I’ll be honest: before his death yesterday, I never gave much thought to Michael Jackson. Beyond the hits and a mild interest in all those scandals, I didn’t know much about the King of Pop, and didn’t care to. Yes, his work affected a lot of people, and a whole generation grew up with his songs, but can’t you say that about any musician? What makes his death as newsworthy as everything else that happened this week?

Then, while scrolling through the countless online tributes to Jackson, I stumbled across this video:

It’s the Jackson 5 performing “I Want You Back” on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand. And, after watching it, I think I get the Michael Jackson phenomenon now. Here’s this little kid, with a killer voice, singing a relentlessly happy song about heartbreak he’s not even old enough to understand. The performance is flawless, and forecasts a brilliant career with no hint of sex abuse allegations, plastic surgery, or that unnerving, breathy voice. You can’t help but root for him.

Reality, of course, didn’t live up to these expectations. The adult Michael Jackson seemed suspended in childhood, and I heard his name used more often as a punchline than a cultural phenomenon. But there’s something captivating about the child star, something that stuck with him all his life, that we were still waiting on a comeback at age 50. His death — on the brink of a 50-show tour — had the same sense of unrealized potential as his career. In a way, he never had to grow up; even after all these years, there was still more to expect out of Michael Jackson.