King Ranch Texas Tour
The Top Ten Stories about Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson was in the public eye from a young age as a part of the Jackson 5, and like him the stories also started very early on.
Michael Joseph Jackson was born August 29, 1958 He had started performing at the age of 5 and by the age of 8 he was touring the Midwest extensively with the Jackson 5. He finally made his debut on the major music scene in 1968 as a member of the Jackson 5 at the age of 10.
Story Number 1: Childhood
It was in the first television interview that Michael Jackson had given since 1979 that he first spoke of the stories of his alleged childhood abuse. Michael Jackson admitted that he had often felt lonely as a child and cried as a result of this and of his fathers abuse. He revealed that he was physically and emotionally abused by his father in several different ways; enduring incessant rehearsals, beatings and verbal abuse. Marlon Jackson, Michael’s brother supposedly once stated that their father had “pummeled him over and over again with his hand, hitting him on his back and buttocks”.
Not only this but on one occasion, Joseph Jackson, the children’s father had apparently climbed into Michael’s room wearing a scary mask and had proceeded to scream and shout. Their father’s reasoning for this behavior is that he wanted to teach his children not to leave their windows open whilst they were sleeping. This kind of behavior quite obviously did more to damage Michael than teach him a simple lesson as Michael revealed in an interview that this incident have resulted in nightmares centered around kidnapping for years after.
In an interview with Martin Bashir, which was released in 2003, Michael said: “i didn’t have it that hard, he used me as the example, “do it like michael” … he practiced us with a belt in his hand and if you missed a step then expect to be hit…he would tear you up if you missed… really get you”. Although Michael did admit he had been abused by his father, in extra footage he suggested that ‘he hurt me with his love, be he is a genius, the man is a genius”.
Story Number 2: Thriller
On November 30, 1982 Jackson released his sixth studio album produced by Epic Records; Thriller. Thriller was the follow up album to ‘Off the Wall’, 9 of the tracks were written by MJ himself and it explored several different genres including funk, disco, soul, soft rock, R&B and pop.
At its best the album was selling a million copies a weed, worldwide and in just over a year it became, and still remains, the best selling album of all time and has risen to number one again after the singers death. It is estimated that the album sold an excess of 60 million copies around the globe. Seven of the songs were released as singles and all reached the top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
The album broke records winning eight Grammy Awards in 1984 in three different genres – pop, R&B and rock. It was Thriller that sent Jackson soaring into superstardom and cemented him as one of the predominant pop stars of the late 20th Century.
Thriller was one of the first albums and Michael one of the first artists to use videos as such a massive and successful promotional tool – the three main videos to be played on MTW were Thriller, Billie Jeans and Beat It.
The album ranked number 20 in the Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 greatest albums of all time in 2003 and was also listen by the National Association of Recording Merchandisers at number three in their ‘Definitive 200 Albums of All Time’.
Story Number 3: The Moonwalk
The Moonwalk or backslide is a dance technique that presents the illusion that the dancer is stepping forward while actually moving backward. It gives the appearance of a person moving along a conveyor belt. Michael Jackson’s first ever public moonwalk was supposedly in 1983 at the Motown 25th Anniversary whilst performing “Billie Jean”. Jackson was not the first person to perform the moonwalk and older stars have claimed that they taught him the move, but there is no doubt that he popularized the moonwalk and the robot dance moves and made them his own; the dance gained worldwide popularity after Michael Jackson performed it and soon to become considered his signature move. The moonwalk has since become one of the best known dance moves in the world.
Story Number 4: Bad
In his autobiography Jackson said that the song was about the street. A kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighborhood when he’s on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood start giving him trouble. He sings “Im bad, you’re bad, who’s bad… etc” He’s saying when you’re strong and good then you are bad. Bad remained in the top spot for two consecutive weeks from October 24th 1987.
Michael Jackson’s album ‘Bad’ was released on 31st August 1987 followed closely by the single ‘Bad’ which was released on September 7 1987, which was MJ’s seventh number one hit single over all. Twenty years after the album was released it had sold over 30 million copies worldwide and shipped 8 million units in the United States. It was the first and currently only album ever to feature five songs in the Billboard Hot 100 number 1 singles. In the late 80′s the album one two Grammy’s, one for Best Music Video for Leave Me Alone and one for Best Engineered Album. Bad was also ranked number 43 in the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time of the MTV Generation in 2009 listed by VH1. It was ranked number 202 on the Rolling Stone magazine 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Bad became the first of Jackson’s albums to debut at number-one on the Billboard 200 where it remained for the next six consecutive weeks. It sold 8 million copies in the US alone. In the UK the album sold 500,000 copies in just five days and is currently certified 13x platinum, for sales of 3.9 million making it Jackson’s biggest-selling album in the UK. Globally, it is Jackson’s overall third best-selling recording, behind Thriller and Dangerous, with 30 million copies sold. From this album 5 of the songs hit number one – record. Bad was the 9th best selling album in British History this was announced in 2006.
