1988__Guinness Book Of World Records: Wembley Stadium: Record Breaking SEVEN Sell Out Shows ...MICHAEL JACKSON Sold Out For SEVEN Nights at Wembley Stadium..London_England In The Summer Of 1988. A Total of 504.000 people Saw MICHAEL PERFORM..July 14-16..22-23..and August 26-27_1988. ...MICHAEL Was Presented With An Award For HIS Seven Sold Out Concerts at the Wembley stadium which earned HIM Another Entry Into The Guinness Book Of Records. MICHAEL'S Band members speak of the excitement of playing London's Wembley Stadium. Frank Dileo adds: 'Playing Wembley is one of the biggest honors any artist could have. It's A Status Symbol within artists themselves..whether or not they can sell out Wembley Stadium..And OF COURSE MICHAEL SET A NEW RECORD.. HE SOLD It Out 7 TIMES. You CAN'T Get Any Bigger THAN THAT...
Spune un ziarist de la ,,Rolling Stones" care, sa pare, ca in trecut nu a fost tocmai unul dintre cei care vorbeau admirativ la adresa lui...sau nu numai
A January 27, 2009, column in Vanity Fair by Dee Dee Myers proclaims that U.S. President Barack Obama is the "most famous living person in the history of the world."
Written at perhaps the absolute peak of Obama's popularity, just after his inauguration, Myers puts Obama ahead of such luminaries as the late Princess Diana or former president Bill Clinton. Even the legendary boxer Muhammad Ali can't match Obama's star power, according to Myers.
With all apologies to Myers and Obama, the president's celebrity status may never equal that of Michael Jackson, who died June 25 at the age of 50. Jackson, after all, was a performer for 40 years; Obama himself is only 47 years old. The "King of Pop" has had decades to spread his influence around the world to generations of people, while Obama has really only been in the international consciousness for about two years.
Let me put it this way: The only person more recognized than the "King of Pop" would have to be Christ himself. According to www.adherents.com, Christianity is the world's largest religion with about 2.1 billion followers, or one-third of the Earth's human population. The world's 1.5 billion Muslims also recognize Jesus in their holy scripture, the Quran, and surely some of the 1.1 billion non-religious people have at least heard of Christ. That's a pretty decent fan base.
Second to Jesus, however, would have to be Jackson. No other person has crossed cultural and physical boundaries like he has. Jackson was the first international pop star to perform in post-Soviet Russia, for example. In a June 26 article on www.CNN.com, one Russian recalled that "For Russians, America was like another planet and Michael Jackson was the king of that planet ... (He) was seen as the face of the crazy American life."
Sony, Jackson's music label, estimates that "The King of Pop" has sold about 750 million albums worldwide. Elvis Presley's official Web site, www.elvis.com, claims that the other "king" has sold more than 1 billion albums. Many people might argue that Presley is perhaps the most well-known person to ever live, or at least the most famous entertainer in the history of the world. Both Jackson and Presley have legions of die-hard fans and even followers who have made careers out of being Elvis or MJ impersonators. Presley, however has been dead for 32 years and never had the benefit of MTV, the Internet or the 24-hour news cycle of the new millennium. As a major Elvis fan, even I have to grudgingly admit that the "King of Rock ‘n' Roll" may no longer be more well-known than Jackson, especially with Jackson's recent passing. As of this writing, Jackson occupied 39 spots on Apple's iTunes Top 100 song downloads and 21 of the top 100 album downloads. Jackson also hogged 14 of the top 25 best-selling music items on www.amazon.com.
England's Times Online reported that the 750,000 tickets to Jackson's 50 planned "This Is It" concerts at London's O2 Arena sold at a rate of 11 per second, or about 40,000 per hour. Even though Jackson had not performed in years, fans were falling over themselves to see "The King of Pop." I can't imagine any other band or artist that could garner that much attention.
If people didn't somehow know of Jackson's musical accomplishments, they certainly saw Jackson as at least a curiosity. For example, he paraded his children around the world as he and the kids all wore surgical masks to hide from the cameras. Jackson, who as a boy was obviously black, somehow became white over the years and drastically changed his facial appearance, too. And perhaps his most famous moments of the past decade, unfortunately, were when Jackson was accused of child molestation and the trial that followed. If nothing else, Jackson was just plain weird to many people, which may have only added to his fame, albeit as a punch line.
