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Tokyo, Japan (Bad World Tour) / "Get It"
Date range for “Get It” recording confirmed by Stevie Wonder in Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro” (“Michael finished the song in Tokyo a few days later, he recorded his vocals there”) / Date range for Michael’s written answer assessed from the fact that Todd Gold said that he gave the query after a photo shoot in Ginza, an area in Tokyo, where Michael stayed from September 12-14, 1987. / Date range for “60 Minutes” interview assessed by the fact that it took place “in a Tokyo hotel room” and the concert footage was filmed where “tonight, it’s Tokyo” (Molly Meldrum)
Stevie Wonder, Chris Cadman’s “Michael Jackson the Maestro”
“I was on tour in England by that time, and I had to record my vocals for that song in a studio, in London.’ said Stevie. ‘Quincy and Michael needed those tapes urgently or we wouldn’t meet the deadline, but when I came out of the studio that day, it was too late to send the tapes with those express carriers. That same night, I was doing a show in London and I asked the audience if someone was willing to go to Los Angeles right away, all expenses paid, to deliver the tapes. There was one guy that was ready to do it and he left right away, took the plane and gave the tapes to Michael and Quincy – that’s how they got them on time. Finally, Michael finished the song in Tokyo a few days later, he recorded his vocals there and we got the track on time to put it on the album.”
“60 Minutes” interview, transcript
Narration (Molly Meldrum): Backstage with Michael Jackson, as close to his private world as you could ever hope to get. People are always asking about the man behind the myth. But in this electric moment, is there really any difference?
If you wanna find out more about the real Michael Jackson, you start here, at his magical launching pad, and let yourself be part of the illusion.
A high voltage performance wide up to another world. The man they call “pop’s Peter Pan” is in full flight.
If there was ever a pure entertainer machine, you’re watching it.
Watching him on stage and the power of his performance, I remember the shy kid I interviewed in New York for Countdown in 1977.
Even back then, he’d already come such a long way. The son of a clean driver from industrial America, tripping a life fantastic when his friends were struggling in school plays. The boy who has born to sing knew nothing but the stage. At the time I talked to him, he was getting ready to “Rock With You”.
Ten years and tens of millions of records after, the song remains the same, but the singer has become far more illusive.
Waiting in a Tokyo hotel room, I still can’t quite believe that, of all the world’s press, Michael has agreed to talk to me again, his first major TV interview this decade. But you don’t get this deep inside the fortress without conditions. Strict limits on time, even the number of questions.
I took Michael back to our interview all those years ago.
Molly Meldrum: You had a lot of aspirations at that time, a lot of dreams. Would it be fair to say a lot of those dreams over the last ten years—’cause it was 1977, that interview—have come true for you?
Michael Jackson: Most of my dreams seem to come true, and I’m so thankful that they do. I don’t know over what period of time, but I have lots of dreams, and they usually come true, and i’m so glad.
Narration (Meldrum): 60,000 fans on a warm September night watch Michael set music alive. Tonight it’s Tokyo. An inkling of things to come when his magical mystery world tour hits Australia in November.
Even if his music is not your style, few can resist the lord of the dance.
Michael: I dance a lot anyway, I’ve always loved to dance. When I was just real little, I used to watch Sammy Davis, Fred Astaire, James Brown, and just dancing about the house. So I don’t remember not dancing.
Narration (Meldrum): Like all superstars, Michael has to deal with the plague of allegations about his private life. Headlines which would paint him as a weird recluse, rumors about his supposedly mammoth plastic surgery, about his supposed fascination for bizarre relics like the Elephant Man.
How much of it is true? Ask the question, and you’ll meet Michael’s manager, cigar-smoking Frank Dileo. He joined the interview as Michael’s friend and chief minder. Now about those headlines.
Meldrum: Does it affect you? Does it hurt you to see some of the idiotic stories that are written?
Frank Dileo: I’ll answer that question if you don’t mind. It hurts me, and if it hurts me, I know it hurts Michael. He is a little more blasé about it than I am, he just sort of shrugs it off. But I find it very terrible that some of the stuff that is written, particularly about plastic surgery. It’s more, the majority of it—not the majority—all of it is garbage and rubbish, and if that’s the best thing that the—if that’s the only thing they can figure out to do with their life, then they’re pretty sick people.
Narration (Meldrum): Avoiding the spotlight offstage for this most wanted star require some extraordinary escape routes. And in talking to us, Michael at least confirms one of those myths. That he dons disguises to slip unseen into the real world.
Michael: I like to sneak into theaters without being noticed sometimes. Sometimes there’s really nothing you can do about it, it’s the price you have to pay.
Meldrum: But I have heard, sometimes, you turn up at the most unexpected places to your friends dressed in—that they don’t even recognize you.
Michael: I have incredible disguises, I can fool my own mother. I enjoy doing it, because I get to see life the way it really is sometime, which is fun.
