Michael Jackson Tribute

I was in elementary school when I first heard of Michael Jackson. His hit songs "Thriller", "Beat It" and "Billie Jean" were enjoying heavy airplay at that time. I wasn't into music back then so I didn't really pay much attention to those songs. I did, however, enjoy watching other kids my age copying Michael's dance moves. Like them I also tried learning Michael's signature moonwalk although it didn't take long for me to realize that I was better off learning the guitar.

A few years later I became part of our high school band. We played cover versions of popular new wave songs. One of the new wave bands I particularly liked back then was The Bolshoi whose song "A Way" became an anthem of sorts for our generation.



You're probably wondering where I'm going with this. Well, you may not be aware of it but there's a Michael Jackson connection here. The Bolshoi was one of the first groups that did its own version of one of Michael's hits. They did a live version of "Billie Jean".

I must admit I was a bit of a pseudo-purist back then. I didn't want our band to play pop music especially American pop like Michael's songs. That changed partly because of this Bolshoi performance. Too bad there doesn't seem to be any online copy that I can attach here but I did find this acoustic guitar version played by a young, prodigious performer. It should suffice as a fine example of how interesting Michael's songs are regardless of how they are performed.



By the way the performer is Korean fingerstyle guitar prodigy Sungha Jung. Now, here are a few more cover versions of Michael Jackson songs. This one is by Emily Elbert



Here's one to make all those guitar players out there wet their pants. Brace yourselves for Tuck Andress.



Now let's all pay tribute to the King of Pop himself.