Jackson's PR team would often confirm the more ludicrous (and false) rumors about him, such as the hyperbarbaric oxygen chamber and buying the Elephant Man's bones. However, according to his brother Jermaine, Michael wasn't initially aware of this campaign, and he didn't approve of it when he found out.
He approved "Weird Al" Yankovic's parodies and Alien Ant Farm's cover of "Smooth Criminal", among other things, because he did have a healthy sense of humor about his work. Yankovic and Jackson got along rather well — not only did he allow Yankovic to parody his songs, but also to use the set for the Bad video for "Fat". To return the favor, Yankovic made a cameo in Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video. There is an interview with "Weird Al" Yankovic in the early nineties where Al said that Jackson liked his work and tried to get him to tour with him once (which Al didn't do because he was filming a movie).
MJ only denied an Al parody once — "Snack All Night" for "Black Or White" — and it wasn't a full refusal, he just asked Al not to put it on an album (he was fine with Al singing it at live shows instead.) as Jackson thought the message of the original song was too important to be parodied. In fact, Al was given blanket permission to parody any of his songs, with the exception of "Black or White." Al has since credited this refusal for preventing him from having the first single from Off the Deep End be another Jackson parody and making him wait to see what would be the next big thing, leading to "Smells Like Nirvana".
Banned in China: MJ's first concert in Malaysia was canceled and he was banned from performing live in the country because of his infamous crotch-grab dance move. The concert was Un-Cancelled a few days later and the ban removed when Jackson promised not to do the crotch-grab for his Malaysian audience (although this had the unfortunate side-effect of changing the venue at the last minute).
Breakthrough Hit: Originally known as the adorable and talented frontman of The Jackson 5, he already had a solo career at age 13 when he was still with them, and he had scored one #1 hit ("Ben") and two other top 10 hits ("Got to Be There", "Rockin' Robin") at that point, but said hits didn't exactly set him apart from his brothers just yet. In 1979, he teamed up with Quincy Jones to release Off the Wall, and its lead single "Don't Stop 'til You Get Enough" introduced listeners to his now-signature musical style and mannerisms. Not only did this cement him as a far bigger artist as a solo act than he ever was with his brothers, it also established him as the definitive pop musician of The '80s, leading to his landmark album Thriller three years later.
The reason he did those Pepsi commercials, even though he didn't drink the stuff, was as part of their deal for sponsoring The Jacksons' Victory tour in 1984.
On the music side, Number Ones was put out as a condition for Sony releasing him from his contract.
Creator Breakdown: The new material on HIStory: Past, Present, and Future -- Book I came in the wake of the 1993 child molestation allegations, and much of it is very bitter and/or depressing as a result. "D.S.", a bludgeoning attack against the investigating District Attorney Tom Sneddon, is probably the most extreme example.
Each of Jackson's albums had many due to his tendency to record anything he either wrote or was offered. Quite a few have seen release over the years. Jackson had a tendency of replacing tracks at the last minute: "Human Nature" replaced "Carousel" on Thriller, "Another Part Of Me" replaced "Streetwalker" on Bad, and "You Are My Life" replaced "Shout" on Invincible. Eventually, these cut songs ended up on special editions or being exclusive to single releases.
Even some songs were recorded for a certain album, only for Jackson to release them on a later one. For instance, "Earth Song" was first recorded during the Dangerous sessions, but saw the light on HIStory: Past, Present, and Future -- Book I instead.
Died During Production: Michael died just three weeks before putting on This Is It, a massively hyped residency of 50 concerts at London's O2 Arena, and his first significant concert event in 12 years.
Dolled-Up Installment: The "This Is It" song that was released at the same time as the This Is It movie. It was originally recorded in 1983 under the title "I Never Heard" and it was chosen because it happened to have the phrase "This is it" opening each verse.
Edited for Syndication: Several of Michael's mid-80s videos have been edited when rebroadcast on television, leaving the full videos only available on his DVDs.
"Bad" was an 18-minute short film by Martin Scorsese, which was shot nearly entirely in blue tones. This entire story portion (about a kid proving he's just as badass as the thieves and drug-pushers in his college through an elaborate subway dance performance, including The Reveal that it was an Imagine Spot) is cut from TV replays, leaving just the dance sequence, which is filmed in full-color.