Narration (Meldrum): But when Michael does step out as himself, it’s an event. While in Tokyo, we were lucky enough to catch a rare glimpse of Michael’s home video, showing a Jackson shopping spree. Together with a few select friends, Michael has a huge department store to himself.
When you’re locked inside the four walls of fame, and looking out at the crush of fans looking in, there is nothing quite as precious as one true friend.
In Michael’s case, that friend is Quincy Jones. They met on the film set of “The Wiz”.
Quincy Jones: I met Michael at Sammy Davis’ house when he was about twelve. And you just fall in love with Michael at any age. And “The Wiz” was when we really connected. And he was a scarecrow, and he’d pull out bits of paper, quotes with Confucius, etc.—all these great philosophers—and one time, he says, “Bla, bla, bla bla, bla, signed Socrates (‘So-cray-tees’)”, and he kept saying “So-cray-tees”, “So-cray-tees”, “So-cray-tees”, and nobody would correct him, and, after a while, I took him over to the side, and I said: “Michael, forgive me, but it’s Socrates (‘Sah-cruh-tees’)”.
And at that moment, our eyes met, and something happened that’s never changed since then.
Narration (Meldrum): Quincy Jones has produced Michael’s three major solo records, including pop’s biggest selling album of all time, “Thriller”.
Meldrum: Were you aware of the sales, did you check up on sales each week, and realize that it was doing this?
Michael: I pretty much did the album and just sat back and watched, ‘cause it was another one of my dreams. I knew it was gonna do what it did.
Narration (Meldrum): Selling over 40 million copies, “Thriller” not only changed the way music was made, but also video clips. But perhaps one of Michael’s greatest influences has been on dance. He took break dancing out of New York’s ghettos, and made it a passion for his generation.
Meldrum: Did that amuse you that people were—or did it flatter you—that people were trying to do your dance steps and—
Michael: I always love watching that, especially the children, when they wear all the gear and everything, and imitate me, I think it’s fun. It’s done in good taste, it’s fun.
Narration (Meldrum): He has been called everything from the Frank Sinatra to the Fred Astaire of the ‘80s. The spotlight has made him music’s first billionaire, all that at twenty-nine.
Jones: He’s like a laser beam, all the time, he always does his homework. I’ve never ever seen him nervous about anything. I call him just before he went on this show, this is his first solo tour ever. I said: “You nervous?” He said: “No, I can’t wait to get on stage tonight!”
Narration (Meldrum): The cliches seem to fall away when you watch Michael perform. When he says he’s inspired by things spiritual, you believe him. And when he says that four letter word “love”, you believe that too.
Michael: Yeah, I love children, and animals, and Quincy, and Frank [laughs and points to Quincy] Quincy. And that’s what’s so wonderful about traveling, I get to see all the cultures and people and the children, it’s wonderful. It’s my greatest inspiration, I would say.
Narration (Meldrum): It was that sense of humanity that inspired Michael to sit down with Lionel Richie in the summer of ’85 and write this.
[“We Are the World” clip plays]
Narration (Meldrum): I was lucky enough to be at the recording of “We are the World”, and even amongst the greatest collection of superstars ever gathered, all eyes were on Michael. The pitch-perfect performer who seemed to be singing out a dream.
Michael: I said I wanted it to be something like an anthem, where it would affect the whole world, where everybody could sing it, and have such melodic simplicity to it, where a five year old child could sing it and like it, that type of thing. And, as I remember, waking up from my sleep the next morning, before putting it down really, most of the song was there, and I went in the studio, and kinda did a demo, and presented it, and—first, Quincy asked me to do it with Lionel, and I remember calling Quincy, telling him I had the tape, and then Lionel put some lyrics to it, and—I hate saying who did what, it always sounds so—
Narration (Meldrum): But just when you thought it was safe to call Michael “pop’s good boy”, he comes up with this.
[“Bad” clip plays]
Narration (Meldrum): The squeaky clean superstar, who takes his rock n’ roll without the sex and drugs has called his latest album “Bad”.
In a world where he could have cashed in on his fame overnight, Michael spent six years making “Bad” sound exceptionally good. I asked him why.
Michael: Oh boy, that’s a hard question to answer.
Meldrum: Well, first of all, you wrote nine of the songs on this album.
Michael: Yeah. It’s just a series of collecting songs and writing songs in my mind. Over a period of years or whatever, and it’s hard to say how one creates music, because it’s hard for me to take credit. I feel it’s more spiritual and heavenly, then I can’t take credit for it, really.
Narration (Meldrum): The Peter Pan figure bathed in blue light, Michael Jackson is truly one of modern music’s enigmas. Some say, he’s a kid who never really grew up. But perhaps his friend Steven Spielberg had it right, when he said: “It’s a nice place Michael comes from, I wish we could all spent some time in his world.”
Meldrum: If you’re given one wish now, what would you like?
