Thriller is one of my favorite albums. I love listening to old Jackson 5 records. I get in the groove whenever I hear Billie Jean. I say these things because I genuinely did like Michael Jackson’s music and thought he was one of the most talented musicians of the last 25 years. He is the King of Pop.

With the death of Michael Jackson, I recalled my first definite memory of the King of Pop. Now to some people out there who were STILL Michael Jackson fans, they may not think telling a funny anecdote about him is fitting right now. But this story I feel sums up how many people my age feel (though many won’t admit it). If you are still shell-shocked by the death of a very talented and skilled performer, don’t read.

As with many kids, I remember seeing a certain 3-D movie with MJ at Disneyland in the early nineties. Unlike many kids, this movie and the things that I learned stayed with me till this very day.

When I was 6 years old my family went on a trip to Disneyland, it was the biggest trip we ever took as a family. That trip – as many do for children of my age – included multiple visits to the same park over and over again, and thus gtting to see the glory of the Michael Jackson 3-D space adventure “Captain EO.” Now for whatever reason, I had recently seen the “Alien” and “Aliens” movies starring Sigourney Weaver some weeks prior to going to Disneyland (judge my parents, not me). Now my little brain had a hard time processing that there could be different movies about space that wouldn’t share the same storyline, so naturally I thought that Captain EO and Ellen Ripley were the same person. Before you cry foul and label me the dumbest child alive, let’s see some photographic evidence:

Here’s Ripley

And here’s Captain EO

Tell me that isn't Sigourney Weaver

Well I can’t remember the exact conversation, but at some point after I had seen the movie multiple times, I asked something about the movie that told my mother I was gravely misinformed. I think I may have asked why Ripley’s daughter wasn’t in the movie (Newt for all the Aliens fans). My mother realizing that I had confused a pop god for a Hollywood actress corrected me by quietly whispering in my ear “that’s not a woman, that’s Micahel Jackson.” My eyes were opened, and I didn’t want to see the movie again after that last time because I was too embarassed.

I feel sad because Michael Jackson was a great performer, but people my age didn’t get to experience Thriller in its prime. Our early childhood memories of Jackson show a man getting increasingly pale and feminine-looking every year. We grew up with scandal after scandal and it became not about the music anymore. I am sad that he passed just weeks away from his “comeback” tour in London. I am sad that he never got a chance to have people talk about him as a performer instead of a sideshow, but at the end of the day my earliest memories of him were as the sideshow. And that’s too bad.

Rest in peace Mr. Jackson. Thank you for the music.

Watch “Captain EO” here.

Tags: Alien, Aliens, Captain EO, Michael Jackson, RIP, Sigourney Weaver, Thriller

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