The First Book of Michael (13 page)

An all-out attack ensued to convince anyone sceptical about Michael’s heterosexuality. The ‘Give In To Me’ and ‘Who Is It’ short films are loaded with sexual connotations (the lyrics to ‘Give In To Me’ have been interpreted by some as alluding to rape); and the ‘Remember The Time’ promo - to much chatter at the time - featured Michael’s first on-screen kiss (with David Bowie’s wife - the pulchritudinous Nubian model Iman - becoming the much-envied recipient, in her role as Pharaohess). However, such subtleties were flagrantly dismissed with for the ‘In The Closet’ short film, in which Michael’s interactions with Naomi Campbell are intimate, to say the least (particularly in pictures taken during rehearsals, where Michael’s enthusiasm for incorporating the suggested stimulation of Naomi’s – let’s say ‘groin’ – into a proposed dance move, completely belie the myth of a shyness with women in his more mature years).

Candid footage of Michael in his forties portrays him as very much the heterosexual man. During film shot in the back of cars that are swarmed with baying fans, Michael is seen excitedly commenting on the attractiveness of some of the girls, who he liked to call “Fish”. In other footage, filmed when Michael was given free reign of a supermarket (an opportunity granted upon his request to experience something resembling normality) - in between riding around the aisles on a trolley - Michael picks up a magazine adorned with the image of his friend Elizabeth Taylor, then turns to hold the picture towards the camera, before smiling coyly, and saying “Now
that’s
what I’m talking about!”

***

In a 1972 interview,
Michael was asked
about singing love songs at such a young age, to which he responded, “It’s not odd for me to sing love songs because I know what I’m singing about… There’s no age limit to love.”

It seems the confused, young Michael precociously crooned about romantic and erotic love in an effort to please one of his mentors in particular. Whilst, in the one hand, his father held the stick of motivation, in the other, the dazzling Diana Ross, held the carrot.

The relationship between Michael and Diana lasted his entire life, with Diana named in the will as a guardian for his children. One need only glance at footage of Michael in his early twenties, invited on stage by Diana to duet with her on the track ‘Upside Down’ to be convinced of the sexual chemistry between them. This is also seen during the 1996
World Music Awards
, in which, during her performance, Diana positions herself in Michael’s lap, whilst he is sat enthralled by her on the front row. The theory that Michael’s heartbreak at the hands of Diana is what spurred his success in the eighties - as if he were trying to prove himself worthy of her - is certainly a feasible one. Especially when it’s considered that heartbreak was a huge motivating force for Michael – the heartbreak of lost childhood being his primary muse in the latter years of his career. And although Michael’s song ‘Dirty Diana’ concerns the actions of groupies, his choice to use that name in particular remains intriguing.

‘Liberian Girl’ was originally entitled ‘Pyramid Girl’, and was written around the time Michael forged a friendship with Elizabeth Taylor. It’s not such a stretch to imagine that Michael fell in love with - and was hence inspired by - Taylor’s role in the movie
Cleopatra
, based in Egypt. Michael dedicated ‘Remember The Time’ to Diana Ross, and ‘Liberian Girl’ to Elizabeth Taylor. And – indisputably - both were significant loves in his life. Though forming conclusions on Michael’s loves on the basis of his song dedications is by no means an infallible method. With one only needing to note the person Michael dedicated ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’ to, in order for the system to be thrown into confusion. What with that particular commendation being granted to none other than Sir Elton John.

The paradox that was Michael being the most well-known person on the planet, yet feeling like the loneliest, is not a difficult one to comprehend. The fact that he was so loved became the very reason he himself couldn’t find love. The times he felt genuine love where from children, and from audiences. Potential partners flocked around him from all over the globe. Anywhere he visited, he had his pick of opportunities for romance. And it was precisely this automatic love for him that made it so difficult for him to discern sincerity. Millions of people remain in love with him without ever having met him. Think what it was like for all those people that did meet him. Sycophancy – well-meaning or otherwise - became a curse for Michael. Michael’s second wife, Debbie Rowe, loved Michael so much she volunteered to carry his children, before handing them over as a no-ties gift.

The difficulties Michael underwent in finding sincere romantic love - considering the constancy of people throwing themselves wantonly at his feet - was akin to someone searching for the radiance of Sirius whilst standing in the blinding beam of sunlight.
It meant that such was the magnitude of Michael’s own brilliance as the brightest superstar, he also became the most distant.

