Jury selection for Michael Jackson's trial began last week. The trial promises to be long and scandalous. "Power" brings to the attention of readers summary the first act of a soap opera that is sure to compete with any other entertainment offered by television and the press for the next six months.
The first appearance. Boy and singer
In 2000, Gavin Arviso was ten years old, but he had already experienced a lot. He was diagnosed with cancer. We had several serious operations. Almost most He spent time in the hospital, which, however, was even good for him: at home the boy was awaited by parents who were always quarreling and fighting with each other and frightened, downtrodden sisters.
Television helped him forget about his illness, at least for a while. From one television program he learned about the international charity campaign “Make a Wish”, which is engaged in the fulfillment of cherished desires terminally ill or dying children. He talked about the transfer to his mother and said that he would like one of his idols to write to him - actors Jim Carrey, Chris Tucker, Adam Sandler. He put Michael Jackson in first place, of course, but was absolutely sure that his main idol would not find time to write to him. Nevertheless, Gavin wrote a letter to Michael Jackson with the help of his mother.
A few weeks later, Gavin's hospital phone rang. Michael Jackson, having read the boy's letter, wanted to talk to him on the phone. The first conversation lasted only a few minutes. Michael promised to call again. And he kept his word. World celebrity and a ten-year-old from Los Angeles became "phone friends." They talked almost every day. Soon, gifts from Michael Jackson began to arrive at the hospital. Gavin was happy. And soon Janet told her son that as soon as he recovered enough to leave the hospital, they would all go together to Michael Jackson in Neverland.
The first trip to the estate of the famous singer took place in August 2000. Michael Jackson sent his own limousine to pick up Janet, Gavin and his sisters. Since then, the boy very often came to the singer’s estate, either accompanied by his mother or one of his relatives.
The second phenomenon. Same with the director
In 2002, another guest appeared at the Neverland estate - television journalist and director Martin Bashir. Bashir gained worldwide fame from a documentary about Princess Diana, in which she spoke candidly about life in the royal family. Bashir has repeatedly expressed a desire to meet Michael Jackson and interview him. Michael agreed.
The television journalist spent several months with Michael Jackson, filming his life in Neverland and communicating with his friends, including Gavin. Actually, it was thanks to Bashir that Gavin became a celebrity. Bashir's camera repeatedly captured moments of extraordinary friendship. Here Michael hugs the boy, here they walk holding hands through Neverland. Gavin says that Michael cured him of cancer.
The release of the film "Life with Michael Jackson" in 2003 created a real sensation. Not only was the great singer filmed walking and playing with teenage boys, but he also openly admitted to the camera that he shares his bed with them and does not see anything reprehensible in this. Martin Bashir, of course, did not call Michael Jackson a pedophile. There was no need for this. The footage from the film spoke for itself. Martin Bashir gave interviews in which he spoke of "deep concerns" about the influence of Michael Jackson on teenagers.
The singer tried to protest. He made several statements in which he accused Bashir of treason. appeared on the screens New film- "Michael Jackson, take two. An interview that will never be shown to you." It included footage from Jackson's own cameraman, who turned out to be filming Martin Bashir making a film about Michael Jackson. In "Take," Bashir did not seem at all concerned about the morals and health of Jackson's young friends. “Tears come to my eyes when I see you with these children. Your relationship is so natural, so caring, so kind,” Bashir enthusiastically told Jackson.
The resonance generated by the films was enormous. Show business stars and Jackson fans came to the defense of Michael Jackson from the traitorous reporter. Janet Arviso also had her say. She was outraged by Bashir's insinuations, as well as the fact that her son was interviewed without parental consent. In all the interviews she gave at that time, a mandatory part of the program was a promise to sue the journalist. However, the lawsuit never came to fruition. The Arviso family suddenly disappeared from the field of view of journalists.
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It is quite possible that the "film war" would have eventually been forgotten if Santa Barbara County District Attorney Thomas Sneddon had not intervened in the case. He had a long-standing and not at all friendly relationship with Michael Jackson.
Ten years before the events described, charges of seducing a minor had already been brought against Michael Jackson. The parents of teenager Jordan Chandler have appealed to District Attorney Thomas Sneddon to protect their son from being molested by the pop star. Sneddon set to work with extraordinary zeal. Some attributed this zeal to the prosecutor's strong moral principles (Sneddon is a deeply religious Christian, the father of nine children, and his wife is a writer who has devoted herself to writing books on how to raise children in the Christian spirit). Others explained Sneddon's zeal as a desire to become famous (by that time he had already served as Santa Barbara's district attorney for ten years without any hope of further career development).
However, no matter what explains the activity of the prosecutor who opened the case of corruption of minors, it did not bring him anything good. Jordan Chandler refused to testify, and his parents withdrew their statement, entering into an out-of-court settlement agreement with Jackson. It was rumored that the rock singer paid $30 million for the boy’s silence, but this did not make Sneddon feel any better. Moreover, in agreement with Jackson's lawyers, the Chandlers promised never to bring any charges against the singer again and never testify against him in court.
Sneddon added insult to injury. Jackson's 1995 album HIStory featured the song "DS" about Don Sheldon, who waged a dirty war against the song's hero. Neither the public nor the district attorney himself doubted that Don Sheldon should be understood as Tom Sneddon.
The experience of ten years ago clearly benefited Tom Sneddon. In the fall of 2003, when the Bashir film scandal seemed to be winding down, the District Attorney's Office conducted a surprise search of Michael Jackson's estate. As reported from the department, computer hard drives with pornographic images, many cassettes with pornographic films and magazines with similar content were seized. Everything collected testified to Michael Jackson's unhealthy fascination with teenage boys. A few days later, prosecutor Sneddon issued an arrest warrant for Michael Jackson, who was accused of corrupting minors. The main witnesses for the prosecution, as journalists found out, were Janet Arviso and her son Gavin.
The fourth phenomenon. Same with the lawyer
On the recommendation of his lawyers, in late 2003, Michael Jackson brought himself to justice, spent several hours in jail, and then appeared in court, where he was formally charged with nine counts of indecent assault of a minor, two counts of drunkenness of a minor, and one count of kidnapping. minor. The accused pleaded not guilty and was released on bail.
Jackson's main defender was Thomas Mesereau Jr., one of the most famous lawyers in criminal cases in the USA. His track record includes a short stint as a legal adviser to Mike Tyson, whom he successfully defended against rape charges, and a dozen successful trials in which the defendants faced the death penalty.
Mesereau's favorite defense tactic is attack. Jackson's lawyers did not justify their client. They began to blame the accusers. Almost in all public speaking Mesereau and his assistants are talking about what the defense calls "the personal vendetta of the prosecutor." It is impossible, they say, to expect a person who has a burning hatred for Michael Jackson to obey the law. Therefore, you should not pay attention to the evidence collected by Sneddon. They are either fabricated or presented to the public and the court in a manner unfavorable for the singer.
There is no trust in the main prosecution witnesses either. For several years, Janet Arviso admired her son's friendship with Michael Jackson. After the release of Martin Bashir's film, she was one of the first to call it libelous. Gavin Arviso himself was also an active defender of Jackson and repeatedly spoke of his affection for the singer. Now he is the main witness for the prosecution. "What caused this strange metamorphosis?" - Jackson's lawyers ask the question and answer themselves: the sudden change in the Arviso family's attitude towards Michael Jackson occurred immediately after Janet and Gavin were summoned for questioning by the district attorney's office. It was then that Janet Arviso, who had previously said that Michael Jackson was helping her and her children hide from the ubiquitous journalists, suddenly announced that she and the children were forcibly held in Neverland.
Lawyers cannot yet say what motivates Gavin and Janet. Are they victims of intimidation by the district attorney or banal hunters for Michael Jackson's millions? But, lawyers say, they intend to find out all this in court, the honesty and impartiality of which there is no doubt.
