Staff Writer
NORTHAMPTON — News of Michael Jackson’s death spread across town quickly Thursday evening. Walking around downtown, one could see people reacting to text messages carrying the sad news.
But when night fell, many took to the streets to celebrate his music.
“I just can’t believe it,” said a young woman playing her guitar in front of Thornes Marketplace on Main Street. “It is just so sad. He was so young, and his music has always been an inspiration.”
Around 9:30 p.m., Lee Hall opened the four doors and rear of his Volkswagen hatchback in front of Faces on Main Street and began blasting Jackson’s “Greatest Hits” album, setting off an impromptu dance party.
“I was sitting across the street and somebody said we should get a Michael Jackson tribute going, so that is exactly what we did,” Hall said as he sat on his car’s rear bumper.
Amid spin moves, moonwalks and clapping, more than 30 strangers came together and danced to Jackson’s 1979 hit “Rock With You” on the sidewalk, chanting “Long Live Michael” and “Happy Michael Jackson Day.”
Taylor Stearley, a local resident, said he was walking down the sidewalk when he saw the crowd of people dancing and decided to join in.
“God bless Michael Jackson,” Stearley said. “We are going to stay out here dancing until this entire CD is over.”
Inside the Turn it Up! music store on Pleasant Street, which sells used CDs and records, customers discussed the musician’s career as a Jackson Five album played in the background.
Roger, an employee who declined to give his last name, said Jackson’s music has always sold well in the store, but he anticipates the singer’s untimely death will bring a sudden increase in sales.
“We may have to set up a display case out front or something,” he said, while a female customer asked if she could have a copy of Jackson’s 1982 hit album, “Thriller,” reserved for her.
Across the street, the same album was resting near the cash register at Main Street’s Dynamite Records. It had been originally marked as being worth $9, but Willis, the store’s manager, who also would not give his last name, said the price will most likely go up as a result of Jackson’s death.
“We are expecting a ton of business because of this,” he said as he turned the store’s computer monitor around, pointing out that the price of Jackson’s albums on the online auction site eBay had increased from around $5 at 3 p.m., to between $25 and $50 an hour later, after news sources confirmed his death.
Also wrapping his head around the news was Steve Waksman, an American music professor at Smith College, who teaches a class on rock history and described Jackson’s death as “shocking.”
“There is no question that Michael Jackson was one of the most significant African-American pop artists that has ever lived,” Waksman said.
Record sales aside, Waksman said it was Jackson’s ability to appeal to a range of music lovers that made him unique and his music so successful.
“I think he was an artist that took the notion of crossing over to a whole new level. He was one of the first African-American pop artists with an audience that wasn’t made up of just African-Americans, but was made up of all different kinds of people,” he said.
Unfortunately, Waksman noted, Jackson’s death at the young age of 50 has laid to rest any hopes for another rise to greatness, leaving his legend somewhat tarnished after more than a decade of silence and bizarre legal issues.
“Whenever there is a death in music, people wonder about all the music they still would have made and at this point in his career it is hard to know if there was anything left for him to say,” Waksman said. “But still there is no question that his death will bring a major sense of loss for anyone who listens to pop music.”
Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com
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