Why I Fell In Love with the Jacksons.

Anyone else love the break down in "Shake Your Body" that Michael would do to close out the BAD tour? The way the guitarist was strummin' and the horns were blazin'... Can anyone else not resist dancing like a fool when that's on?

If anyone knows me or has read this blog, they know that I am goo-goo ga-ga for Michael's career as part of a group.

I actually continued to support and go see the Jacksons after Michael''s pasisng in 2009. To date, I have seen them 4 times on the Jacksons Unity Tour (and once with Michael at the 2001 MSG 30th Anniversary shows).

I actually fell in love with the Jackson 5 before I started to love Michael as a solo artist.

I'd always appreciated Michael as a child because let's face it, my parents would play MOONWALKER for me as a toddler and played the BAD album 'til it could be played no more. My dad had a set of two turntables and a massive sound system that he'd built as a young adult, in our basement. Sometimes he would mix the BAD single with the Dance Mix for fun, or we"d turn on FOX as a family to watch the World Premiere of "Remember the Time," and from time to time we'd sit and watch MJ on all of the award shows and it was peachy. But I distinctly remember my dad putting the Jackson 5 Anthology record on the turntable and turning the lights down low. He told me to close my eyes and listen closely...

I think those moments changed my life.

As I closed my eyes, I became immersed in Michael's voice... "Listen to the sweet sounds" of the songs that only a 60's baby would know by heart. At the age of 12 I was introduced to songs like "Ready or Not," "All I Do (Is Think of You" and "Daddy's Home". But it was one song that I found a deeper connection with. It was "Maybe Tomorrow" that spoke to my heart. Maybe it has to do with the fact that Michael was around my age when he sang it. Or maybe it was because he sang of heartbreak, hope for the future, the ups and downs of love. I never knew I'd grow up to experience the woes that a young Michael sang so convincingly of. I never knew that, at 12, nearly 15 years later, I'd experience the feeling of... Maybe Tomorrow.

Never did I realize that I'd grow to appreciate the meaning of Michael's words as an adult. I don't know what I found that made the Jackson 5 my favorite group, nearly 3 decades after they'd disbanded. I don't know what went through my mind when I tore out pictures of the Jacksons from vintage magazines and hung them up in my middle school locker, posted them in my binder. (All the other girls loved NSync, 98 Degrees, and the groups like that...) Sometimes I think back and wonder what I was thinking.

I guess somewhere in my heart I wished I was a part of the Jacksons. I wished that I had 6 brothers and a host of beautiful sisters and what seemed like a perfect family life. I guess that's part of the illusion and although I know so many things about the Jacksons that no one could have possibly known way back when, they still give me this sense of royalty, class, and togetherness.

The Jacksons music is feel-good, wholesome (for the most part), and something I am so happy to have been "obsessed with" for a good part of my life.

I miss Michael but, am thankful for the opportunity to see the rest of the original Jackson 5 members whenever they come into town.