Fifth phenomenon. Same with the judge
Judge Rodney S. Melville, who is presiding over the trial, is one of the most controversial figures in California. He rose to national prominence in the mid-1990s by becoming the first high-ranking judge to publicly admit to being an alcoholic. In his own words, he became addicted to alcohol in Boy Scout camps, when he was 12 years old. Through his efforts, special courts for alcoholics and drug addicts were opened in California, which sentence the accused not to prison, but send them for rehabilitation to the appropriate clinics in the state.
It is said that it was because of Judge Melville's special attitude towards alcohol and alcoholism that the district attorney decided to add cases of underage drinking to Jackson's list of charges, pitting the judge against the accused in advance. However, until now the judge seems to have done everything to ensure that no one could accuse him of bias. According to many experts, Judge Melville gave the widest opportunities to both the prosecution and the defense. For example, the district attorney's request to show the jury the controversial Martin Bashir film was considered a huge victory for the prosecution. On the other hand, the judge's decision that fifteen-year-old Gavin Arviso will testify in person in court, which the defense insisted on, is called a victory for the lawyers: they will be given the opportunity to cross-examine the witness.
However, the task facing a judge—to ensure a fair and impartial trial—seems almost impossible to many. In mid-January, just before the start of jury selection, the newspapers published the text of the testimony that Gavin Arviso gave during the preliminary investigation in the absence of Michael Jackson's lawyers. The testimony is so frank and shocking that not a single decent newspaper decided to publish it in full. The most decent story was about how Michael Jackson almost forcibly tried to give Gavin wine. The testimony was confirmed by the words of one of the witness’s sisters, who, however, admitted that she herself was not present, but learned about everything from her brother. Where the newspapers received the text, banned by the judge from publication, remains unknown.
End of the first act
Formally, the trial on charges of seducing a minor against Michael Jackson began last Monday, when the jury selection process began. From 700 applicants, 12 primary jurors and seven alternates must be selected. Given the obvious desire of the prosecution and defense to have as many people convenient for them on the jury as possible, this process will last at least a month.
About two billion people witnessed the beginning of this, the second act of the documentary soap opera. Leading US television networks, as well as many television channels in Europe and Asia, broadcast live from the courtroom in Santa Maria.
As for the third, main act, which will begin when the jury is sworn in, the number of spectators is completely impossible to calculate. More than 50 TV channels will cover the trial on a daily basis with regular live broadcasts from the courthouse. Considering that almost every channel has its own website, where you can also find out news from the trial, the number of daily viewers will significantly exceed the two billion who watched Michael Jackson enter the courtroom on January 31.
Only astrologers, who promise Michael Jackson a conviction, are more or less confident in predicting the results of the trial. Legal experts are preparing the public for a long process and a completely unpredictable result. “We have a multimillionaire who is the idol of millions of people around the world, an anti-him district attorney who is ready to do anything, and several witnesses who apparently changed their testimony throughout this story,” says one California lawyer. All this makes the process completely unpredictable."
Martin Bashir to Michael Jackson:
Martin: You don't want to grow up?
Michael: No. I am Peter Pan
Martin: But you're Michael Jackson
Michael: Yes, but at heart I'm Peter Pan.
Actor Michael Madsen (who co-starred in Michael Jackson's You rock my world video) once told me, “Michael Jackson was very open and kind person, but he seemed to me the loneliest and most unhappy on the planet. It’s difficult to be sincerely friends with someone and trust people if you’ve been living in a world of lies called “show business” since the cradle.”
Six years have passed since the moment when the King of Pop's heart stopped on June 25, 2009, and with it the whole world. I remember on this day almost all the news channels in the world were talking only about this, the planet stood still. The magic seemed to have disappeared forever.
I would like to call this article my tribute, a kind of collection of factual sketches and personal reflections about my hero Michael Jackson, who united and inspired a billion hearts and instilled in me a love of music since childhood.
I am deeply convinced that the media played a large role in Jackson's illnesses. They tormented him for many years, shrouding him in cynicism, exaggerating unproven conjectures and pseudo-facts. The press, like countless faceless termites, undermined him until it turned the great artist into a paranoid, hermit and recluse who lost confidence in almost everyone. Michael became a hostage to his own fame, in the shackles of which he lived his entire life. People killed him with rejection, and they resurrected him after death. A sort of Judas weathervane. Madonna at the 2009 MTV Awards, leading up to her Michael tribute performance, was at her most honest. She said boldly, as befits a queen, looking straight into the hall:
"We all pulled away from him when he was having a hard time. And you all and I. We were too busy judging instead of supporting a man who has never been equaled in the history of music. There will never be another Michael Jackson . I won’t say that we were close friends, but there was a period when we communicated. I once offered him a ride, and then we went home to watch a film. While watching, he suddenly took my hand. There was so much innocence in it. "
Michael Jackson and Madonna
Few people know that Michael Jackson had an “inspiration tree” at his Neverland ranch. He deftly climbed it and could sit for hours and look into the distance, composing songs. Some of his greatest hits, such as Will You Be There, were written on this very tree. In an interview with Martin Bashir, which later played a cruel joke on him, Jackson said:
“Some people like to play football, others like basketball, but I like to climb trees. Don't you climb trees in free time? - he asked Bashir. He shook his head negatively. "ABOUT! You are missing out on a lot,” Michael concluded. At that time, the King of Pop was 44 years old.
All his life he tried to regain his childhood, which was irretrievably stolen. And few people understood this, calling such attempts at least strange. As part of their myopia and conservatism, the crowd was unaware that this man initially did not know love and received many psychological trauma in childhood. They didn't realize that Michael's first Christmas was in mature age, and then thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth Taylor. Few people thought that the problems in Jackson’s relationships with the opposite sex lay in the fact that he couldn’t understand how you could cheat on a woman if you became her husband. He believed in the sanctity of marriage and the cult family values, but I constantly saw opposite examples even in my own family. According to the memoirs of one of the singer’s biographers, Randy Taraborrelli, when Michael found out that his brother Jackie was cheating on his wife Enid with singer Paula Abdul, he took it so hard that it was as if he himself had been betrayed. He had always lived in a world where male infidelity was considered commonplace, and this affected his perception. One day famous photographer Francesco Scavullo said: "Michael asked me: 'How do you act when you fall in love?' Aren't you afraid that she's with you because you can do something for her? “I replied, “Mike, you can’t live your whole life in such disbelief. You have to try to believe.” To which he told me: "I'm afraid. I'm afraid because of what I saw. The men in my family don't know how to treat women. I don't want to become like my brothers."
JacksonFamily (partially)
Despite the inimitable energy and confidence with which Jackson performed, causing crowds of people to lose consciousness with just one dance step, in life he was extremely shy and had a fragile mental structure. So Bill Bray, Michael’s security guard, who worked with him for thirty years, said: “When I met Jackson, I realized that he had really lost his childhood and could not come to terms with it. Despite his talent in business, there is a strange vulnerability about him. You want to go up and hug him, telling him to take care of himself. And I wouldn’t call myself a sentimental person.”
Too busy digging into the “dirty laundry,” the press did little to cover the other side of the life of the great artist and philanthropist. Little-known fact: Michael Jackson was the initiator of the creation of the “Universal Bill of Rights for Children,” the content of which he himself determined. These points clearly demonstrated how accurately Michael understood the problems of children. Among them were such important topics as: “The right to be loved without having to earn this love”, “The right to consider yourself worthy of adoration (even if you have such an appearance that only your mother could love you)” or “The right to know what you represent unique value, even if you haven’t done anything in this world yet.”
Michael Jackson with childrenNeverland
“Michael’s smile heals the soul,” wrote Uri Geller, “he had a unique energy. He had a great talent for choosing words that could touch the one to whom they were intended.”
