Michael Jackson's demise will essentially wipe-clean the 20 years of weirdness (I won't go into details here, because frankly there are just too many and everyone knows them anyway). When told of Elvis's death John Lennon reportedly said "Elvis died the day he went into the Army" Well Michael Jackson died somewhere between the release of "Bad" and the day the first pedophile accusations started to emerge.
Let's look at Elvis. He died a bloated drug-addled mess, a caricature of his previous self. You don't see too many shirts with this picture on it:
But in dying Elvis, is restored to the magnificence of his youthful countenance. The early images are permanently burnished into our culture and embellished to almost religious iconography:
When the King (Elvis) croaked his estate was surprisingly small. I've read that Elvis never had a single investment, never owned any property (other than Graceland and his other residences)and that his income was never sheltered from the long, deep reach of the IRS. All that changed when his estate handlers strip-mined his name, images, performance recordings and anything else they could find to generate the big cha-ching. He, like Marilyn Monroe, James Dean, Bruce Lee and Kurt Cobain are worth more dead than they ever were alive (a lot more!)
Now let's look at an image of MJ in the later, weirder years:
See my drift here? In ten years, this freaky-ass image will be replaced and largely forgotten as this image (and ones like it) replace them:
Let's face it: in death we can forgive even a pedophile if they have enough talent and remind us of things that we think of fondly. I'm not a big MJ fan, but my jaw dropped when I saw Michael Moonwalk on the Motown 25th Anniversary Show. I thought Off The Wall and Thriller were great pop records, nobody can fill a dance floor like a MJ can. This is the Michael I'll remember and so will you. The 20 year spiral of plastic surgery, kid-groping and over-all strangeness will be lost to time and written off as part of his legend. It will be replaced by the wildly talented, abused and mis-understood artist, cut-off from the world and crucified for his uniqueness.
What happens next seems obvious: First, a huge outpouring of affection and testimony from fans (and the media that eviscerated him) the public that abandoned him in his weirdness will remember why they liked him. The old recordings will sell, t-shirts and mementos will become hot eBay items and then....lawsuits, lots and lots of them.
The Jackson family is notoriously bad with money, along with them and Michael's children there will be about 100 different claims on the estate. All the promoters, landlords, nannies and diaper services will queue up to get paid. They will swarm and descend on the MJ legacy in a what will be about 5 years of litigation. When it's sorted out (after a fortune in legal fees are spent) the real money making will start.
Jackson was supposedly $400 million dollars in debt. Ha! it will be a pittance for his licensors to recover. Sometime around 2020 the vintage stores will be getting top dollar for "Thriller" jackets and Pepto-Bismal will be using "Bad" in their commercials. The gravy train will begin in earnest as the MJ biopic is released and the top 40 is filled with sampled recordings from the Jackson library of performances.
I know a sure thing when I see it: If I had $400 Million to spend......
Best career move ever.
