Confessions of a Michaelmaniac

Our paths first crossed in the late 70s. My first impression was who is this bright eyed black boy with a big afro and a lovely voice who sure can dance? I guess the latter two sentiments were shared by many. He was popularised by his music videos and the first I saw in which that impression was made was “Blame it on the boogie” with his brothers, the Jacksons. To be honest I never noticed his brothers, his aura was just too strong. His brother faded and soon we were watching him dance like a puppet in “Don't stop till you get enough.” By this time I was getting hooked and had some of the early signs of Michaelmania which included always hoping his videos would be played and listening over and over again to the "Off The Wall " cassette. I was then in my 2nd year in secondary school. Befitttingly my first slow dance with a girl up close was to "She's out of my life”. Indeed that particular party ended with all the slow songs on that album and an upsurge of wild sexual hormones!


Then came the much anticipated Thriller album which blew us away (c’mon don’t say you not were not mesmerized). In my dormitory we all clamoured for the tape and I remember a friend Yinka cramming the lyrics of the "girl is mine" on our walkman as he was being challenged in a love duel. Another friend, Yemi Aluko had the rights to the moonwalk on his return from the UK that summer and we all went to meet him to teach us this new dance. The first video "Billie Jean" was an injection of this drug that causes Michaelmania and I took a heavy dose. I remember watching the Thriller video for the first time on LWT (Lagos weekend TV) the first night we had all night television in Nigeria. By the time I watched his landmark performance at Motowns’ 25th anniversary show, I was hooked. I then started manifesting the condition in different ways.

•I drew a picture of Michael on my school bag and made sure everyone saw it as I walked to school.

•I took a picture of Michael with me to class for prep every evening and stuck it on the wall next to my seat.

•I actually wore white socks (thankfully I could not find white gloves)!!

•I once walked around with a sticker of Mike on my cheek!

•I was one of the main attractions at the school dance anytime a Michael song was played.

•I bought every cassette containing MJ songs including the unpublicized “farewell my summer love” album.

•I had 3 life sized posters of MJ on my bedroom wall.

•I actually borrowed my dad’s navy dinner jacket (grossly oversized for me) and stood next to one of those posters ( in which Michael was wearing a similar jacket) and forced my dear bro to take a picture us to make it look as if we were standing together.

•I made a scrap book of MJ in which I wrote his life story, cut out and pasted pictures and wrote the lyrics of all his songs.


Those were the best of times for me as a Michael fan. A light complexioned MJ was on the cover of the “Bad” album and he was no longer the MJ we knew. His music and dancing still moved me seriously but by this time it was obvious to me that chics did not like guys in white socks who grabbed their crotches! I waited patiently for the day the radio station, OGBC played all the tracks on the "Black and White" album when it came out as some of my new friends in University saw what was left of my Michaelmania. By this time I was hooked on the new Jackson 5 called "New Edition" and more seriously on another Michael named Jordan.


Then came the sex scandals and it was getting more difficult to defend the most popular guy in the world whose sexuality was hidden. I guess this sent me into recovery as I never bought the complete “History” album. By the time Michael claimed he was “Invincible” I was exhibiting fewer symptoms of Michaelmania, though my soon to be wife then, wondered why I made “you rock my world”, our song! Seeing him in Madame Tussauds 5 yrs ago was the closest I came to him and gave me quite a thrill.  After the court case 2 yrs ago I thought I was completely healed but when the Thriller 25th anniversary album came out with collaborations with Akon et all I rushed to buy it but was disappointed. I feared for this his proposed tour which will now never be.


He died yesterday and I happened to be watching Sky news when the news broke that he had been taken to hospital. I feared the worst and it happened. I received calls from my siblings and some friends who knew I would be feeling the loss. I am. I remember the time when I rocked with Michael while working day and night, introduced him to my girlfriend which was just my human nature being expressed. I realise I just can’t stop loving him and he was another part of me judging from the way he made me feel. Watching him perform was a Thriller and he did start something in the music industry. It’s a pity he never found a PYT and was one of the lost children. His legacy to us is his music and his charge to heal the world, because indeed we are the world. Michael rocked my world and now he’s seemingly out of my life, although I can’t say he's gone too soon. Say, say, say, what you want to about him but in his own unique way Michael was truly invincible.