Michael: One wish?
Meldrum: Yeah, if I was—I was gonna say the fairy godmother, but I won’t say that. If I could give you a wish, is there anything you’d wish for?
Michael: There’s so many I have, but one of them, one of the main ones, would be as simple as making the whole world happy, and world peace, and that is part of the reason why I do what I do.
Molly Meldrum, interviewer, autobiography, “The Never, Um, Ever Ending Story: Life, Countdown and Everything in Between” (translated Spanish excerpts) (archived)
"In 1987, I received another unexpected call from Gerald Stone, from the 60 Minutes program, asking if he wanted to fly to Tokyo to do a week-long report for his show and interview Michael Jackson.
It was Michael's first solo tour of Australia as part of his Bad Tour, but the tickets were not selling as expected due to the strange stories and rumors in the press. To answer these rumors, promoter Kevin Jacobsen, Sony executive Denis Handlin and Michael's manager, Frank DiLeo, planned the “60 Minutes” interview. And that's where I came into the story. Michael knew me from previous interviews and I knew he was a good friend of his brother Jermaine. "
Molly went to Tokyo with several people from the program team, they settled in the same hotel as Michael and attended the concert that night.
"The concert was spectacular. It left me breathless. I could understand why he had received so much praise all over the world.
The next day was the appointment. First an interview with Quincy and then another with Michael.
Five minutes before starting, Frank DiLeo entered the room and announced that he wanted to be in the interview. 'Do you want to be in the room?' 'No, I want to be sitting next to Michael in the interview.'
Our cameraman whispered in my ear: 'Do not even think about it. We would have to change all the lighting. ' But we had no choice. 'Give us fifteen minutes to change the lights,' I said to Frank.
Finally, Michael and Frank arrived with all their equipment. Frank took me aside. Another problem. His sidewalk was very high. Frank was a big guy but very short, something like a cantankerous version of Danny De Vito. I had to contain the laughter because his feet did not reach the ground, he looked like Humpty Dumpty.
Without a doubt, this is one of the weirdest interviews I've ever done. I did not know whether to look at Michael or Frank. When I was going to ask a question about plastic surgery and all the strange and hurtful stories, Michael was about to answer, when Frank got in and said, 'I'll answer that question, if it does not bother you.' 'It bothers me, and if it bothers me, it also bothers Michael,' Frank said. 'I find some of the things that have been written terrible, particularly about plastic surgery. Most - not most, all - are garbage and bullshit.
This did not help much to quell the rumors.
During the trip to Japan, I could see the good and bad side of the Australian media. The story of Peter Wilmoth in The Age was very honest, and the people on the radio that Sony sent to cover the concert loved the show so much that they insisted on ordering tickets for the second one. But can you believe that when they returned to Australia they did nothing but keep all of Michael's material and the concert? In 1987 it was not cool to put Michael Jackson in the clouds, and they, of course, were cool people... not at all.
Now I know that Michael had a lot to do with all this because of his introversion, but the press reports angered me extremely because as an artist, he was a genius. All those extravagant stories prevented many people in Australia from seeing a great artist. The Bad Tour broke all audience records everywhere except in Australia.
“9Now” Australian Nine Network video service, interview description
Michael Jackson's first major TV interview this decade and he chose Australia's Molly Meldrum to do it, and Australia's 60 Minutes to present it exclusively in preference to competing networks from around the world. Such a coup deserved the most stylish coverage “60 Minutes” could mount: Producer Gareth Harvey leading two full camera teams to Tokyo to take some dazzling footage of Jackson in action before 60,000 fans. The superstar also allowed the program access to rare 'home video' material taken by his own crew as he went on a shopping expedition. Jackson is surrounded by rumours alleging bizarre behaviour, but he admits to Meldrum that at least one part of the myth is true: he does put on disguises to allow him to sightsee without being mobbed. Considering he's allowed no other outside camera team such close-up access for 7 or 8 years, Jackson's advisers were particularly anxious to judge the impact of his appearance and Executive Producer Gerald Stone agreed to rush an advance copy of the completed film by satellite to Osaka in Japan where Jackson will be continuing the world concert tour that brings him to Australia in November.
Michael Jackson, written answer to Todd Gold’s question on the media’s misunderstandings, “People” Magazine (October 1987) (Image 001)
Like the old Indian proverb says, do not judge a man until you’ve walked 2 moons in his moccasins.
Most people don’t know me, that is why they write such things in which most is not true.
I cry very very often because it hurts and I worry about the children, all my children all over the world, I live for them.
If a man could say nothing against a character but what he can prove, history could not be written.
Animals strike, not from malice, but because they want to live, it is the same with those who criticize, they desire our blood, not our pain.
But still I must achieve, I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth, for the world for the children.
But have mercy, for I’ve been bleeding a long time now.
M.J.