If you still don't think Michael Jackson is the second-most famous person to ever walk the Earth, look no further than YouTube. The Web site features a video of hundreds of Philippine prison detainees dancing in unison to Jackson's "Thriller." The video has more than 27 million views. I can't imagine Obama or anyone else being remembered in such a way in any third-world country, let alone in a prison.
I'm sure some of my dear readers might disagree that Jesus is the most famous person to ever live, or even that Jackson is second to Jesus in terms of celebrity. In time, perhaps Obama may surpass Jackson, but surely not Jesus. In that case, I ask you: Who is the most famous person to ever live? Where does Michael Jackson rank?
I'm eagerly awaiting your response to this "Thriller" of a column.
This story is dated June 27, 2009. Thought appropriate to share today considering it is Australia Day for many of my MJ Fanmily.
Michael Jackson's closest Australian confidant, Wade Robson, has broken his silence about the iconic entertainer's death, revealing the impact Jackson had on his life. "Michael Jackson changed the world and, more personally, my life forever," Robson said. "He is the reason I dance, the reason I make music, and one of the main reasons I believe in the pure goodness of human kind."
Jackson was touring Australia in 1987 when during his stop in Brisbane he met Robson who was just five years old. Jackson was so impressed with Robson's dancing talent he invited the youngster to perform at his Brisbane concert and then helped Robson, his mother Joy and sister Chantal move to the US two years later. Jackson signed Robson to his music label. Robson, now aged 26 and based in Los Angeles, is one of the world's best known dance choreographers, working with the likes of Britney Spears, NSYNC, Usher and Pink. He is the winner of two Emmy Awards for choreography and had his own show on MTV, The Wade Robson Project. Robson also appeared in three of Jackson's music videos, Black or White, Jam and Heal the World. "He has been a close friend of mine for 20 years," Robson said. "His music, his movement, his personal words of inspiration and encouragement and his unconditional love will live inside of me forever. "I will miss him immeasurably, but I know that he is now at peace and enchanting the heavens with a melody and a moonwalk. "I love you Michael."
Robson's close relationship at a young age with Jackson, and the nights he spent at Jackson's Neverland ranch, did draw controversy and resulted in Robson being called to testify at Jackson's 2005 molestation trial in California. Robson defended Jackson and rejected the allegations against him.
-On the set of the Black or White video, director John Landis had to keep asking Michael Jackson to stop grabbing his crotch and rubbing himself on camera. "Madonna does it. Prince does it," Jackson pointed out. "You're not Madonna or Prince," Landis replied. "You're Mickey Mouse."
The elementary school where Michael Jackson once roamed the halls could be the alma mater of the next king or queen of pop.
Gardner Street Elementary School in Hollywood, where Michael Jackson attended sixth grade, will kick off its Michael Jackson Music Education Lab with an open house Monday for students and parents.
The lab will feature a new curriculum and interactive music education program created to teach students how to read music, play piano and compose and arrange music.
The MusIQ program and its lab will incorporate personal computers and M-Audio MIDI keyboards into its curriculum. The lab was built with donations from parents and local community organizations and businesses.
A 1994 Open Letter from Michael Jackson to his critics:
The version I have seen was featured in People's tribute magazine to Michael and shows the letter in his own handwriting (see below).
"Like the old Indian proverb says, do not judge a man until you've walked 2 moons in his mocassins.
Most people don't know me, that is why they write such things in which most is not true.
I cry very often because it hurts and I worry about the children, all my children all over the world. I live for them.
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, his story could not be written.
Animals strike, not from malice, but because they want to live. It is the same with those who criticize. They desire our blood, not our pain.
But still I must achieve. I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth. For the world. For the children.
But have mercy, for I've been bleeding a long time now.
MJ
When Michael Jackson's family and fans gather in the courtyard of Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood this week and use his shoes to create footprints in cement, it will be the King of Pop's legacy as a music icon that takes center stage.
Music, however, wasn't Jackson's only talent. He was a sharp and polished entrepreneur who knew his audience and who, up until his death in 2009, was constantly trying to improve his product and refine his brand.
In an exclusive interview with BusinessNewsDaily, Vogel talks about Jackson's legacy as an entertainer, businessman and innovator and what lessons he offered all of us.