During the
Bad
era, Michael was linked to Tatiana Thumbtzen - the model who appeared in the ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’ video – even joining Michael on tour to perform on stage with him during the live version of the song. One night, Thumbtzen had the audacity to kiss Michael on stage. This behaviour was frowned upon by Michael’s management, and she was swiftly replaced. It seemed Michael’s handlers were under the impression that their cash cow could do without such distractions. In the
Bad
album outtake ‘Price Of Fame’, Michael laments his position, singing,

“I was excited about the way that things could have been… / They started taking pictures, autographs, then they grab / My joy had turned to pain”.

***

The latterday examples that suggest the truth of Michael’s sexual orientation have an irrefutable sincerity about them. But there are also many quotes taken during the
Jackson 5
years, in which all the brothers’ hot-blooded-male credentials are apparently cemented. One such supposed citation from Michael being, “I have this weakness – I love looking at girls!’”

However, it would be further disingenuous of me to promote such quotes as being the verbatim thoughts of a teenage Michael. In the same way Michael and his brothers were coached with regards portraying a benign stance on issues such as black rights for the sake of commercial potentiation, so they also were in context of their views on their female fanbase. Nonetheless, the idea of the dubious credibility of such quotes is fascinating in itself. The practice of public perspectives on Michael’s sexuality being enforced by pedantic and paranoid profiteers, solely concerned with the palatability of his image, was a system heavy with repercussions for the person that would become the adult Michael Jackson.

This entrenched understanding that Michael had of public relations became the reason he was so careful – and so clever – when it came to camouflaging the political messages contained in his later work. Michael understood it was merely a matter time before people unveiled the messages in his art. To have managed this tight-rope so expertly with such faith in the long-game, was a manifestation of startling genius.

Perhaps counterintuitively, to find the ultimate proof of Michael’s perspective on women, one need look no further than his face. It was a face that he had initially wanted to be seen adorned with lace for the cover of the
Bad
album – a desire overruled by his record company, who took it to the other extreme, and insisted on a relatively macho image of Michael instead. Far from being misogynistic, Michael elevated femininity to the extent that he was completely comfortable in androgenising himself – he voluntarily absorbed the feminine into his appearance.

Michael viewed himself as a visionary: a sincere and plausible surmising borne as a consequence of his having been a uniquely positioned observer in the spiritual evolution of humanity. For a third-of-a-century, his career had entailed entertaining hundreds of millions of souls brought together as a result of love. There exists an interesting correlation between Michael’s unshackling himself of the craving for commercial success in favour of philanthropic achievements, and his acquiescence in allowing himself opportunities to succeed in romantic love. Though Michael effortlessly stirred millions of women into maniacal frenzies, the phenomenon of his fainting fanhood became by no means an exclusively female occurrence. As Michael said,

“But I am finding today, and it is so true, that guys today are really changing and I have watched it happen through my career. Guys scream with the same kind of adulation that girls do in a lot of countries. They are not ashamed.”

Michael had witnessed the change in behaviour of male fans over the decades he had been performing. He witnessed in real-time the increasing confidence of people celebrating the emancipated self. Michael had intuited society’s increasing intolerance of paternalistic orthodoxy. Archaic attitudes that he so sublimely subverted himself in his total reconstruction of the stereotypical family unit.

This was Michael’s power.

CHAPTER FIVE

By the power of truth, I, while living, have conquered the universe.

THEODOR REUSS

“I am Michael Jackson now.”

- The very words John Branca, Co-executor of the Estate of Michael Jackson, was purported to have uttered upon Michael’s death. Words so drenched in disdain that they could neither be more offensive nor telling in their outright dismissal of the feelings of Michael’s legion of adoring and loyal fans.

It is fortunate that Michael was so adept at spinning, considering the number of times this claim must have caused him to turn in his grave.

Michael’s relationship with Sony Music forged another unfortunate area in which he became embroiled in politics and conspiracy theory. Upon the release of 2001’s
Invincible
and its relatively substandard commercial success, Michael commenced a campaign to expose his belief in the duplicity of the chief of Sony Music at the time, Tommy Mottola - who Michael described as “the devil”. This discontent with Sony Music
had been slow-burning, with Michael gradually perceiving that whenever he attempted to use his art to express his feeling of being victimised at the hands of the establishment, the project would suffer from poor promotion and distribution (such as in the short film
Ghosts
- co-written with horror-connoisseur Stephen King, directed by special effects supremo Stan Winston and premiered at the 1997
Cannes Film Festival
). The conundrum of this anti-political-Michael tactic continued to be observed with the release of posthumous box sets and compilations - which would feature all of his albums, except for the polemic second disc of the
HIStory
album. In spite of the record’s status as the biggest-selling double album of all time.