“People” magazine (October 12, 1987) (archived) (original article scan archived)
From the moment Jackson stepped off the plane to face a Nikon tiring squad of 600 photographers and 1,000 fans, the Japanese have given him a welcome reminiscent of the Beatles’ first trip to the U.S. Jackson posters line city walls; his face decorates shopping bags. In the heart of ultra-high-rent Tokyo, Nippon Television set up a store that stocks only the fast-selling paraphernalia endorsed by Jackson-san. Two amusement parks shut down to provide free access when the reclusive singer and his entourage requested private playtime.
...Last week in Tokyo’s gaudy, neon-lit Ginza district, throngs of young people crowded the sidewalks, drawn by the rumor that Jackson was to appear for a PEOPLE photo shoot. When he arrived the screams rose to a frightening pitch, and the hysterical young fans hurled themselves at his barricade of bodyguards. Yet, while the photo op dissolved in chaos, Jackson remained implacably calm. He smiled broadly, threw up his arms in a dramatic gesture, then vanished into the night.
Todd Gold, “People” journalist, XFinity Blog (June 26, 2009)
We were in Tokyo, where Michael was launching his Bad tour... I was reporting about him for People magazine, and I had unusual and highly personal access thanks to trust I had earned from Michael and his manager, Frank Dileo, who had enjoyed my previous stories.
I got to Tokyo and heard Michael was feeling good about the show and in top form. I met Sheryl Crow, then a backup singer, who said the show was excellent.
And it was. Opening night was a triumph of great songs, staging and Michael’s incredible talent. And I mean incredible. He could really sing and dance. You could sweeten the vocals (I have no idea if he did), but from his first turn and slide across the stage, his dancing was a stunningly beautiful thing, years of MTV videos uncorked live. He enjoyed himself.
Clearly, Michael was in his element, singing in the spotlight, absorbing unconditional love and adoration. Off stage, he played with his chimp, Bubbles, who had his own suite.
One night, about 3 am, I saw Frank Dileo walking down the hall covered in pink silly string. I asked what happened. With a shrug, he said, “I was with the kid.”...
But when I met Michael a few nights later in his dressing room, he was a shy man drinking tea and telling me that he thought the early shows had gone well. We shook hands; his grip was not that impressive; but we shared a few genuine moments.
Michael gamely ventured into the Ginza area for a photo shoot that was ruined when fans overran us; it was insane, dangerous, exciting – just the kind of thing that brought a smile to Michael’s face; then he disappeared into the night, leaving the photographer and me wrestling with the crowd for our lives. But he was right, it was wild, memorable fun.
Michael denied my requests for a sit-down interview, but he agreed to answer questions if I submitted them in writing.
A few hours later, I gave Frank a list of queries. Most were throwaways about the toy stores he’d visited in Tokyo, the fans he’d encountered, the crazy affection the Japanese had shown Bubbles, who was making his own personal appearances. But I included one zinger: “Do you think the public misunderstands you – and if so, why?”
That’s the one he chose to answer.
“Like the old Indian proverb says, don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins,” he wrote. “Most people don’t know me. That is why they write such things in which most are not true. I cry very very often because it hurts…But still I must achieve. I must seek truth in all things. I must endure for the power I was sent forth, for the world, for the children. But have mercy, for I’ve been bleeding a long time now.”
One warm evening. Saturday, July 12, at a Tokyo baseball ground. the Korakuen Stadium. The venue is set in a kind of fun factory, an entertainment complex, surrounded by the children's fairground rides that Jackson loves so much. And at one end is a long green-netted gallery where Japanese executives will carry on practicing their golf swings, to the muffled thump of Bad, Off The Wall and Beat It a hundred yards away.
Inside, 38,000 fans have paid about £26 per
head to sit in obedient lines and be shouted at by
enormous hoardings—Mitsubishi, Yamaha, IBM—the biggest of which proclaim our sponsors for the evening. Pepsi-Cola, local phone company NTT, and "tour presenters" Nippon TV. Helicopters churn restlessly in the darkening Asian sky, just above the bright white glare of the stadium floodlights. Down on the pitch a massive black Sumo wrestler is paddling through the crowd. Every so often, the fans' excited chatter, crackling like electric state, erupts into squeals of shrill hysterics as some local hero—a Japanese soap actress, perhaps—takes his or her seat in the VIP enclosure.
...Backstage behind a high and black-draped security wall is what resembles a village street. Here are wardrobe tents, catering stalls, a hospitality tent with ice-buckets of Pepsi and bowls of what could very well be Smarties, the video control room, temporary offices, and one large cabin—that is Michael Jackson's dressing room. "No admittance" warns a sign. "No exceptions."
Swarming about this backstage area are members of the 45-strong production crew, who have brought the raw materials of the show in 22 trucks and worked non-stop for 38 hours to assemble them. There are another 28 people in what is designated "the band crew", 11 of them actual performers.
