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"Soul Beat TV" Interview

Either during the months after Off the Wall album release (August 10, 1979) to promote it (more likely) or during the Oakland stop on the Destiny Tour (December 16, 1979)

Michael Jackson, speech transcript

Michael Jackson: I think school is one of the most important things that a person can do for themselves. Whatever your field of endeavor is in life, whatever your interest in your goal, school will give you a great education to drive it through, to make it come true and what else it could teach you. I love entertainment, there’s a lot of people I love to watch and study. My favorite subjects were art and English. As far as writing, art plays a big part. Sometimes I look at a painting and I create a whole song from the painting. Sometimes we go to different countries like Africa and Brazil. We go out and go to villages, Bill Bray, my security and me and we mingle with the people and talk to them and all the kids come running down. And it's very important because we set an example for all the youth and they look up to us. [They ask] "How many records have you sold? How did you get to be where you are? How did you do it?". Most of the things I know on stage, um... I've learned so much from Jackie Wilson by watching in the theater... I think they changed him to another one, I heard, that’s the last thing I heard…

Soul Beat: [unintelligible][With the one that you saw?]

Michael: It was... I don’t really like hospitals at all. They make me feel strange sometimes when I walk in them, but sometimes when I walk down the aisles, I--[he makes a cowering gesture]. My mother wanted to be a nurse, and… I don’t know.