Yesterday, the world stood still, glued to ones media outlet of choice. Television, Computer, Blackberry, iphone, Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and simple SMS text messaging updates on Michael Jackson's Memorial. I don't think this generation has ever or will ever, have a star as HUGE as MJ. Madonna???  Possibly, but even the material girl in her own right did not sell 750 million records.

I came across an article by David Segal from the New York Times about FAME and how it may never be the same again. Basically, the level of SUPER STARDOM that MJ was at would be hard to match, with the new media reality we live in.

Editor-in-Chief, Anastasia Goodstein of Ypulse states, "When the news of Jackson's death broke on Friday, I spotted a few tweets lambasting MTV for not having immediate wall-to-wall live coverage, continuing to play its reality programming, and therefore being irrelevant. Of course, the tweeters were my age or older — echoing the ongoing complaint from those of us who grew up with MTV that it has abandoned the "M" in music television. I agree that MTV has become less relevant to today's youth, but I don't think it's because they've stopped playing music videos. The network that helped make Michael Jackson and Madonna some of the biggest stars on the planet has also become a casualty of the new media landscape that makes this level of fame nearly impossible to achieve and all the more fleeting."

The Times article also argued Jackson's fame would be impossible to achieve in today's battered music industry. From the article:

Michael Jackson has sold an estimated 100 million copies worldwide of the 1982 album "Thriller," which spent more than 31 weeks at the top of the Billboard charts.

It's one of those high-water marks that nobody will touch, because record stores are vanishing, and along with them, megahit albums are vanishing, too. A big week on the Billboard charts is a quarter-million units sold, which is about the number of units the Jonas Brothers moved last week with their latest release, which opened at No. 1. And it's rare for an album to last even three weeks at the top.

People who buy music tend these days to buy — or steal it — online, a song at time.

The one recent exception might be Barack Obama, who has managed to achieve pop star status (in addition to the presidency)…

What do you think?  Will we live to see another GREAT.

To be continued...(check back tomorrow for part 2 of this story)