Michael at his peak...

by Myche

Excellent post Wayne - very appropriate.

I was just about to post something myself. What the hell, this is worthy of double coverage. In fact, I know that Mark is probably the biggest Michael fan of all of us, so maybe he will come up with his own as well...

I must admit, all of the extra-curricular activities surrounding MJ in the last 15 or so years have made it very hard to embrace how much I loved him at one time. It's complicated to say the least. I don't think anyone can imagine what kind of life he was thrown into or how that affects a person. Similar things happened to Elvis, and while each of them would have to take responsibility for themselves, I think the pressures are endless when you reach that level of superstardom.

But before the controversies, man, I was into Thriller big time. I also picked up Off The Wall because I wanted MORE (and that album is a JAM). I remember opening my bedroom window, placing one of my JCPenney speakers in it and cranking my stereo to 10. Then I rode my bike down the street to see how far I could still hear it (about a block). Personally, I settled into "P.Y.T." as my favorite off of Thriller. There are two parts of that song that I used to pump out a completely exaggerated pelvic thrust to like I MEANT it (if you know the song, you know what I'm talking about).

So for my video remembrance of Michael, I'm going for a pretty obvious pick. In my opinion, it is Michael at his peak. He looks great - it's kind of hard for me to remember when he looked this "normal." This performance is just downright fierce, and is probably up there with Elvis and the Beatles on Sullivan as far as music moments of TV go (I love the screams you hear when he introduces his signature move). Just a huge performance. He looks young, hungry and healthy. This is how I would like to remember the man...