A further 20 individuals comprise Michael Jackson's official entourage. Among their number is "Artist's Assistant" Miko Brando, son of Marlon, whose key position dates back to the moment he was first to reach Michael on the set of that Pepsi commercial when the superstar's hair caught fire. Then there are two personal chefs to oversee Michael's vegetarian diet. There is long standing personal bodyguard Billy Bray. Also in attendance are attorneys, accountants, and publicity personnel. You may even see a rather sleek and expensively-dressed young man named James Osmond—formerly "Little Jimmy Osmond", who's along as one of Michael's closest friends and advisors.
There are four permanent security chiefs (staff are recruited locally for each show) and two hairdressers. The inner sanctum of the party will stay, like Michael, at the Tokyo Capitol Hotel, chosen for its security advantages. Its top room will in future be known as The Michael Jackson Suite. He leaves for the stadium via an underground exit.
Covering his visit to Japan — the first stage of a tour that takes in four continents — are at least 100 foreign journalists. About ten of these are British, in a party which hes christened itself the Jacko Hackoes. With them are press officers From CBS/Epic in London. the head of CBS UK, several photographers, and four prizewinners — two apiece from the Daily Mirror and The Sun — who have won places on the trip in competitions: run by the two newspapers.
Veterans of Michael’s last jaunt, the 1984 “Victory” tour of America with The Jacksons, comment on how small scale this current show is. Back then, they had upwards of 250 people on the road, including personal staffs for each Jackson brother, who seemed in perpetual dispute with one another. Michael, we're told, is much happier and more relaxed this time around.
The tour manager is a Glaswegian, Chris Tervit. whose previous experience goes back to Deep Purple, Curved Air and Kilburn & The High Roads. His partner is a large black American, production manager Benny Collins who recently completed Bowie's Glass Spider tour. Together, they quit the "Victory" tour because “it was not organized to our liking”, so they were gratified to be asked back for this one.
Chris Tervit is unstinting in his praise for his employer: “He's interested in everything that goes on here, from soup to nuts. Other artists don’t seem to have the time. Michael is such a hard worker, it frightens me sometimes. I used to work in a shipyard and I never worked as hard as this kid works.
“He's a nice guy, He's such a great artist you [can't not] have respect for him. Anything he asks you to get, you go out there and bleeding do it for him, just because he's such a talent. I've caught him making jokes about my Scottish accent, just fun, relaxing stuff that goes on between people. He's a pretty 'regular' guy” — I know that sounds strange, but it's true. Except his talent is amazing."
Benny Collins nods in agreement. Like Tervit, he can’t reconcile the Michael Jackson he works for ("both a boss and a friend") with the weirdo he reads about in UK tabloids and America’s National Enquirer magazine. “When I was in Europe Europe with David Bowie, I heard they were gonna have a germ-free screen around this stage. Now I just laugh when I see that stuff."
Tervit: "It gets annoying in that he really doesn't deserve it, the things they say about him. When you know the kid: he understands exactly what he wants to do, he understands the mechanics of it, and he never asks for anything outrageous. You could put him up there with just a bunch of band gear and people would think it was the best show they'd ever seen."
The Michael Jackson stage show is indeed superb. If the opening night at Tokyo was ever so slightly subdued, then the second night—when the performers, after months of rehearsal, knew that it could be done for real, and the audience knew there was nothing to be expected except some great entertainment—was loose and fun and everything you could hope for.
It should reach Britain by around late Spring of cal years, although the venues have now been fixed yet (one intriguing rumor is that they're considering a longish run of dates at the Royal Albert Hall, instead of Wembley). By then, the show will have changed somewhat and taken on much more of the new songs. For the moment, all he does off the Bad album are its title track and the previous single "I Just Can’t Stop Loving You".
The stage is set in a jagged tangle of hi-tech wreckage: Michael's idea, and partly inspired by the movie "Blade Runner". “He wanted something that didn’t look too smooth”, says the tour manager. In fact, it looks like a misunderstanding between a tower block and a Jumbo Jet.
Jackson's preparation for the shows involved long spells of fasting and obsessive dance practice—he didn’t eat for nearly two days before the opening night, but the people close to him say that this has nothing to do with nervousness.
Musically, it’s a retrospective set at this stage, the official reason being that as Japan never saw the "Victory" tour, it's only fair to give them a run-through of songs from the "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" albums. This he duly does, plus a perfunctory medley of Jackson 5 hits ("the old songs, done the old-fashioned way": I Want You Back/The Love You Save/I'll Be There) and a couple of latter day Jacksons tracks like Heartbreak Hotel, It's a little disappointing not to hear more of the "Bad" material, but again we're assured he'll have worked this in by the time he reaches the US and UK.
