I Witnessed the First Moonwalk!

I still remember the day I heard Michael Jackson sing Billie Jean for the first time. My Dad and I were on our way to Wild Mountain (a ski resort) for an excellent day of skiing when his song came on the radio. What was this strange new song and why did it sound like he was hiccupping during it? What did it mean when he said, “The CHAD is not my son”? It was very weird and very intriguing! I admit that I didn’t particularly care for it then, and it still is one of my least favorite songs of his, but that changed when I saw his live performance of it. 

The year was 1983 and it was the Motown Records 25^th Anniversary special. Michael Jackson, who was well known as the lead singer in the band The Jackson Five, came on stage to sing Billie Jean for the first time in public. He wore black pants, leather penny loafers, a black sequined jacket, white sequined socks, shorter black dress pants and a single white rhinestone glove. To begin his performance, Jackson snapped a fedora to his head and struck a pose—his right hand on his hat and his left leg bent. It was already the coolest thing I’d seen all night!  Then he started to dance while he sang and it was so different than anything I’d ever seen before. During the song, Michael glided backwards to perform the moonwalk, before he spun on his heels and landed up on his toes! In the video of that first performance you can hear an audible gasp as the crowd witnessed the first Moonwalk on a stage! It was the beginning of a legend in the making. Everyone was talking about it the next day. He was already a superstar since the age of 5 but he literally soared to the galaxy after this single performance! 

Eventually, I found out that he made videos for MTV and I was obsessed! We didn’t have cable when I was growing up, no matter how much I begged my parents to get it, so how in the world was I supposed to watch MJ on TV if we didn’t have MTV? The answer: My cousin, Dana! I would go over to her house and we would watch Billie Jean, Beat it and Thriller and try to learn the dance moves! It was so cool! It was the first time I had ever seen music videos and they changed my life. I spent hours learning and perfecting the moonwalk and other dance moves I had seen from MJ. I can also do a mean slap-my-knee move from MJ’s Beat It video! Thriller is a 14-minute horror-themed music video and it was voted as the most influential video of all time! No wonder we spent so much time trying to learn it! It has been copied over the years by many famous people and in many movies. My favorite copy is 13 Going on 30! So cute!

Michael Jackson was a babe! He was very talented in singing, dance and style. I know there was a lot of controversy regarding him in later years, but I prefer to see the best in him and not to believe all the hearsay. I am reminded of his songs such as Heal the World and We are the World and his desire to make the world a better place one person at a time. I loved his beautiful performance at the Super Bowl with people in the stands holding up pieces of paper that, from a distance, made it look like a bunch of children of different races, holding hands. I like to remember the version of We are the World he created with Lionel Ritchie and many of the famous musicians of the time. They recorded this song with the hope that they could raise money for Africa. “Since its release, "We Are the World" has raised over $63 million (equivalent to $138 million today) for humanitarian causes.” Source/ Wikipedia. What a beautiful legacy and there is so much more! If you want to read more about him, check out Wikipedia for yourself!

He was iconic.

He was a legend.

He was a global figure for four decades.

He was the greatest entertainer of all time.

He was the King of Pop.

He invented the Moonwalk.

And I was his biggest fan!