael’s rented home in LA; outside of the UCLA Medical Center; in his hometown of Gary, Indiana; and outside of the Apollo. I really don’t think I’ve seen anything like it to date. There were people with homemade R.I.P. posters, people holding candles, people blasting Michael’s music, people dressed as Michael, and people dancing.

It's like deja vu. I said the same thing but I found myself compelled to my friend's tv screen.

My worst fear is that, forty years from now, my generation’s kids and grandkids will ask my peers, “Who is Michael Jackson?” and my peers will respond with, “A pedophile.” It scares me. I hope and pray that his memory is respected, and that instead the response will be, “An amazing performer,” or at least, “A singer.” I will never tarnish his memory and his work; he deserves so much more than that.

Funny thing was I was thinking the same thing as I listened to his music on the radio. What would the future be like now that he's gone. What would the future generations think when the hear the name Michael Jackson. It scared me deeply.

I am in no way Michael Jackson’s number one fan. Before June 25th, I could probably only name five or six songs of Michael’s off the top of my head, and they were all popular hits. I could barely remember some his lesser-known songs. I’d only seen videos for “Thriller” and “Will You Be There?” up until these last few days. Don’t get me wrong, I loved Michael Jackson, but I didn’t feel nearly as drawn to him as I do now.

Same here.

I don’t know what to say. I’m heartbroken, shocked, and hurt. I never met Michael Jackson, but I also have nothing but the fondest memories of Michael Jackson growing up. There is nothing else to say. I will miss Michael Jackson for the rest of my life. I feel like a little piece of my childhood, my life, has been snatched away. I’ll miss him whenever I listen to “Will You Be There?” and watch Free Willy, or around Halloween when I listen to “Thriller” to get into the holiday spirit. I’ll miss him when I watch Center Stage and “The Way You Make Me Feel” is played. What else can I say? It just hurts.

My thoughts exactly. When I heard about his death I felt...empty. Very empty and I thought something was missing from me.

Like I said. You did enough voicing for us fans. You felt excatly what I felt. IHope we celebrate Michael's life together

Yes, I absolutely agree with you. It shocked me as well, when I heard the news. He was far too young to die. And it doesn't matter how he died, people should honour him instead of talking about what a so-called 'freak' he was.
He was just different, and he had every reason to, we all do. He was hurt as a child, and that just makes it even more impressive how he managed not to break down from the pressure and fame he got, like so many others has done. He might have had a few..identity issues, and maybe been different, but that gives them no reason to call him a freak. Especially now that he's gone.
I didn't care much about him before now. As you, I knew some songs and how he looked and all that, but it's now that he's dead, that I realise how great he really was. How many people he affected, and how big a change he made in the musical world.
I will tell my children about Micheal Jackson. He will remain in history, like John Lennon, Bob Marley, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix has.
I'm still waiting for someone to say this is a joke. I'm hoping for that, because now when I truly realised how great he was, is, he's gone.
You know the saying, you don't know what you have 'til it's gone.