"The Way You Make Me Feel" featured a three-minute intro of Michael trying to fit in with supposed friends in a black street gang, only to be rejected and be told by an older gentleman to just be himself. Then the woman Michael plans to share his affections for walks on screen.
"Smooth Criminal"'s 10-minute video is excerpted from the 40-minute segment dedicated to the song in the film Moonwalker. Two short versions were compiled from this, that fit the length of the song: one was simply edited, while the other had the footage manipulated to look like it was sped up and blurred.
"Black and White" featured a well-remembered extended intro featuring Macaulay Culkin, Tess Harper, and George Wendt. The infamous four final minutes of the video feature Michael dancing on a dark street while fearlessly vandalizing property before revealing that the whole thing was just a show that Bart Simpson was watching. Later airings of the full music video edited the cars and windows to be daubed with racist slogans. After all, the destruction of property isn't necessarily as objectionable as the digitally-inserted slogans themselves, with their references to "niggers", "wetbacks" and the KKK. Also, much of that sequence contained his now trademark crotch-fixated dancing.
Likewise, the framing stories of "Jam", "Remember the Time", "They Don't Care About Us", "Ghosts" and "You Rock My World" are also removed for television broadcasts.
Enforced Method Acting: He would personally pick out the actresses he found most attractive to be his co-stars in his music videos to ensure that the chemistry between them would seem believable. His ideal type of woman was tall, thin, classy, and feminine but with some masculine interests.
Sony cut the Invincible promotional effort short in the spring of 2002 after spending $20 million on it by their estimation with little return. It probably didn't help that Jackson informed Sony he would quit doing business with them just before its release. Also, he refused to do an U.S. concert tour to support it, took a long time to record it, and the costs of production totaled about $30 million. He probably assumed that two Madison Square Garden concerts/tributes to himself and a subsequent TV special edited together from them were enough, and they might have been if they hadn't been held on Sep. 7 and 10, 2001 — just before much bigger news for all media to cover broke.
Michael Jackson wanted Bad to feature "Streetwalker" instead of "Another Part Of Me". ("Streetwalker" was added to a 2001 re-release.) It came down to a tie-breaker vote when putting together the album: Producer Quincy Jones preferred "Another Part of Me". They eventually brought the choice before Jackson's manager Frank DiLeo who, and as Quincy tells the story, shook his butt more vigorously to "Another Part of Me", hence it made the album.
When shooting the music video for "Cry", the director intended for Michael to not be in it because it was supposed to be focused on the American people and if he appeared, the camera would have to focus on him and it would break the flow. Michael thought otherwise at first, but he ended up accepting the decision.
Fandom Life Cycle: He scored some hits while still with Jackson Five, and then Off the Wall onward made him one of the biggest artists in the world, and the size of his following is reflected in how well his albums sold - even once the child abuse lawsuits made Michael Overshadowed by Controversy and led to a cooldown of his fandom, Invincible still pushed 8 million units worldwide, a number that would be the peak for any artist. Once Michael died and people could separate the artist from its turbulent personal life, there was a Newbie Boom from younger generations discovering his music.
Incestuous Casting: His love interest in the music video for "Say, Say, Say" is played by his sister LaToya.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: "We Are Here to Change the World", the Signature Song of Captain EO, was initially exclusive to the film release at Disney parks in the 80s, and once the 90s rolled around and Captain EO was replaced by Honey, I Shrunk the Audience, there was no way to listen to the song anymore. It wasn't until the release of The Ultimate Collection that "We Are Here to Change the World" became listenable to non-moviegoers; further alleviated by the temporary revival of Captain EO in the early 2010s.
Despite Thriller's reputation as the highest-selling album of all time and the critical acclaim it receives alongside Bad (itself Michael's attempt at outdoing Thriller), Michael's favorite solo album of his ironically happened to be Invincible, his lowest-selling album since Off the Wall.
In his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Michael claimed he was unhappy after his famous performance of "Billie Jean" during the 1983 Motown special, solely because he was unable to keep standing on his toes after performing the moonwalk for the first time in public. Still, many people consider this show to be his crowning performance achievement.
Various comments Michael made about "Heal the World" from Dangerous and "Earth Song" from HIStory: Past, Present, and Future -- Book I suggest he intended them as magnum opuses that would become international anthems. To the general public, they mean little compared to most other songs on those albums, or even the similarly-themed "Man in the Mirror" (one of the major hits from the album it's on, Bad) and "We Are the World" (a proper charity song that Michael was one of the main collaborators of, which was successful not only in terms of commercial revenue and humanitarian funding, but also critically).
