The First Book of Michael (12 page)

During the 1984
Grammy Awards
- when Michael was nominated for fourteen, before winning an unprecedented eight of them - upon accepting one of the gongs, there is a moment when Quincy Jones whispers in Michael’s ear. Instantly, Michael turns back to the microphone and gives a shout-out to “the girls in the balcony”. Later on in the ceremony - when Michael once again returns to the podium to collect another prize - Michael jokes about having made a deal with himself to remove his aviators if he went on to break the record for the number of
Grammy’s
won in a single night. In what seems to be an afterthought, before taking off his glasses, Michael also dedicates the gesture to “the girls at the back.”

Michael’s sense of humility was on full display during his accepting of the awards, with him using the occasion to dedicate one of them – in inference, at least - to the unjustly maligned black musical luminary, Jackie Wilson. Michael also thanked Steven Spielberg for giving him the opportunity to work on the E.T. soundtrack, for which Michael won one of the
Grammy’s.
Michael explained that he felt an affinity with the cinematic alien, by saying,

“He's in a strange place and wants to be accepted… He's most comfortable with children, and I have a great love for kids. He gives love and wants love in return, which is me. And he has that super power which lets him lift off and fly whenever he wants to get away from things on Earth, and I can identify with that. He and I are alike in many ways.”

The
Thriller
album, for which Michael received the remaining seven accolades, features ‘Lady In My Life’ - a song saturated in sensuality. This track, however, was written by Rod Temperton. A more accurate portrayal of Michael’s attitudes towards women and sexuality around this time are found in the self-penned pop soap opera, ‘Billie Jean’ and the
Thriller
outtake, ‘Carousel’ in which Michael references the naïve voyeuristic circus entertainment that was “Only your eyes for a dime”.

Michael’s companions that night were Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis. Candid backstage footage of the event that was recently made public shows Michael, Brooke and Emmanuel in an elevator. Whilst the three are hidden from public view, Brooke is essentially ignored at the expense of Emmanuel. Though as soon as the elevator doors open, Michael once again takes Brooke’s arm.

Michael’s behaviour in the footage is certainly susceptible to close-minded and cynical judgement. Yet, it is important to bear in mind that at this juncture in Michael’s life, it seems he purposely curtailed the gratification of his libido in an effort to concentrate on his primary focus – his galvanised career. Also – and no less significantly – Michael’s apparent disinterest in sex at this point was perhaps a consequence of his uniquely peculiar upbringing: one that left him hesitant with regards to such matters. What with the mystifying messages that had bombarded his maturing psyche - the bewilderment of being torn between a profound loyalty to his venerated stay-at-home mother and her deeply religious views, and the negative contrast of a dedication to a life on the road in which witnessing behaviour of sexual immorality was par-for-course. Michael’s precocious eyes were witnessing nightly the debauchery of the strip clubs that formed part of the
Jackson 5
’s promotional circuit, as well as the behaviours that were an inevitable consequence of sharing bedrooms in which his father and brothers entertained groupies. Michael’s repulsion at the disrespect for his mother and in the treatment of said groupies, lends further support for his love of women in its own right.

Besides, Brooke and Michael remained close, regardless. In words disclosed by Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, Michael rues the day that Brooke attempted to get amorous with him, but he was too nervous to indulge:

“I sincerely liked Brooke, I liked her a lot. She was one of the loves of my life… I was at the
Academy Awards
with Diana Ross and she just came up to me and said: ‘Hi, I’m Brooke Shields. Are you going to the after party?’ I said: ‘Yeah’ and I just melted. So we get to the party and she says: ‘Would you dance with me?’ And we went on the dance floor. And man, we exchanged numbers and I was up all night, spinning around in my room, just happy. She was classy. We had one encounter when she got real intimate and I chickened out. And I shouldn’t have”

Michael’s friendship with Brooke survived longer than his relationship with Emmanuel did; with her regularly being seen accompanying Michael in the ensuing years. Similarly, once Michael’s marriage with Lisa Marie Presley was over, they remained on good terms – with Lisa Marie frequently flying out to see Michael all over the world whilst he was on the road with the
HIStory
tour

***

In songs inspired by Jackson family dynamics, such as ‘Superfly Sister’ and ‘Monkey Business’, Michael laments some of the actions of certain members of his family. In the lyrics to the latter track, Michael bemoans the loose morals of the male members of his family, singing,

“Your brother’s gone and kissed / The mother-in-law / I might tell dad about what I saw / Your brother didn’t make a nickel or dime.”