BusinessNewsDaily: Michael Jackson was clearly more than just talented and more than just lucky. He must have had some other quality – some entrepreneur-like quality– that helped him on his road to become the King of Pop. Can you describe it?
Joe Vogel: One of Michael Jackson's greatest qualities was his ability to envision something in his mind – something bold and different and innovative – and then have the willpower and work ethic to realize it. He was constantly challenging himself and those around him to push beyond the ordinary. He often had friends and collaborators read "Jonathan Livingston Seagull," a fable about refusing to conform and striving for excellence. You see, even with his "This Is It" concerts at the age of 50, he wouldn't accept mediocrity. He wanted the shows to be unlike anything people had experienced before.
BND: Do you think his decision to constantly reinvent himself was a conscious one in an effort to always become something new and exciting for his audience, or do you think he just naturally evolved as he got older?
J.V.: Michael Jackson understood that stagnation for an artist was death. He hated the idea of simply repeating formulas. So he was constantly transforming, re-inventing his image and style and sound, keeping people guessing and wanting more.
But there are also continuities to his image/persona: certain symbols, trademarks and qualities. He is perhaps the only artist who can be represented in five to 10 different poses in silhouette and people know exactly who it is. He was very deliberate about his choices. One thing he always feared was overexposure. He knew that the magical aura associated with him, the excitement could be retained only by withholding from his audience. So, for example, he would never do a whole circuit of TV performances and interviews to promote an album the way most artists do today. He would do one show, and the buildup to it would be incredible.
BND: How do you think he would have described the Michael Jackson brand? What was he trying to sell?
J.V.: I think Michael was a lot like Steve Jobs in that each new product – whether an album or video or single – was an event. There was all kinds of hype and anticipation. So the brand was about that excitement, because you knew whatever he was releasing was going to be cutting-edge, unique and of the highest quality.
BND: Did he make good business decisions? What were some of his best and worst?
J.V.: Michael made very good business decisions for the first 10-15 years of his adult career, and very bad ones in his final 10-15 years. His smartest decision was to not only retain the rights to his own master recordings (before him, there was a long history of exploitation in the music industry, particularly of African-American artists), but to also actively acquire other publishing rights, including the Beatles catalog.
His worst decisions came when he had a lot of money and not much consistency or oversight. His management, beginning in the early '90s, became a revolving door. He became vulnerable to extortion, exploitation and excessive spending because he no longer had a trustworthy, vigilant, dedicated team around him.
BND: What could any business owner or entrepreneur learn from Michael Jackson?
J.V.: I think the main thing an entrepreneur or business owner could learn from Michael Jackson is that doing something great requires both vision and work. Michael approached each new project with boundless passion, and that energy was infectious to collaborators. But what really impressed those who worked with him was that he could bring his ideas to fruition. He dreamed big and then worked tirelessly until his dreams came to life.
Miss Rose Fine (tutor) "It was Rose who instilled in me a love of books ,and literature that sustains me today. I read everything I could get my hands on. New cities meant new places to shop. We loved to shop, especially in bookstores and department stores," "She [Miss Rose Fine] taught me the wonderful world of books and reading and I wouldn't be the same person if it wasn't for her." ~ Michael Jackson
Repost: Caring Michael: Miss Rose Fine who was Michael and his brothers tutor when they were young and on tour. Some of Michaels thoughts on Rose in 2002.
Edited: … Rose Fine, who was my beloved childhood tutor and who traveled with me and my brothers when we were all in the Jackson Five. MJ: After the show I would run into [Rose Fine’s] room. We’d read and have warm milk and I needed that so b...adly. She would always say to me, “The door’s open”, and she would leave her door open. Q: Rose Fine, although she wasn’t your biological mother, was able to show you a lot of motherly affection? MJ: And boy did I need it. I was never with my mother when I was little, very seldom, and I had a wonderful mother. I see her as an angel, and I was always gone, always on tour, doing back-to-back concerts, all over America, overseas, clubs, just always gone. [Rose Fine] was with us all the way from the very first professional tour of the Jackson 5 until I was eighteen. MJ: Rose died this year, Janet and myself, we paid for her nurse and her hospital care, or if her television broke down or the electricity, or there was anything wrong with the house, we would cover the bills. Now her husband is sick, so I am taking care of him, and because we felt she is our mother and you take care of your mother… She was more than a tutor and I was so angry at myself that when she died I was far, far away. I couldn’t get there.
