MTV / TV Guide Interview
Sneak
Preview aired on Novmber 29, 1999 (US-TV Show Entertainment
Tonight on CBS)
Complete Interview aired December 6, 1999 (Special Show 100
Greatest Videos Ever Made on MTV America - Thriller was
voted as #1)
TV Guide's December 4, 1999 Issue featured the whole
interview and Michael with his new look on the cover
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TV-Guide Cover
December 4, 1999
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Entertainment Tonight
TV-Spot with MJ's new look
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Transcript of the Interview
TV
Guide: "Thriller" changed music videos forever.
Where did you get the idea?
Michael Jackson: My brother Jackie came to my house and
said, "Are you watching this show that's on TV? All
they do is play music. It's MTV." I put it on and
thought the concept was very interesting. What I didn't
like were the videos that were a collage of images; I
thought that if I were to do one, I would do something
with a beginning, a middle and an ending, like a short
film.
-Did you ever imagine that Thriller and the
videos from the album would catapult your career into the
stratosphere?
-I didn't really think about how the album would do; I
just wanted to create what I would enjoy seeing. And my
main goal for the video "Thriller" was to do
something that would be scary, fun and exciting.
-How do you look back on that whole era now?
-I see it as a happy time and a sad time. And an exciting
time. Because it made a lot of my dreams come true. The
notoriety was wonderful.
-You also said it was a sad time.
-Yeah. If I don't get exactly what I'm looking for, I get
very depressed.
-You mean the album still didn't live up to what
you had envisioned?
-Not completely.
-Which songs disappointed you?
-"Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'." Songwriting is
a very frustrating art form. You have to get on tape
exactly what's playing in your head. When I hear it up
here [points to his head], it's wonderful. I have to
transcribe that onto tape. "The Girl is Mine"
wasn't completely what I wanted, but it's very nice. But
"Billie Jean" is there. I worked so hard on
that. I worked for three weeks on the bass lick alone.
-The glove, the white socks, the red leather
jacket who came up with those things?
-The glove was just I thought one was cooler than
two. I love to accent movement. The eye goes to where the
white is you know, the glove. And the feet, if
you're dancing, you can put an exclamation point on your
movement if it has a bit of light on it. So I wore the
white socks. And for the design of the jacket, I would
sit with the people who made the clothes and tell them
where I wanted a button or a buckle or a design. But I
don't wear that look anymore. It's sad to get caught up
in the past. That's why I don't put awards in my house.
No gold records, no Grammys. They are in storage. I don't
like to be puffed up with pride, 'cause i'd feel like I
don't have anymore things to reach for. And that's not
true.
-Do you feel like your most creative period is
yet to come?
-I think the best work is coming, but I would like to go
into other areas, not keep doing album after pop album.
-Are there artists that are doing interesting
things musically?
-There's some wonderful creative ideas, but I don't think
anybody's being innovative. They're mostly grabbing the
old and trying to integrate it with the new.
-Is there anyone you'd like to work with?
-There are a lot of artists I admire, but no.
-What is your favorite music?
-You would be shocked. This morning I was singing Rodgers
and Hammerstein. That's the stuff I sing around the house
"My Favorite Things" from the "Sound
of Music" and "Absent Minded Me," that
Streisand song. I'm also a fan of the great old MGM
musicals. I love show tunes. I'm a big fan of melody.
-What's your favorite song to perform?
-"Billie Jean," but only when I don't have to
do it the same way. The audience wants a certain thing. I
have to do the moonwalk in that spot. [laughs] I'd like
to do a different version.
-Who's your audience today?
-I don't know. I just try to write wonderful music; and
if they love it, they love it. I don't think about any
demographic. The record company tries to get me to think
that way, but I just do what I would enjoy hearing.
-Is there a new Michael for the new millennium?
-Yeah. I have a couple of things planned. I think it's
going to be totally different than what I did before.
There's a song on the new album called "I Have This
Dream." It's a millennium song about the world and
the environment that I co-wrote with Carole Bayer Sager
and David Foster.
-Do you think you will tour again?
-I don't think so. It takes a lot out of me.
-You rarely travel in public without a disguise.
Why?
-I don't see any other way. I have tried everything
[laughs] Fat suits. Nuns. Clowns. Trick or treat is the
best for me. And Mardi Gras.
-Do you think you will ever be able to walk
around freely just as yourself?
-I do disguises for different reasons. I like to study
people be like the fly on the wall. Even if it's
two old ladies sitting on a bench or some kids on a
swing. Because I don't know what it's like to fit in an
everyday life situation. One time I was in a record
store, completely disguised, and these girls were pulling
out my album, talking all about me. I was literally next
to them. It was wonderful. I loved it. But if I go out as
myself, I can't have fun. People always say, "Why
don't we just go to a party?" Soon as I step in, the
party's over for me. It's a party for them, but
they are all putting their cards on my face, saying,
"Remember me? I met you four years ago at
"
and I say, "I don't remember." So I can't enjoy
the experience. They play all my songs. I didn't come to
hear my music. And everybody starts chanting
"Dance!" "Well, I want to see YOU dance
for a change."
