Sunday June 28, 2009
Blame it on fame
By MARTIN VENGADESAN
Jackson died in Los Angeles at age 50 on Thursday.-AP He brought joy to millions of fans, but his life was dogged by fear and pain.
DEEP down, we all know that life is finite. There are stories about places people go when they die, and platitudes about keeping someone’s memory alive in your heart. Truth is, there is a finality about death that cannot be reversed.
As Michael Jackson’s body breathed its last in Los Angeles on Thursday, and the inevitable media circus rolled into town, I tried to take stock of a man who seemed incapable of finding happiness despite being able to bring joy to millions of others.
Few individuals reached the heights that a little boy from Gary, Indiana, once soared to, and fewer still have crashed and burned as dramatically. It is perhaps a testament to his greatness as an artiste that his many fans are now lamenting the lost potential of a life filled with remarkable triumphs.
In fact, I found that I was unable to maintain my habit of listening to an artiste’s tracks on YouTube while writing about them, simply because each and every image provoked a strong emotional reaction.
The power and passion of the prison version of They Don’t Care about Us (1996), the incredible slick coolness of Billie Jean (1983), the life-affirming spirituality of Will You Be There? (1992), and the honesty and optimism of Man in the Mirror (1988) just made for a tear-jerking combination.
I think the deal was sealed when I revisited his very first single, I Want You Back (1969), which featured a 10-year-old MJ looking adorable in a garish purple hat over a mini-Afro, swivelling in tandem with his brothers, as the Jackson 5.
The early years
Initially, it seemed as if the Jackson family had it made. The talented sons of musician Joseph Jackson allied their singing and dancing skills to the slick professionalism of Motown and in 1969, the Jackson 5 began a record-setting run of four consecutive Billboard chart-toppers (including evergreens like ABC and I’ll Be There).
Even though all the brothers (Jackie, Jermaine, Tito, and Marlon) were accomplished performers, MJ stood out and handled lead vocals on most of their hits. By the early 1970s, they were superstars who managed to transcend racial barriers.
You could always count on amazing theatre and great dance routines in a Michael Jackson concert. This leap is from a 2002 concert at New York’s famous Apollo Theater. – Topshots / AFP MJ was later to claim, though (most memorably in a 1993 interview with talk show host Oprah Winfrey), that he never got to experience a proper childhood.
Driven by an ambitious father who would beat his sons if they failed to get their routines right, the Jackson boys lived in fear, forced to be professional performers at an age when other children could simply enjoy being children.
The result of fame and fortune was that MJ never really had a normal life, and a lot of his later problems could be traced back to this time.
Despite these problems, he continued to grow as an artiste. His popularity led to solo singles like Ben and Rockin’ Robin, and as the Jackson 5 outgrew Motown (and renamed themselves The Jacksons), the group moved to funkier material like Dancing Machine and Blame It on the Boogie.
He took his first real step into adulthood (as a performer) when he teamed up in 1979 with Quincy Jones for the Off the Wall album, which resulted in more hits, like Rock With You and Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough. With a string of American Music, Billboard, and Grammy Awards in his pocket, he knew he was ready to conquer the world.
Jackson’s good friend, Elizabeth Taylor, was a great support throughout his adult life. This photo is from the 1993 American Music Awards at which he won two awards. – AFP The superstar
Which is precisely what he did. In today’s world, with so many entertainment options available, it is unlikely that anyone can become quite as huge a star as MJ was in his heyday. Amazing dance moves, a great voice and fine, naturally chiselled features made him the face of the 1980s.
It all began with the irresistible Thriller album (still the most successful single album of all time). It spawned hit after hit, most of the time on the back of ground-breaking videos that helped take his music into homes all over the world.
Musically, he mixed it up, moving effortlessly from the funk of Billie Jean to the mean rock of Beat It to the sweetest, most delicate drop of pop/soul that is Human Nature. The video for the title track was a part horror/part dance extravaganza that had us hooked.
The Jackson 5 performing for the TV cameras on the Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour in 1972. From left: Tito, Marlon, Michael, and Jermaine. – AP And, really, the boy could do no wrong.
There were collaborations with everyone from Paul McCartney (The Girl is Mine and Say Say Say) to Eddie Van Halen, and he capped it with a brilliant performance of Billie Jean at the Motown 25th anniversary show on March 25, 1983, during which he premiered a new dance known as the moonwalk.
