You have to lie
… growing up um with Motown and they
~ Michael Jackson to Sam Stein, Glenda Tapes, ca. 1991 ~
tell you, they prep you. […]
They tell you what to say, what not to say.
The lies I had to tell. […]
But it’s publicity. It’s pretend.
Private Home Movies, 2003
M: The record company usually likes for you to support your album and go on tour. And uh I don't like to. I do like relating to the fans, giving the fans a chance to see you face to face, because you go from Hong Kong to Africa to China to Brazil to you know Singapore, Switzerland, London, Paris, Russia and... the stadiums are just jammed and it's, the energy is great
D: Well can we can we just do it again without the just the negative, saying that you don't like the tour just
M: I don't like it though
D: I know
M: But I go through hell I go through hell touring. Ok then I’ll... I'll make it positive then. For you know the truth.
D: And action Michael
M: [emphatically] I love to tour
[laughter]
M: You guys say just say why’d you all start laughing I was starting to get into it
Michael Jackson, Image Manifesto, 1987
Total reclusiveness and Mystery World
Hide Recluse, genius. Billionair
Strange
Lisa Marie Presley, Rolling Stones, 2003
You have this whole Howard Hughes thing
The hyperbaric chamber thing and all that monkey shit and the elephant shit. It made him mysterious, and I think he thought that was cool.
Michael Jackson, Image Manifesto, 1987
My goal is To Become So “Big”, So Powerful, to Become Such a Hero To end prejudice
The Glenda Tapes, Michael to Sam Stein, 1991
they putting your name out there and stuff and, uh, they’re supposed to you know, look good because it sells records and it attracts people
Oh look what a fantastic person he is.
The Glenda Tapes
S: Yes I do. I, Uh, I would think that, uh, after talking to you I had the strongest feeling yesterday that the fact that you are who you are and, uh, that you have to put up this front and there’s plenty of people pulling you in so many directions. It’s uh, you have to smile when the cameras are on and, uh, it’s very lonely. You’ve said it yourself so many times. It’s lonely–
MJ: It’s pretend. It’s like the 2300, like the video, like the mini-series, like growing up um with Motown and they tell you, they prep you. Like living with Diane (he calls her Diane here, not Diana Ross). They tell you what to say, what not to say. The lies I had to tell. Um. Diana. Diana discovered the Jacksons. That wasn’t true. She did not discover us. But it’s publicity. It’s pretend.
S: Who discovered you really?
MJ: Bobby Taylor and we went to a party and, uh, Gladys Knight. Diana, Diane had nothin’ to do with it.
S: I guess she was just the big name at the time huh?
MJ: And then I was supposed to be a certain age. Well, I, Okay, like, when I first came out, I had to lie about my age, but…
S: How come?
MJ: Because it’s publicity. You don’t understand.
S: How old were you? How old were you and how old did you say you were?
MJ: I said I was 10 and I was 11.
S: How come that would make a difference?
MJ: Think about it. Think about it because (squeals in high voice) “Oh! Oh he’s only 10 years old!”
S: (Imitates same squeal) “They say, oh oh you’re only –”
MJ: No, you have to lie about things. You have to cover up. You have to act like all that stuff that happened with, with Joseph and stuff. It’s like we’re supposed to be the perfect family, you know, because they putting your name out there and stuff and, uh, they’re supposed to you know, look good because it sells records and it attracts people. And the stories, well, they used to come out with when we were little. There was this one story, some magazine. I think it was “16” magazine back then. I was 13. And they lying and they have all these really weird kinda stories like Michael made this handicapped girl walk again because she saved Chester the cat. There was no Chester the cat. It was just lies. It was just…
S: They make you lie?
MJ: It sells, you know?
S: It sells records?
MJ: “Oh look what a fantastic person he is. You saved this girl’s life. She almost got run over by a lawn mower and she walked.” And…
S: …like that dying little black boy?…
MJ: Pardon?
S: …?…that dying little black kid. Is it true how much of a the little dying black boy…dying child …dying kid…?…comes to get you, (I) Michael Jackson, famous kid.
MJ: It’s like, “The Jackson family, they’re so wholesome.” And we all took pictures together back in the Jackson 5 days with Motown and stuff like that. We were all so close and Joseph was, you know, “Papa Joe”. You know. And then LaToya told the truth (LaToya’s book was published in ’91 revealed the extent of the abuse by Joe). They portray everything you know, because of publicity. “The Jackson family. They lived in a ghetto in Gary, Indiana and they made it and they’re so tight knit.” Tight knit, my ass.
The Glenda Tapes
MJ: When you’re brought up… We used to play at the club circuits and stuff like that, you know, with all the black groups and it’s like, you’re brought up and then we finally went with Motown and stuff… You’re brought up. You’re taught to be a certain way because you’re in the public eye.
The close knit, the close knit family, the tight knit family, whatever, and “Papa Joe this” and “Papa Joe was wonderful” and “Papa Joe helped do this and that”. When things start falling apart, then you gotta cover for it, you know, because you’re out there and you gotta cover for it.
I would come home. We would come home from sessions and if we didn’t do something right, we’d get beat with a sock full of wet sand because it didn’t leave bruises. We’d go to the studios the next day and, and, you know, people in the business, people in the Motown family, they knew what was going on. I mean if you did something wrong and Joseph was there, he’d slap the mess out of us.
They knew what was going on but it was like, you have to portray this certain image. You have to smile and everything. And everything like “y’all so tight”. “The Jackson family came from poverty, you know, from being nobody”
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