“Michael Jackson” by Omar Tyree

I can’t lie. I’ve always been more of a Prince fan than Michael Jackson. Prince was edgier and played his own instruments. And his songs generally connected to me more. But The Jackson 5 came out first with Dance Machine, which is still an underappreciated funk jam. Or least in my book. I love that record.

I also loved when Michael Jackson broke off from his family group and teamed up with Quincy Jones for the classic Off The Wall album in 1979, which is still my favorite. But by the time Thriller video came out in 1983, Prince had released five albums in a row from 1978 to 1982, and he came right back after Michael and Quincy’s Thiller with a Purple Rain film and soundtrack in 1984 that pretty much sealed the deal for me. I was a Prince fan for life after that. For sure! But Michael kept doing his thing too.

At that time in the early 1980s, White pop music was heavy with MTV videos, coming right off of the Disco and Funk era of the 1970s. I remember watching Wham with George Michael, and the Culture Club with Boy George, and Cyndi Lauder, Duran Duran, and Madonna, but Michael Jackson topped them all and eventually became “The King of Pop” with that Billie Jean record, where he was dancing on illuminated sidewalks in the video and moonwalking at major music performance events on tour.

He followed that up with the Bad album in 1987, his third production collaboration with Quincy Jones. But by that time, there was too much weirdness coming out of the Michael Jackson camp for me to be a bigger fan than just listening to his music. That was all after his Jheri curl had caught on fire in a Pepsi cola commercial with his brothers for their Victory Tour, his nose had been reduced, and his skin color had changed, all while looking like he weighed 88 pounds with sparkling gloves and socks on with an effeminate voice.

Sorry guys, but by 1987, I was a senior football player and track and field athlete in high school on his way to college from the rough and rugged city of Philadelphia, where we didn’t wear Jheri curls or sequined clothes, and we were very much pro Black and not concerned with “crossing over” or listening to heavy pop music. Hardcore and cultural rap music had taken over.

And yes, I know. Prince was not the most masculine, inner-city guy either, with his flamboyant outfits and hair, but at least we all knew that he liked women, with Vanity 6, Sheila E, Appolonia and all the freaky songs that he sang. But Michael Jackson and Diana Ross was crazy, a media-driven circus that nobody believed in. Then we started hearing about animals and Neverland Ranch and hangouts and play days with white kids. And mostly boys.

The next thing we knew, Michael was singing Leave Me Alone in 1989, and that’s exactly what I did. I left him alone. But let’s not get it twisted now, Michael Jackson was still that dude. And he showed it again with his next album, Dangerous, and an iconic song and video for Remember the Time, produced by Teddy Riley, directed by John Singleton, and starring Eddie Murphy, Iman, and Magic Johnson in a rendition of ancient Egypt.

When you talk about putting on a show, Michael Jackson is still the greatest! But… all of the extra stuff distracted me, particularly the constant association with young White boys. I just couldn’t understand it. I kept asking myself, “What the hell is he doing?” And nobody had any answers for it. Nevertheless, Michael kept doing his thing.

As an adult, with my own little pot of money as a successful and celebrated author, I ended up in music studios recording spoken word poetry, rap and R&B music myself, when I started hearing about Michael Jackson spending a million dollars a track for song producers and writers on his Invincible album. And I was like, “WHAT? What the hell is that, the Michael Jackson price?”

I felt like music industry people were taking advantage of him. Nobody was charging a million dollars for a track! If anything, you give Michael Jackson a record for FREE because you KNOW you’re gonna make a fortune off the royalties on a hit record. But that was more crazy Michael Jackson news that turned me off.

Then I started hearing about Michael buying the publishing of the Beatles records. And again, I was like, “WHAT? The music industry let Michael Jackson buy the publishing of the BEATLES? How the hell did that happen? The Beatles didn’t buy their own publishing? The BEATLES? How many number one records they got? WORLDWIDE?”

That sounded absolutely CRAZY to me! But it was true! Michael Jackson had bought the BEATLES song publishing! What if somebody tried to buy his publishing? Would Michael Jackson allow someone else to do that? HELL NO! So, I had a brand-new level of respect for him. He was that dude again! I mean, how business savvy was that? He outbid the Beatles!