Method Acting: Jackson could cry on command, which he consistently used in live performances of "She's Out Of My Life". In the studio recording, he legitimately cried at the end of the song due to finding the lyrics very personal.
On-Set Injury: He narrowly avoided death twice within fifteen years, but both accidents would permanently affect his career and health:
In 1984, his hair caught fire as he was filming a commercial for Pepsi. He suffered second-degree burns to his scalp and he had to undergo treatment for his injuries; the general consensus is that this was the beginning of the prescription drug dependency problems that ultimately cost him his life in 2009.
In 1999, during a charity concert in Munich, Jackson was performing "Earth Song" on a suspended bridge over the stage. The stage split apart as part of the routine, and the portion Jackson was standing on was raised up high above the stage. However, the wires holding the brige pice gave out, and Jackson plummetedfifty feet to the ground, holding on for dear life. Jackson severely messed up his back from the fall, which would end up hamstringing his dancing for the rest of his life, and worsened his already severe Demerol addiction.
Michael loved video games, and after a SEGA exec showed him a build of their upcoming rhythm game Space Channel 5, he was so enthusiastic about the project, he wanted to be a part of it. Although the game's near-finished state limited him to just a couple of lines, he had a much larger participation in its sequel. Of course, he already had his own SEGA game years ago with Moonwalker and had briefly worked on the soundtrack for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 before his personal issues removed him from the project.
Reclusive Artist: Notoriously so from the 1980s onward, becoming a part of his public image. A book written by one of the last men to act as his bodyguard painted a picture of a man who, between this and his childhood in the spotlight, had no idea how a regular person was supposed to behave, and withdrew even more rather than embarrass himself.note For what it's worth, the same book also addresses his child molestation accusations, noting that while they don't know anything about it one way or the other (they were hired long after these events), Jackson could easily have done something that others would at least perceive as wrong, but in total innocence and with no ill intent due to his extremely poor understanding of the normal standards of human interaction and behavior
So My Kids Can Watch: Akon said was a reason for the This Is It series of shows was that Michael's kids had never actually seen him perform. (He stopped touring after 1997 and made few appearances afterward.)
Troubled Production: As detailed here, both Invincible (where Jackson feuded with a label angry at him spending two years and millions of dollars in his album, and then the 9/11 attacks made promoting the album even more difficult) and the video for "Black or White" (a troublesome reunion with "Thriller" director John Landis, as both clashed during its production).
Wag the Director: According to the oral history I Want My MTV, director John Landis was shocked by Jackson's crotch-grabbing "panther dance" when shooting the epilogue of the "Black or White" video. He warned Jackson that he had a kid-heavy fanbase (unlike Madonna or Prince) and that he was courting trouble with his moves, but Jackson said he was "expressing [him]self" and was able to overrule Landis's objections. When the video premiered on a four-network simulcast in the U.S. — Fox aired it immediately after an episode of The Simpsons — the resultant furor over the epilogue (both over the dance moves and its seemingly random violence) resulted in it being immediately cut from subsequent airings, though it was later re-edited to justify the violence and even shown uncut in later years.
This is It in spades; some of the more elaborate things that would have been in the final show are only talked about. In particular, a scene is shown of Michael's outfit for Billie Jean being designed is shown, and the designers promise that it will be the most epic rendition of the outfit the world has ever seen. The final outfit isn't shown or worn by Michael at all. As well as the entire show.
In the late 1980s, he wanted to star in the movie adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera. This was only a few years after the incident during the Pepsi commercial, and he may have lobbied with the disfigured-by-acid, Claude Rains iteration of the character, which sort of caught on with the public's imagination.
Paramount wanted Jackson to star as the Doctor in an American-oriented film adaptation of Doctor Who in 1988, banking off of the recent success of Moonwalker. However, the project never got past the planning phase. Had the film been made with Jackson in the role, he would've been the first non-white Doctor, a position that would ultimately be fulfilled by, depending on your metrics, either Colin Salmonnote who played a virtual representation of the Doctor's final incarnation in "Silence of the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", but was only confirmed to be the Doctor via Word of God, Jo Martinnote who played the Fugitive Doctor during Chris Chibnall's tenure as showrunner (2019-2022), or Ncuti Gatwanote who plays the first non-white main incarnation, the Fifteenth Doctor. He also would've been the first non-British actor in the part, a distinction that remains unfulfilled to this day.
