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.
"30th Annual Grammy Awards"
Date of “30th Annual Grammy Awards” confirmed on official Grammy Awards website (archived) (“Wednesday, March 2, 1988, at Radio City Music Hall in New York.”)
March 1 Rehearsals:
Don Wilson, editor of the “Man in the Mirror” music video, Magazine Americana (June 2009)
Magazine Americana: Is it true that he didn't see the final cut [of the “Man in the Mirror” music video] until he was on the stage singing the song live at the Grammys?
Don Wilson: Yes, that is true. They put up a forty foot screen, so he could see the video as he sang. He was stunned by the whole experience. At the end of the song, he collapsed on the stage and had to be helped to his feet. I was stunned too, and I think that is when it all sank in.
"Jet" magazine (March 21, 1988) (archived scan of article)
While in New York-City, Jackson demonstrated his towering talents in a torrid, two-song performance ("The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Man in the Mirror") at Radio City Music Hall during the 30th Annual Grammy Awards. Jackson, who has won more Grammys (eight in 1984) in a single year than any other artist, was nominated in four categories. He didn't win any awards during this Grammy telecast, but he gave a stunning, show-stopping performance. That prompted a guest to quip: "Michael stole the show and they stole the Grammy."
"That's a good statement and I like it," said singer/actress/dancer Liza Minnelli, who was a presenter at the Grammy Awards, "I was disappointed that he didn't win. I thought he should have won a lot more," she added.
Jonathan “Sugarfoot” Moffett, drummer, The MJCast, Episode 061 (July 21, 2017)
MJCast (Jamon): Jonathan, another great thing you do is your social media presence and we love your account on Twitter it's @jmoffettmjm and you put out some great material on that. Some video footage, all kind of things, and I remember about—it was a few months ago when you were tweeting about the Grammy performance, the 1988 Grammys. It was the first time that I actually learned that you were drummin' there, but sort of backstage. You were watching a video screen watching Michael perform. Can you tell us about that experience and how that show came together, and what you thought of it?
Moffett: Do I have to? [MJCast laughs]... It’s not my favorite memory [laughs] I mean, it was a great memory, but when you hear the story, you're gonna bust up laughing, and you're going to see why it's not my favorite memory [laughs]
MJCast: Well, you can't not tell it now! [laughs]
I just love that I'd choose not to tell it, 'cause it's not the most proud thing I can talk about and let people know. Ok, God dog it, you gonna push me into this. Why'd you have to bring that question up? [laughs] I was [unintelligible] the Grammys with Michael, and I was all excited. You know, "The Grammys with Michael! I'd never seen the Grammys before!" Right? Fantastic! So, I get there and I meet with Michael, and we talk about things and something, they gonna do "Man In the Mirror", and stuff like that so... At the time, I was with Yamaha drums, and so I contacted the cartage people there, I told them all the sizes, I had this humongous Yamaha kit, and I'm thinking I'm going to be on stage at first. I said, "Oh, this is going to be awesome! It's going to look cool, and I'm gonna set up nice, and I have all my cymbals, I got all these cymbals"—at the time I was using 10 or 12, and that's all I said. All the stuff, but then they said, "No, you're not setting up on stage, and I said, "Huh?" He said, "You set up behind the curtain backstage." I said, "They're not gonna see my drums!" And so, they said, "No, you behind the curtains and we're gonna have a monitor for you to watch Michael, so you can do the performance with him. I say, "Aw man, alright, alright." So... there's several artists much other top artists on the Grammys and—of course—and they're musicians and all the top musicians. They were like, "[Gasp] Sugarfoot's here?! Oh man, it's gonna be off the chain! It's gonna be amazing, man, if we get to see Sugarfoot close up—and backstage too! We gonna be right up on 'im!", and all these musicians around, top people, and artists and stuff. And I set up my drums, they saw my coldblooded drum set set up, and I'm settin' it up proud, I'm thinking I'm gonna be playing and everything. Then all of a sudden, right before we get to play, they called me for Mike, we [unintelligible] "Well you're not gonna really be playing. You're gonna hit the accents with Michael." So, what happened was, they stopped playing the song, and then I saw I was like, "Oh my God. Oh my God, I got all these musicians and artists here, waiting to see me play, and I'm not gonna be playing!" They still gonna have the tracks! So, I'm like, "Oh my god", and I start thinking—this is kind of funny—I said, "Oh, what am I gonna do, what am I gonna do?" I was panicking. "What am I going to do, oh my God. They're gonna see me just sit there all that time." I said, "Oh, I got to do something." And I looked at my big old drum set, and I said, "Oh, I'm a little terrible with all this stuff here", and I said, "I know, I gotta get rid of some stuff." And I start talking to Tech. I said, "You know that cymbal over there? Those cymbals? You could take those two down, I'm probably not going to hit those." And they said, "Okay." I said, "And you know what else, too? Those two drum toms like that? I probably don't really need those, I could use them on another... but you can strike those too, that's okay. I don't need all that stuff..." Little by little, I whittled the set down to, like, half of what it was. I mean, doing that kind of stuff, there were people looking. "What's going on? They’re taking the set down. He's supposed to be playing." All the people folding their arms and looking. "What's going on?" And I got it down to like five cymbals, a ten, a twelve, and I got the tom down to like four or five... "Yeah, well that's fine" It was like, still too much, but I couldn't keep one and make me look worse, so [laughs] So I got it down, and I said, "This is still going to be embarrassing" because—so what happened was they started, Michael came on and started the thing. Man, it's so hard even to tell this story, and all the people say—y'know how they shuffle in place? Like, "Oh, it's about to be on! This is gonna be off the chain! Sugarfoot gonna be killing it back here!" And so, I'm sitting there, I wanted to have a cloak over my head, I wanted to hide in the closet, and I just had to sit there. The song started playing, I'm sitting on my seat, not doing nothing. They hear the drums, they hear the music going, and they said—they're looking at each other like, "What's goin' on here?" And I had to sit there and eat crow, whatever you want to call it, and be humiliated, and sit on the drums, and the drums are just—chairs are clean, not a strike on them or anything... And I'm just sitting on the seat looking around, I'm closing my eyes because I'm looking at the screen, I'm looking at the curtain, but they couldn't see my eyes exactly. I like close my eyes. I said, "Oh Lord, why did You put me through this? Why this is happening? Why'd it have to be like this?" I couldn't hide anywhere, I was right there. They're right around me, and I'm like, "This is the most humiliating thing in my life." So, the whole time going by, and they just waiting for me, "What're you gonna play? What're you gonna play?" And it gets to the end of the vamp, where Michael runs. If you watch that video of Michael "Man in the Mirror" and 1988 Grammys, he started getting excited. He's jumping up, and he start running around, and then he's shaking his hand real fast, and he spins around. And when he spins around, I go [drum sounds] and when he drops on his knees, I go [drum sound]! And that was all I did.
