No matter what you thought of Michael Jackson you to admit his death signified the end of an era. The tounge and cheek 80's era. Yeah sure some people might say that the 80's died as the decade passed, as Grunge and Gangster rap took the forefront. That's not necessarly true, atleast not in my estimation. I believe that the end of the 80's died last Thursday when Michael Jackson died. If there were every an artist that meant so much for the decade it had to be Michael Jackson. Sure Prince released like 7 albums during the period and his music was probably as good as Michael if not better, but Jackson's 2 albums released during the 80's had a profound impact on culture as a whole. In my opinion something always impacts the end of an era. For example the end of the 60's and the whole Peace idea died when John Lennon was senselessly murdered in 1980. The era of the 70's featuring glam, exploitation, experimentation, and soul probably died when the Disco backlash came in 1979, people were sick of the 70's and it's artists, and the death Keith Moon, the death of John Bonham in 1980, and most of all the arrival of punk began to prove that people wanted music that meant something more then just "sex, drugs and rock n roll." Now the 80's are an interesting era because I never think the 80's really died out, I just think the 90's came in full swing and the arrival of Grunge and Gangster Rap kind of silenced everything the 80's stood for. That of course being New wave, bubble gum pop, and music with a message. When you look at the 90's you can stay that era died with Kurt Cobain, Biggie, Tupac, and the arrival of the Spice Girls, after them the music scene shifted completely to boy and girl-bands and artists like N'Sync and Britney Spears. So back to the 80's, I said the 80's never really died and stick by my statement, the 80's music has probably been most revived in this decade then of the previous era's music. Even the fashion, and nobody was at the center of it like Michael Jackson. He was the revolutionary poster child for everything about the 1980's. Now however with his death, it just goes to prove that the era of new-wave and 80's synthesized funk is over. Another era buried away, sure as every decade there are still artists from then that still perform and make good music, but there's always one chapter that signifies and end to the idea, a belief, a beacon of the times. Sadly, Jackson's death is just that.