Authors: Steve Knopper

MJ (60 page)

“We wanted a tough album”
: Quincy Jones bonus-track interview,
Bad (Remaster)
(Epic/Sony, 2001).

“They’re so competitive”
: Quincy Troupe, “The Pressure to Beat It,”
Spin,
June 1987, p. 43.

“It would have been disastrous”
: Author interview with Russ Ragsdale.

MJ, Prince, and James Brown
: “A Holy Trinity of Pop Music,”
newyorker.com
, August 20, 2013.

MJ and Prince in Vegas and “Why was Prince playing the bass in my face?”
: Author interview with will.i.am.

$500,000 to $600,000 and “We were certainly hoping”
: Author interview with Glenn Phoenix.

Studio sizes
:
westlakestudios.com
.

“Michael’s room” and celebrity guests
: Ragsdale interview.

“It was also unusual”
: Phoenix interview.

“He would be in that room a lot”
: Author interview with Jolie Levine.

“He was able to hear and see”
: Author interview with Cornelius Mims.

“I grew up watching him on TV”
: Author interview with Eric Persing.

“Michael was growing”
: Joseph Vogel,
Man In the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson
(New York: Sterling, 2011), p. 107.

Jones background
: Quincy Jones
, Q: The Autobiography of Quincy Jones
(New York: Doubleday, 2001), pp. 237, 243, 273, 288, 233–34, 236–41, 243, 298.

“There started to become a real problem”
: Currell interview.

“It hit the fan”
: Ibid.

“Either he goes or I go,” “I just got fired,” and “Don’t worry”
: Bottrell interview.

“Michael had fantastic ideas”
: Author interview with Larry Williams.

“They had every studio guitar player”
: Persing interview.

eight hundred tapes
: Joseph Vogel, “How Michael Jackson Made ‘Bad,’ ”
theatlantic.com
, September 10, 2012.

3:30
A.M
.: Ragsdale interview.

MJ’s studio outfit and Bubbles
: Troupe, “The Pressure to Beat It,” p. 45.

Noon and 6
P.M.
meals
: Ragsdale and Jolie Levine interviews.

“When’s Catherine coming?”
: Jolie Levine interview.

“They’re all happy”
: Author interview with Douglas Cooper Getschal.

“Depending on the setting” and “It’s like he really didn’t want to be seen”
: Mims interview.

Jimmy Smith and Run-D.M.C
.: Troupe, “The Pressure to Beat It,” p. 45.

“anthem that had a good feel to it” and Garrett-Ballard story
: Quincy Jones and Siedah Garrett interviews,
Bad 25
(Optimum Productions, directed by Spike Lee, ABC, 2012).

“Make it sound like church”
: Author interview with Sandra Crouch.

Mavis Staples and
Shamone: Chris Richards, “B-sides: Mavis Staples Talks Prince, Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan and President Obama,”
washingtonpost.com
, September 3, 2010.

100
MILLION
: Miko Brando interview,
Bad 25
.

“
He still had great momentum
”: Author interview with John Sykes.

“Wow, this is great!”
: Jeffrey Daniel interview,
Bad 25
.

“I always thought it was a little bit forced
”: Author interview with Nathan East.

“When that video stopped,”
“This just can’t happen,” “I don’t think you fucking
understand
,” and “We did our thing”
: Author interview with Larry B. Davis.

“If you ever drop another”
: Ibid.

“I felt the kiss was too corny”
: Joe Pytka interview,
Bad 25.

“I don’t want to be in it” and DiLeo meeting
: Author interview with Larry Stessel.

“the worst things that ever happened”
: Author interview with Don Wilson.

“I can’t film anymore” and Stessel-Pytka negotiations
: Stessel interview.

“Let it talk to you” and “Smooth Criminal” choreography origins
: Author interview with Vincent Paterson.

Lorne Michaels and Phil Hartman script
: Author interview with Jerry Kramer.

$22 million budget
: Maria Gallagher, “ ‘Moonwalker Glides In: Michael Jackson Video Hits Stores, 300,000 Strong,”
Philadelphia Daily News,
January 10, 1989, p. 34. Confirmed by Kramer.

“She’s unbelievable!”
: Currell interview.

“He was just gorgeous to look at”
: Author interview with Jennifer Batten.

Sheryl Crow as a waitress
: Author interview with Darryl Phinnessee.

“I guess they assumed”
: Sheryl Crow interview,
Larry King Live
(CNN, August 23, 2006).

“She was really dedicated”
: Author interview with John Lobel.

“I want this”
: Phinnessee interview.

“
When you sing the first ‘Ooh!’ ”
: Confidential source.

“We’d rehearse and rehearse and rehearse”
: Author interview with Allen Branton.

Early
Bad
tour description
:
Michael Jackson: Live in Japan
(CineVu International/Downtown Entertainment Inc., 2009).

“The vicious challenge”
: Author interview with Greg Phillinganes.

$40 tickets and $700 resale prices in Japan
: Michael Small and Todd Gold, “Michael’s First Epistle,”
People,
October 12, 1987, p. 103.

$4.4 million and $125 million
: Paul Grein, “A New Stage for Michael Jackson,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 27, 1989, p. E1.

$500,000 payroll
: Steve Dougherty and Todd Gold, “All ‘Bad’ Things Come to an End, as a Tearful Michael Jackson Bids Bye-Bye to the Highway,”
People,
February 13, 1989, p. 52.

