![youtube michael jackson greatest hits youtube michael jackson greatest hits](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/aMxQC8cZfGg/maxresdefault.jpg)
I first encountered his legacy in other musicians-the icons he inspired were the ones I listened to and in whom I unknowingly heard his subtle influence. His musical revolution started in Macon, Georgia, just four hours from my home, and grew to encompass the world and music history. Little Richard is sometimes referred to as the “Architect of Rock & Roll,” and perhaps that’s the most accurate way to describe his impact on the genre. His fearless androgyny and wailing voice broke from what I had imagined as my grandma’s music, from my family’s music. I’d never heard of Little Richard before, and when I went home and played his early songs on YouTube, it was different from the others. We were talking about her music, “old folks’ music,” she said, like Patsy Cline, Hank Williams, and Elvis. He wasn’t on the radio, and he wasn’t on the TV. My grandma was the first person around me to ever mention him. I do, however, have memories of being told who Little Richard was.
![youtube michael jackson greatest hits youtube michael jackson greatest hits](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/1-7ABIM2qjU/maxresdefault.jpg)
His music became an innate presence in my life without guidance or explanation. Jackson was a fixture of pop culture, a centerpiece for what an icon is. He shuffled his feet, attempting to glide back, but instead clumsily shifted his steps in reverse. In the fourth grade, a friend of mine insisted he could moonwalk. A dazzling hat perched proudly on his head. Like those hazy memories of music in the car, I can see his image on the TV, one gloved hand in sparkling white. I just knew-maybe from his omnipresence in media, TV, airwaves-and understood his importance, even subconsciously. I have no memory of being told who Michael Jackson was. I can’t remember which song played, but as a tribute on a radio station in rural Georgia, it was probably one of his biggest hits: “Thriller.” “Billie Jean.” “Rock With You.”
![youtube michael jackson greatest hits youtube michael jackson greatest hits](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/9bDLuYINilE/hqdefault.jpg)
My grandma loved Jackson’s early music-the earlier, the better. I was in the passenger’s seat of my grandma’s pickup truck-too old to insist on silence, but too young still to have formed my own interests in music-and as we ricket-ed down a bumpy highway in northwest Georgia, Michael Jackson began blaring from the radio. The King of Pop, Michael Jackson, had recently died. It wasn’t until I was older that I began to discover the music that I really wanted to listen to, what spoke to me. I made my family members sit in silence, listening only to the road rumble underneath us, the hum of tires rolling on asphalt. I’d stubbornly concluded that my family’s favorite songs were “old people music.” It was racket. I’d outgrown the Wiggles, but didn’t have my own taste yet. It’s a loose mismatch of Poison from my mom, Marty Robbins from my grandpa, Conway Twitty from my grandma, and the Wiggles for me.Īt around six years old, I swore off all music.
![youtube michael jackson greatest hits youtube michael jackson greatest hits](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/hzztJ_t1fww/maxresdefault.jpg)
It’s funny that I grew up to be a homebody, because as a kid, those foggy memories of music crackling in from an old car radio are all I have. As long as we were in the car, something was playing. My mom drove along to whatever played on easy-listening stations anywhere we went. Each morning, when my grandpa drove me to school, he’d pop the most ancient of country music cassettes into his pickup truck’s tape deck. No matter where we went, my family always switched on the radio. All my earliest memories of music are on the road.