An Imperfect Icon

LOS ANGELES -- It would be perfect to say that in the end, it was just about Michael Jackson's music.

In a way, it was: Cue street musicians on Hollywood Boulevard, switching mid-song to "Billie Jean," and strains of "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" floating from every passing car. Midway through tributes to Farrah Fawcett on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the whispers started: "Michael Jackson died." And the mourning for another icon began.

Michael Jackson's music moved generations, moved their hearts and their feet.
I was among the hundreds gathered outside UCLA Medical Center on Thursday. Press came from around the world – the Nippon television network sent a crew. But most were fans wanting to be connected in some way to the "King of Pop." I've never heard more off-key, heartfelt renditions of "Beat It."

But even in a city that was in shock over Jackson's sudden death at the age of 50, the sadness was not just about the terrible news.

"He was an incredible entertainer," said 44-year-old Catherina Allan, an off-duty UCLA nurse who came with two of her sons to join the crowd at the hospital. "Man in the Mirror" is her favorite song. "If you want to make a change, start with the man in the mirror," she reprised. "It's more than entertaining." She loves him, "despite all that happened."

That she needed to say that last phrase means it will always be a part of Jackson's legacy -- from his fixation with plastic surgery to dangling his baby off a balcony to child molestation lawsuits and accusations.

There was sympathy for the man who searched for a childhood he missed. Michael Jackson was who he was because of the pressures of fame, many of his fans said, between sing-alongs and impressions of the trademark Jackson yelp. But, as Joetta Young of Lexington, Ky., put it, "I wouldn't leave him alone with my son." Her cousins -- sisters Eugenia Howard of Lexington and Sheila Howard of Long Beach, Calif. -- shushed her. "I don't believe any of it," Eugenia said. "I still loved his music. He is a legend." Her daughter, 17-year-old Aisha Howard, is a believer, too. "I grew up listening to his music, watching his videos, everything he's done."

Michael Jackson's legacy is "Thriller" and "Off the Wall." His videos broke artistic ground, as well as the color barrier, on MTV. He was the rare child star who became even greater when his voice changed and he grew a foot taller.

Every day we hear revelations from the famous, reminders that talent seldom comes in pristine packages. Mourners separate the good from the rest.

The journey that started in Gary, Ind., was supposed to finish triumphantly with a new tour, scheduled to begin next month in London. The little boy with the big Afro, who shocked the music world with his moves and his voice, would shock the world again, with the biggest comeback of all time.

If Michael Jackson's life story were a movie, that's how it would end – perfectly.