At that point, Michael Jackson had become the biggest star on the planet. Thousands of kids all over the world imitated his dancing, and everybody respected him. His iconic status matched that of Pope John Paul II and Muhamad Ali. Even his meaningless ad-libs like “jamone” and “hee-hee” became commonplace. Indeed, supermarkets in Malaysia used to have their fair share of MJ impersonator competitions (which, if I remember correctly, went down particularly well with our Tamil community).
Joseph Gonzales, 49, now head of Aswara’s (National Arts, Culture and Heritage Academy) dance department, recalls how Jackson helped attract many youngsters to music and dance.
Royal appearance: The King of Pop on his memorable visit to KL in October 1996. – File photo “His influence is unimaginable and unquantifiable – his music, stage shows and videos set the benchmark for innovative choreography and spectacular entertainment!
“In the 1980s – when disco and nightclub entertainment was at its peak in Kuala Lumpur at Sapphire Disco, Hollywood East, Faces, and other night spots – freelance dance groups and dancers like myself studied, rehearsed and performed his repertoire like Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean and Smooth Criminal as the staple of every show.
“Our costumes, too, were replicated from his videos. Clubs were staging “Thriller” nights and MJ competitions right into the early 1990s.
“Michael Jackson moonwalked and crotch-clutched his way into our lives – and stayed there despite all his bizarre behaviour,” Gonzales says.
Another performer who idolised MJ is trading company director/musician Amitabh Chandra, 34.
“Thriller was the first album I ever owned. I wore that cassette tape out and moonwalked even in my sleep. Nothing could have brought more joy to an eight-year-old then.”
Honeymoon period: Jackson and first wife Lisa Marie Presley (Elvis’ daughter) on stage at the 11th Annual MTV Video Music Awards in 1994 just months after getting married. – Reuters The cracks
As the most famous man on the planet, MJ was naturally fodder for the gossip mills. But, instead of romance and potential mates (his name was linked with various candidates in the 1970s), he became front-page material for other reasons.
If you believed everything you read, he slept in an oxygen tank with a chimp called Bubbles and the corpse of one Joseph Merrick (a long-deceased, disfigured Englishman known as the Elephant Man)!
Jackson and second wife Debbie Rowe posing for a wedding photo minutes after the ceremony in California on Nov 14, 1996. Jackson had two children with Rowe. – Reuters To make matters worse, he genuinely developed a craze for plastic surgery, and tampered, tragically, with his good looks. Despite explanations that included an accidental fire (while shooting a commercial for Pepsi in 1984) and an emerging skin disease, many were shocked when MJ’s skin colour became appreciably lighter over the years.
Still his musical talent was indisputable. Touched by the plight of starving African children, he co-wrote We Are the World with fellow star Lionel Richie. They enlisted a truckload of celebrity singers and, under the moniker USA for Africa, recorded one of the decade’s defining songs.
Yes, that’s Jackson under the traditional Arab women’s veil in Bahrain in 2006. The child with him is unidentified, as Jackson had the habit of veiling his own and other children when he was in the public eye with them. – Reuters I still remember the buzz in 1987 when MJ’s long-awaited follow-up to Thriller finally emerged. There were debates about the exact meaning of its title, Bad (was it slang for “good”?), and tens of thousands of fans around the world queued up to get a pristine copy of the new album.
Initial reaction to the album was lukewarm, but as each single got airplay, momentum picked up. Ultimately, Bad was to become the only album in history to boast five chart-topping singles.
The Jackson family’s successes weren’t limited to MJ as little sister Janet became a television star on shows like Good Times and Different Strokes, and then a multi-platinum solo artiste in her own right. Although there were rumours of tension between them, they eventually got together to record the hit single, Scream.
Another sister, Latoya, was better known for her nude photo shoots and poor vocals. She once broke with the family ranks and accused MJ of inappropriate behaviour with children.
Sadly, kinks began to show in MJ’s persona. Even among my classmates, opinion was divided, with some staying fiercely loyal to him, while others openly joked about his supposed eccentricities. Comedians like Weird Al Yankovic and Lenny Henry certainly had a field day with spoofs of Bad.
Off the edge
In the early 1990s, MJ was still churning out instant classics like Black and White and Remember the Time, but the focus had shifted more and more to his personal life.