-Do you think, given all the negative press that
you have had, the people will judge you solely on your
music?
-I don't think so. 'cause the press has made me out to be
this monster, this crazy person who's bizarre and weird.
I'm nothing like that.
-Is there anything you can do to change that impression?
-Well, all I can do is be myself and create from my soul.
But they take that and manipulate it.
-But what will make you seem OK to people who
think "He's weird, he has exotic animals in his
house, or
-God created animals and they are loving, they are
beautiful. I feel the way anthropologist Jane Goodall
does, or any of those naturalists. I don't find my
interest in animal weird or strange at all.
-What about the plastic surgery?
-All of Hollywood has plastic surgery! I don't know why
they point me out. The press exagerated it. It's just to
my nose. They want it to be everything. Just the nose
isn't enough. Elvis had his nose done Lisa Marie
told me. They don't talk about that. They singled me out.
It's not fair.
-OK, well, now that you bring up Lisa Marie, I
read that she said she regrets not having had your son
and that she may still want to have a child with you. Is
that true?
-I remember that's how she felt at the time [laughs]. No
matter what I say, I'm in trouble with this question. The
next issue of TV Guide will probably say "Well, Lisa
said she doesn't ever want to see him again!"
-Are you two friends now?
-Lisa's sweet. I like her very much and we are friends.
And who knows what tomorrow brings? I have no idea how
she feels today. I'll just say that. She comes to my
house and sees the children, and we talk on the phone,
that sort of thing.
-Do you think you will marry again?
-That would be nice.
-What would make the third time the charm?
-It just has to hit me. You have to see that person and
go, "This is it. This is the one."
-Did you feel that way with both of your
marriages?
-Yeah. Of course.
-Do you wish you were still married?
-Yeah. I do. But you have to do what's best. What happens
happens. You have to respect that.
-Who are your closest friends?
-Elizabeth. We go to the movies every Thursdays.
-You go to a regular movie theatre?
-I want to go to the Warner Bros studio and she refuses.
She says "No, I'm getting you out." So we go
right into this area which I can say- and walk
right in. And it's usually empty, because most people are
working at the time. The theatre employees go "Wow,
come on in" and we never really pay. And we're the
ones that can afford it. [laughs]
-Let's talk about your kids. I have to ask about
this business in the papers recently about you and Debbie
not being the biological parents of your children, about
her being implanted with another woman's egg and then
impregnanted by artificial insemination.
-That's total garbage. It's just trash and not true.
-Do the kids live with you at Neverland?
-They were at Neverland two weeks ago. I think they
realized for the first time that it's their home. They
used to always think it was some hotel resort. We stay in
hotels everywhere. They didn't realize that the train and
the train station is for them, and those rides are for
them. Now they go "We want to go to Neverland!"
-What are their personnalities like?
-Prince tells me all day that he has to make movies. So I
bought him this video camera. I say, "What are we
doing this time?" He goes, "Star Wars." So
we put some figures on the table, make them move. And
Paris is just now starting to talk and walk. She's very
sweet. And I'm surprised she loves dolls. My sister Janet
didn't like that sort of thing. She was a tomboy. I
thought she was going to be like that but she isn't.
-And you're changing diapers and feeding them?
-Yeah, I love it. It's a lot of work. I thought I was
prepared 'cause I read everything about child rearing,
but it's so much more exciting than I ever imagined it to
be. The only regret I have is that I wish I had done it
earlier.
-Do you sing and dance for them?
-That's how I keep them quiet if they're crying. If I
just start dancing, they shut down.
-Do you want to have more kids?
-Definitely. I told my father I'm going to match his
record. He had 10.
-What is your relationship with your father like
now? You were estranged from him for a while?
-I have the best relationship now that I've ever had with
him. I think with age and time, he is really mellowed out
to become a nice person. He'll simply say to me "How
are you doing? Are you eating? That's all I wanted to
know." Not, "Did you sign that contract?"
He just wants to know if I'm OK. I think that's really
nice
And my mother is like the perfect Angel.
-At 41, are you happy?
-Well, I usually am happy. I don't let anything get me
down, no matter what. I like to hear the sound of water
and birds chirping and laughter, you know. I love all the
real natural, innocent things. I would never go to a
party or a club. I did that when I was a kid, and I don't
care to do it anymore.
-I found it jarring to read a recent quote in
which you said that if it weren't for your desire to help
the children of the world, you would throw in the towell
and kill yourself. Do you really feel that way?
-I always have, 'cause I would feel I have nothing to
live for.
-Not even for yourself and your own creativity?
-I wouldn't care. Everything I create is inspired by that
kind of innocence. And nature, it's eveything. It has to
be. I mean, that's it.
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