MJCast (Q): Ugh.
MJCast (Jamon): Wow.
Moffett: [Laughs] He did that twice. So, he got back up, and he started doing it again. He did it again, and that was my whole performance. And all these people looking around, and I can just hear them laughing. It was like so humiliating, so embarrassing. But you take a job, you do what the job entails, and that's what it was. And I had to ride through that humiliating time and experience, but at least I can say I was on the Grammys with Michael.
MJCast (Q): And you were on the Grammys, and we can understand now that you've told the story.
Moffett: When I tell that, it's funny, like I had to say, "You know what? I'm not gonna need that tom. You know what? That's a bit too much stuff, I don't need all that stuff. That cymbal over there. I don't like the sound of that one, just take that one away." I'll whittle that set down in a few minutes, after setting all that stuff up. It was so embarrassing, man, but I lived through it, and here I am. I've survived it, I'm a survivor, and I'm talking to you guys now, telling this lame story.
MJCast (Q): Well, you got a story from it, and those little moments that you did play, we appreciate those, and I'm sure Michael did too.
Moffett: Yes, I know you're being kind.
Lisa Robinson, Interviewer
A few days [after my meet-up with Michael on February 23, 1988], I sent a case of Jungle Gardenia to his hotel suite at New York City’s Helmsley Palace.The following night, on March 2, I stood in the wings at Radio City Music Hall as Michael waited with gospel singers the Winans, about to perform “Man in the Mirror” for the Grammy Awards live telecast. Looking at me he whispered, “Thanks for the smells. . . . I’m wearing it now.”
...Moments after being bathed in applause for one of the most striking performances ever by a pop performer on national television, Jackson, an intensely private person, had to sit in full view of millions as he suffered one humiliating defeat after another.
...The last time he had come to the Grammys with a hit album, Jackson was rewarded with more statuettes (eight) than anyone in the history of the record industry awards competition.
On Wednesday, however, the fiercely competitive Jackson walked away empty-handed. He tried gamely to muster a smile when Smokey Robinson, a hero from the Motown days, got the nod over him for best R&B vocal. But most of the time he seemed simply crestfallen.
It was a repeated picture of disappointment that few in the theater or TV audience will soon forget.
Yet there is another picture of Jackson on Wednesday that may be even more firmly fixed in the public's mind: the picture of a supreme pop performer whose dynamics on stage were, in part, fueled by his vulnerability.
Vulnerability isn't the word most often associated with Jackson. More common terms are eccentric and, if you will, strange. But there is a delicate quality that surfaces in his most compelling records--including "Heartbreak Hotel" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'."
It's the same delicate edge that also infuses Jackson's live performance with a hunger and desire that is as absorbing as it is electric.
...Jackson's performance at the 30th Grammy Awards Wednesday night was an altogether different experience. For more than nine minutes of prime-time television, he revealed himself. Jackson moved with a sensual resolve and urgent desire that pleaded for approval and respect. Even what appeared to be occasional lip-syncing didn't disguise the boldness and passion of his performance.
A national pop audience got a chance to watch Jackson's boldness and artistry and to see that there's more to his superstardom than what some may perceive as a peculiar life style or obsession with facial appearance.
In agreeing to perform on the Grammys, Jackson most likely was hoping to regenerate the spark that he exhibited in 1983 when he sang "Billie Jean" on a Motown Records anniversary special. His performance that night was so electrifying that many industry observers feel it single-handedly added millions of sales to the "Thriller" album.
Whether Wednesday's performance will do the same for "Bad" is a question, but--after months of letting tabloids shape his public image--Jackson finally faced the public again, head-on, no strings attached. The result was a dazzling and ultimately triumphant moment in Grammy history, one that overshadowed everything else on the program--even his string of four defeats.