Michael originally wanted Whitney Houston to sing the duet "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" off the Bad album but her label wouldn't allow it, fearing she would be overexposed. The song was also offered to Barbra Streisand, but she didn't like the song and declined.
Michael initially pitched Bad as a 30-track triple album. Whilst Quincy Jones turned it down for being overambitious, many of the outtakes have since been released, and they're typically regarded as just as good as what made the album.
"Serious Effect" was recorded with LL Cool J for the album Dangerous in 1991. Due to said album already coming close to maxing out the CD (clocking in at 77 minutes with 14 full tracks), Mike ended up shelving the song for special edition releases in 1993 and 2001, only for the song to get shelved indefinitely (the first time due to Jackson's child molestation allegations, the second due to both growing tensions between Jackson and Sony, and Def Jam vetoing the release of the song).
In 2002 he had planned to produce and star in the movie The Nightmare of Edgar Allan Poe, about the last years of the titular writer, and had written music for the film as well.
He apparently was interested in working with Lady Gaga shortly before he died.
The song "Rock Your Body" was originally written for Jackson, but he turned it down. The song went to Justin Timberlake instead.
Disney executives considered including him in their later-delayed Mary Poppins sequel, as Bert's brother, Barney the Ice-Cream Man.
He was set to star in another vehicle movie (literally and figuratively) called Hot Rods in the early 90s, loosely based on his "Smooth Criminal" music video, in which Michael would be able to transform into a car for a young boy to drive in. Then his child molestation charges happened.
Jackson nearly collaborated with Prince on two separate occasions in the late '80s. The first of these was with the Title Track to Bad, which was envisioned as a duet between the two artists; Prince turned down the offer because he was uncomfortable with the Accidental Innuendo in the opening line ("Your butt is mine..."). The second near miss was Prince's idea: he wanted his soundtrack album for Batman to be a collaboration with Jackson. According to Prince, he would've sung funk songs in-character as the Joker, while Jackson would've played the role of a balladeer Batman. However, Jackson turned down Prince's offer due to his prior concert commitments.
Kraftwerk were asked to collaborate with Michael on a track, but they declined for one reason or another.
He declined to appear at Live Aid. His press agent, Norman Winter, released a statement at the time saying that Jackson was "working around the clock in the studio on a project that he's made a major commitment to," and consequently could not free up sufficient time to rehearse and perform at Live Aid. Winter added, "Michael is just about living in the studio, rehearsing and recording. I know, what could be more major than Live Aid, but Michael couldn't turn his back on his responsibility to the people he's working with. This affected employment for a lot of people." (The project in question was Captain EO.)
According to his brother Jermaine, had he finished his This is It concert series, he was planning to was planning to extend his deal with AEG Live which included new music, a potential three-picture movie deal, a series of one-off concert dates starting in China, a halftime slot at one of the future Super Bowl games to surpass his own halftime show at the Super Bowl XXVII in January 1993 and two more tours (one of which was to be a final reunion with his brothers, based on a promise made to their mother to see her sons perform together one last time before she passed away).
Once the deal with AEG was completed, he planned to take time off from musical entertainment and move on to (possibly) directing his own film ideas, such as making a feature-length motion picture based on his 1982 song "Thriller" and the music video of the same name. It was also later revealed that a yearly Halloween television special based on his horror-themed songs, such as "Thriller" and "Ghosts", was part of Jackson's deal with AEG Live. Indeed, an animated Halloween special based on the songs did happen in 2017, titled Michael Jackson's Halloween on CBS.
Also according to Jermaine, Michael narrowly escaped being one of the many fatalities of 9/11. The day it happened, Michael was supposed to be at a meeting in one of the Twin Towers to return expensive items he used during the concert, but had overslept after staying up late to chat with his mother immediately after his second 30th anniversary concert, and missed it.
The Minutemen wrote "Political Song for Michael Jackson to Sing" with the intent of giving it to Jackson, only for him to turn the offer down. The band instead recorded it themselves for their 1984 album Double Nickels on the Dime.
◊.
