19 Things You Didn't Know About Michael Jackson!
19.
'Cause This Is Starlight The early working title for what would arguably
become Michael Jackson’s most well-known album was a lot less enticing than the title
we know and love today.
When the album was still in production, Michael was apparently tooling around with the idea
of calling it “Starlight”.
Quincy Jones, who was the album’s producer, told Jackson that he should try to come up
with a better title.
After spending a night going over hundreds of possibilities, Jackson awoke with only
one word on his mind - one he could see at the top of the charts - and that word was
Thriller.
18.
Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Although there has long been a rumor that
Michael Jackson contributed music to the soundtrack for the popular 1994 Sega video game Sonic
The Hedgehog 3, it has mostly been dismissed as a conspiracy theory.
However, recent news which has come to light seems to indicate that there is some truth
to the rumor.
Sources close to the production of the game as well as the production of the music have
confirmed that Jackson was involved in the process at least on some level.
Apparently Jackson wanted his name removed from the credits due to being unhappy with
the final sound of the music, and Sega still denies that he was involved in the first place.
17.
Most Successful Entertainer Ever Many people, fans and fanatics alike, are
happy to credit Michael Jackson as the greatest and most successful musician of all time.
However, many may not know that this is actually objectively true, as long as you are a follower
of Guinness Book of World Records.
In 2009, Jackson was awarded the world record for “Most Successful Entertainer of All
time” by the prestigious ranking organization.
The record cites Jackson’s prestigious award catalogue, including 13 number one singles,
13 Grammys, and more than 750 million records sold worldwide.
16.
Godfather Macaulay Culkin Those born in the most recent generation might
only be fleetingly familiar with the classic Home Alone movies, but they likely know nothing
of the closeness which once existed between its star, Macaulay Culkin, and Michael Jackson.
It’s true though - the two were virtually inseparable at one point.
In fact they were so close that Jackson made Culkin the godfather of his daughter, Paris
Jackson.
Today, Paris and Macaulay remain close.
15.
Scorsese Many of Michael Jackson’s music videos have
been heralded as works of art, but only one can actually claim to have been made by a
true film artist.
The music video for “Bad” holds this spot, since it was directed by the legendary Martin
Scorsese.
The full video is 18 minutes long and is more of a short film - in fact it was written by
Richard Price, a noted novelist and screenwriter.
Filming took 6 weeks, and the video makes use of an extended version of the song which
was recorded specifically for its production.
14.
Not So Thrilling Religion The subject of religion isn’t one you typically
bring up when you’re talking about the King of Pop, but he certainly held strong religious
convictions, at least during the period in which the video for Thriller was produced.
You may recall that the video opens with a short message from Jackson, stating “Due
to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that this film in no way endorses
a belief in the occult.”
This card was placed ahead of the video to appease tensions with Michael’s belief system.
As a Jehovah’s Witness, he was strictly forbidden from dabbling in the occult.
The disclaimer was necessary in order to allow Jackson to make the video.
13.
Most Expensive Video Ever Speaking of Michael Jackson’s music videos,
the video for “Scream” still holds the spot for the single most expensive music video
production, ever.
The video apparently cost over $7 million to make.
Although this claim has been refuted by the video’s director, “Scream” is still
credited in many places as the most expensive music video ever, and was subsequently ranked
in the top 100 best music videos of all time by VH1 in 2001.
12.
Oxygen Chamber We’re always finding out about the somewhat
strange things celebrities do or have done in order to maintain peak physical (and mental)
health.
Michael Jackson was known to be eccentric, and his sleeping habits were no exception
to that rule.
In the ‘80s, Jackson was known to sleep in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for health.
He even went so far as to purchase the equipment for a more permanent sleeping arrangement,
but apparently chose to donate the equipment to a California medical center rather than
have it installed in his home.
11.
Highest Earning Dead Artist In 2016, Forbes put together a list of the
top grossing artists who had passed away.
In a somewhat unsurprising turn, the King of Pop topped this list, with an annual income
of more than $91 million on average, at the time of the list’s creation.
It’s worth noting that his total earned since his death, $825 million, was greater
than the other 9 list entries combined, by a factor of more than 4 times.
10.
8 Grammys in 1984 Most people know that Thriller was a big deal
when it was released.
However, unless you were alive at the time, you might not really be able to grasp just
how big of a deal it really was.
Thriller was released just before the end of 1982, and it went on to pretty much dominate
the airwaves for all of 1983.
That was why in 1984, Michael Jackson won 8 Grammys in a single night.