. Michael also tells that when they were touring on the planes, the authorities would ask Rose who she was as she was the only white lady travelling with them and Rose would say she was 'their mum'.
intresant...abia acum aflam aceste lucruri..nu stiu daca in biografie scrie de femeia asta-...
Some quotes from the Moriarty book, regarding the two women friends the BGs talked about. They were nicknamed "Friend" and "Flower."
"...each would occasionally come to visit their boss. Mike Garcia speaks about driving them to meet up with Mr. Jackson when one of the women came to Las Vegas to spend privte time with him. The three men believed that Mr. Jackson used nicknames for the women in order to protect their identities."
"Mr. Jackson did not entertain either of his female friends in the presence of his children nor did they come to his house."
"When Mr. Jackson was visited by one of the women, the security team covertly made all of his requested arrangements. The guards escorted Mr. Jackson into the reserved hotel suite without the knowledge or cooperation of hotel management."
"He could have someone he truly liked and she could reciprocate his feelings. They 'acted like high school sweethearts.' laughing, giggling, and joking around. They spoke on the telephone often, so much that Mr. Jackson accumulated huge monthly long-distance phone bills."
SI AICI , CEVA INTERESANT DESPRE BROOKE
Its from a book by an australian entertainer who befriended Brooke Shields while she was filming a movie in Sydney (in 1993):
Legs 11, by Rhonda Burchmore
Quote:
I remember one dinner when she got a phone call from this guy named Michael. After talking to him for quite some time she hung up and told me it was this guy in the States who wanted to marry her and had become obsessed about it. I told her to tell him to take a jump, but she smiled and said it wasn't that easy. He was Michael Jackson. The Michael Jackson.
Well, that did make it a little different I suppose.
Brooke said that Michael wanted her to marry him and live in Neverland and how he'd take care of everything. I couldn't help thinking that the poor girl was going from one prison into another.
She told me she liked him but didn't love him and didn't know how to explain that without hurting him. And so, the Michael calls continued day and night trying to wear her into submission.
P:You seemed to keep a very dignified silence regarding the passing of Michael Jackson. What are your most powerful feelings about him?
N: Well, I did give a short statement which I think you should do. I said that I had grown up with him, that he was a good friend and that he was the most exciting and innovative entertainer to have lived. I was very fortunate to see Michael last fall, and he was great. In fact I took Kate to see him, Pat McGrath, Mert and Marcus, we all went to say hello to him.
P:Where?
N:In Los Angeles. We all had a very nice tea together. And he was in great form. He was looking very much forward to coming here... he wasn't even coming to do the concerts then, he was just coming to visit. He was very kind to me and my family. The last concert he did in London he invited my whole family; my grandmother, my cousins, my aunts, he was very gracious. And when I worked with him it was fun because he was like a child. In that In The Closet video, to have him just in pair of jeans and a t-shirt with his hair back, that video is where he looks the most simple.
It was a lot of work to get him down to that but it was fun. I had such a lot of fun on that video. We had a big whipped cream fight on the last day. I was all bandaged up and wrapped up in army clothes to protect myself from getting covered with the cream.
P:Did you know him before that?
N:Before he asked me to do the In the Closet video, no.
P: Were you star struck at all?
N:No. I wasn't star struck. He was someone I had grown up with all my life so I was very respectful, I admired him, and was very honoured and blessed to do his video. I just try to savour those moments.
P:What did you think about Michael's memorial service?
N:I have nothing to say about the ceremony because I think that is the way that his family wanted to do it. I think it was correct to show it to the world because the whole world was mourning Michael Jackson and his incredible music and career.
Willa Stillwater is the author of M Poetica: Michael Jackson's Art of Connection and Defiance and "Rereading Michael Jackson," an article that summarizes some of the central ideas of M Poetica. She has a Ph.D. in English literature, and her doctoral research focused on the ways in which cultural narratives (such as racism) are made real for us by being "written" on our bodies. She sees this concept as an important element of Michael Jackson's work, part of what he called social conditioning. She has been a Michael Jackson fan since she was nine years old. Joie Collins is one of the founding Team Members of the Michael Jackson Fan Club (MJFC). She has written extensively for MJFC, helping to create the original website back in 1999 and overseeing both the News and History sections of the website. Over the years she has conducted several interviews on behalf of MJFC and also directs correspondence for the club. She also had the great fortune to have been a guest at Neverland. She has been a Michael Jackson fan since she was three years old.