Michael was no stranger to putting his hand in his pocket to fund his work - having self-financed much of the production of the timeless ‘Beat It’ and ‘Thriller’ promos - and hence felt unfairly treated by not being met half-way by a record company for whom he had made so many billions of dollars.

Indeed, in the short film for the initial single release from
Invincible
, ‘You Rock My World’ the first words uttered by Michael are, "I'm not payin' for it... You're the one who wanted to cover it - not me... You wanted to cover it."

Michael hadn’t wanted ‘You Rock My World’ as the first release from
Invincible
. This meant that the short film became an eleventh-hour panic production, manifesting as an amalgamation of themes from his music video canon. Albeit with added political references to Michael’s grievances with losing creative control to Tommy Motolla. In protest, Michael covered his face for the majority of the short film, and wore a Cripps-inspired bandana beneath his fedora, whilst symbolically dancing in front of a ‘No Checks Cashed’ sign and smashing a ‘No Fighting’ sign. One of the henchmen Michael is confronted by, insidiously snarls that he thinks that Michael “wants to die”. Another wields a Frank Dileo-esque cigar.

There is actual physical fighting, as opposed to earlier works in which dance-offs were Michael’s preferred medium to settle a score (bar his gun-toting turn in the ‘Smooth Criminal’ video. However, Michael had been bullied for long enough, and had endured it with saint-like dignity and patience. He had earned the right to lash out. Albeit, still in an artistic and studied fashion (Michael’s punch is disguised as a dance move). The choice to use unprovoked violence in an effort to demonstrate superiority merely undermines those that opt for it, due to it being an act of insecurity at its very essence. Bullies live in terror of their victims’ realisation that they are weak. Losing control of their prey is out of the question. Bullies need so much love. As Michael said, "You ain’t bad - you ain’t nuthin’!"

At the short film’s denouement, Michael and Marlon Brando – who else? – briefly exchange ambiguities, as the bar in which this has all been taking place is consumed by fire. Michael says to Brando, “I know who you are.” To which Brando replies, “Bing bang… Later.”

Michael considered the lack of financial support for
Invincible
, along with his having to cede artistic decisions to men in suits, as once again indicative of counterproductive tactics being undertaken by his record company.
Sony had allegedly claimed Michael owed them $200 million in production costs, to which Michael replied, “For Sony to make a false claim that I owe them $200 million is outrageous and offensive.”

With regards
Invincible
, Michael had the last laugh.
The album debuted at number one in thirteen countries, before selling over thirteen million copies as it intermittently re-entered worldwide music charts throughout the noughties. At the end of which,
it was hailed as
Album of the Decade
in a 2010
Billboard
poll.

***

John Branca’s ongoing stewardship of the Estate has overseen many controversial choices.

The vast majority of fan consensus these days accepts that three tracks on
Michael
- the first posthumous album of ‘new’ material released after the Estate’s $250 million deal with Sony Music (the only company Michael ever overtly campaigned against) - are performed by an imposter. Said tracks are ‘Breaking News’, ‘Keep Your Head Up’ and ‘Monster’.

Every member of Michael’s family who has publicly commented on these tracks has also made the same claim as most of Michael’s fans - that they believe the tracks are fake. Even Michael’s grieving daughter took to Twitter to confirm her belief that all of the Cascio songs were bogus.

One day - the story goes - Michael decided to visit his friends’ house and record these three remarkably subpar songs in the style of a sound-alike. Not only that, Michael chose to then further experiment by singing said songs through a piece of pipe. Whilst he stood in the shower.

This remains the official explanation for the reason that the now-notorious ‘Cascio’ tracks do not sound like Michael.

Three decades ago, Paul McCartney released his
Pipes Of Peace
album, upon which resides the songs ‘Say Say Say’ and ‘The Man’ - two irrefutably majestic vocal duets between McCartney and Michael. The song was one of three written by the two artists during a fertile period of collaboration, with the other being ‘The Girl Is Mine’, which featured on Michael’s
Thriller
album – the song being a sing-off further demonstrating the unparalleled prowess of the two vocalists. In spite of the title of the
Pipes Of Peace
album, I’m not aware of any rumours suggesting either Michael or Paul sang through pipes on the track. I’m not sure when Michael decided to start singing through pipes, but I certainly consider the adoption of this technique to have been a mistake. Because - on the ‘Cascio’ tracks - it makes Michael sound much less like he had one of the richest, unique and most soulful singing voices in all history - one nurtured and nuanced by determined industry since early childhood - and much more like he’s engaging in spontaneous, drunken, self-parodying, rage karaoke.