That feat - unprecedented at the time - has never been topped, and it seems pretty unlikely
that it ever will be.
9.
“Billie Jean” - True Story Though many have called it a tale as old as
time, Michael Jackson claimed that his breakout song “Billie Jean” was in fact somewhat
based on a true story.
There was never an actual Billie Jean, but the person in the song represented the anonymous
face of all of the groupies who would hang around Jackson at the time, many of whom would
claim that he’d gotten them pregnant.
These claims were both an attempt to hone in on his star, as well as just to claim that
they were permanently linked to such a celebrity.
8.
"Beat It" & Van Halen It may seem strange to imagine a collaboration
between the King of Pop and arguably the King of Rock, but such a thing did in fact happen.
The third single on Thriller, “Beat It”, was heavily shaped by the involvement of legendary
Van Halen guitarist, Eddie Van Halen.
Eddie not only had a solo in the song, but also suggested changes throughout the song
which Jackson felt greatly improved the quality of the song as a whole.
This isn’t well known because Eddie didn’t request a credit on the album at all, and
in fact didn’t even want to be paid for his contribution.
7.
Most Viewed Live TV Event The death of Michael Jackson was a truly shocking
event to the world.
It was so shocking, in fact, that it put huge strain on the infrastructure of the internet
and even shut some websites down to the point that they thought they were being attacked.
However, the real impression the service made might be its live viewership on television.
Some sources claim that there were over 2.5 billion live viewers worldwide, which would
make it the most viewed live event in history.
Though these figures are disputed, its confirmed live viewership in the USA of 31.1 million
is still impressive when you compare it to numbers for events like the 2008 Summer Olympics
(34.2 million) or the inauguration of Barack Obama (38 million).
6.
Neverland Cost Michael Jackson’s famous retreat, which
he purchased at just 29 years old for a cost estimated to be upwards of $30 million, was
called Neverland Ranch.
The name was of course an homage to the ageless home of Peter Pan, and featured extensive
amenities including an amusement park, a zoo, an arcade, and full horse stables.
All of these things cost a lot to keep up and running, and at the height of his usage
of the retreat, sources claim that the ranch’s annual upkeep exceeded $5 million.
5.
Jackson & Mercury Duet In 1983, when Michael Jackson was riding the
success of Thriller and Queen was in full swing, Jackson and Freddie Mercury were set
to take the world by storm by doing a duet album together.
Considering the size of the star associated with both of the artists as individuals, both
at the time and since, this would have been a pretty incredible team-up.
However, relations between the two fell apart in the studio pretty quickly, and a catalyst
was apparently the fact that Michael insisted on bringing an actual Llama into the studio.
They did record 3 songs together, however, and those have since been released.
4.
Almost Bought Marvel During the ‘90s, the comic book industry’s
bubble popped and all production companies felt a decline.
This was especially true of Marvel Comics, which almost went out of business.
At the time, Marvel Intellectual Property owners were shopping around for prospective
buyers in an attempt to recoup some of their losses.
Michael Jackson was actually a huge comic book fan, and at this time he considered partnering
with Stan Lee Media to purchase Marvel.
The deal eventually fell through as a result of unknown circumstances, but it’s certainly
an interesting thought experiment.
3.
“Private Drinker” Many details of Michael Jackson’s private
life came to light during his criminal trial for child abuse, including some...interesting
habits the star held in his personal life.
One of these, apparently, was that he would go to such extreme lengths to keep his alcohol
consumption private from both the media and his children that he would request that any
alcohol he was served on planes be served in a Diet Coke can.
2.
Escape Plan Michael Jackson’s brother Jermaine recently
released a book chronicling his time both as a member of the Jackson 5 and as a member
of the Jackson family throughout his brother’s rise to mega-stardom.
Part of the book outlines a situation the family prepared for but was never forced to
act upon - Michael’s conviction during his child abuse case.
Apparently the family had an extensive plan of action in the event Michael was convicted,
including getting Michael on a private jet immediately and flying him out of the country.
He would be taken to Bahrain, where he would be able to escape justice for a crime they
were sure he didn’t commit.
1.
Weird 9/11 Connection Another interesting fact Jermaine Jackson
outlines in his book is a strange coincidence which could have cut the King of Pop’s life
short long before it actually ended.
Michael was apparently scheduled to have a meeting at the World Trade Center on September
11th, 2001 - the fateful day when the largest terrorist attack in American History was committed
- but missed the meeting because he overslept.