Joie: Well, you asked for it, so here it is. And as my girls, Salt-n-Pepa, would say … “Let’s talk about sex, baby!”
So, three weeks ago, a discussion of They Don’t Care About Us somehow ventured into the realm of Michael Jackson’s incredible sex appeal (that may have been my fault) and the comments section went wild.
Willa: Joie! Michael Jackson sexy? I’m truly shocked. My interest in Michael Jackson is purely academic, I assure you. I never once noticed those amazing eyes, or the incredible way he moved his body on stage, or that cute little tush in Thriller….
Joie: Well, since you never noticed any of those things, Willa, how about those luscious lips? Or the seductive way his voice pulls you in? Or that sexy little laugh of his? Or the wonderful way he filled out those amazing gold pants on the History tour….
Willa: I was wondering how long it would take you to mention those gold pants.
Joie: What can I say; I’m a very visual person! Anyway, Willa and I obviously hit on a little discussed taboo of sorts with many of you commenting that this topic is kind of the ultimate elephant in the room. And since this blog is all about inviting those elephants onto the dance floor, we thought we’d start the new year off by cutting a rug with the biggest elephant of them all.
You know, to be completely honest, Willa, I was more than a little surprised when we received so many comments asking for this discussion. I mean … I always saw Michael as unbelievably sexy and very handsome, and I knew that I wasn’t the only one out there who felt this way about him. As Aldebaran pointed out in a comment after that post, all you have to do is go to YouTube and it’s very easy to find these really sensual, fan-made videos that showcase Michael’s sexy side – a little guilty pleasure I like to call ‘MJ porn.’ And it is all over YouTube; there must be at least a couple hundred of them out there. So, I knew I wasn’t alone. (And by the way, let me just take this opportunity to personally thank all of those who have created said videos and posted them on YouTube for my enjoyment; you have no idea how much I appreciate it!).
But, I guess what shocked me was that so many of our readers asked for a “serious” discussion about Michael’s sex appeal and how the media fought really hard to deny him the sex-symbol status that he so easily deserved.
Willa: It’s an important question, but it’s difficult to talk about. Not only is it somewhat taboo, even now, it’s also very nebulous and subjective. It’s hard to identify what it is, exactly, that makes him so unbelievably hot.
Joie: No it isn’t; have you looked at him?!
Willa: I know, I know. But different people respond in different ways, and for different reasons. He was incredibly attractive, but not all attractive people are sexy. He was also very sensitive and kind, and passionate in his beliefs, and unbelievably smart, and very funny, and had that amazing voice, and could move like a panther, and have you noticed the veins in his forearms? I have to say, he has very nice veins….
Joie: And nice hands too, really big and masculine….
Willa: Anyway, it’s all very subjective, and for me personally it’s difficult to talk about simply because my own feelings are so complicated. They’re all mixed up with issues of race and deep cultural taboos and my own childhood, and it’s hard to sort that all out.
You know, from the first time I heard “Ben” on the radio, I felt this deep connection to Michael Jackson – just this overwhelming sense that he was a kindred spirit. It wasn’t sexual at all – I was 11 years old – it was just this comforting feeling that he was someone who looked at things the same way I did and felt about things the same way I did, and that he was someone I could talk to about things that were troubling me. And what was troubling me, for the most part, were the things I was seeing and hearing as they integrated the local schools. He really helped me through all that, and I still feel very grateful for that.
And then fast forward a few years, and suddenly he’s grown up into the sexiest guy you can imagine, and it was just stunning to me. I couldn’t believe it. It was like, Wow, you sure turned out well! That metamorphosis was amazing and wonderful, but also pretty confusing. He was gorgeous – the most handsome man I’d ever seen – but he was so gorgeous it was kind of alienating. He seemed so exotic somehow, with his sultry eyes and his hot bod and his boa constrictors.
