Dancing machine

Readers share favorite Michael Jackson moments

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Michael Jackson: 1958 - 2009
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updated 9:40 p.m. ET June 2, 2005

We have our Michael Jackson memories, and so do many of you.

"Thriller" was a defining moment for many people — whether you bought it yourself, or had Mom or Dad get it for you ... or maybe discovered it one Christmas morning in your stocking.

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Others went back, way back, remembering Michael on "American Bandstand" or even "The Ed Sullivan Show," singing his heart out as his brothers backed him up. And still others only know the recent Michael, for better or worse.

More Michael Jackson coverage

Some of your thoughts:

More 'Thriller' memories
"I was waiting to watch the Thriller premiere when my daughter was suddenly taken ill with 105 degree fever. She needed her kidney removed. She was only four years old. We were in a hospital room just minutes before the premiere of the video and I mentioned it to the nurse, who smiled and asked if my ... daughter liked Jackson. She said yes, and the nurse whispered, 'We have MTV' and she switched the channel. Seconds later, while nurses bathed my daughter's fevered body to bring her fever down before the surgery, we watched the Thriller video. We were thrilled. It was the most exciting thing we'd seen on MTV. As sick as she was, my daughter smiled and clapped." -Tonja, Springfield, Mo.

"We were all so envious of the girl who got to play Michael Jackson's girlfriend! The next day at school my girlfriends and I vowed that when we graduated high school that very day we were going to drive down to Los Angeles and find Michael Jackson's house. We were going to meet him and one of us was going to get to marry him, but we all promised who ever it was the others would be in the wedding!" -Michelle, Sacramento, Calif.

"The year: 1983. The music: Michael Jackson's 'Thriller,' playing on a four-year-old's headphones. Over and over and over. Teaching my canary how to bop to 'Beat It.' (He really did love that song.)" -Melissa, Roanoke, Va.

"I was in junior high school when Thriller was released. My friends and I planned a trip from San Diego to Magic Mountain in Los Angeles. My friend Randy and I listed to the tape for the entire day before the trip so we could memorize all the words. Once we were on our way, Randy's mom popped the tape in the deck and Randy and I sang our hearts out. Our other friends looked at us with amazement and jealousy. They hadn't learned any of the words yet and wished they'd known them. We listened to that tape the whole way up and the whole way back. It was the coolest of cool. And so was Michael ... then." -Shanna, San Diego, Calif.

An unforgettable date
"'Moonwalker.' The movie. My first date with the most beautiful girl in school on a Saturday in February. War in Lebanon was raging back then and to be able to catch a movie was something of an episode. Yet, here I was in the almost empty movie theatre in our "balcony seats" there we were - two teenagers mesmerized by what was going on. We didn't even flirt so much we were dazzled. When the end credits came by, we were too weak to even move." -Tarek, Beirut, Lebanon

Off the wall
"To me, the 'real' Michael, the BEST Michael was around the time of his 'Off the Wall' LP. His music was funky, he was a handsome young African-American man, and seemed to be proud of it. He had sung higher and stronger as a child (with a very traceable James Brown influence), yet in his early twenties, was beginning to forge his own identity." -Jon, Tulsa, Okla.

CONTINUED : 'I still get shivers'

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