However, Jackson was an impulsive man, and perhaps if it were not for his colleagues at the peak of their careers, for example, John Branca, we would never have seen the most brilliant Thriller. The point is that Michael long years was a Jehovah's Witness, and the elders insisted that whatever the King of Pop created went through their personal artistic council. In the late 70s and 80s, Michael Jackson unquestioningly believed in the ideology of the Witnesses and showed the elders a video of the Thriller he had just filmed. The latter were indignant and said that they would excommunicate Michael if this short film was released. Jackson called John Branca, who at that time was handling his affairs, mainly legal, and literally “ordered” all copies of Thriller to be destroyed. “This, you hear, should never go on air,” Michael shouted nervously into the phone. Branca didn't sleep all night. “How could such a masterpiece, in which huge amounts of money were also invested, be allowed to turn into ashes because of this whim?” John recalled. Branca found a way out. He suggested that Michael write a phrase before the start of Thriller stating that its content does not reflect personal and religious views Michael. Jackson agreed, the elders were satisfied. Michael would later say, “God bless John Branca. If it weren't for him, Thriller would never have seen the light of day." If Thriller changed the world of music videos, making Jackson an innovator in the creation of short films, allowing him to erase racial and stylistic boundaries in music, canonizing MTV, then Billie Jean changed music forever. This song remains to this day one of the most successful singles of all time. Every year, the MTV Awards present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of video clips. During the creation of the Thriller record together with the brilliant producer Quincy Jones, with whom they recorded two more masterpieces Off the wall and Bad, different situations arose. For example, at the very beginning of work on the album, few people believed that it would sell more than 3,000,000 copies.
“Records are selling very poorly now, Mike,” his colleagues, as well as the head of the record company and Jones, told him. This statement infuriated Jackson. He said sharply: “This will be the greatest disc in history, and if you don’t believe in it, then there’s no point in wasting a second of your time.” There was silence in the room, which was firmly broken by Jones: “Ok,” he said, “Let’s get to work!” It is known that during this period there were very tense relations between Quincy and Michael. Jones criticized the song "Billie Jean" as not being good enough for this album, but Jackson adamantly insisted that the song be given special attention, and he was right. It was Billie Jean who brought the Thriller album to the top of Billboard, where the disc spent 37 weeks in first place. To this day, Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, a cult classic and a true classic of modern music, inspiring hundreds of millions of people, as well as most of today's superstars. Thriller also erased once and for all all racial barriers in music.
Michael Jackson: The AgeThriller
The tandem of Michael and Quincy performed miracles, the largest in effect in the world of music. Jones said: “Mike, listen to the music, let it tell you what you need. Let God into the room." And MJ listened. Working until exhaustion, always not 100% satisfied with the result. Then he continued to work again and again until he achieved perfection. At the same time, Quincy was not a supporter of dictatorship in production. He did not impose his views; rather, he fully revealed the hidden potential that was inherent in you from the very beginning. The merit of Michael and Quincy is that they turned the standard idea of pop music upside down and allowed people to see the limitless possibilities of truly great creativity. Despite the fact that after the Bad album, for a number of reasons, the couple never worked together, warm relations between Jones and Jackson remained until the very end. Moreover, after the singer's death, Quincy repeatedly criticized the idea of releasing posthumous albums. He said that this is blasphemy, you can’t think only about money, and many colleagues agreed with him, emphasizing that if Michael were alive, he would never allow albums like Michael and Xscape (the latter produced by Timbaland, Darkchild, L.A. Reid and many other greats) saw the light of day. Michael was a perfectionist and would hardly have been happy with such “crude” releases. However, the numbers speak for themselves. When Xscape's latest album was released last year, it immediately topped the UK charts and reached number two on Billboard.
Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
For many years, Michael's sound engineer was Bruce Swedien, a sound genius, master and wizard who always achieved a unique sound. This is a unique person. Nobody in the world knows the geometry of sound better than Bruce. Proof of this is at least his work on Michael's album Invincible, recorded in 2001, which is objectively considered the best sounding in the history of pop music. Still. 14 years later.
Initially, Jackson wanted to record his hit Bad in a duet with Prince, who was at the peak of his career at that moment, but communication between the artists did not work out from the very beginning. They met and discussed the project. Michael and his management have come up with a great plan: launch a rumor campaign in the press, saying that he and Prince are bitter enemies who hate each other, and then, when the whole world is savoring it and dividing into two camps, they will make an official statement that these are just rumors, and they will present a video for Bad, where, according to the original plot, they will compete with each other, finding out who's bad. Prince was not enthusiastic about this idea, and after he heard the demo of the song, he completely refused , citing the fact that the guys would succeed even without him. When Frank DiLeo (Michael’s manager in those years) asked what he thought about this, Jackson shrugged his shoulders indifferently and replied: “Numbers.”
There was always some kind of struggle and rejection of each other between them. Prince sent Michael a box of amulets and feathers as a gift. It later turned out that she was bewitched by Voodoo masters, which horrified Jackson. Prince considered Michael a bore, and he said that Prince, although he writes good music, is evil in himself and treats women terribly. “Besides, he’s not much of an actor. It doesn’t represent anything.” Not too upset, the king of pop performed the song Bad himself, and the great Martin Scorsese made a musical short film about it. By the way, Wesley Snipes can be seen on screen for the first time. The song became another revolution in the world of music and attracted great amount street audience.
Michael Jackson: eraBad
The album Bad sold dizzyingly, but it never managed to replicate the sales success of Thriller. Moreover, at the Grammy Awards in 1988, in the most anticipated nomination for Michael, “Album of the Year,” he lost to one of U2’s most outstanding discs, The Joshua Tree. Having released the most hits of the year and sold the most copies, Jackson left without this award, which undoubtedly made him despondent, but not for long. The next super hit, Dangerous, went on sale in 1991 and became Michael's most successful record since Thriller. Among other things, Dangerous had the most significant influence on all modern R"n"B music, greatly changing it. There was a lot of controversy about the album cover, many tabloids looked for hidden meaning in it, and even the message of Jackson's involvement in the illuminati was traced. The author of the cover, Mark Ryden, said that he was very inspired by Michael's video Leave me alone, which became the impetus for creating just such an image. “This is the largest format for a cover. The original was about 90 square centimeters,” recalls Mark. “If you look at it very carefully, you will see that the titles, themes and messages of the songs are displayed in detail on it. It took me several months to create it. It was long, painstaking and very important work for me.”
Michael Jackson album coverDangerous
One of the most personal songs on the album is Who is it, the video for which was directed by the iconic David Fincher. Who is it is imbued with tossing and inner questions of the singer. In the depths of magnificent harmony, innovative music, captivating hypnotic melody and performance, there is a deep drama of loneliness in a crowd of many-faced people, behind whose masks it is impossible to discern sincerity. Especially in women. Line of distrust female love in this work is so clearly expressed that it is impossible not to feel all this emptiness of brokenness as a result of the deepest disappointment. In Michael Jackson's life, there were perhaps four women whom he idolized: his mother Katherine, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross and Lisa Marie Presley. And if Taylor was his closest soulmate and support, and Ross was his mother in show business, then he definitely had feelings for Lisa of a different nature. They were similar. Both of them spent their childhood under the spotlight, both did not know a normal life, she genuinely understood and idolized him, and he listened to her advice. It was she who once told him: “Michael, a peaceful sleep is more valuable public opinion“It was she who held his hand on the edge of the abyss. This puzzle had to fit. And he agreed. True, not for long, but, nevertheless, he gave Jackson and Presley several happy years. After Michael’s death, Lisa said that Jackson repeatedly repeated the phrase: “I think I’ll end up like your father.” The anthem of their relationship was the song, a super hit from the album History - You are not alone, written for him by R. Kelly. You are not alone - one of the best pop ballads in modern music.
Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor
Michael Jackson and Lisa Presley
Michael always wanted to reach people, to tell them: “don’t judge me, I’m just a person. Just like you, I, just like you, just want to love and be loved,” and he sent these subtle messages through his sensual songs. How else could he do it? But how many of us can read between the lines? A huge bird descends onto the stage, hugging him with its wings in Will you be there, “before you judge me try hard to love me,” begging, he sings in the soulful Childhood, “when you"re alone and you"re cold inside" on the doomed he explains in anguish in Stranger in Moscow, he more aggressively tries to convey his pain to people’s understanding through Why you wanna trip on me, Scream and They don’t care about us and sums up this desire through global themes about the problems of the Earth in the brilliant Earth song, as well as hymns to goodness We are the world, Heal the world and Man in the mirror. If we look at the composition Stranger in Moscow in more detail, then, of course, it turns out to be the most personal song Jackson has ever created. Randy Taraborrelli said that the idea for the song and video was originally conceived as a reflection of intimacy inner world singer He started writing it after his first tour in Moscow. This metropolis seemed to Jackson a complete identification with his own life. In his perception, Moscow remained a gray, bustling city of people running somewhere, where you feel the loneliest in this crowd. Randy said that even at the peak of his career, Michael sometimes went on walks to make new friends. But unsuccessfully.
“Even at home, I feel loneliness,” Jackson said, “sometimes it gnaws at me so much that I can’t cope with my emotions, I lock myself in the room and cry. You have no idea how hard it is to find true friends. Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood at night with the hope of meeting someone, just to talk about something abstract, but every time these walks end in nothing.”
He envied people who could calmly walk the streets, shop in a supermarket (once his friends closed one of them especially for Michael so that he could imitate shopping), meet, fall in love, walk in the park. The greatest artist dreaming of simple things. A hermit with hundreds of millions of crazy fans, a lonely dreamer, riding a Ferris wheel in Neverland for hours on the tenth circle, looking at one point, lost among hundreds of evening lights. A grown man with the soul of a nine-year-old boy, stuck in time, who so wanted to be understood. A man yearning for sincerity and genuine miracle in a world of people who always wanted to take something from him, touch him, be involved in fame and money, but never thought about giving this man even a little true love in return. Unconditional. Open. Hence the purchase of human-size dolls, which he kept at home, giving them names and talking to them, in the same parallel there is a park of wonders, his favorite pastime is shooting with water pistols and friendship with Macaulay Culkin. Children are presumably the audience he was comfortable with because they are genuinely sincere. “If I wake up and find out that there is not a single child left on Earth, I will throw myself off the balcony immediately,” said Michael. The desire for this sincerity and the childhood environment in which he received it played a cruel joke on him in the world of selfish, unprincipled and greedy adults who were eager to snatch at least something from this “pie”, to destroy and trample Jackson’s empire, as it says, “by any means necessary.” In the end, they succeeded. But it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to shroud in oblivion the great musical legacy that the King of Pop left in his songs, videos, and performances. Incredible, brilliant creativity, settled in millions of hearts forever. This extraordinary man changed the world and gave us magic. And magic never dies.
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Last interview Michael Jackson (recorded five days before his death)
Many will ask why this interview was not published earlier? For three reasons. The first - 5 days after the interview, unfortunately, Michael Jackson died. Secondly, I didn’t want to publish the material without the approval of Michael himself. Well, thirdly, there was a lot of turmoil around this person, I wanted everything to settle down.
Now I have decided to publish the latest interview with the King of Pop. Nothing has been changed or added to it, I honor his memory. And please be aware that Lenny Rodriguez is not a real name. Let this be proof of Michael Jackson's sincerity. It was his wish, and now it has been fulfilled.
It came as a surprise to me when Michael Jackson wanted to give a private interview to some little-known reporter, that is, me. When the offer was made to me to do this interview, at first I was even a little confused. To be honest, I was completely unprepared for it. But having suppressed my confusion, I, of course, accepted it. In a couple of weeks, I had to read a lot of different information about Michael, from childhood to the present day, including materials from dubious sources, simply put - the yellow press. I watched all his interviews and videos: concerts, videos, home recordings. I needed to understand what was going to be discussed, to reproduce the whole picture of what was happening, because Michael said that the main goal of this interview should be to clarify many aspects of his life. Many people have an established opinion about them due to rumors. Actually, we are going to dispel these rumors. I tried to trace his whole life and form my own independent opinion - I needed to make a list of questions that would be more suitable for our interview. The very idea of the interview was based on this - a conversation with a person who is not interested in any selfish goal, completely removed from show business.
When I arrived at his mansion on Sunset Street, he looked a little tired. Michael invited me to a small table in the living room, where we began to talk. To be honest, I was a little nervous. I have never had the opportunity to talk to a star of this level.
Lenny Rodriguez: Michael, why did you need such an ordinary correspondent like me, because you can find a more famous and professional one?
Michael Jackson: You are young and not spoiled by show business, like those professionals who have haunted me all my life. I made a similar mistake once before, inviting one of them, and paid for it. I opened up to him, but what I received again was lies and gossip. Although my goal was to tell the world the truth in order to exclude all ridiculous fiction.
Lenny Rodriguez: You mean Martin Bashir?
Michael Jackson: Well, if you name names, then yes.
Lenny Rodriguez: Okay, I will try to justify your trust and will not change a single word in your interview. If you don't mind, let's get to the main part, shall we?
Michael Jackson: Come on.
Lenny Rodriguez: There have always been a lot of rumors, gossip, and various conjectures about your personality. It’s hard to live when they make a scarecrow out of you and invent all sorts of nonsense. You're right, people believe gossip more than the truth. I would like to know about your appearance: plastic surgery, bleaching, skin falling off in patches, pressure chamber - which of these is true?
Michael Jackson: (Laughs) Almost nothing... You know, there was a time when such gossip made my hair stand on end, why don’t people invent their articles to get to the top of the ratings. But then I stopped paying attention to it; if they want to write something like that, let them write it. You see, when I was little, I lived in my own fantasy world, because... I had no friends at all. In that world I looked a little different. I think this idea is correct. So I decided to change my nose, make it narrower. I wanted to get closer to my real self. Yes, my face has undergone some changes only thanks to my nose and nothing more. Everything else remained unchanged, it only changed with age, like with all people. Well, maybe in Lately I lost a little weight, because of this my cheekbones became sharper, the profile of my face became more angular, but this is not a reason to say that a plastic surgeon worked on my face.
Lenny Rodriguez: Okay, the face is clear, but what can you say about the color of your skin? Still, you were born black.
Michael Jackson: Yes, I started having problems with her at a young age. The pigment spots lightened it. I had to use foundation on exposed parts of the body. Gradually my skin took on a pale appearance. The disease, called vitiligo, is rare enough and not common enough to be known about. Well, I didn’t dare tell this to the press before, because I was simply shy and didn’t want to give another reason for gossip.
Lenny Rodriguez: One of the causes of vitiligo is severe or long-term stressful conditions. I heard that your father made sure that you did not have any free time for all the fun that other children your age had, and also forced you to work hard towards a career as a musician with the help of his fist and belt, instilling in you you're terrified.
Michael Jackson: Unfortunately, that's how it happened. Yes, as a child I had absolutely no free time. I wanted to play basketball with other teenagers or just sit and chat, but no, I went to rehearsal. It was not me, but my father who planned my whole life. My father was a real tyrant for the five of us. And the fact that I was at the head of the Jackson’s Five set me apart from the rest. I was a role model and therefore had no room for error, otherwise my father’s wrath would fall on me. It was terrible to dance or sing and think that if you do something wrong, forget yourself or get tired, you will be whipped or beaten. Endless rehearsals with my father left more than one scar on my soul.