But he was like my childhood friend and felt so familiar to me. So there was this weird conflict between the exotic and the familiar.
And then there was the ugly prejudice that White girls weren’t supposed to be attracted to Black boys. Especially in the South, White girls who dated Black boys were seen as disgusting, “white trash,” and even though I strongly disagreed with that, I couldn’t help but be aware of it. I knew what people thought of those girls. But he was incredibly sexy, and I was undeniably attracted to him – very attracted to him – and it didn’t feel wrong to me at all. Plus, as I said, he felt so familiar to me, and there was no way I could accept that the strong connection I felt to him was wrong. It was too important to me, and had been too much a part of me for too long to deny that connection.
So it was like this weird battle going on within me between the familiar and the exotic, the desirable and the taboo – between what my culture was telling me I should feel, and what I felt within myself.
Joie: That’s very interesting to me because my own experience is way at the other end of the spectrum. I guess I can understand what a confusing situation that would be for you, but as a little Black girl I never had to go through any of that. For me it was just the opposite really. Michael and his brothers were the toast of the Black community, the pride of an entire race of people so, it was not only natural for me to love him but it was even encouraged in a way. All young Black kids were encouraged to look up to them. So when he suddenly became this ultra sexy, super hot grown up young man, it felt very natural to me. In fact, I can tell you exactly when I had my first real boy-girl “thing,” if you will. It was the very first time I saw the Rock With You video. I was just hitting puberty when the Off The Wall album came out and suddenly, I somehow understood that those lyrics - “I wanna ROCK with you, all night” – were not really about dancing at all! And then the video came out and seeing him in that tight, sparkly silver jumpsuit and boots….
it was the first time I ever thought of him (or anyone else, for that matter) in an actual “adult” way, if you know what I mean!
Willa: Joie, seriously, you have revolutionized the way I feel about that song. It’s amazing. I can’t even listen to that song in the car any more. Talk about vivid imagery: “Relax your mind / Lay back and groove with mine.” Oh my. I mean, really. My, oh my. And they say cell phones are distracting! That song should come with a warning label. Someone is going to be driving along all blissed out and have an accident.
Joie: I know, right? And to this day, that song and video are still very special to me. But I understand completely when you talk about the “weird conflict between the exotic and the familiar” because I certainly experienced that as well. From as far back as I can remember, he was just always a part of my life – even as a very small child. And as you said, he was like the best friend that I could always talk to. But then, all of a sudden, he was A MAN, and making me keenly aware of the fact that I was now becoming a young woman! From that point on, my life-long obsession with Michael Jackson took on a whole new dimension; there was now this whole other facet to him and to my MJ mania. And over the years that mania only deepened as the songs and the videos got steamier and the pants got tighter.
Willa: So we’re back to the gold pants again, are we? You are too funny!
Joie: Oh, but it’s not just gold pants – there are also red leather pants like in Blood on the Dance Floor and red jeans like in Thriller, and various pairs of black pants – some of them even black patent leather like in the Come Together video and Scream – oh, and gray leather pants and also quite a few pairs of very nice looking blue jeans as well, so … uh … hmm? Um … what were we talking about … ?
Willa: I have no idea. I’m feeling a little distracted. But as long as we’re on the topic, how about In the Closet? What a truly inspiring film that is….
Joie: YES! Tight black jeans! Hair pulled back into a ponytail, form-fitting sleeveless t-shirt. Wonderful short film! Very … artistic!
Willa: Absolutely. And I love the way you put that. It’s very … artistic … on many different levels. It’s smart and funny and visually interesting (I love the silhouettes) and incredibly steamy. We can’t possibly talk about Michael Jackson’s tremendous sex appeal and not mention In the Closet.
Joie: Sex appeal! Right! That’s what we were talking about … is it hot in here?
Willa: Don’t ask me – I’ve been fanning my face with a dishtowel since we started.
Joie: Maybe we should open a window or something…. But, you know, the really intriguing thing about Michael’s sex appeal is that it is only spoken about in a sort of “hush-hush” way and only among fans.
Willa: I don’t know – I’ve visited a few forums where his fans aren’t very hush-hush at all. In fact, they can get pretty worked up sometimes. But you’re right, it isn’t talked about much outside certain fan sites.
