I don't believe that the history of pop music will count Jackson as more important than the Beatles, but the fact that his is the story of one person, rather than that of a group, concentrates what lessons or cautionary tales we may choose to draw. Rumors of his treatment at the hands of his father, his encounters with the law and his treatment of his own body point in a direction familiar to me. I believed at one point in my own life that if I could get the millions to love me, it would compensate me for (as I believed) not being loved at home. I am convinced (rightly or wrongly) that this feeling accounts for the quality in our politicians and other public figures we call 'charisma': Charm the people in a substitute for, and in an effort to prove, one's own value. As I was going through all the attention the Monkees generated, I wondered why there was no way to prepare for being famous. Now, I'm pretty sure there is no preparation possible. As (I think) actor Paul Newman said: 'If you're not crazy to do this, you're crazy to do this.' How are you going to listen to people if you have ample reason not to trust anybody? How can you believe anyone who says they can help you through the fame game? Whether a lonely kid is manipulated into performing or simply hides and sings songs at night listening to far-off radio stations, his sense of enforced personal solitude makes it very difficult to believe that anybody's advice is in his own real interest. His experience is that every guidance and suggestion is for the suggester's benefit, not his, and he is only confused by cooing words of affection. I think just about everybody grows up believing two things, at least for some part of their lives. One is that you can't do this life thing alone, and, two, that there is no help. Entertainers (at least this one, and, of course, I believe it of Michael) are particularly susceptible. (I have more recently found the help it takes to get me through life, but that's for another time.) So, it wouldn't be surprising that Jackson had no faith in his own person. His plastic surgeries all suggest (as plastic surgery so often does) that he had no sense of his true human worth. His legal situations suggest to me that he was about 10 to 13 years old emotionally. That's why the young boys he invited to Neverland were companions; he clearly felt that he had playmates in them -- contemporary playmates. Great artists have one characteristic in common: They are extremely dedicated to their art. Whether the time they allot to the practice of their craft cuts down on the time they can allot to growing up, or whether an inability to grow up drives them into the comfort of work is chicken and egg. Jackson just about gave his all. It made him one of the greatest entertainers ever, and cost him his heart. Tork was a member of the Monkees rock band and currently plays with Shoe Suede Blues. 