“During rehearsals, we all had access to him”
: Batten interview.

Space Mountain
: Author interview with Eddie Garcia.

Synclavier importance, “Oh yeah, I can do something like this,” $1.5 million in equipment, and emergency repair to $500,000 synthesizer
: Currell interview.

“The beauty of watching that thing”
: Paterson interview.

“I just understood that I was designing a ballet”
: Author interview with Tom McPhillips.

Mop-bucket story and “Michael didn’t like it”
: Lobel interview.

Bad
show description
: Michael Jackson,
Live at Wembley July 16, 1988
(Sony Legacy, 2012).

“I would use the tremolo bar”
: Batten interview.

“Elizabeth Taylor, Princess Diana”
: Author interview with Rory Kaplan.

“It was Michael’s absolute”
: Ibid.

Jolie Levine’s son Yoshi, “the popular kid with Michael,” “He didn’t want [Safechuck] to have to feel,” and “I don’t think that’s a good way”
: Jolie Levine interview.

“I gotta talk to you, Mike” exchange
: Author interview with Sam Emerson. J. Randy Taraborrelli (
Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story 1958–2009
[New York Grand Central Publishing, 2009], p. 402) has a variation of this conversation, in the context of MJ giving Safechuck’s parents a $100,000 Rolls Royce. Safechuck’s family did not return calls.

“When he met adults”
: Jolie Levine interview.

“There were these Australian kids”
: McPhillips interview.

“On the back of the set, they were alone”
: Henderson interview.

DiLeo responds to questions
: Cutler Durkee and Todd Gold,
People,
September 14, 1987, p. 93.

“
Frank was hard and pretty stern”
: Branton interview.

CHAPTER 7

$2 million Neverland Cinema
: Michael Goldberg, “Michael Jackson: The Making of the ‘King of Pop,’ ”
Rolling Stone,
January 9, 1992, p. 32.

Star Wars
and Gregory Peck
: Author interview with Will Vinton.

“I stayed overnight”
: Author interview with Nathan Watts.

“Woo! The Zipper!” and Aqil Davidson’s Neverland recollections
: Author interview with Aqil Davidson.

Neverland’s $60 million price and MJ’s $17.5 offer
: Author interview with John Branca.

Neverland description
: Sycamore Valley Ranch brochure, p. 2.

Stallion
and pig details
: David Friend, “Michael in Wonderland,”
Life,
June 1993, p. 52.

MJ at the R-Country Market
: Author interviews with Karen Dittmar (store employee).

Teens recalling MJ summoning their classes
: Author interviews with Bailey Adams and Jaisey Williams (Los Olivos shop employees).

“I remember going to the recording studio”
: Michael Jackson interview,
The Oprah Winfrey Show
(ABC, February 10, 1993).

“You know, Michael”
: Vinton interview.

“Simply put, he wanted to be his own boss”
: Joseph Vogel,
Man In the Music: The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson
(New York: Sterling, 2011), p. 135.

“Michael doesn’t want to work with you” exchange
: Frank DiLeo interview for Steve Knopper,
Appetite for Self-Destruction: The Spectacular Crash of the Record Industry in the Digital Age
(Free Press/Simon & Schuster, 2009).

Moonwalker
and three hundred thousand copies at $24.98
: Dennis Hunt, “Music Video Makers Bet on ‘Moonwalker,’“
Los Angeles Times,
January 6, 1989, p. E22.

Yetnikoff spreading story
: Walter Yetnikoff,
Howling at the Moon
(New York: Broadway Books, 2004), p. 254.

How Geffen, Mottola, and Grubman overthrew Yetnikoff
: DiLeo interview for Knopper,
Appetite for Self-Destruction
.

“an instinct for recognizing talent” and Sandy Gallin background
: Claudia Eller, “Managing in Turbulent Times,”
Los Angeles Times,
January 16, 1994, Calendar, p. 8.

MJ asked Branca for biggest contract ever
: Confidential source.

$18 million advance
: Randall Rothenberg, “Michael Jackson Gets Thriller of Deal to Stay With Sony,”
New York Times,
March 21, 1991, p. C17.

25 percent royalty rate and $5 million to $120 million per album
: Alan Citron and Chuck Philips, “Michael Jackson Agrees to Huge Contract with Sony,”
Los Angeles Times,
March 21, 1991, p. A1.

Grubman, new deal points, and added albums to contract
: Confidential source.

“He admired Elvis Presley’s career” and Creative Artists Agency
: Author interview with Rusty Lemorande.

Anton First and
Angels with Dirty Faces: Ibid.

“He never starts an album”
: Author interview with Bill Bottrell.

“He was desperately searching”
: Author interview with Chris Currell.

Hummed the main hook for “Black or White” at Westlake
: Bottrell interview.

“It was a melding of minds”
: Author interview with Thom Russo.

“I don’t want to belittle Bill”
: Author interview with Bruce Swedien.

Early song titles and evolution of “Black or White,” including rap and L.T.B.
: Bottrell interview.

“
We went out and set up camp” and MJ with Culkin at Can-Am
: Author interview with Daryl Simmons.

Heavy D introduced MJ to Riley
: Heavy D interview on Z104, July 10, 2009.

“Quincy’s productions have a bit more”
: Author interview with Dave Way.