Sunday, July 12, 2009, 8:23 PM
Music, Celebrities, Atlanta, In the News, Stop the Presses
By Kevin Moreau
You don't know what you've got until it's gone
I consider myself a pop-culture junkie, and for many years, I’ve been fortunate enough to make a decent part of my living immersing myself in that culture. So when I tell you that I was sick to death of hearing about Michael Jackson long before his memorial service last Tuesday, you know it was out of control.
Of course, for some people—the kind for whom the phrase “fair and balanced” contains no hint of irony—the 24/7 extravaganza following Jackson’s death only confirms the theory that the mainstream media is involved in a conspiracy to distract us from more important issues. But that’s too easy.
Even if you believe that there’s a hidden agenda behind the endless parade of trumped-up spectacles and homemade “celebrities”—which would, admittedly, explain the rise of Jon & Kate, Heidi and Spencer, etc.—the truth is that most print and broadcast outlets simply don’t have the luxury of sticking to the stories people think they want.
With the newspaper industry suffering painful contractions and TV journalism forced to question its continued relevance, most outlets have no choice but to stick to what works. And the early death of a bona fide pop superstar guarantees increased ratings and sales. Throw in a troubled past, questions about drug use and all the other bells and whistles attached to Jackson’s tragic demise, and you’ve got the closest thing there is to a license to print money.
But Jackson’s death does have a lesson to offer us, if we’re observant enough to see it. The mass outpouring of grief and affection, and the immediate surge in online sales of Jackson’s music, underline a painful truth we all too often overlook: You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone.
I love “Thriller” as much as anyone else who came of age in the ’80s, and I can’t tell you the last time I gave it a spin. After all, I knew it would always be there, waiting for me when I needed it. And the fact that 2.6 million digital copies of Jackson’s songs were sold in one week following his death tells me I wasn’t the only one.
Too many of us burn through our teens and 20s, and indeed our whole lives, convinced that the future is a fixed point way off in the distance, that there will always be time to do the things we want to do, and to let those who are important to us know how we feel about them.
But the future is not a finish line. It’s the very next breath we’re going to take. It’s a moment, and then it’s gone, thrown onto the pile of missed opportunities we call the past. If Michael Jackson’s death reminds us to stop and appreciate what we’ve got before it’s too late, it will have been worth the never-ending flood of tributes and trivia.
But seriously—enough, already.
they paved paradise...and put up a parking lot..
Seriously, though, Kevin is right. Our media problem isn't really conservative or liberal slant. It is spectacle packaged for passive consumption.
Evan
Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 2:13 PM