I thought it was a pretty interesting cooincidence that the day before Michael Jackson died, I hosted a session in the Carter Subaru Mountain Music Lounge with the Hassidic hip-hop reggae artist Matisyahu. (You can hear the whole thing here.)

I asked Matisyahu about something I’d read somewhere — that as a kid he dressed up like Michael Jackson and sang his songs. He said Michael was definitely an early influence, and a big karaoke favorite. When I asked him whether he gravitated toward the young, wide-eyed Jackson 5-era Michael, or the older Thriller-era MJ, Matisyahu threw done a few seconds of “Billy Jean,” beatbox style: (listen)

Kind of amazing to imagine how far and wide the King of Pop’s influence extends. If you can forget all the freaky stuff — the plastic surgery, the dangling baby, Bubbles the chimp, setting his hair on fire, the nasty sexual abuse allegations and sleeping with young boys at Neverland Ranch — Miichael Jackson did create some of the most compelling and brilliant pop music ever. That’s the part I’m going to think about.

(You can read Shawn Stewart’s thoughts about Michael Jackson, and leave your own comments, on her blog here.)