Let’s face it. While we love to separate our parents’ and our elder siblings’ generations by the things they do in a certain time frame, we often refuse to limit ourselves in that certain range when we turn twenty-one. The fact that all sorts of media can be downloaded nowadays puts us in a privileged spot called perspective, where we separate ourselves by what we call “genre”.

Let’s face it. While we endless squabble between Soul and Hip-Hop being the same thing, or Coldplay and The Fall Out Boys coming from the same mother, there was a time in our youth that we once, whenever the radio played those hits, got our groove on at; whenever the music videos showed up on the specials, ogled in front of our television sets at; and whenever we closed our eyes to sleep at night, dreamt of being them on the million-dollar stage at. Those were the times when genre weren’t the issue. It was whether you were respectful enough to his moonwalks.

The fact that he made thrillers on the record sales seemed to be none-of our concern at the time, as phrases like “pure awesomeness” and “icon” were coined for the first time for a once scowled upon profession. To the girls who mature faster than the boys, he was their first and last husbands. To the boys who’ve just reached, or way past puberty, he was their role model. And to most of the under-thirty generation, he was no different than the statue of worship in temples.

While the world gives him much credit for his influence, from portraying gangsterism to one-on-one switch-blade duels; from the purest form of meaningless lyrics to morphing himself into a panther for the heck of it; from dressing up as a Pharaoh to messages that encourage peace and love in a global scale. And who could forget the comebacks that brought us the latest in undead dance moves.

Although not the symbol of mass globalization of our age, he certainly is one of the pioneers.

Either I am still numb to the fact that he has moved on to entertain another crowd, or simply that his memory has been preserved since he sang his last lullaby at his ranch, he will forever be remembered as the one who got my primary school friend, Annie, head over heels for.

Annie, are you okay?