The famous pyjamas: Jackson arriving for the 2005 child molestation trial in, erm, unconventional garb.... – AP His friendships with child star MacCaulay Culkin on one hand and veteran diva Elizabeth Taylor on the other, and controversial music videos were simply entrees before the media frenzy of 1993, when he was accused of sexual crimes involving a 13-year-old boy.
With that, people stopped seeing MJ as a mere eccentric and started talking about something more sinister. Fans rallied to his defence, but the case (which was eventually dropped after a multi-million dollar payoff) raised questions which have never been satisfactorily answered to this day.
After that episode, scandals and controversies followed one after another. He married Elvis Presley’s daughter Lisa Marie after a whirlwind romance (which, some observers believed, was a marketing stunt). They divorced within a few months and he married nurse Debbie Rowe.
To make matters worse, his 1995 album, HIStory, proved to a marketing disaster. When someone has built up a loyal fan base numbering in the tens of millions, you don’t insult his diehard fans by coupling his new album with a greatest hits selection, forcing them to pay for two CDs, the first of which contains songs they probably had.
The new material on HIStory, with powerful songs like They Don’t Really Care About Us, The Earth Song, You are Not Alone and Scream, was strong, but the packaging left fans feeling cheated.
Still, I will never forget MJ’s appearance on Malaysian soil in 1996. I was part of a packed audience at Stadium Merdeka for the first show on Oct 27 (he did two shows in Kuala Lumpur). It was surreal, seeing the great man tear through many of the songs that served as a soundtrack for my own childhood.
The final decline
Unfortunately, little went right for MJ in the new millennium. His album Invincible (2001) was far more insipid than anything he’d previously released. Despite some strong songs like Speechless, The Lost Children and Cry (You Can Change the World), it was almost as if he had lost faith in himself. But, despite being the weakest and most poorly received album of his entire adult career, Invincible still sold more than 10 million copies worldwide!
Somehow I have this persistent feeling that if he had really known how much love he created among his fans, if he could have found a way to harness that goodwill, he would have been able to save himself and resurrect his career.
But his life had spiralled irretrievably out of control. A shocking documentary, Living with Michael Jackson by British journalist Martin Bashir, portrayed him as both a freak and a potential paedophile. (I felt Bashir was two-faced when dealing with MJ).
This was soon followed by another round of child abuse allegations, but he was acquitted of all of them.
Controversy over his suitability as a father and the after-effects of financial mismanagement all took their toll on him. He was recently forced to sell his dream home, the Neverland Ranch, and undertake a comeback tour in an effort to recoup some of the millions he had squandered. That the eternally young superstar died a disfigured, sick, middle-aged man is truly a tragedy.
Legacy
When all is said and done though, MJ will always be remembered for his music. You only come come across an artiste like him once in a lifetime and he was loved, all the more, for his frailty and pain.
Quincy Jones, who produced Thriller, said: “He was the consummate entertainer and his contributions and legacy will be felt bythe world forever. I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.”
McCartney who clashed with MJ after the latter outbid him in a battle to secure the rights to the Beatles’ catalogue, released this statement on his death:
“I feel privileged to have hung out and worked with Michael. He was a massively talented boy-man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones.”
During an appearance on Larry King on Thursday, pop star Cher reminisced: “When I think of him, I think of this adorable boy I met who loved to look at my beaded socks and said to me once, ‘Cher, do you think we could just go to the movies?’ I think of him more like that, because in later years, I didn’t see him that much and when I did see him, his behaviour was very strange. I didn’t really understand him.”
On the same show, an emotional Celine Dion said: “Michael Jackson was not only an extremely talented person, he was unique and he was a genius. It feels like when Elvis Presley died. It’s an amazing loss. I’m rediscovering Michael Jackson again through my son. He will never, ever, ever die.”
It’s clear that those who knew him best are heartbroken. More amazingly, so are millions who never met the man, but whose lives were touched by his songs.
MICHAEL Jackson tribute shows on television today
MTV (Astro Channel 713)
Noon: I Love the 8 0s & 90s: Special Michael Jackson edition (one hour of music videos)
10pm: Michael Jackson Tribute
Channel [V] (Astro Channel 714)
11.30pm-2am: Back-to-back encore of A Tribute to Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson Special Presentation, and Michael Jackson Special
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