Michael Jackson turns 50

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Earlier this year we had the 25th anniversary of one of the greatest albums of all time: "Thriller." And today is the 50th anniversary of the birth of Michael Jackson, which, although it may be hard to tell now, took place on Earth with the involvement of human parents.

Whatever you think of Jackson, "Thriller" was pretty extraordinary. "Billie Jean" remains one of my favorite songs of all time, and I still like hearing "Beat It." Certainly beats some of the other songs of that year, such as "Maniac" by Michael Sembello and "Come On Eileen" by Dexy's Midnight Runners. (OK, I admit that I liked that second song back in '83, but I was 11 years old. And it's been played so many times now that I'm sick of it.)

So back to MJ. His album was amazing, but I never really did like the song "Thriller." I don't know why, but it never did anything for me. I think maybe it's because I had to sit through the "Making of the Thriller Video" three or four times in elementary school.

Either I had lazy teachers or this was considered to be very instrumental in our education. I just thought Michael Jackson looked a little weird with all the makeup on. Of course, compared to his look now, he looked unbelievably normal. Even human.

So Happy Birthday MJ. I can't believe you're 50. At least parts of you, anyway.

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