My first concert was MJ when I was 5. It was the best night of my young life.

Sinkwriter72, I could not have said it better myself. I listened to Thriller over and over and over when I was a kid. My friends and I made up dance routines to the songs. He was the first celebrity poster I had on my wall. I know he had alot of problems and had become a "weirdo," but he gave us some fantastic songs and amazing talent.

[i]A giant doesn't cease to be a giant even if he loses a foot of height. This is just his physical death, I've been missing Michael Jackson for years now.[/i]

Well said, Shay J. And sadly, so true.

MJ was the best of the best. His music and performances made the world a brighter place. His light will shine on forever. -Coldplay
@coldplay tweeted this earlier.

Born caucasian in a small midwestern town, I grew up surrounded by white faces. Born in 1973, Martin Luther King's work, while no doubt groundbreaking and incredibly, incredibly important, was a lesson in my history books. Michael Jackson's sweet nature and beyond-compare talent was my first real bridge to racial harmony, my first real experience with looking at the heart behind the skin. I know this is not a racial issue, and I don't mean to make it about that. But I need to thank that man for making me a better person. As I grew up, my heart broke as my once widely embraced grade school crush became the "Whacko" so hunted by tabloids, and I prayed on more than one occaision that he would find some manner of genuine peace. I'm praying that same prayer today. My heart goes out to him, and to his family, especially his children. I hope the chaos of the world's mourning will not be obtrusive to them. Sleep well, Michael. We will miss you.

I didn't read the article, just here to say: there's better ways to spend a day.

MJ was HUGE when I was in elementary school. He was the one performer everyone loved, regardless of age, ethnicity or musical taste and his videos were events. We all piled around the TV for the big debut of the Thriller video and it was worth it. By the end of the week we all had memorized the zombie dance.

But the talented guy who gave us Off The Wall and Thriller has been dead for almost 20 years. I miss him. I won't miss the bizarre caricature that since emerged, destroyed his face and became Pedo Pan of Namblaland Ranch. RIP the Michael of my youth.

I'm a child of the 90's, my mother was a child of the 60s. She grew up with Michael Jackson, loving and cherishing his music, and through her I discovered and loved his music. Michael was a polarizing figure to say the least, his life fraught with controversary and struggles; he did not truly love himself, and this self-hate manifested itself in many destructive ways, but Michael at his core was a very shy, sensitive and timid individual; blessed with talent that surpassed anything the world has ever seen, or will ever see again. Now, I hope he is able to see truly for the first time what an incredible, dynamic force of nature he was and finally he can be at peace with that knowledge. Even though today I am saddened, I know that Michael is at peace, for the first time in his life true peace, at home with his creator. God Speed Michael, and Thank You for your contributions to this world.

Umm... So it might make me unpopular, but has MJ even been relavent for the last 2 decades? Don't get me wrong, I'd love to be a millionaire and cultural icon by the time I'm 30 too, but the last 20 years have been little but a downward slide for him.
While I am sad for the loss of any human life, I'm more upset about Ed's passing than MJ. At least Ed had some class!

Wow, there are some really astute comments here!

I agree with Alex and Sinkwriter72. I also just felt I should add my own personal spin on this.

Yes its true Michael Jackson was a frigging legend and seeing as I wasn't born when Elvis died, to me MJ is #1. And the King.

At first when I heard the news it didn't seem real. Maybe because as others have so succinctly put it. The MJ of my youth is not the same guy that passed away this week. That guy was my first crush (celebrity and non-celebrity). For the first 10 years of my life I sincerely believed I was gonna grow up and marry him. It feels so weird that he's physically dead now.

Also, it is so sad to think that he was so well known and loved that when I was growing up in Romania & Tanzania... people could not speak English but they could sing his songs and imitate his dance moves. The guy really did have a knack as a performer for bringing people together.

It is a real shame that no one who did not live through it will ever be able to understand the magic that was growing up and watching the new MJ video or buying the new album or poster or book. Or the tragedy that was his later years.

I feel like it truly is the end of an era. I also feel like with his death, I too have completely and fully "grown up". Neverland is closed for business y'all.

I wasn't even one years old when Michael Jackson made it big on his own, but all that he did affected my life. I saw the Jackson 5 cartoon in repeat, his videos made me want my MTV (before it went to crap), Dangerous was the first cassette I ever purchased, the first Super Bowl I paid attention to had him as the halftime act...for him to be dead really hurt. What's worse is indeed the fact that there will be a whole generation that will only remember Whacko Jacko, never mind that the pop world post 1969 has that man to thank for their careers, whether it's through inspiring their dance moves, providing tracks to sample, making it OK to sing softly and grind suggestively, make high quality music videos with a story, or even dress weird to gain attention. It seems like the body didn't even go cold before the media and snarky radio people joked about hell and how effed up his life was or are trying to gain something from it. Give the man a week or something!

Some theologies allow prayer for the dead.

I just hope MJ finds the peace in death he searched so hard of rin life.

Shouldn't this article be about Farrah Fawcett, who was, at one point, an actual major television star?

No death is more important than any other, but I am pretty sure more people know who MJ is vs Farah. And we sort of expected her death, but MJ was quite the shocker.

I didn't mean to imply that any death should be seen as "more important" than another. Only that, since this is Television without pity, it just seems like they would pay tribute to the actual TV star who died.
On the other hand, it's all pop culture so I guess it doesn't make any difference.

This wasn't on Twitter; it was my stepsister's facebook status:
"R.I.P.... easy as 1-2-3."

Tv stars respond to michael ja.. He-he-he :)