Consequently, there's a familiar look to much of the concert — he moonwalks through "Human Nature", dusts off the single silver glove for "Billie Jean", and brings on the dancing ghouls in "Thriller", as per the video. All the same his singing voice has never sounded better and the dancing is brilliant throughout. Although Jackson's onstage pronouncements are limited to a few brief Japanese pleasantries of the Hello/Thank you/I love you variety, his pleasure is evident and he seems in no way detached or aloof. The received image of Jackson as frail ethereal waif is entirely dispelled—he he attacks the upbeat numbers with a fierce energy and sexual intensity that will make for some explosive evenings when he eventually meets some audiences who are less restrained than those of Tokyo,
As to the band, long-term mainstay Greg Phillinganes commands the all-pervading lead keyboards with glassy precision. but the remainder of the cast is notably unknown. According to a member of the camp, they're “musicians that he knew before, musicians that he knew of by reputation, and some other people who came along and auditioned and surprised the heck out of us." Visually, the line-up wears a strange amalgam of glam-rock, Mad Max and futuristic punk. Most worrying of all are the haircuts, several of which should be reconsidered at the earliest opportunity, at government level if necessary.
In general, the show is low on extravagant effects, which is just how it should be—even as it stands, some of the choreographed routines (slickly drilled displays of synchronized sweating) distract too much from Jackson himself. There is nothing impromptu on offer, not a gesture unconsidered But the one unique touch is exceptionally neat: he climbs a staircase at one point to disappear inside a silver-curtained booth, which then elevates to the top of the stage. The curtain pulled aside, Michael has vanished, and instantaneously reappears atop a moving platform at the opposite side, his cape billowing behind him as, in a different costume, he tears into "Beat It". The illusion is spectacular — it derives from Michael's fondness for magic tricks — and forms the highlight of a night that’s not short on moments of entrancement.
Meanwhile backstage, Michael's manager Frank Dileo is not disposed to relax. "He's impulsive, he gets restless", an aide explains. While the numbers are booming out into the crowd around the other side, Dileo's stocky 5 foot 2 inch frame is pacing the tents and cabins, his trademark unlit cigar clamped between teeth, abrasive wisecracks issuing from the side.
Dileo, 39, is an Italian American from Pittsburgh. He's altogether without the nervy smoothness and predilection for corporate jargon that characterizes so many senior figures in the US music industry. People appear to get along with him, not least because he leaves them knowing where they stand. “He's an arrogant sonovabitch,” says one minder. "The thing with Frank is, at least when he’s pissed off, you know he’s pissed off.”
Whatever business acumen he's offered since taking on the Jackson job four years ago, not the least of his contribution has been the blunt sense of humor with which he's brought the operation down to earth after the astronomical success of Thriller.
His schedule of meetings goes on, even during the show. One such function, on the second night, is to meet this writer inside a makeshift office that shudders to the beat of "Billie Jean". What's the best thing about being Michael's manager, I enquire.
Shoulders hunched, palms out-turned: "Hey, I get to talk to you!”
And, erm, the second best thing?
“I get to talk to him!"
Essentially a record industry man, Dileo began at CBS in 1968, moving through other labels like RCA, Bell and Monument until returning to CBS in 1979, where he became head of the Promotion and Video departments of the CBS subsidiary label Epic. Which was where his involvement with Jackson began.
“We just evolved a relationship through working on 'Thriller'. Just out of that, one day out of the clear blue, he asked me to manage him.
“I felt very honored, but I also asked him if he wouldn't mind thinking about it a couple of days. I felt that basically I was a record man, and I was being groomed for a larger job in CBS, and that maybe he was just a little bit caught up with the success of 'Thriller' and I felt that maybe it was rather spontaneous.
“So, that was on a Tuesday and I said, 'Look, if you're serious about it, give me a call on Friday and we'll try to work it out. And if you don't call, there's no hard feelings and we'll just continue business. And then Friday came and about 11 o'clock at night he called me and he says, 'Yeah, I think we really wanna do this with you. And em then we got the lawyers working.
“That's sort of how it worked out. It's a great honor to work for and with him, and I think we've developed ourselves into a good little team.”
What are the special problems of being Michael Jackson's manager?
“Some of the things that make it very hard are, you can't really go anywhere together, We do everything at his house or some room or wherever. You get the normal problems, the fans are outrageous, photographers follow you all day long. Those are the bad things.”
Does that get Michael down?
"No, it doesn’t get him down, he's not particularly annoyed, he doesn’t get mad about it. It's okay with him. It only becomes annoying to me, because I'm not as used to it as he is. Maybe after five or six years, I will be."
Do you want to be a very visible manager, like Colonel Paster and Elvis?
“I don't wanna be visible. In fact, I wanna be more like the Colonel when he was un-visible. Michael’s the star, I'm just the manager. And I'm basically a quiet fellow and so... I do these little interviews every once in a while because company asks, but it's not really my forte in life.
Don’t you have to shout at people a lot to be a successful manager?