Over the past thirty years, ever since the
Pipes Of Peace
album was published, I have listened to Michael’s voice every single day. As a working estimate - although it’s certainly more - I have listened to Michael singing around 100,000 times. I have heard his voice mature; I have heard his style change. Say what you like about my plainly evident morbidly-obsessive, borderline-autistic behaviour, but you have to admit, I’m probably a bit of an expert on what his voice sounds like. I could tell you with 100% accuracy which hiccup, yelp or “hee hee” comes from which song.

In 2006,
Access Hollywood
conducted Michael’s last televised interview. It was undertaken in Ireland during his nomadic period. During the interview, Michael demonstrates his notoriously fastidious attention to detail regarding his music – explaining how he puts each sound “under the microscope.”

This trait for aspiring to perfection was yet further evidenced in a picture recently made public that shows a note Michael left for producer Jimmy Jam saying, “…the part I'm hearing for our chorus is the same sound you used on the bridge to the ‘Knowledge’
.
The wind kind sound
.
Talk to me about this when I return to the studio
.”

There is also a point further on in the
Access Hollywood
footage, in which the interviewer infers that Justin Timberlake - later employed by Sony Music to perform on a posthumous duet with Michael - is the contemporaneous popular musical artist most responsible for continuing Michael’s legacy. Michael quickly retorts that we shouldn’t neglect to include the black artist, Usher, on the list.

There is a YouTube montage that demonstrates Michael’s remarkable capacity for beatboxing, how he could effortlessly synthesise breath and pulse into a sublime musical experience. Michael’s use of harmonies, where he painstakingly took it upon himself to provide both immaculate lead, as well as layer upon layer of backing vox, represent examples of the art form at its most sublime. It’s hard to find a musical or emotional adjective which Michael hadn’t mastered to a superlative standard. He used his voice as effectively as a drum as he did a harp, to convey everything from anger to whimsy. Take some time to appreciate the verses of the
Dangerous
track, ‘Can’t Let Her Get Away’. Hear how the chord progression reflects his angst.

Michael was a bona fide genius. His desire for immortality was pedantically worked into his craft. As he said himself, “To escape death I attempt to bind my soul to my work because I just want it to live forever.”

Hence, the wince-inducing lyrical drivel the Cascio brothers managed to muster in an attempt to pass off work worthy of Michael, is insulting to say the least. Their lyric, “Mama say mama got you in a zig zag” appears to be some egregious effort to reference the chant “mamase mamasa makossa” from ‘Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’’.  Never mind that this coda, used to such iconic effect by Michael, was actually a thought-out inclusion to the track, with the chant being part of the traditional Cameroonian ritual performed by women before losing their virginity to their husbands-to-be. (Though, admittedly, it’s difficult to discern where Michael’s lyric “You’re a vegetable” from the same song fits into it all.)

Add all this to the abject disrespect shown for the very real road to perdition that Michael was forced to travail at the hands of the media, with the theme being so condescendingly taken advantage of in the clichéd lyrics to ‘Breaking News’ - and the flagrant endeavour to undermine Michael’s legacy for a swift and cynical profit feels complete.

It’s open to speculation as to why Sony Music decided to press ahead with the steadfast promulgation of tracks deemed bogus. But a prominent theory is that after having done a deal to release seven albums over ten years, they discovered that - for whatever reason - there simply aren’t enough songs in the vault, and hence need to flesh the albums out using music featuring an imposter. Another theory is that the treatment of Michael’s legacy is a systematic attempt to manipulate a situation in which the Estate has no remaining financial option but to sell its half of Michael’s precious music catalogue to the owners of the other half, Sony Music. Whatever the reason, what is evident is that Sony Music aren’t so much milking everything possible out of their most profitable cash cow, as they are maniacally bludgeoning its bones into unrecognisable bits. They are not so much flogging a dead horse as, well… you get the picture.

“I am the Edison phonograph… I can sing you tender songs of love. I can give you merry tales and joyous laughter. I can transport you to the realms of music. I can cause you to join in the rhythmic dance. I can lull the babe to sweet repose, or waken in the aged heart soft memories of youthful days.”

Michael sampled part of this quote for his song, ‘HIStory’. It is from the world’s first ever record: a revolution that gave the world not only the miracle of recorded music, but with it, the accompanying, less-virtuous aspect of recorded advertisement, with its associated capitalist traits of hoodwinking and greed. The Edison phonograph was an invention of awe and wonder at the time - though the sound quality wasn’t like it is these days.