Note: If viewing Michael Jackson Ultimate Archive on archive.org (Wayback Machine), please view the latest snapshot of this page for the most up-to-date information and media.

"Soul" Magazine Interview

Date of publication confirmed in “Jet” magazine (“September 22, 1977”)

“Black Beat” magazine (1984 partial reprint of original “Soul” magazine article) merged with “Jet” magazine (September 22, 1977) and Nelson George’s “The Michael Jackson Story (December 1983)

The Jackson home, Encino, California. I've been here a thousand times. Not physically, but certainly on many occasions, in my mind. Almost every early Jackson's feature article vividly described this paradise: The electronic gate and elaborate security system. Rolling into the parking area, one spots that infamous full-sized basketball court that Michael, along with Marion, Jermaine, Tito, Jackie, and later Randy were supposed to have virtually lived on between recording and touring adventures. There isn't a soul romping on it during this warm California afternoon. There are, however, other signs of these profitable times. Adult toys--big-wheeled jeeps, a long motorhome with tinted glass and a couple of expensive cars--sit quietly in their spaces.

Just outside the main quarters stands a recording studio where the Jackson family can effortlessly rehearse, record demo tapes, and explore various musical whims. But in the spacious den of the house, the only sign of Michael or any of the Jacksons are the numerous gold and platinum discs and other awards that clutter two whole separate walls.

“I don't think Michael has even gotten up yet,” says Larry Jackson, the brother of Joe Jackson and uncle to the Jacksons. "He's been kind of sick, lately. Not that sick, but just sort of tired. You know--fatigued." Larry walks down into the sunken portion of the room and turns on the television. Some ridiculous morning game show is in full swing.

Not only had the "20,000 Pyramid" caught my attention, but I had just let the money and a brand spankin' new Vega slip through my hands when Michael eased upon me. "How ya' doin?", he asked in his usual cordial mild manner. With that, we both wandered into the living room to talk.

Michael was casually dressed in dark slacks and a tailored long sleeve shirt of bright colors. He did look and act mildly fatigued, though it didn't seem to hinder his personality or willingness to talk.

"Ask me anything you like", he said as I took a seat right next to him. He placed verbal emphasis on "anything".

[On Tatum O’Neal:]

"Well, I guess I am dating her in a way", he explains. "I've taken her out a couple of times--or she's taken me out--whatever. I met her sometime back when Paul McCartney gave a party on the Queen Mary boat. She was there and we talked a bit.

"Two years went by before I saw her again, which was at a club on Sunset Boulevard (a main drag in L.A.) called the Roxy. We talked and talked and talked. The next day, she invited me to join her at Hugh Hefner's house to watch "Roots" on videotape. She got sort of bored, so we went outside and got into the jacuzzi. We weren't naked as people have said. We both had on bathing suits, just enjoying ourselves. And that's it."

ED. Note: After routine questions of the period--the Goin' Places LP, movie career, etc.--the subject turns to the wild rumors haunting Jackson at the time. We began with the ridiculous idea that he was getting a sex-change operation and marrying actor Clifton Davis:

"I was in a Sears store buying some records while on tour when I first heard about it," Michael remembers. "This one girl came up to me saying, 'It isn't true!!' I said, 'What isn't true?' And she said, 'You're not a girl!' I said, 'What? Where did you read that?' She said, 'It was in JET magazine that you had a sex change.' ([JET] Editor's Note: JET published no such story.)

"I felt like I didn't know who I was at that moment. I told her to tell all her friends that it was just a stupid rumor. The lady at the cash register got so mad at that girl. It was funny, but things like that are a sign of success.

"But things like that happen all the time. Rumors are a sign of success. Another sign of success is jealousy. It happens all the time."

The sex change rumor actually evolved from a longer running tale that Michael is gay. "No, not at all', he quickly answers. "People make up these things because they have nothing better to do. Some people let rumors like that get to them and have nervous breakdowns and stuff like that, but if I let that kind of talk get to me, it would only show how cheap I was. I know it's not true, so it doesn't bother me. I'm sure we must have plenty of fans who are gay, and that doesn't bother me in the slightest, but I'm not gay. You can print that", he says intently. "I don't know why people say those things.

This rumor spree, I tell him, reminds of a rumor I heard some years back, of Michael overdosing on heroin. "I've never even touched heroin or any drugs like that."

"Never even smoked pot before?"

"Never, in my honest-to-God life. I'm telling you the truth. I've never tried it, and I don't want to try it. I've been offered... well, anyway, I've never tried any of those things. I'm not interested in it. I'm happy the way I am. If I want to feel free with my mind, I'll go to the beach, read a beautiful book, or write a song. Or spend time with children, which I love to do."

If one detects mild religious overtones in Michael's statements, it's only because they're there, deeply rooted and adamant. "We believe there is a God", he says positively. "A lot of people don't believe there is. Science is so silly sometimes. The sun has been up there for ages and ages--what holds it up? I don't care how many scientific explanations they give me, it ain't deep enough for me.

"And, by travelling the world, I know there must be a God. I've seen so much. I've been in the poorest and richest of homes. Sometimes, I just want to take all the children of the world in my arms. In the Philippines and Africa, people are living in cardboard houses. You can watch the wind blow them down. It's sad."

We'd been conversing for a little more than an hour when word comes that my time has expired. Only now does it occur to me that although his soft speaking tones resemble that of a youth half his age, Michael Jackson is no longer that cute little kid who "cuts up on stage", he's a young man, one with firm ideas, strong convictions, and a very special outlook on life. As we rise from our seats, I inquire as to just how he and his brothers plan to engineer their futures.

"We'll just keep doing what people want to hear", he explains. "Keeping it modern is the main thing. Everybody still likes dancin' and singin'. Long as you have the right material, you can entertain them. Besides," he adds, "we've done it all anyway." You know, he's right.