Who Is Today's Michael Jackson?

By Caryn L. Stumpfl

Despite all the weirdness, the eccentricities, the plastic surgery, the drugs and the hype, Michael Jackson really was one of the biggest stars of the late 20th/early 21st centuries. In fact, it could be said he was the biggest musical superstar/performer of all times. Hopefully, his music will remain the focus of all these memorials happening this week. Some disingenuous folks seem to be jumping on the Michael bandwagon now that he's gone and that kind of leaves a bad taste in my mouth. The same people were badmouthing him as a pervert or pedophile just a few years back but now they're embracing him and his memory as if none of that ugliness ever happened.

No matter what you think about him, Michael really did provide the soundtrack for the last forty years and was an awesome entertainer. I grew up with ABC, I Want You Back, Got To Be There, I'll Be There, etc. in the late '60s/early '70s playing on every pop radio station, hearing it at school, parties, on TV -- everywhere you looked, there were the Jackson 5. I discoed (not literally) to hits from Off the Wall in the late '70s and graduated high school as Beat It, Billy Jean and Thriller hit the airwaves. Nothing and nobody was bigger in 1983 than Michael Jackson. MTV, which reportedly had not been playing videos of black artists at the time, could not refuse Michael Jackson. They had to play him in order to exist. Michael, of course, continued to roll out hit after hit throughout the '80s and '90s as I danced in clubs and continued to watch him on MTV. I read about all of his trials and tribulations and laughed at his physical transformations, marveled at whatever weird thing the press happened to report about this month or that month. I feel like I've come full circle though, because at my wedding a few years ago, when I was picking music for the DJ to play, I just had to have several Michael Jackson and Jackson 5 songs on my essential playlist. You want people to dance at your wedding, right?

This week, my husband and I were trying to think of another celebrity/musician/entertainer who might be today's (or tomorrow's) Michael Jackson and we were really hard-pressed to come up with anyone who could equal his status. There are plenty of big stars, famous and weird people in the world but nobody can come close to his celebrity status. Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake, Beyonce ... they all fall a bit short now, don't they? Of course, we had Elvis and the Beatles but nobody ever really achieved the heights that MJ did. Do you have any suggestions for who could be the next "Michael" or who might replace him in the media or entertainment world? I'm eager to hear your point of view - please respond and leave your comments. Thanks!