Joie: Well that’s true, the fans can get a little bit raunchy sometimes (myself included). But, it’s not talked about outside of certain fan sites and I have never really understood that because he was such an incredibly sexy man and, at times, he was even what I would call overtly sexual – especially when he was onstage.
Willa: That’s true, he could be very sensual on stage, but as he told Rabbi Boteach, “I don’t think I’ve ever done anything offensive on stage, ever,” and I agree.
Joie: Oh, don’t get me wrong; I was not complaining!
Willa: But to get back to what you were saying earlier, it’s really interesting to me that, for both of us, our attitudes toward Michael Jackson evolved as he grew up, and we grew up. And the ways our feelings evolved were very similar in some ways and very different in others.
Joie: Yeah, I’d be interested to know how many others had a similar experience. And the fact that he was this undeniably, unbelievably sexy man – and that literally millions of women (and men) the world over felt this way about him – was completely and totally ignored by the media is really weird. Why was that? I think Ultravioletrae hit the nail on the head when she commented,
“The real issue is that society just couldn’t accept that he dared to challenge what a black man is ‘supposed’ to be. He just wouldn’t go and sit in that box. As a group we are completely blind to what happened and still won’t discuss it…. I think sexuality is at the heart of it. When J5 introduced their string of #1 hits, everyone went wild. But there was this uncomfortable dilemma that had to be dealt with – the tacit understanding that good little white girls do not fall in love with black boys. Without even having to be told, white girls knew this behavior wouldn’t be tolerated and they were directed to ‘more suitable’ white alternatives. The teen magazines of the day focused on Donny Osmond and David Cassidy.”
This is such a true statement and the “uncomfortable dilemma” that Ultravioletrae mentions only got worse over the years as Michael transitioned from this heartbreakingly adorable teen idol into this explosively sexy adult icon. And after the success of Thriller, he was literally the biggest, most influential artist of our time and that worried a lot of people. The establishment couldn’t let a Black man be rich, successful and sexually appealing to young White women too. That was just out of the question. So they did everything they could to convince the general public that he was freaky looking. He had altered his face by plastic surgery; what a weirdo! Getting a nose job? Oh my God, who does that?!
Willa: Elvis, for one – a previous teen idol – but it was a much bigger issue for Michael Jackson because the shape of your nose has been designated a racial signifier. So when Elvis changed the shape of his nose, it was simply seen as an aesthetic decision. But when Michael Jackson changed the shape of his nose, it tapped into all these big unsettling questions about what it means to be Black, and it wasn’t seen as an aesthetic decision, but as a commentary on how he situated himself in terms of race. Because everything he did was viewed through the lens of our racial history, everything was always so much more complicated for him.
Joie: And because he was the biggest celebrity our society had ever seen, everything he did was always so much more exaggerated by the media as well.
Willa: But I think you’re right: the larger issue is the taboo against sexual attraction between White women and Black men, and it’s a taboo on both sides of the equation. Not only is it shameful for White women to be attracted to Black men; traditionally, it’s also been very dangerous for Black men to attract White women. Black men have been tortured and killed for that, with their bodies displayed as a warning to other Black men. And this taboo wasn’t enforced only during slave times. In Malcolm X’s autobiography, he talks about being caught committing a burglary and receiving an overly harsh prison term, and he suggests his real “crime” wasn’t petty theft but dating White women.
Joie: Well you know, that whole sexual taboo surrounding the Black man’s size and prowess – that’s been the driving force behind lynchings throughout history. It makes me think of the lyrics to “Threatened,”
Every time your lady speaks she speaks of me, threatened
Half of me you’ll never be, so you should feel threatened by me
You know I love that song; it’s one of my favorites but, I never really thought of it in terms of race before, but I recently read a comment from AnaisKarim where she suggested “Threatened” could be viewed through that racial lens. I think she could be on to something.
But even today, in 2012, it’s an issue. Of course, no one really likes to admit it but, there are still lots of people out there on both sides of the racial divide who either outright disapprove or secretly cringe every time they see a Black man with a White woman. Just last month, I read a news story online about a church in Kentucky that does not allow interracial couples to join their congregation. They don’t care if Black people join their church – that is fine. But interracial couples are not welcome!
