As popular as he was, I think he was still way under rated!
But the hardest part is how he went. When I think about Kevin DuBrow, lead singer of Quiet Riot, I think about WHAT IN THE F%^K ARE YOU DOING STILL PLAYING WITH HARD DRUGS? Same goes for Michael Jackson. All these guys were in their 50's and I understand that they had all the money in the world, which equals COMPLETELY OFF THE LEASH. But it's your responsability to say "Hey man, it's my job to stay alive, not someone else to stop me from killing myself". So many of these guys partied HARD in their 20's, meaning they were partying hard in the mid 1980's when cocaine was a fashion statement and widely accepted (I know I was accepting!

). But where many Rock star's never made it out of the 80's, these guys made it into their 50's and yet still killed themselves with drugs. Come on man!!!! Now Michael Jackson, Prince, Kevin DuBrow and even Keith Emerson's body of music will be punctuated not by the success of their music, but the fact that they killed themselves in the end. As a fan of their music, it hurts when I hear it.
This past week a few Boomboxery members hit Venice beach again, we were cranking up tunes as we do. Did it all day long, but when Michael Jackson came through the speakers, people FLOCKED TO US and we're dancing around us on the boardwalk. As wonderful as that is, it still holds 10% sadness in it.
These girls started dancing when they heard Michael's music!
