Current mood:	confused
Current music:	Come on!

How can I not mention Michael?
Shit's gone crazy, yo. From the moment I first heard the rumor that the King of Pop is no more, to the ever present CNN "Breaking News" full page coverage; talk of Michael is everywhere. Rightfully so--he IS the godfather or pop music and music videos (and also quintessential child-star-gone-wacko, but that's another story).

It's so strange how the media have exasperated this event. Not only is it a sad day for music fans, but it's a focal point of the digital era of broadcast. "Tweets" of celebrities' responses, photo galleries, Facebook statuses (guilty), digital shorts...I can only imagine how many people instantly had extra work or heightened motivation to make this event known, and to make it known that it is known. To provide further irony, I think I'll be posting this rant on Facebook in my perpetuation of social media.

I have only been in my adult life for a handful of prominent music icon deaths. Actually, off the top of my head, I can only name Johnny Cash (and of course, niche band members like Layne Staley of Alice in Chains, Dimebag Darrell, Johnny Ramone, Rick James and hell, I'll throw in Tupac).

So I wonder if this media frenzy masks the honest sadness that is the day of a fallen star. I wonder if the media is desensitizing or, alternatively, exaggerating the genuine emotions and reactions of the mourners. How much of it is force-fed rather than genuine? I wish I was around, in their respective time-frames, when other relics met their premature deaths to see how society reacted in the height of print, radio and undigitized news broadcasting. Figures like: Kurt Cobain- King of grunge, Elvis Presley-"King of Rock," John Lennon- King of Love, Jim Morrison-"The Lizard King," Freddie Mercury- King of flamboyance, Jimi Hendrix-King of guitars, Frank Zappa- King of uncensrship, Sid Vicious-king of bass guitar (ahem), Jerry Garcia- King of dope smokers, Stevie Ray Vaughan- King of modern blues, Jeff Buckley- King of swimming.

I wonder how drastically different such coverage was, even for the more prominent music icons such as Elvis and Lennon. Furthermore, I wonder how people like Iggy Pop and Scott Weiland are still alive and rocking harder than ever (fuck yeah!). And I wonder why, dear god why, could it have not been some other trainwreck chart-topper like Britney instead.

Michael, you will definitely be missed - because, if for nothing else, we are given no other alternative.