A study in city personalities based on reactions to Michael Jackson's death (music video, country)

[eskercurve]

I'm interested in what the general mood and demeanor of the city / area where you live is based on reactions to Michael Jackson's death. I'm not talking about the typical "OMG Jacko's dead!" reaction but unique or interesting ways in which people paid tribute (or said good riddance) to the king of pop.

I'll start where I live: Seattle. So the best way for me to describe what Seattleites did is to demonstrate:


http://www.city-data.com/forum/seatt...d-seattle.html

The first few pictures says enough. Seattleites got outside on a typically glorious Pacific NW summer day and did the moonwalk. Thousands of them. People even took out their old school boomboxes and played MJ hits like Thriller.

[Rachael84]

It was talked about here in NYC a lot. On the front pages of the local papers (though I'm sure it was like that in a lot of areas of the country). I commute through 125 st in Harlem, and it was a big deal there. I was going to stop by the Apollo after my last day of work (I'm a teacher), but I was carrying too much and wanted to get home asap (typical last day of school flowers and gifts, lol).

[skinem]

Here?
Depends upon your age.

Most people I know? The general reaction is either "yawn" or "It's a shame such a talented guy turned into such a freak show."

[LauraC]

I haven't heard MJ mentioned by anyone outside of the TV. Really. I don't think it's Michael Jackson in particular but weird/talented celebrities dying just isn't a big thing anymore. It's almost like we expect famous people with weird lifestyles to die young.

I just think, these days, we're more concerned with cap and trade, nationalized healthcare, out of control government spending, intrusive government - things that impact us directly.

I'm guessing students who don't pay bills/work devote more time to discussing MJ. That doesn't mean we don't all think nostalgically about the music but that will be over soon, too.

[18Montclair]

I was in Vietnam when the news broke and people there were bummed about it too.

[matt345]

People are really sad about it here in LA. I frequently hear people blasting his music out their car windows.

[Rachael84]

Originally Posted by matt345

People are really sad about it here in LA. I frequently hear people blasting his music out their car windows.

Same here. I work in a predominant black/hispanic area. My school was playing Michael Jackson songs in the cafeteria the whole day, and the kids kept saying to one another "did you know Michael Jackson died?" It was really talked about here. I don't know about other radio stations in the country, but the next day I heard at least 2 MJ songs on the radio at a time.

[Bydand]

Originally Posted by skinem

Here?
Depends upon your age.

Most people I know? The general reaction is either "yawn" or "It's a shame such a talented guy turned into such a freak show."

Exact same reaction here.

[TheTruth08]

Lets see. A lot of the radio stations were playing MJ tribute songs for hours. People rushed to the Apollo and to the spot where he shot a music video in Brooklyn. It was a sad day in New York.

[Minnehahapolitan]

Originally Posted by LauraC

I haven't heard MJ mentioned by anyone outside of the TV. Really. I don't think it's Michael Jackson in particular but weird/talented celebrities dying just isn't a big thing anymore. It's almost like we expect famous people with weird lifestyles to die young.

I just think, these days, we're more concerned with cap and trade, nationalized healthcare, out of control government spending, intrusive government - things that impact us directly.

I'm guessing students who don't pay bills/work devote more time to discussing MJ. That doesn't mean we don't all think nostalgically about the music but that will be over soon, too.

Students who don't pay bills yet don't remember Michael Jackson but as an accused pedophile.