Lenny Rodriguez: Didn't you have a single friend growing up?
Michael Jackson: Yes - it's true. I couldn't make lasting friendships because I was constantly busy.
Lenny Rodriguez: How did you cope with their absence? You said something about your special world.
Michael Jackson: You see, a child’s brain is very sensitive to fantasy, it tends to create various fairy-tale worlds that are inaccessible to an adult because of his maturity. In the moments when I was alone, I created my own world, in which I stayed throughout not only my childhood, but throughout my life, when I was lonely. This is not autism, but a completely different feeling based on imagination. I don’t walk and talk to myself like crazy (smiles), but I go there mentally, at the same time I can communicate normally with the people around me. I always carry my world with me and can find myself in it at any moment.
Lenny Rodriguez: So your world created as a child interfered with your normal communication with people?
Michael Jackson: Not really. The people who surrounded me, for the most part, had some kind of selfish goals towards me. I just felt it. I don't mean the fans, they have always been loyal to me. That’s why I couldn’t make friends with practically anyone. This was one of my great disappointments in life. But there was no other way. I have always given people a chance to improve, but very often such chances made me a target for ridicule or I became a target for putting other people's interests into practice.
Lenny Rodriguez: Is that why kids became your friends?
Michael Jackson: Oh yes, the child is a miracle in itself. They have a very developed imagination. It's very interesting to talk to them. They think completely differently from adults. They have a pure mind, not spoiled by society, a different attitude towards the world, different concepts of love and friendship. Children themselves want to tell a lot, but adults usually do not listen to them and teach them their values.
Lenny Rodriguez: You invite sick children and poor children to Neverland, what do you get out of it?
Michael Jackson: I get inspired. Nothing in the world gives me as much happiness as seeing the joy on a child’s face. In general, I like to give more than to receive, this is the meaning of my life. We often talk to them on various topics. It was the unfortunate children who had difficult childhood even more sensitive and receptive. It is easier for such children to instill kindness and respect for nature and animals. It is generally very easy to find with children mutual language. Through my conversations, I try to give them a piece of that kindness that will help preserve our beautiful world in the future. I just hug them, wanting to give them at least a drop of warmth and kindness.
Lenny Rodriguez: Unfortunately, it was hugs like this that gave rise to dirty gossip. I myself am embarrassed to talk about this, I feel your sincerity, I understand how unpleasant this question is for you, but since we are writing frank interview Michael Jackson, many would like to know about the case of harassment of a young boy, whose family filed a lawsuit in 2003.
Michael Jackson: You know, I was looking forward to this question the most, because I’ve been wanting to talk about it for a long time. Many rumors originated from envious people, many benefited from spreading such rumors. Adults are evil and heartless people. They can do all sorts of bad things for the sake of fame or money. The bigger the star, the more gossip and dirt there is around it. My time with my children has nothing to do with these dirty rumors. If you look at me and think with a sober mind, can this person bring pain to a child? He himself will receive the answer - no, I will never and under no circumstances be able to do something like that, even under pain of death. On the contrary, I am ready to give my life for any of the children. It really hurts me to think about what a terrible monster they portray me as. You can't imagine how upset I am.
Lenny Rodriguez: I understand you. But what actually happened?
Michael Jackson: I... I don't even know how to explain it. I actually didn't do anything. Perhaps one day I hugged Gavin, as I hugged many other children, and someone thought that something similar was happening... If we start from the very beginning, I took Gavin and his family to my Neverland, because the boy was terminally ill, he I couldn’t even walk myself; I had to carry him in a wheelchair myself. I wanted to last days he spent in the most wonderful place for a child. But after some time he completely recovered and was soon to return to his Everyday life. Maybe this was the reason for my accusation. There was a similar case in 1993 when I gave a certain amount of money for a similar lie. The case didn’t go to court, I just didn’t want to waste my time because of lies, it was easier for me to give the child’s parents what they wanted me so much - money. This happened this time too. The very fact of the accusation was another lie in order to use me as a money cow. If last time I put up with such a lie, then this time I did not want to put up with it. For everyone it would look like I was actually admitting my guilt and paying off.
Many people who, for whatever reason, disliked me came to the trial with their own made-up nasty stories. I was unpleasant not only from their stories, but also from the fact that people whom I knew and trusted were saying such things about me. I couldn't sleep, I didn't eat much the whole time the trials were going on. I started taking sedatives and sleeping pills, otherwise I simply couldn’t sleep. Afterwards, information leaked to the tabloid press that I was taking drugs, but I just wanted peace of mind. I wanted a break from a nightmare that is hard to imagine. About my creative activity I just had to forget. Trials They exhausted me so much that I was deeply depressed and lost a lot of weight. Which served as another source of gossip about my appearance. Although my lawyers and I won the trial, my reputation was tarnished, I was practically ruined by these people, and my Neverland became the most hated place for me. It still kills me to think that I was simply tormented for my kindness. In our world, kindness is punishable, people do not believe in sincere goodness, they are not able to understand that not only God and angels can give goodness. People judge by themselves and, even without finding anything bad in your actions, they will come up with something for you themselves and pass off lies as truth, and so skillfully and cleverly... that you yourself will be ready to believe in it... This is very painful and bitter.
Lenny Rodriguez: You and your parents were followers of the Jehovah's Witnesses sect. Subsequently you left her. Alive in religious family you must have formed an opinion about God and religion. How do you feel about this now?
Michael Jackson: About religion... I think if I were God, I would ban religion. It takes up time, makes you suffer, be limited. I don't like religion, religion has always been a limitation. What's the point of worshiping God if that's all you spend all your time doing? A question that often arose in my childhood: “Doesn’t God want good things for his children?” I still cannot understand why God, if he exists, does not see goodness in his children. Why does he often need to prove something in order for him to be kind to you, why do you need to be afraid of God? Jehovah is not my God, I don’t want such a God. He is too hot-tempered, angry and scary. Have you ever asked yourself how people live on Earth? I constantly ask myself this, I believe that God is unfair to good people. He never sees you, never hears you. He just watches and causes you even more suffering. If he had seen my soul, read my thoughts, he would never have allowed this to happen to me.
Lenny Rodriguez: After a long silence, you are now preparing a new world tour. What made you take this step, since after the litigation you still don’t feel well?
Michael Jackson: You know, sometimes I think about the Michael that was before. Now I want to resurrect him. It doesn’t matter that I’m exhausted by the courts, I just want to tell the world that I am the same as I was before, that the world did not kill me with its cruelty. I want to revive in the hearts of my fans the music that makes them go crazy, enjoy life, and flutter like butterflies. I want to sing old hits: Billy Jean, Dangerous, Smooth criminal... and get satisfaction from it. I can't live without the stage, I think - this should give me strength for new creative ideas.
Lenny Rodriguez: Finally, what would you like to say to our readers?
Michael Jackson: Have you ever thought that a discouraged person would rise again from the ashes of hope? Thanks to everyone who supported me on at this stage my existence. In the future, I will be able to justify your hopes; you will not remain forgotten. When we are there, you will understand what you did and who you helped. To the rest I will say goodbye.
Lenny Rodriguez: Is that it?
Michael Jackson: I think so.
We said goodbye, and as I left, a deep melancholy flashed in Michael’s eyes for a moment, which was imprinted in my memory as something indelible. And now he smiles again... I will never forget this look. And these strange ones last words...A man without age. This Michael Jackson is a strange guy, maybe there really is something unearthly about him? At least he's completely different from any of us.
On January 31, the trial of Michael Jackson begins in a California court. The famous singer is charged with ten counts, including sexual abuse of minors, drugging children and conspiracy to commit kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion.
