Holy shit.

That’s what I said last night when I heard the news about Michael Jackson. To say it was a bolt out of the blue would be a massive understatement and I found that, after the initial shock, I was more upset by his death than I expected given that I hadn’t bought a record of his in over 20 years. But you never really know what a person means to you until they’re gone and Michael and his brothers were a big part of my childhood. They were the first pop group I ever had on my bedroom wall, my sister and I always watched their cartoon show on TV, bought a lot of their singles with our record tokens, and their Greatest Hits was one of the first albums my mother bought me — I still have it.

That’s why all the post-Thriller craziness of his life (and here I am obliged by the Gods of Rock Criticism to point out that Off The Wall is a much better album) just made me more sad than anything. Whenever I saw the freakshow he’d become I just thought of the little kid who seemed so full of joy and sang and danced so brilliantly that I loved when I was a kid myself (he was only four years older than me) and wondered what happened to him. Watching the news last night the gasbags on tv spent most of their time talking about the scandals and weirdness that engulfed his life and barely mentioned his records (though Michael himself should take some blame for that) but that’s really all I’m interested in. Like these two gems, reminders of just how good he was.

His version of “Ain’t No Sunshine” has long been my favourite of his early Motown solo records and I’m not bothered at all by saying I think it’s better than the original. Just listen to his tender, yearning vocal on this and remember that he was only 14 when he recorded it.

Download: Ain’t No Sunshine – Michael Jackson (mp3)

And a reminder of how, before the vocal tics turned him into a caricature of himself, he could ride a funky beat better than almost any singer since James Brown. This is the full 8-minute version from The Jacksons’ superb 1978 album Destiny.

Download: Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) – The Jacksons (mp3)

What a sad, sad shame on so many levels.