"I don't think so. I think that if you're honest, and people know that you know what you're talking about, all I have to do is tell them. Sometimes, you may have to tell them a little more firmly. But I'm not one who raises his voice very much and I get all the results there is to get. If you treat people with respect you'll get it back, I don't like managers that go screaming and hollering and throwing their authority.
“I'm not the type that calls up the restaurant and says, 'I wanna table, I'm Michael Jackson's manager. If they don't know who I am, I don't really care. It's a lot easier to go in and hand a guy a $50 bill or $20 to get the table you want rather than relying on Michael's name.
“I ate before Michael and I'll eat after Michael."
Why do you two get on so well? You're not obviously similar people.
“You don’t think we look alike?™
"Well, Michael's very interested in health, and so on.
“What makes you think I'm not? (Laughs) I think we get along because our goals are the same. Whatever we do or create, we try to do the best. We both want to be successful, and as far as making something good, there are financial gains — we're not fooling anybody. But we both have the same attitude that we don't do things for financial gain, and we do them to make them better. If we make money from them, fine.”
Then what about your Pepsi sponsorship deal, which makes you a huge amount of money, even though Michael doesn't drink it?
“That's me. I make association deals, We don't endorse, we associate. They're gonna sell a lot of Pepsi and they have to pay what I think deserves to be paid. It's not as if we're getting a penny a can. I tried that! They wouldn't go for it.”
Doesn't Michael feel odd getting people to drink something he wouldn't drink himself?
“Well, each of us has got to drink something. That's his personal habit or whatever. But Michael isn't down on anybody for drinking it. That would be wrong. If he was to say, 'Nobody should drink Pepsi, and then endorse it, then be associated with it, that would be wrong on our part. But that’s not what he's doing. He doesn't drink beer, but if you wanna go out and have a couple of beers, then God bless you. If you go to his house, be has liquor in his home, doesn't mean he drinks it.”
Of all the press that you read about Michael, what percentage 1s true?
“The things that are true are when they say that he's a great entertainer, a great dancer. And I think he is, by far. I've been in the record business 20 years, y' know, and I have a little knowledge of entertainers. He is by far the greatest I have ever seen. And I've seen the Tony Bennetts, I've worked with them, the Sinatras, and everybody else. In their era, they were great. But in this era, he is it. There's no two ways about it.
“The things I hate they print — if that’s your next question, which it probably is — is when they discuss his plastic surgery. Because it's bullshit. The man has had two operations in his life: to fix his nose, and to put a cleft in his chin.
“Everybody in the world strives to look better. If you get up at 6:30 tomorrow, you'll see 80 million people jogging, exercising, Why? They wanna look better, y' know? Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, there's not a person in Hollywood or in this business that hasn't had a nose job.
“And the difference in his face, in the way he looks — I mean, the point is if you took a picture of yourself every 10 years and lined them up, you would look different. Nine years ago, he became a vegetarian, which also changes the way you look. The guy went from being maybe 150 lbs to weighing 125 lbs. If I lost 40 lbs, I'd look a lot different: my face goes down, my features become more prominent.
“I'm probably gonna take some legal action at some point to stop that, y' know? The most important thing to the fans is the music. Even though they read that, it doesn’t hinder them. from buying the records.” (Dileo readily agrees to go through a list of the most lurid stories about Jackson, to confirm or deny them one by one.)
Does he take Bubbles the chimpanzee with him everywhere, and even sleep in the same room?
“He doesn't come with him everywhere. Bubbles is a pet, it's not like it’s his best friend in the world. I hope I'm his best friend in the world. I go with him everywhere. I don't sleep with him, I just go with him. We have separate rooms. Bubbles is a pet and occasionally he brings him out, be likes to have him do things with kids, and what a great thing! Naturally, if you could afford to keep a monkey, I think everybody in the world would like to own one. It's no big deal.”
Is Michael having his face tinted?
"Absolute 100 percent garbage.”
Does he have “100 Million” written on his mirror at home, as reported in Rolling Stone, meaning he's set that figure as a target for sales of Bad?
“I read that. That's ridiculous. I don’t know where they got it. When the guy asked me about it, I told him it was ridiculous.”
Did he attempt to buy the bones of John Merrick, the Elephant Man (which are preserved in the London hospital where he died)?”
“Yeah. Well, Michael has seen the movie, saw the play, and he loved it. He just fell in love with it, the fact that the guy was a sensitive person, all the problems that he had. We wrote them a letter. not to be published. But it gets out, it leaked from the UK. We tried, they turned us down, that’s life, y' know?
"Besides, everybody's got skeletons in their closet..."
What about the oxygen chamber he's supposed to sleep in (apparently believing it will prolong his life to 150 or so)?
“What it is, is a bed in a chamber. I'm not for it. I'd rather not discuss it, and it's not something that he necessarily does every day. I'm on the record as saying I hate it, and I do."
Has he brought it on tour with hem?
“No. I wouldn't let him bring it."