Michael’s propensity for generalising a theme in order to appeal to a larger audience – such as in ‘Leave Me Alone’ – was second to none. But in ‘Monkey Business’ the glove is well and truly off, with the intended recipients of the message being perfectly clear. And although Michael switches between third and first person perspectives, in an effort to afford him the liberty of ambiguity – and therefore seeming less direct in his accusations – the subject matter of taking his family’s indiscretions to task remained a courageous choice of his. The lyric “I might tell dad about what I saw” is instantly endearing in its childlikeness, and reveals a great deal about this facet of Michael’s personality.

Though the song ‘Superfly Sister’ is in itself a direct rebuttal of sexist attitudes – a judgement on the superficial rating of women by men, with its repeated refrain reminding us that, “Push it in, stick it out / That ain’t what it’s all about” - Michael does not hold back in discriminating from highlighting his disappointment with some of the lifestyle choices of his siblings, irrelevant of their gender. As he sings,

“Susie like to agitate / Get the boy and make him wait / Mother’s preaching Abraham / Brothers they don’t give a damn.”

Michael’s love for his sisters was, nevertheless, very evident. He produced music with all three of his sisters, even giving the
Bad
album outtake ‘Fly Away’ to his eldest sister, Rebbie, for her 1998 album
Yours Faithfully
- as well as writing the track ‘Centipede’ for her. In the 1983
Unauthorised
interview undertaken with LaToya, the effortless repartee between Michael and his sibling is there for all to see. In an interview a decade later, Oprah Winfrey asks Michael if he has read LaToya’s ‘tell-all’ autobiography – to which he responds that he hasn’t, because he doesn’t need to, as he understands LaToya’s true heart. It was this rational attitude that enabled Michael to forgive the misguided comments made by LaToya during the media frenzy of 1993. Michael understood that the essence of his sister was one of vulnerability, and that she had become a coerced and powerless victim of egregious abuse. This trait of vulnerability being a familial one – that would eventually contribute to Michael’s ultimate demise.

Janet’s steadfast backing of Michael throughout his tribulations is legendary. Not only did she team up with Michael to duet with him on his post-allegations comeback single, ‘Scream’, but also – with total disregard for the contemporaneous status of her career being at its zenith – chose to join Michael on stage to receive the song’s
1995 MTV Video Music Award
for ‘Best Dance Video’. Furthermore, not being content with the constraints of the effusive praise she could vocally bestow upon Michael as part of her stolid advocating of him, she brazenly wore a t-shirt bearing the words ‘PERVERT 2’ emblazoned across its back. You smear Michael, you smear Janet – was the very clear message.

Incidentally, Janet’s infamous performance at the 2004
Superbowl
half-time show - a result of which the expression ‘wardrobe malfunction’ was invented - marked the moment Janet’s career was all-but terminated. The extent of opprobrium and malice Janet underwent as a consequence of the exposing of her breast is nothing short of bizarre. Justin Timberlake, on the other hand - the man Janet shared the stage with that night - has seen his career progress in leaps and bounds.

***

Michael intentionally chose a female guitarist to tour with him, with Jennifer Batten remaining a tour stalwart of his for a decade. There are a gamut of nuances in Michael’s on-stage relationship with Jennifer that, due to their subtleties, perhaps offer a more genuine level of evidence for Michael’s intrinsic respect for women than can be found anywhere else.