But along the way, we had to endure several court cases accusing Michael of molesting White boys, the marriage to Elvis Presley’s daughter, the bi-racial kids from a marriage to some unknown White woman, the strange relationship with the ancient, Elizabeth Taylor, and on and on and on. It was just one crazy story after another, until Michael’s untimely passing from a medication mix up in 2009 that was later called a murder, with a Black doctor serving two years in prison for it.

I was actually out in California that same year at that same time when it happened, and I ended up attending the BET Awards that turned into an impromptu tribute to Michael Jackson that was hosted by comedian Jamie Foxx with Janet Jackson making a surprise appearance to thank all of the Michael Jackson fans around the world. That night ended up becoming the biggest BET Awards show ever, and I was RIGHT THERE in my sharp suit and tie to take it all in.

After Michael’s death, his records all sold again like Gatorade at a marathon, and benefited his family and estate, because no one had bought or sold off his song publishing like the Beatles. Thank God!

Then I saw his new movie a few weeks ago, Michael, right before it left the theaters. The music biopic directed by Training Day creator, Antoine Fuqua, and distributed by Lionsgate Films has now grossed more than a BILLION DOLLARS worldwide! It’s the biggest selling music biopic in history, while answering some of the tough questions that I had about his life.

It’s an excellent film, starring Jermaine Jackson’s son Jaafar as his uncle Michael, Nia Long as Katherine, Coleman Domingo as Joe Jackson, and Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy, with a dozen other great actor performances. And the pacing is fabulous for the so-called short-attention span generation, where a two-hour-long film felt more like an hour of music videos and dancing. But it still got to the beef of the story of how Poppa Joe forced a career of talented kids into millions of dollars, with his son Michael as a certified STAR!

But along the way, Michael never got to be a real kid. He was the family money earner, even though he was one of youngest. Everything was about singing, dancing and making money, which robbed him of his normal childhood. So, when he finally had an opportunity to spend some of the money that he had made on his own, he started buying fantasy kid stuff, including a monkey and other animals, and he was allowed to do it, because he was providing for the whole family.

Even when he got an embarrassing nose job, Poppa Joe—who used to beat his talented son into compliance as a kid to perform without complaining—was suddenly mum, because the adult Michael Jackson had become the family bank. It was a classic case of enabling, to the point where Michael got good and used to getting what he wanted, including watching kid programs on TV with his mother Katherine, well into his adult years.

Then he started hanging out with sick and recovering kids at hospitals and such, and one thing led to another, where sleepovers and play days with outside kids became his norm, particularly since his older brothers had grown up on him and had no time or interest in Michael’s kid fantasies.

However, since Michael Jackson was now worldwide famous, instead of parents saying, “Hell no!” to a play day with a grown-ass Black man at his house, they would say, “Okay. It’s Michael.” And he was allowed to do it over and over again until somebody got slick and decided that they could create a PAY DAY instead of a PLAY DAY by claiming that Michael had done something extra to their kid. And since that type of news would be embarrassing and harmful to his entertainment career, any sinister parent and crooked lawyer could figure out a way to get PAID some serious “hush money” without ever having to PROVE anything.

Okay. So, now it all makes sense. The imbalance of Michael’s upbringing, music career, and genius, created some weird situations that large amounts of money, American desire, and idolization will definitely add to. There used to be a TV series called The Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, highlighting all of the obsessiveness that fame and money enables. And that opulent behavior is NOT NEW. We can go all the way back to the Egyptians, the Greeks, and the Romans and see the same imbalances of idolized humans with money. So, now I understand.

But… Michael Jackson’s cravings for Whiteness… I’m sorry, guys. That part still bothers me. It’s like the O.J. Simpson story of being turned out by White America and a colonialized world. That’s the most persistent sickness that we all continue to struggle with in different ways in Black America. And Michael Jackson showed it to us in plain view.

So, while THEY obviously idolized HIM, HE symbolically idolized THEM, and tried to change himself to conform… like a rich Black man’s fantasy.

Wow! It is what it is. The imbalance of genius, wealth, desire, racism and acceptance. And I stand on that. We are ALL effected by the spoils and struggles of life. And although Prince was more private and guarded than Michael, he obviously had some eccentric ways about him too. And so do I. And so do YOU. We just don’t get a chance to show them all with millions of people watching us… like Michael Jackson.

~ Omar Tyree is a New York Times bestselling author who has published more than 30 books and counting and won an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Work of Fiction 2001, who graduated from Howard University, cum laude, with a degree in Print Journalism from the School of Communications in 1991.