Today was a rainy, sick-day Monday for me and the Bear. We ended up watching music videos on You Tube and I decided to show her the Jackson 5. My five year old little girl sat enthralled while a young (and still white) Michael Jackson sang "I Want You Back"
Our conversation went like this:
Bear: Why were they called the Jackson 5?
Me: Because there were 5 brothers with the last name Jackson
Bear: What were their first names?
Me: Um... Michael, Tito, Frito...no wait...
*** At this point the Bear made me look it up on Wikipedia- the right answer is: Marlon, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and of course Michael***
Bear: What happened to him (Michael)?
Me: He grew up and turned into a white woman.
Bear: HUH?
After the Jackson 5 videos we moved on to Michael's solo work. And that's when it happened: she discovered the Thriller album. Released November 30, 1982, it spent 80 consecutive weeks in the top 10, and by most anyone's standards its one of the best albums ever. But my 5 year old doesn't know that- she just knows its "so cool". Particularly "Beat It", which we listened to 4 times in succession! With Eddie Van Halen's guitar work and Michael's melodic angst its irresistible.
The special coincidence on this rainy day is that my daughter is almost EXACTLY the same age that I was when the album was released 27 years ago. This was pivotal in my young life. I still clearly remember getting chills when Vincent Price did his monologue in "Thriller". Sharing this with her, at this time in her life was one of those moments in parenting that you could never plan and is just too precious for words.
So is my daughter's new affinity for Michael Jackson a weird genetic predisposition? Or is 5 years old just the perfect time to be introduced to the work of an incredibly talented artist who lost his own childhood at such a young age?
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