Despite how successful the record was in a poll in Rolling Stone magazine US citizens voted Bad worst album and worst single.
Story Number 5: Bubbles and Pets
Bubbles is the name of the chimpanzee that became associated with Michael Jackson. MJ rescued the chimp from a Cancer research clinic in Texas in 1985. Michael Jackson was reportedly quite close to the chimp but the media mocked this friendship, as they mocked many aspects of his life. The media portrayed the relationship as weird and Jackson as a ‘bizarre eccentric’, obsessed with recapturing his lost childhood and it was this incident that lead MJ to be named Wacko Jacko. Bubbles sat in with Jackson when he recorded one his most famous albums, Bad and was obviously a big part of his life for a while; Bubbles even made a cameo appearance in “Liberian Girl” a track from the album bad. The chimp was moved to the Neverland ranch with ‘Jacko’ in 1988, he slept in a crib in MJ’s bedroom. Sometimes the Chimp wore a diaper and on other occasions he was allowed to use Michael Jackson’s private toilet – something which the star was again scrutinized for.
Robert Thompson, a professor of popular culture supposedly suggested that “this is when the weirdness reached epic proportions” – the media produced many false stories about the pair suggesting that Bubbles was one of a series of apes that Jackson had owned or owned. The two did a lot together, went for walks and spent a lot of time with one another. Jackson has been reported as once said “My chimp bubbles is a constant delight.” Kenny Rogers once said of Bubbles: “..[he] was so human it was almost frightening. He would take Christopher [Rogers' son] by the hand, walk over to the refrigerator, open it, take out a banana, and hand it to him. Christopher was amazed…we all were.”
Bubbles is reported to still be alive today after he was removed to an animal century because there were fears he may attack Jackson’s newborn son, Prince Michael II.
Story Number 6: Neverland
Neverland Valley Ranch, is situated in Santa Barbara County, California and was the home of Michael Jackson from 1988-2005. Neverland was named so after the make-believe land in Peter Pan, the children’s story book about a boy who never grows up – a figure or idea that Michael was thought to have idolized. The property is over 2,800 acres in size and today is made up of vineyards.
When it was owned by Michael Jackson after he bought it in 1988 for a massive $30 million, he turned it into his home and a massive private amusement park. Within the amusement park there was a zoo, theme park, two railroads, a ferris wheel, carousel, zipper, spider, sea dragon, wave swinger, super slide, dragon wagon kiddie roller coaster and bumper cars. Having seen footage of the inside of Neverland it truly was a childhood land, a fantasy home constructed using Jackson’s ideas and visions.
Michael Jackson’s Neverland, it was initally reported, would be turned into “Foreverland” a permanent memorial to the King of Pop – a bit like Presley’s Graceland – so that fans and tourists from all over the world could travel to see the singers former home and a glimpse into his life. It was also thought that there were plans to bury Michael Jackson in Neverland and that there may be a public or private viewing – however, the family of Michael Jackson have confirmed that there will be no such viewing.
Story Number 7: The changes faces of Michael Jackson (plastic surgery)
The story of Michael Jackson’s plastic surgery is no secret, it has been incredibly well documented and the focus of the media on many occasions. However, any plastic surgery, other than on his nose, was fervently denied by Michael Jackson in his interview with Martin Bashir.
Initially, because Jackson had been in the public eye from such a young age, his changing appearance was put down to puberty and adolescence, but eventually the press cottoned onto the idea that it was more than natural growth that was changing the way that he looked.
By the mid-1980′s it was noticeable that Jackson’s skin was gradually getting lighter (some sources suggested that Michael was bleaching his skin) his nose and his chin were changing and his body had changed due to weight loss. Some professionals suggest that Michael suffered from ‘body dysmorphic disorder’ (a condition whereby the sufferer does not realize how they are perceived by others) as a result of the verbal ‘bullying’ and abuse that he had suffered at the hands of his father during childhood. Later changes to his nose are thought by some to be down to the fact that his father used to call him such names as “big nose” and “ugly”.
In 1986 Jackson was reportedly diagnosed with Vitiligo and Lupus; skin diseases which cause depigmentation of the skin. It has been suggested by Jackson’s make-up artist in a televised interview that initially Jackson tried to cover the lighter patches of his skin with make-up but eventually the condition became too extensive and therefor the make-up too difficult to apply. Eventually as a result of the treatment that Michael was using for his conditions his skin lightened even further until eventually he looked almost porcelain white.
However, it was not only Michael’s skin that appeared to be changing, it was also the shape of his face. Apparently, by 1990 sources close to the singer suggested that he had had 10 operations on his face in total. Michael had his first rhinoplasty (nose work) in 1979 after damaging his nose in a dance routine, when his hair caught fire. As has been suggested, this surgery, was not a success and so by his request was referred to another doctor as he was worried he would not be able to sing properly due to breathing difficulties caused by the previous operations. In his Biography MJ suggested that he had had two bits of plastic surgery on his nose and surgery on his chin to give him a small cleft. Any other changes to his face Michael has insisted are due to adolescence, change of diet, weight loss, a change of hair style and performance lighting that is used and not extensive surgery.