Willa: And there was an advice column in the newspaper a couple weeks ago with a letter from a Southern White woman. She was being shunned by her friends – people she had been close to her entire adult life – because they found out she had dated a Black man a few times. It’s just unbelievable how entrenched some of those prejudices are, and how people mindlessly follow those prejudices.
And this taboo against sexual attraction between Black men and White women plays out in ways that can be very threatening and dangerous. In Ralph Ellison’s Invisible Man, the main character is a successful high school student, and he’s invited to give a speech about race relations to the town’s White leaders. (As I remember, his speech talks about how Black men can succeed if they maintain a proper humility.) But when he arrives to give his speech, he finds himself in a boxing ring with a bunch of other young Black men, and then a White stripper begins dancing among them as the lecherous town leaders look on.
The emotions of that scene are absolutely electric as the protagonist describes what he and the other young Black men feel toward this woman: desire, anger, compassion, hatred, and sheer terror that she will go too far and the White men will punish them for it. That dynamic Ralph Ellison describes so well of White men using White women as an excuse to punish and intimidate Black men has a very long and very ugly history.
Joie: Yes it does. A history rooted in racial violence and the blood of way too many young Black men who were lynched, beaten and/or killed for the crime of attracting – or sometimes even just looking at – a White woman.
Willa: Or sometimes the “crime” was political activism, but they were falsely accused of being a threat to White women to stir up a mob.
So how does that long-standing taboo against Black men being sexually attractive to White women play itself out when you’re the first Black teen idol and millions of women of all races think you’re the hottest thing ever? That’s a very complicated and very dangerous position to be in, and I think Michael Jackson was well aware of it. To Kill a Mockingbird was one of his favorite movies, and it’s the story of a lonely White woman who’s attracted to a Black man and kisses him, but when her father walks in and sees them, she claims the man accosted her. The story focuses on his trial, and even though his lawyer proves he’s innocent, the White jury finds him guilty. It does not have a happy ending.
Apparently, Michael Jackson watched that movie frequently during his 2005 trial to help steel himself for everything he had to endure, and the parallels and connections between that movie and his own life are chilling. I don’t think it’s coincidental that our nation’s first Black teen idol was falsely accused of sex crimes by an angry entitled White man. And I don’t think it’s coincidental that a White District Attorney blindly accepted that man’s accusations despite all the contrary evidence, and then used those false accusations as an excuse to hound and harass him for years. And I don’t think it’s coincidental that a largely White media (his self-appointed jury) repeatedly portrayed him as guilty even though the evidence clearly indicates he was innocent, and even though an actual jury weighed the evidence in the 2005 trial and found him innocent.
Joie: You know, I honestly never thought about it in those terms before but, you are probably exactly right. It wasn’t coincidental, and certainly not surprising either given the very fact that he was our nation’s first Black teen idol and he did draw the adoration of millions of young girls around the world – more than half of whom were probably White. The only way his story could have played out was with him being falsely accused of sex crimes by a White individual. History always repeats itself and with a Black personality of his magnitude, how could it have played out any other way?
Willa: You’re absolutely right, Joie. History does repeat itself, because we make it repeat itself. There are certain cultural narratives that we tell ourselves over and over again, and we keep forcing different people to fit into those same old stories again and again and again. So of course our nation’s first Black teen idol was falsely accused of sex crimes and attacked by an angry White mob – though in Michael Jackson’s case, the mob was equipped with cameras rather than ropes.
But the amazing thing is that, ultimately, the story did end differently this time because Michael Jackson subverted that narrative and tried to change it – he attempted to change that cultural narrative. It seems impossible, like moving a mountain, but he took it on. And while it’s still too early to tell how successful he was, the attempt itself is fascinating.
So next week we’ll look at a really huge topic: the interconnections of race and sexuality in our nation’s history, and what the implications were for Michael Jackson, and how he fought back.
Joie: For now here’s a little treat we recently came across and found fascinating. This is supposedly an alternate version of one of my favorite videos, Blood on the Dance Floor. Shot by Vincent Patterson, who also shot the version we all know and love, this one is said to have been done with a handheld 8mm camera and then purposely overexposed for the grainy result. The story is that Michael loved it but Sony was not pleased and rejected it. However, Willa and I want to point out that we so far have zero confirmation of any of that so, if you have any info that can shed some light, let us know. In the meantime, enjoy!