This process promises to be very high-profile: more than a hundred television and radio companies from around the world have already deployed their mobile stations in the city of Santa Maria, where the court is located, and special correspondents from newspapers and magazines have stormed local hotels. In addition, Jackson fans are flocking to the city, who intend to support their idol, chanting slogans about his innocence in front of the courthouse. The trial will be open, but Judge Rodney Melville has imposed a ban on participants from communicating with the press. Additionally, there will be no cameras in the courthouse.
How life with Jackson turned into court with Jackson
In February 2003, a documentary about the singer's life, Living with Michael Jackson, filmed by British journalist Martin Bashir, was shown on television in the UK and US. Bashir accompanied Jackson everywhere for several months and, as the journalist himself said, became convinced that the singer was simply obsessed with children.
In particular, the film contains an interview with one of the young guests of the Neverland ranch, where Jackson spends most of his time. A 12-year-old boy said that he sometimes sleeps in the singer's bed. Jackson himself innocently confirmed that he sometimes shares his bed with children, and sometimes spends the night in a sleeping bag on the floor next to the bed on which his guests sleep. Specifically, Jackson reported that he regularly slept in bed with this boy, who had cancer but, as a result of Jackson's actions, allegedly recovered without medication. Insisting that his love for children was completely innocent and had nothing to do with sex, Michael Jackson called his behavior "beautiful and charming."
The authorities of the Californian city of Santa Barbara, next to which Jackson’s ranch is located, immediately after the star’s unusual revelations emphasized that they take them very seriously. True, representatives law enforcement In Jackson's words, they did not find a precedent for initiating a criminal case, but noted that an investigation could be launched if claims arise. The prosecutor's office even opened a hotline - especially for those who believe that they have facts that could serve as evidence in a possible trial against Jackson.
And such evidence appeared. Nine months after the film was shown, a 13-year-old boy complained to his therapist that Jackson had allegedly molested him. The psychotherapist contacted the police, who searched the singer's ranch and found hundreds of videos of children who visited Jackson (however, it should be admitted that the filming was not of a sexual nature), as well as love letters and poems written by Jackson and dedicated to the children who visited his ranch .
I see the Lord in the faces of these children. I just love being around them. Yes, there are enough rooms for guests in the house, but the children want to be with me. They often ask me if they can stay the night. And if their parents don't mind, I allow them to do this. What could be more natural than sharing your bed with someone? When you say the word "bed", you mean sex. All wrong. We're just sleeping.
Michael Jackson
However, California authorities issued an arrest warrant for Jackson on charges of sexual abuse of minors. Jackson voluntarily surrendered to authorities and was released on $3 million bail pending the outcome of the investigation.
Incendiary "Rubba" in Neverland
The trial will begin with the selection of 12 jurors from the 750 candidates willing to participate in the Jackson case. This procedure is expected to take about a month. The trial itself, according to lawyers, will last at least six months.
The main witness for the prosecution will now be a 15-year-old teenager, whose name has not been disclosed. According to some reports, it was he who appeared in documentary film Martin Bashir, who is also summoned to court as a witness. The teenager's testimony was partially made public on an ABC News talk show in mid-January. At the same time, according to the judge’s decision, all materials in the case are closed. How the testimony of one of the key prosecution witnesses got to the TV channel employees is currently being determined by the investigation.
The leaked testimony has been described by some experts as "the most detailed evidence yet describing the physical relationship between Jackson and one of his alleged victims." So, according to the teenager, the most popular game among the boys at the ranch was called “Rubba” - supposedly according to its rules, the singer, arousing himself, rubbed himself against the bodies of the children.
In addition, representatives of the prosecution, headed by prosecutor Tom Sneddon, intend to provide the court with some “erotic materials” seized from the singer’s ranch in 2003. According to experts, these materials confirm that Jackson had a motive for the crime.
The former King of Pop is being defended by lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr. He has represented the singer since April 2004, when he unexpectedly parted ways with his former lawyers Mark Geragos and Benjamin Brafman. The defense intends to present to the court testimony from other children who visited Jackson at the ranch. In particular, one of the defense witnesses, 17-year-old Ahmed Elatab, states the following: “Michael never molested any children or me personally. I never saw him behave strangely with any of the boys.” Regarding the plaintiff's claims, Elatab said: "I'm sure his parents just want money, and this is a chance for them to get rich."
Jackson himself maintains his innocence. On the eve of the opening of the trial, he posted a video message on his website in which he called for a fair trial of himself, adding that he believes in American justice. If Jackson is found guilty, he faces 3 to 8 years in prison for each of the ten counts.
Once - not a pedophile
This is not the first time Jackson has been accused of pedophilia. In 1993, the father of 13-year-old Jordan Chandler, whom Jackson allegedly molested, filed a lawsuit against the singer. However, the case did not go to trial: the proceedings lasted more than a year and ended with a settlement agreement, which, according to some sources, cost Jackson $20 million. The child refused to testify against the singer, and all charges against the latter were dropped.
In addition, as it became known during the investigation, in 1990 Jackson paid another $2 million in “compensation” to his son former employee of his ranch to prevent harassment charges. The 12-year-old did not testify against the singer, fearing that his friends would accuse him of homosexuality. The agreement between him and Jackson included a non-disclosure clause.
If Jackson fails to decisively justify himself this time, then others may follow this process. According to Robert Wegner, the star's former security guard, about 300 boys under 14 have passed through the singer's ranch since the early 1990s. Wegner claims that he saw the singer fondling his groin in the presence of children, rubbing himself against them, and also touching and caressing them. Huge fortune the ex-king of pop may simply not have enough to pay all the legal costs and possible compensation.
The Nature of Michael Jackson's Love
Probably, the explanation for the singer’s unusual love for children should be sought in Jackson’s own childhood, which, especially in light of the oddities adult life this person, represents a fertile field of activity for psychoanalysts.
Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana. He was the seventh child out of nine in poor family steel mill worker Joe Jackson. When Michael was five years old, Joe put together the musical ensemble “The Jackson Five” from his five offspring. Moreover, he knocked them together in the literal sense of the word - as Michael’s sister, Latoya Jackson, writes in her autobiography, their father mercilessly beat them with a belt or a bamboo cane, forcing them to rehearse for 3-4 hours every evening. According to Latoya, Michael experienced constant humiliation from his father, whom he hated more and more every year.
It was during childhood that Michael began to develop a “black complex.” Moreover, paradoxically, this was due to his father, who could not stand blacks.
By the age of 14, when Michael was already a stage veteran in the family group“The Jackson Five”, another one was added to his problems - acne. Michael's character has changed noticeably: before, Jackson was very sociable and easily got along with people, but now he has withdrawn into himself. And although by the age of 16 the acne had completely disappeared, Jackson was never able to completely get rid of the psychological consequences of this trouble. One of them is excessive shyness, turning into timidity. It was probably after this that Michael began to meticulously monitor his appearance and the cleanliness of his environment, which later developed into a real mania.
Among other problems of the young talent, one should highlight the “sexual taboo” that existed in the Jackson family. All conversations on this topic were prevented, and if one of the brothers was seen in the company of a girl, then the father gave him a huge scandal, which, as a rule, ended in assault. According to Joe, who was the producer of the Jackson 5, the marriage of one of the brothers could interfere with the group's career.
The already accomplished singer explains his indifference to children by the fact that, having become an adult, he relives the humiliations of his childhood and tries to get rid of this feeling by communicating with children and showing them care and love. However, now the nature of Michael Jackson's love for children will be clarified by the court.
Martin Bashir to Michael Jackson:
Martin: You don't want to grow up?
Michael: No. I am Peter Pan
Martin: But you're Michael Jackson
Michael: Yes, but at heart I'm Peter Pan.
