Michael Jackson (99 page)

In
Living with Michael Jackson
, Martin accused Michael of having little time for his own youngsters: Prince Michael I, then five; Paris Katherine Michael,
four; and baby Prince Michael II. Of the Jackson offspring, Martin noted, ‘The children are restricted. They are over protected.’
He branded Michael ‘broken, childish and self-obsessed’. He said, ‘I came away quite saddened and deeply disturbed by what
I saw.’

However, on Michael’s footage, Bashir gushes, ‘Your relationship with your kids is fantastic. In fact, it almost makes me
weep when I see you with them because your interaction is so natural, so loving and so caring. Everyone that comes into contact
with you knows that.’ Michael Jackson replies: ‘Thank you.’

Did this film make Martin Bashir appear to be a liar, and Michael an exemplary parent? Perhaps, to some, it did. To others,
it came as little surprise that an interviewer would attempt to ingratiate himself to the person that he’s talking to in order
to encourage him to be more candid.

It was then decided that Michael would release an entire two-hour documentary about his life, as seen by him and some of his
inner-circle. Fox-TV, in America, paid him two million dollars for the rights to
The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See
, and then the programme was sold around the world. Because his interpretation of Martin Bashir’s un-released footage would
not have been enough to sustain an entire documentary, Katherine and Joseph were brought in to defend him, as were others
such as his brother, Jermaine, his makeup artist, Karen Faye, and Debbie Rowe.

Debbie’s attempts to explain her relationship to Michael, and to their children, may have done him more harm than good. ‘My
kids don’t call me Mom because I don’t want them to,’ she said. ‘They’re Michael’s children. It’s not that they are not my
children, but I had them because I wanted him to be a father. People make remarks, “I can’t believe she left her children.”
Left them? I left my children? I did
not
leave my children. My children are with their father, where they are supposed to be. I didn’t do it to be a mother… If he
called me tonight and said let’s have five more [children], I’d do it in a heartbeat.’

She seems well-meaning; her heart in the right place. However, Debbie’s unconventional relationship with Michael, and especially
with her children, is perplexing, no matter how much logic she tries to ascribe to it. It’s probably better left unpublicized,
unexploited.

After the duelling documentaries were broadcast – Martin’s and Michael’s – Michael once again dismissed his longtime attorney,
John Branca, this time, by fax. John was said to be sorry to go, but also a bit relieved. His had been an exhausting job,
on and off for twenty-five years, made even more frustrating when Michael stopped taking his good advice. As a friend as well
as his attorney for so many years, it was difficult for him to see Michael make some of his choices. Also, the woman managing
Michael at this time, Trudy Green, quit her position – she, too, did not know Michael had finalized a deal with Bashir until
it was too late to do anything about it. Then, Michael fired his accountant, Barry Siegel, as if completely cleaning out the
shop.

At this same time, a website published previously unseen documents filed by authorities a decade before when Jordie Chandler
detailed his alleged sexual abuse at Michael’s hands. It had to happen; more reminders of the past misery with Jordie and
Evan, and all as a result of the appearance of impropriety that resulted from footage of Michael holding hands with a twelve-year-old
on the Martin Bashir documentary. After the release of the lurid five-page document, Michael issued a statement saying he
‘has respected the obligation of confidentiality’ and that Jordie’s declaration was just being used to ‘further sully’ his
[Michael’s] character. ‘It will never go away, will it?’ he then asked one adviser, seeming miserable. Just when he was able
to forget about Jordie Chandler for a time, he had to once again be reminded of him. ‘It’s not fair. Why won’t the media leave
me alone?’ he asked. ‘Why?’

If Michael truly wants to redeem himself, perhaps he should do the one thing he has never done: join us, the general public,
in acknowledging the strange, disturbing aspects of some of his behaviour and attribute them to
something
, rather than continue to act as if they don’t exist. Instead, he issues statements such as one after the Martin Bashir interview,
in which he said, ‘I am bewildered at the length to which people will go to portray me so negatively.’ Then, he allows his
enablers to come forth with their own proclamations: ‘He’s not crazy. It’s the
public
that’s crazy. He’s not nuts. It’s the
public
that’s nuts. Why don’t you understand?
Why don ‘t you get it?
‘ Rather, one wishes Michael Jackson would be the one to finally ‘get it’, apologize for any perceived impropriety and say,
‘To tell you the truth, I don’t know
what
I was thinking.’

Michael Jackson survived the devastating child molestation allegations of a decade ago, but it could be argued not without
considerable damage to his recording career. In fact, his record sales have dipped dramatically since 1993.

In 1995, a double CD was issued,
HIStory – Past, Present & Future, Book 1
. The package boasted fifteen of his greatest hits (‘Beat It’, ‘Billie Jean’, and the rest) and fifteen new songs, such as
the thoughtful ‘Stranger in Moscow’, the elegant ‘Earth Song’ and ‘Scream’ (with Janet, the first single release from the
package).

‘You Are Not Alone’, also included, remains among Michael’s best songs; it made chart history in America by becoming the first
song ever to go straight to number one on the
Billboard
charts in its first week. It also topped the chart in Britain, after debuting there at number three. On listening to ‘You
Are Not Alone’, one wonders how many times Michael tried to tell himself, during his most desperate and anguished times, that
he
did
have support in his life, from a higher power, or even friends and family, whether he actually believed it or not.

