Gen X Grows Up

Holy Christ. What a day.

I didn't know what to think when Michael Jackson died. I loved him, and I mean loved him, when I was 13 years old. Thriller blew my mind. I had pictures, magazines, and god knows what else devoted to Michael Jackson plastered on my bedroom wall. Thriller was not the first album I ever bought, but it was the first that I really remember.

But then he became a freak. I can't think of any other way to describe him. Even now, seeing pictures of him from the late-90s to now creep me out. I can't help but laugh uncomfortably at both his visual image and the train wreck that his life had become. But then I look at pictures and videos of him from the late-70s and early-80s and I get teary eyed. He was so young. He was so adorable. He was so talented.

But there is no denying the influence he had on music and popular culture from the '60s until he died. Can you imagine a world without Michael Jackson? No, me either.

And then Farrah Fawcett. She's been ill. It was just a matter of time. But, like Jackson, imagine a world without Farrah Fawcett. Can you imagine a world without Charlie's Angels, without that poster. I can't.

I've been shocked at my own reaction to both of these deaths. Surprised at how sad I am. But I don't know if I am sad about the world losing them or if I am shocked and sad that I am old enough to be losing my childhood icons to cancer and cardiac arrest.

MSNBC posted an article titled Jackson, Fawcett Deaths: Bad Day for Gen X that does a good job of summing this all up. A quote from a fan summed it up well: "These people were on our lunchboxes."