Actor Michael Madsen (who co-starred in Michael Jackson's You rock my world video) once told me: “Michael Jackson was a very open and kind person, but he seemed to me the loneliest and most unhappy person on the planet. It’s difficult to be sincerely friends with someone and trust people if you’ve been living in a world of lies called “show business” since the cradle.”
Six years have passed since the moment when the King of Pop's heart stopped on June 25, 2009, and with it the whole world. I remember on this day almost all the news channels in the world were talking only about this, the planet stood still. The magic seemed to have disappeared forever.
I would like to call this article my tribute, a kind of collection of factual sketches and personal reflections about my hero Michael Jackson, who united and inspired a billion hearts and instilled in me a love of music since childhood.
I am deeply convinced that the media played a large role in Jackson's illnesses. They tormented him for many years, shrouding him in cynicism, exaggerating unproven conjectures and pseudo-facts. The press, like countless faceless termites, undermined him until it turned the great artist into a paranoid, hermit and recluse who lost confidence in almost everyone. Michael became a hostage to his own fame, in the shackles of which he lived his entire life. People killed him with rejection, and they resurrected him after death. A sort of Judas weathervane. Madonna at the 2009 MTV Awards, leading up to her Michael tribute performance, was at her most honest. She said boldly, as befits a queen, looking straight into the hall:
"We all pulled away from him when he was having a hard time. And you all and I. We were too busy judging instead of supporting a man who has never been equaled in the history of music. There will never be another Michael Jackson . I won’t say that we were close friends, but there was a period when we communicated. I once offered him a ride, and then we went home to watch a film. While watching, he suddenly took my hand. There was so much innocence in it. "
Michael Jackson and Madonna
Few people know that Michael Jackson had an “inspiration tree” at his Neverland ranch. He deftly climbed it and could sit for hours and look into the distance, composing songs. Some of his greatest hits, such as Will You Be There, were written on this very tree. In an interview with Martin Bashir, which later played a cruel joke on him, Jackson said:
“Some people like to play football, others like basketball, but I like to climb trees. Don’t you climb trees in your free time?” - he asked Bashir. He shook his head negatively. "ABOUT! You are missing out on a lot,” Michael concluded. At that time, the King of Pop was 44 years old.
All his life he tried to regain his childhood, which was irretrievably stolen. And few people understood this, calling such attempts at least strange. As part of their myopia and conservatism, the crowd was unaware that this man initially did not know love and received many psychological traumas in childhood. They didn’t realize that Michael celebrated Christmas for the first time as an adult, and that was thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth Taylor. Few people thought that the problems in Jackson’s relationships with the opposite sex lay in the fact that he couldn’t understand how you could cheat on a woman if you became her husband. He believed in the sanctity of marriage and the cult of family values, but he constantly saw counterexamples even in his own family. According to the memoirs of one of the singer’s biographers, Randy Taraborrelli, when Michael found out that his brother Jackie was cheating on his wife Enid with singer Paula Abdul, he took it so hard that it was as if he himself had been betrayed. He had always lived in a world where male infidelity was considered commonplace, and this affected his perception. The famous photographer Francesco Scavullo once said: "Michael asked me: 'How do you act when you fall in love?' Aren't you afraid that she's with you because you can do something for her? “I replied, “Mike, you can’t live your whole life in such disbelief. You have to try to believe.” To which he told me: "I'm afraid. I'm afraid because of what I saw. The men in my family don't know how to treat women. I don't want to become like my brothers."
JacksonFamily (partially)
Despite the inimitable energy and confidence with which Jackson performed, causing crowds of people to lose consciousness with just one dance step, in life he was extremely shy and had a fragile mental structure. So Bill Bray, Michael’s security guard, who worked with him for thirty years, said: “When I met Jackson, I realized that he had really lost his childhood and could not come to terms with it. Despite his talent in business, there is a strange vulnerability about him. You want to go up and hug him, telling him to take care of himself. And I wouldn’t call myself a sentimental person.”
Too busy digging into the “dirty laundry,” the press did little to cover the other side of the life of the great artist and philanthropist. Little-known fact: Michael Jackson was the initiator of the creation of the “Universal Bill of Rights for Children,” the content of which he himself determined. These points clearly demonstrated how accurately Michael understood the problems of children. Among them were such important topics as: “The right to be loved without having to earn this love”, “The right to consider yourself worthy of adoration (even if you have such an appearance that only your mother could love you)” or “The right to know what you represent unique value, even if you haven’t done anything in this world yet.”
Michael Jackson with childrenNeverland
“Michael’s smile heals the soul,” wrote Uri Geller, “he had a unique energy. He had a great talent for choosing words that could touch the one to whom they were intended.”
However, Jackson was an impulsive man, and perhaps if it were not for his colleagues at the peak of their careers, for example, John Branca, we would never have seen the most brilliant Thriller. The fact is that Michael was a Jehovah's Witness for many years, and the elders insisted that whatever the King of Pop created went through their personal artistic council. In the late 70s and 80s, Michael Jackson unquestioningly believed in the ideology of the Witnesses and showed the elders a video of the Thriller he had just filmed. The latter were indignant and said that they would excommunicate Michael if this short film was released. Jackson called John Branca, who at that time was handling his affairs, mainly legal, and literally “ordered” all copies of Thriller to be destroyed. “This, you hear, should never go on air,” Michael shouted nervously into the phone. Branca didn't sleep all night. “How could such a masterpiece, in which huge amounts of money were also invested, be allowed to turn into ashes because of this whim?” John recalled. Branca found a way out. He suggested that Michael write a statement before the start of Thriller stating that its content does not reflect Michael's personal and religious views. Jackson agreed, the elders were satisfied. Michael would later say, “God bless John Branca. If it weren't for him, Thriller would never have seen the light of day." If Thriller changed the world of music videos, making Jackson an innovator in the creation of short films, allowing him to erase racial and stylistic boundaries in music, canonizing MTV, then Billie Jean changed music forever. This song remains to this day one of the most successful singles of all time. Every year, the MTV Awards present the Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of video clips. During the creation of the Thriller record together with the brilliant producer Quincy Jones, with whom they recorded two more masterpieces Off the wall and Bad, different situations arose. For example, at the very beginning of work on the album, few people believed that it would sell more than 3,000,000 copies.
“Records are selling very poorly now, Mike,” his colleagues, as well as the head of the record company and Jones, told him. This statement infuriated Jackson. He said sharply: “This will be the greatest disc in history, and if you don’t believe in it, then there’s no point in wasting a second of your time.” There was silence in the room, which was firmly broken by Jones: “Ok,” he said, “Let’s get to work!” It is known that during this period there were very tense relations between Quincy and Michael. Jones criticized the song "Billie Jean" as not being good enough for this album, but Jackson adamantly insisted that the song be given special attention, and he was right. It was Billie Jean who brought the Thriller album to the top of Billboard, where the disc spent 37 weeks in first place. To this day, Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, a cult classic and a true classic of modern music, inspiring hundreds of millions of people, as well as most of today's superstars. Thriller also erased once and for all all racial barriers in music.
Michael Jackson: The AgeThriller
The tandem of Michael and Quincy performed miracles, the largest in effect in the world of music. Jones said: “Mike, listen to the music, let it tell you what you need. Let God into the room." And MJ listened. Working until exhaustion, always not 100% satisfied with the result. Then he continued to work again and again until he achieved perfection. At the same time, Quincy was not a supporter of dictatorship in production. He did not impose his views; rather, he fully revealed the hidden potential that was inherent in you from the very beginning. The merit of Michael and Quincy is that they turned the standard idea of pop music upside down and allowed people to see the limitless possibilities of truly great creativity. Despite the fact that after the Bad album, for a number of reasons, the couple never worked together, the warm relationship between Jones and Jackson remained until the very end. Moreover, after the singer's death, Quincy repeatedly criticized the idea of releasing posthumous albums. He said that this is blasphemy, you can’t think only about money, and many colleagues agreed with him, emphasizing that if Michael were alive, he would never allow albums like Michael and Xscape (the latter produced by Timbaland, Darkchild, L.A. Reid and many other greats) saw the light of day. Michael was a perfectionist and would hardly have been happy with such “crude” releases. However, the numbers speak for themselves. When Xscape's latest album was released last year, it immediately topped the UK charts and reached number two on Billboard.
Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones
For many years, Michael's sound engineer was Bruce Swedien, a sound genius, master and wizard who always achieved a unique sound. This is a unique person. Nobody in the world knows the geometry of sound better than Bruce. Proof of this is at least his work on Michael's album Invincible, recorded in 2001, which is objectively considered the best sounding in the history of pop music. Still. 14 years later.
Initially, Jackson wanted to record his hit Bad in a duet with Prince, who was at the peak of his career at that moment, but communication between the artists did not work out from the very beginning. They met and discussed the project. Michael and his management have come up with a great plan: launch a rumor campaign in the press, saying that he and Prince are bitter enemies who hate each other, and then, when the whole world is savoring it and dividing into two camps, they will make an official statement that these are just rumors, and they will present a video for Bad, where, according to the original plot, they will compete with each other, finding out who's bad. Prince was not enthusiastic about this idea, and after he heard the demo of the song, he completely refused , citing the fact that the guys would succeed even without him. When Frank DiLeo (Michael’s manager in those years) asked what he thought about this, Jackson shrugged his shoulders indifferently and replied: “Numbers.”
There was always some kind of struggle and rejection of each other between them. Prince sent Michael a box of amulets and feathers as a gift. It later turned out that she was bewitched by Voodoo masters, which horrified Jackson. Prince considered Michael a bore, and he said that Prince, although he writes good music, is evil in himself and treats women terribly. “Besides, he’s not much of an actor. It doesn’t represent anything.” Not too upset, the king of pop performed the song Bad himself, and the great Martin Scorsese made a musical short film about it. By the way, Wesley Snipes can be seen on screen for the first time. The song became another revolution in the world of music and attracted a huge number of street audiences.
Michael Jackson: eraBad
The album Bad sold dizzyingly, but it never managed to replicate the sales success of Thriller. Moreover, at the Grammy Awards in 1988, in the most anticipated nomination for Michael, “Album of the Year,” he lost to one of U2’s most outstanding discs, The Joshua Tree. Having released the most hits of the year and sold the most copies, Jackson left without this award, which undoubtedly made him despondent, but not for long. The next super hit, Dangerous, went on sale in 1991 and became Michael's most successful record since Thriller. Among other things, Dangerous had the most significant influence on all modern R"n"B music, greatly changing it. There was a lot of controversy about the album cover, many tabloids looked for hidden meaning in it, and even the message of Jackson's involvement in the illuminati was traced. The author of the cover, Mark Ryden, said that he was very inspired by Michael's video Leave me alone, which became the impetus for creating just such an image. “This is the largest format for a cover. The original was about 90 square centimeters,” recalls Mark. “If you look at it very carefully, you will see that the titles, themes and messages of the songs are displayed in detail on it. It took me several months to create it. It was long, painstaking and very important work for me.”
Michael Jackson album coverDangerous
One of the most personal songs on the album is Who is it, the video for which was directed by the iconic David Fincher. Who is it is imbued with tossing and inner questions of the singer. In the depths of magnificent harmony, innovative music, captivating hypnotic melody and performance, there is a deep drama of loneliness in a crowd of many-faced people, behind whose masks it is impossible to discern sincerity. Especially in women. The line of distrust towards female love in this work is so clearly expressed that it is impossible not to feel all this emptiness of brokenness as a result of the deepest disappointment. In Michael Jackson's life, there were perhaps four women whom he idolized: his mother Katherine, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross and Lisa Marie Presley. And if Taylor was his closest soulmate and support, and Ross was his mother in show business, then he definitely had feelings for Lisa of a different nature. They were similar. Both of them spent their childhood under the spotlight, both did not know a normal life, she genuinely understood and idolized him, and he listened to her advice. It was she who once told him: “Michael, a peaceful sleep is more valuable than public opinion,” and it was she who held his hand on the edge of the abyss. This puzzle had to fit. And he agreed. True, not for long, but, nevertheless, he gave Jackson and Presley several happy years. After Michael’s death, Lisa said that Jackson repeatedly repeated the phrase: “I think I’ll end up like your father.” The anthem of their relationship was the song, a super hit from the album History - You are not alone, written for him by R. Kelly. You are not alone - one of the best pop ballads in modern music.
Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor
Michael Jackson and Lisa Presley
Michael always wanted to reach people, to tell them: “don’t judge me, I’m just a person. Just like you, I, just like you, just want to love and be loved,” and he sent these subtle messages through his sensual songs. How else could he do it? But how many of us can read between the lines? A huge bird descends onto the stage, hugging him with its wings in Will you be there, “before you judge me try hard to love me,” begging, he sings in the soulful Childhood, “when you"re alone and you"re cold inside" on the doomed he explains in anguish in Stranger in Moscow, more aggressively tries to convey his pain to people’s understanding through Why you wanna trip on me, Scream and They don’t care about us and sums up this desire through global themes about the problems of the Earth in the brilliant Earth song, and also hymns to goodness We are the world, Heal the world and Man in the mirror. If we look at the composition Stranger in Moscow in more detail, then, of course, it turns out to be the most personal song Jackson ever created. Randy Taraborrelli said that the idea of the song and the video was originally conceived as a reflection of the intimacy of the singer's inner world. He began writing it after his first tour in Moscow. This metropolis seemed to Jackson to be a complete identification of his own life. In his perception, Moscow remained a gray, bustling city of people running somewhere, where you feel like the loneliest in this crowd. Randy said that even at the peak of his career, Michael sometimes went on walks to make new friends. But unsuccessfully.
“Even at home, I feel loneliness,” Jackson said, “sometimes it gnaws at me so much that I can’t cope with my emotions, I lock myself in the room and cry. You have no idea how hard it is to find true friends. Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood at night with the hope of meeting someone, just to talk about something abstract, but every time these walks end in nothing.”
He envied people who could calmly walk the streets, shop in a supermarket (once his friends closed one of them especially for Michael so that he could imitate shopping), meet, fall in love, walk in the park. The greatest artist who dreams of simple things. A hermit with hundreds of millions of crazy fans, a lonely dreamer, riding a Ferris wheel in Neverland for hours on the tenth circle, looking at one point, lost among hundreds of evening lights. A grown man with the soul of a nine-year-old boy, stuck in time, who so wanted to be understood. A man yearning for sincerity and genuine miracle in a world of people who always wanted to take something from him, touch him, be involved in fame and money, but never thought about giving this man at least a little real love in return. Unconditional. Open. Hence the purchase of human-size dolls, which he kept at home, giving them names and talking to them, in the same parallel there is a park of wonders, his favorite pastime is shooting with water pistols and friendship with Macaulay Culkin. Children are presumably the audience he was comfortable with because they are genuinely sincere. “If I wake up and find out that there is not a single child left on Earth, I will throw myself off the balcony immediately,” said Michael. The desire for this sincerity and the childhood environment in which he received it played a cruel joke on him in the world of selfish, unprincipled and greedy adults who were eager to snatch at least something from this “pie”, to destroy and trample Jackson’s empire, as it says, “by any means necessary.” In the end, they succeeded. But it is unlikely that it will ever be possible to shroud in oblivion the great musical legacy that the King of Pop left in his songs, videos, and performances. Incredible, brilliant creativity, settled in millions of hearts forever. This extraordinary man changed the world and gave us magic. And magic never dies.
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