Has he left the Jehovah’s Witnesses?
“Yeah, that's correct. He's told me he's left, but the best way to start a war, or a bad relationship, is to discuss politics or religion. I don’t discuss my religion with Michael, he doesn't discuss his. That's why we get along. So, to my knowledge, there's no particular reason: he made that decision and that’s for him to deal with.
It's been said that he's jealous of his sister Janet's success, and also disapproved of the raunchiness of her act.
“He’s not mad because she’s successful. He's very happy for her — it's his younger sister. And he's not shocked by the sexiness, he thinks it's great. They're very good friends.”
Is this really Michael's last tour?
“That's correct. I think this'll be his last tour. He wants to do one solo tour, then we'll probably go into making movies."
Does he really wear that face mask?
“Well, sometimes. This whole country wears masks. (True: they're a not uncommon sight on the streets of Tokyo.) And they're the smartest people in the world. He wears it to prevent people from getting a cold, and he doesn't want to catch one either.”
(Dileo goes on to describe Jackson as both playful and businesslike: he's very smart.”) What sort of games does he play? Does he surprise you with snakes?
“Me, I hate snakes. We have a very strong understanding about snakes, But he’s a good practical joker.”
You've got the biggest artist in the world. What can you do next?
"Am I supposed to die after this? Whatever new challenge will come, will come. Hopefully, I will probably stay with Michael for a long time. At this point, we get along very well and I don't see any problems. I have certain goals for both of us, and I will try to help us both attain those goals. For me to attain mine, he must attain his. We're just taking it one step at a time. So, I don't know. Maybe I'll just retire and hang out with my kids.
"Or I'll become a newspaper writer. That could be fun.”
Along with Frank DiLeo, the other key figure in Michael Jackson’s scheme of things is Quincy Jones, the producer who shaped all three of the solo LPs.
A dapper, quietly self-possessed man, Quincy Jones is just along for the ride here in Japan, with no particular role except to enjoy the shows and watch Michael work. On the morning of the first show, however, he gives a press conference somewhere deep inside a vast hotel. He begins by recalling the time he spent with Michael Jackson on the recently completed Bad.
“I’ve been in the studio with him for 12 months, and you see this little guy, it’s hard to believe that this is the same little guy who gets up on the stage and changes so much. You really do forget he’s a performer in the studio.
“He never throws his weight around, he’s courteous, we have a lot of fun and joking. And it’s a real test of a relationship when you’re in the studio 12 months.
“When he used to sing new songs to me he’d make me turn the other way, and he’d get behind the couch and he’d turn the lights out. But he has a totally opposite personality when he gets on stage, and all this energy and straightforward aggression comes out. It’s like meeting another person.
Does Quincy ever worry that Jackson’s lifestyle is rather unreal?
“He’s been in this business since five years old, and it’s difficult when you’re that successful and famous, that young, to get a realistic point of view about life. But I think, just considering what he’s all about, and his stature in the business, Michael’s overwhelmingly sane and normal. Because, I’ve seen a few that have just had one record they go absolutely nuts, to the point where they can’t even get to their next record.
“The music business is a little unreal anyway. Nobody deserves as much attention as most of the people get, or as much money or adulation. So you have to have a pretty strong centre to hold on to your balance. And I think he has that – he astounds me that he’s so balanced.”
So how does Quincy explain the eccentricities, the animals in the studio and so on?
“I don’t think it’s so eccentric. It’s a little off-the-wall. But it could be cocaine, y’know? (Meaning, it could be worse.) And Bubbles is a funny little guy, he’s fun to be around. I’m not crazy about that python – he’s friendly, but I just don’t like snakes. But the chimp is a lot of fun, great sense of humour, very polite, great table manners… You’re in a studio for a year, you get desperate for entertainment!
“He loves children and he loves animals, and my guess is that because he’s very connected to his soul, he likes the idea of the truth involved – and when you deal with an animal you don’t have to go through any games, that’s for sure. I think he trusts children and animals more than adults.”
Why does Quincy call him Smelly?
“Because he doesn’t use profanity at all, and where most musicians will say, Man, that music is FUNKY, he says smelly. Smelly Jelly.”
Smelly himself was not, alas, in ready supply for the journalists assembled in his honour over the opening days of the tour. Undeterred, the British contingent of Jacko Hackos continued to file the type of Wacko Jacko stories they’ve been writing for the past three years.
Even Robert Maxwell, in Tokyo on business, was to be cruelly disappointed in his hope of meeting the star. More fortunate were the CBS executives who’d arrived from every territory in their company’s empire. Excitedly they lined up at exclusive receptions to shake the great hand and bear such glad tidings as they were able to summon up.
It is reported that his favourite remarks were “Thank you” and “That’s wonderful. He seems happy enough, in his own unknowable way. And Quincy Jones says, “I can see him doing Billie Jean at 70.”