Thursday June 25, 2009. Two iconic figures of pop culture; two tragic deaths. One that will surely (and has already) overshadow the other. Growing up, I did not really know Farrah Fawcett as her most famous role. I remember her hyphenated moniker Fawcett-Majors. I remember seeing reruns of the Six Million Dollar Man in which she co-starred with her then husband, Lee Majors. I even believed that she was the actress who played the Bionic Woman. I guess Charlie’s Angels was on after my bedtime. Her bravery through suffering has been well documented and must have been heavy upon those who loved her. She is definitely in a better place.
On the other hand, the weeks ahead will undoubtedly focus on the self-proclaimed King of Pop. No matter what the last decade or so of Michael Jackson’s life may have brought the fact remains: the man had an extreme amount of talent musically, and performance wise. I will not dwell on the tabloid details of his life but will say that I do remember his heyday in the early to mid 80s and was enthralled with his extreme talent. I was with my family in Texas the summer of 1984 during the Jackson’s Victory tour and remember thinking how cool it would be to be able to get impossible tickets. I also remember the videos (when videos were actually shown on MTV) that were mini-movies. Thriller is still a masterpiece aurally and visually. Ironically, I just watched it via youtube earlier this week. Nearly 15 minutes. 28 million copies of the album sold worldwide. Experts are already speculating that the world will never again see the like. His life may have been troublesome and strange. I think being tossed into the spotlight at the age of 4 and continue for 4 decades would be difficult to say the least.
To say nothing of the passing of Johnny Carson’s second banana, Ed McMahon. Not a good week for pop culture. Peace and healing to all the families of these three icons.
I definitely will remember where I was and how I found out MJ passed (CD!!!)
Extremely shocking… even for a man with many documented health woes. Sad that he was never able to fully redeem himself from all the bad things that clouded his reputation. Even sadder that there are now orphaned kids.
As far as Farrah Fawcett, her popularity was a little before my time. I knew her most from the outrageous Letterman moment. But I knew things with her were not good when they let her son out of prison for a visit with his mom – they don’t do that unless there are dire circumstances. Prayers to all the families hurting today.
I was extremely saddened to see that Fawcett’s death was pushed aside in the news so that Michael Jackson could be reported…..and reported….and reported….and reported. She is finally at peace. No more suffering.
As most of all of you, I too was a HUGE MJ fan in the 80’s. I had a multizippered red plastic jacket that came with its’ own sparkly glove!
I was big Charlie’s Angel fan, also. I remember my mother watched it and since I was glued to her hip as a young child, I too followed the show.