The only problem with ‘You Are Not Alone’ was the bizarre video for it, in which Michael and Lisa Marie frolic about semi-nude
against an ethereal backdrop. ‘I don’t know why I did it,’ Lisa says. ‘I was sucked up in the moment. It was kind of cool
being in a Michael Jackson video. Come on!’ Actually, the semi-nudity made no sense and was a bit disconcerting; one wished
they would put their clothes back on.

Another stand-out is Michael’s version of Charlie Chaplain’s ‘Smile’. What a vocal performance and delivery he gives to this
song! Never has he sounded more sincere, more gorgeous. The song was scheduled for release as a single, but cancelled at the
last minute when it was decided it was probably not commercial. However, some promotional CDs – now collectors’ items – did slip
out, with pictures of Michael nattily dressed as Charlie Chaplain.

Huge statues of Michael were constructed and unveiled in a number of European cities to coincide with the record’s release.
(Leave it to Michael to have a huge statue of himself towed down the Thames as a publicity stunt!) Also, a controversy over
the lyrics of ‘They Don’t Care About Us’ broke out, with Michael accused of anti-Semitism because of his lyrics ‘kike me’
and ‘jew me’. He replaced them with ‘strike me’ and ‘do me’ as a result.

However, any publicity for Michael is usually good publicity when he’s promoting a record.
HIStory
went on to sell about fifteen million copies worldwide, a slip down from
Dangerous
, which had managed twenty-seven million (
Bad
sold twenty-five million;
Thriller
went on to fifty-two million, and
Off the Wall
, fifteen million). Still,
HIStory
was a major success – artistically as well as commercially – though one largely ignored by a media still distracted by his turbulent
and vastly entertaining personal life.

Blood on the Dance Dloor – History in the Mix
, Michael’s 1997 album, contained five new songs and eight previously unreleased, kick-ass dance remixes of songs such as
‘Scream’, ‘You Are Not Alone’ and ‘Stranger in Moscow’ from
HIStory
. Several of the other songs on
Blood
are also memorable. ‘Ghosts’ stands out, perhaps because it’s so evocative of Michael’s spell-binding ‘Ghosts’ long-styled
video in which he is transformed into an old, white man with no rhythm. (It’s classic, must-see Michael Jackson.)

The bad news for Michael was that the collection was not a success in America; it was dismissed by critics and much of his
audience, who seemed confused as to whether it was a new release or some kind of hybrid combination of songs. Michael’s British
fans, however, did not disappoint:
Blood
was a major hit in the United Kingdom, kicking off with the single release of ‘Blood on the Dance Floor’ debuting at number
one, then the album. In truth, there may be nothing in his entire catalogue better than ‘Blood on the Dance Floor’, a song
that many of Michael’s American fans don’t even know exists, it was so overlooked. He wrote and produced it himself.

Blood
only sold about four million copies worldwide. While it’s not fair to equate the sales of an album of mostly remixes with
the sales of his other products, this was still a weak showing. It, and the ‘Ghosts’ video, like much of what Michael did
at this time, was lost in the ongoing controversy of his world: the ongoing confusion about children, Lisa Marie, Debbie Rowe…
Without that, this stellar work would no doubt have found an appreciative audience.

It should also be noted that it was because of its weak showing Sony executives no longer viewed Michael as being ‘invincible’.
Heads would
not
roll, it was learned, if he had a flop record, or if he was unhappy with the company. After
Blood on the Dance Floor
disappointed in the USA, he was never a company priority again.

Invincible
(released in October 2001), was said to be the most expensive recording ever produced. Sony advanced Michael about forty
million dollars to make it. They then spent another twenty-five million to promote it (though, it’s difficult to specify how
such funds were allocated because the promotion was so weak).

From the beginning, Michael didn’t seem excited about the project, and perhaps his lack of enthusiasm and focus became apparent
to some listeners. The fact that it took about three years to compose the album – more than fifty songs were produced, mixed
and remixed with writers and producers being hired and fired and hired and fired – made some observers feel that Michael was,
as one producer put it, ‘sick to death of the whole thing.’

Also, Michael began battling with Sony early in the production of
Invincible
. He had thought that the licence to the masters to his biggest-selling albums (
Thriller, Bad, Dangerous
, etc…) were to revert back to him in 2000, and was counting the days until that would happen. He would then be able to market
the songs himself in some way or with some other label, and not have to split the proceeds with Sony. However, when his advisers
checked his contract, they found that the classics revert back to Michael only if he releases about one new CD for Sony every
couple of years – which was never going to happen in Michael Jackson’s world, one in which he spends
years
on just one project. There was even a Christmas CD specified in the deal (he’s not done one of those since 1970, with The
Jackson 5), which Michael said he didn’t know about, as well as a couple of soundtracks. Michael was way behind in this proposed
release schedule, would never be able to catch up, and wouldn’t think to even attempt to do it. However, for each specified
album he did not deliver (which was most of them), Sony was able to add a few more years to the countdown of rights reversion
of the others. As it stood, Michael would be just a tad older than God before the rights to his top-selling albums would ever
be reverted to him.

After some investigation into the matter, it was learned that the same attorney who represented Michael on this deal had also
represented Sony. (How, one wonders, was
this
ever allowed to occur?) Thus Michael managed to extricate himself from the entire Sony deal, then, using the obvious conflict
of interest in this negotiation as leverage… In the end, it was decided he would be able to leave Sony, but not until he had
delivered
Invincible
, then a Greatest Hits package and
then
a Box Set.

Still, signed to the label or not, Michael would owe Sony hundreds of millions in advances, loans and other monies the company
had invested into in his chaotic personal life and professional career. Michael was so chagrined by the situation with Sony
that he really didn’t want to produce another record for them.