It is possible that some of the changes to the shape of Michael Jackson’s face are due to weight loss as he did suffer from this due to stress. He first started to become slimmer in the early 1980′s following his desire to have a, as he put it ‘ dancers body’. Furthermore, after the accusations of child abuse in 1993 MJ stopped eating and started to lose even more weight. In ’95 he was rushed to hospital during rehearsals and in 2005 the BBC reported, after further trials, he seemed to have undergone severe weight loss.
Story 8: Earth Song
Earthsong was the third single from the album HIStory and it was released on November 27, 1995. Although Jackson had written other songs that dealt with different issues this was the first that overtly dealt with the environment and animal welfare- which is what made is such an interesting record. It supported Jackson’s work as a humanitarian which was first noticed with the release of “We are the World” with Lionel Richie in 1985 and with the initiation of the “Heal the World Foundation” in 1992. He received the Genesis award for the song in 1995 which was an award given each year for animal sensitivity.
The song received a Grammy nomination in 1997 and was a top five hit in most European countries, while in the UK it still remains Jackson’s best selling single, having sold over 1 million copies. It debuted at number one where it stayed for six weeks in December 1995.
Story 9: Child Abuse Allegations
1993 was the first time that Michael Jackson was accused of child abuse by the rather of a 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Evan Chandler, Jordan’s father had supposedly administered Jordan with a powerful sedative after his son and Michael had become friends, and under this influence his son reportedly admitted that the star and he had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex. Experts later said, that the drug used (sodium amytal) makes patients highly susceptible to suggestion. Jordan’s mother told the police that she did not believe Jackson had molested her son and further investigations into his home, Neverland ranch, found no evidence to support a criminal filing. Finally, Jordan refused to testify against Jackson after he had received an out of court settlement of £22 million, Michael had justified the pay out saying “I didn’t want to do a long drawn-out thing”.
Reportedly, Jackson was again accused of child abuse later in 2005 after the Martin Bashir documentary “Living with Michael Jackson” by Gavin Arvizo, a 13-year-old cancer survivor who himself and his family had become close friends of Jackson. In the documentary both Michael and Gavin had spoken about sharing a room and bed which Michael had described as a “beautiful, charming and sweet thing”.
MJ was branded a ‘serial child molester’ during the 16 week trial in 2005 and some sources suggested that he used his Neverland ranch to prepare the children for a ‘completely different environment’ altogether. Jackson was accused of four counts of molestation including molesting a minor, intoxicating a minor, abduction and kidnapping. Gavin’s younger brother Star apparently admitted to having seen Jackson fondling his elder brother while he slept.
Further allegations were then brought up by Neverland employees who proposed that Jackson had been groping five other young boys in the early 1990′s including the Home Alone child star Macaulay Culkin. However, Culkin defended Jackson on the stand denying all charges that were held against him.
The verdict of the case found Michael Jackson to be not guilty on all charges; after assessment the jurors had thought the brothers stories to ‘not add up’.
Story 10: Death
On June 25 2009 at 2:26pm Michael Joseph Jackson was pronounced dead, after he was found in a coma at his Bel-Air mansion.
Exactly how Michael Jackson died and the circumstances in which he did are still unclear. Reportedly homicide investigations are being made into his death, although it is thought that at present there is no evidence of criminal wrong doing.
Several media sources have reported that Propofol, a powerful anesthesia, was found in Jackson’s house after he died. Apparently the drug is a prescription drug, only used in hospitals and administered by IV to send people to sleep before surgery. It is thought that several medical experts have suggested there was no reason for Jackson to have had this drug in his home; although he reportedly begged for such drugs to help him sleep having suffered chronic insomnia before his death.
Supposedly, a coroners report suggested that MJ was actually in surprisingly good health and despite scarring on his face, several injection sites all over his body and bruises on his chest (where someone had obviously been trying to revive him) there seemed to be no signs of a heart attack but it looked more likely that drugs had caused the heart to stop beating or the lungs to stop breathing. However, reportedly, the coroners office has ordered more tests to determine the Jackson’s Cause of Death. The office won’t rule on his death until toxicology and other additional testing has been completed. Authorities have found no evidence of external trauma or foul play. Prescription medication was present but they don’t know whether these were the cause of Jackson’s death.
Sources suggest that a memorial service will be held for Michael Jackson on Tuesday at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles where he had been rehearsing for his O2 London concerts.
End:
There is no doubt that Michael Jackson was the King of Pop despite his controversial lifestyle and person. He, his music and performances will undoubtedly be remembered forever.
About the Author
Charlie is an expert Research and Travel consultant. Her current interests are in Gatwick Parking, Heathrow Parking and Manchester Airport Parking.
2011 Ford F350 Super Duty King Ranch Edition Start Up, Exterior/ Interior Tour