In the ‘Dirty Diana’ performance during one of the Wembley
Bad
tour shows, guest guitarist Steve Stevens – the musician on the record – is given “time to shine” (to use Michael’s expression when he is emboldening
This Is It
guitarist, Orianthi - another musician specifically chosen with the intent of subverting gender stereotypes and making a statement in support of women). However, Michael is still seen at pains to ensure that the crowd recognise Jennifer’s contribution as well as the guest performer’s.

Jennifer herself gets her own “time to shine” during the sonically incongruous guitar solo she is gifted with for ‘Working Day And Night’. The incongruity throws extra spotlight on Michael’s unorthodox decision to employ the services of a woman in the role. The mutual fondness between Michael and Jennifer can be seen in footage of the ‘Beat It’ solo during the Copenhagen
HIStory
tour show. At its denouement, Michael seems slightly out of sorts, and as Jennifer exits stage-left and Michael gives her an affirmative pat of gratitude, Jennifer responds by providing Michael with a reassuring nudge. A nightly-repeated dance move of Michael’s during the ‘Beat It’ solo was a crouched toe-stand, the successful conclusion for which – in order to maintain his centre of balance – meant having to hold onto Jennifer’s leg for support.

One of Michael’s later ‘femme fatale’ works was ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’. The short film for the track features Michael in the role of a pimp, and borrows its theme from the cinematic interpretation of Georges Bizet’s opera,
Carmen
– the tale of the archetypal seductress. The imagery evoked in ‘Blood On The Dance Floor’, in which ‘Susie’ “stuck seven inches in” and Michael asks, “Since you seduced her / How does it feel / To know that woman / Is out to kill?” was interpreted by some commentators as a sexist reference to promiscuous women and their role in the spread of HIV/AIDS – an idea immediately rebuffed by Michael. However, it would be disingenuous of me - considering my stance on the criminal ubiquity of the discrediting of the subtleties in Michael’s art – to dismiss this interpretation outright. But one need only look to ‘Smooth Criminal’ or ‘Little Susie’ for evidence of Michael’s penchant for a dark lyrical narrative. Though both of those examples comprise of Michael’s concern for his central female characters.

This concern for the female protagonist is also apparent in his songs that feature prostitutes. Michael empathises with the plight of the ‘streetwalker’, and makes an effort to expose the reasons for their finding themselves in such desperate circumstances. The narratives of ‘Do You Know Where Your Children Are’ (“The police come 'round the corner / Somebody up there had told / He's arresting this little girl / Who's only twelve years old”) and ‘Hollywood Tonight’ (“She's giving hot tricks to men… / When she was taught that that's not clean / Because she's only fifteen”) both involve girls having to resort to prostitution in order to survive. The lyrics of ‘Slave to the Rhythm’ regale a tale in which Michael worries about gender inequality, and the everyday injustices suffered by women at the hands of patriarchy.

***

Michael had an uncanny knack for incorporating trademarks into his transient physicality: the single white glove; the sunglasses; the arm-brace; the mask; the umbrella – all props that were essential byproducts necessitated by his changing physical appearance. (Although the single white glove also served the dual purpose of highlighting Michael’s moves as he danced – as did the white socks. As he explained, “
I love to accent movement. The eye goes to where the white is - you know, the glove.")

For the
Dangerous
campaign, Michael focussed in on his next image - becoming thicker-set as he matured. For the ‘In The Closet’
short film, he hired the services of Herb Ritts, renowned for raunchy photography. He hired John Singleton, fresh from
Boyz in the Hood
, to direct the ‘Remember The Time’ video, which featured an all-black cast (including, on Michael’s insistence, a role for the basketball star Magic Johnson, who had recently publicly revealed his being HIV-positive). The 1993
Grammy’s
speech Michael gave - upon receiving the
Grammy Legend Award
- was meant as a reset button for all the bizarre behaviour of the eighties. Michael - he claimed - hadn’t “been aware that the world thought [he] was so weird”, and announced that he had undergone a “rebirth”. The promotional drive behind
Dangerous
was to portray Michael as mature and sexy, whilst also reclaiming any black support he may have lost during the
Bad
era.