Transcript Michael Jackson Musical genius vs. Megalomaniac entertainer

Michael Jackson
Musical genius vs. Megalomaniac
entertainer
Outline
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1. Introduction
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2. Childhood
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A. Early childhood years in Gary/Indiana
B. Jackson Five
C. Breaking up with Jackson Five and the start of his
solo career
Outline
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3. A legend is born
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A. Breakthrough („Thriller“)
B. Becoming the „King of Pop“
4. Personal life
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A. Relationships
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A.1. Jacksons‘ marriages and children
B. Charity
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B.1. USA for Africa
B.2.Various donations (Neverland Ranch)
Outline
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5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
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A. Rumours (Interview with O. Winfrey/1993)
B. child abuse case
6. Conclusion
1. Introduction
Michael Joseph Jackson
Gary/Indiana (USA)
29.08.1958
one of nine children
2. Childhood
A. Early years in Gary/Indiana
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Father: Joseph Jackson
worked in a steel mill
enthusiastic about music
→ hobby musician
strict rules:
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forced his children to play
music
locked them up at home
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Mother: Katherine Jackson
in contrast to Joseph:
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sensitive
different point of view
concerning religious education
→ Jehovah‘s Witnesses
→ door-to-door evangelism
beat them up with his belt
Overall he
never had a typical childhood
2. Childhood
B. Jackson Five
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1962: „The Jackson Brothers“
1964: Michael started playing congas and tambourine
1966: „The Jackson Five“
1967: Michael became lead singer only aged eight
In the same year the Jackson 5 got their first record contract
(Steeltown label)
Berry Gordy (head of Motown records) bought them out of their
contract
→ family moved to Los Angeles
→ were launched into the public spotlight by Diana Ross (became a
longtime friend) in 1969
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14 albums, including smash hits like „ABC“ and „I want you back“
2. Childhood
C. Breaking up with Jackson Five and the start of
his solo career
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Jackson Five signed a contract with another label → they were not
allowed to use the name „Jackson Five“ anylonger
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from now on: „The Jacksons“ → performed until 1980
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Michael and Marlon left the band → success immediately declined
(„The Jacksons“ only existed until 1990)
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1979: album „Off the wall“ → global success
3. A legend is born
A. Breakthrough
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1982: „Thriller“ was one of a kind, being the best-selling
record of all times
→ first black artist being shown on a regular basis on MTV
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the production of music clips was revolutionized by movielike videos
such as „Thriller“, „Billie Jean“ and „Beat it“
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1987: „Bad“ → second-best-selling album in music history
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„Bad World Tour“: his second world tour
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first artist who managed to have five number-one hits off one album
3. A legend is born
B. Becoming the „King of Pop“
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1991: „Dangerous“ , including smash hit „Black or White“
→ several celebrities acting in his music clips
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1992: „Dangerous“ world tour (huge success all over the world)
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1993: honoured as „living legend“ at the Grammy Award show and
won several WMA‘s
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1995: „HIStory Past, Present and Future Book I“
→ promotion of this album cost a fortune
→ music video „Scream“ was/is the most expensive clip of all
times (8 million $ budget)
3. A legend is born
B. Becoming the „King of Pop“
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1996/1997: „HIStory“ world tour → the biggest and most expensive
show of all times
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2001: musical comeback: „You rock my world“ → worldwide hit
single
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September 2001: celebrating his 30 years stage anniversary
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2002: - was inducted into the famous „ Rock & Roll Hall of Fame“
- appeared at the American Music Awards → received the
„Artist Of The Century“ Award
- received the „Bambi“ for his life´s work
4. Personal life
A. Relationships – Jacksons‘ marriages and children
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was seen with a lot of famous and attractive women, such as
Brooke Shields, Sheryl Crow and Madonna
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1994: marriage between Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley
→ was criticized and after two years as a couple they split up
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11/1996: married Deborah J. Rowe
→ son, named Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. („Prince“) and a
daughter, Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson [divorced in 1999]
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2002: „Prince Michael II“ was born (surrogate mother)
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many discussions about his children → people could not believe that
Michael is the biological father of Prince and Paris
4. Personal life
B. Charity – USA for Africa
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2000: Guiness Book of World Records → most charities supported
by a popstar
e.g. in 1992: set up the Heal the World Foundation
→ focuses on children‘s rights around the world
often used his music for charities
„We are the World“ (1985) → wrote this song for „USA for Africa“
→ raised about 50 million $ for famine relief
USA: United Support of Artist
raised money to fight AIDS, cancer, famine and poverty
supported child help
4. Personal life
B. Charity – Various donations (Neverland Ranch)
acquired the ranch in 1988
 most famous home
 value approximately 120 million $
 11 km²
 divided into 2 parts:
→ amusement park and zoo
 named after the fictional island in „Peter Pan“
 entertained children at Neverland
 has also special rooms for sick and terminally ill children to stay over
 children are allowed to do whatever they want
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5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
A. Rumours
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MJ ashamed of his black skin??
Actually in 1994, MJ was diagnosed by dermatolgist Dr.Arnold Klein
with vitiligo
→ Actually MJ’s grandfather also had suffered from vitiligo, a skin
disorder
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Why is MJ having an umbrella and always wearing long-sleeved
shirts in public?
→ his dermatologist told him to avoid any exposure to the sun
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5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
A. Rumours
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MJ obsessed with plastic operations??
→ he claims to have had three operations:
a) in 1979 to repair a broken nose resulting from a dancing accident in
the same year
b) the second one in 1982 to correct imperfections of the first surgery
c) the surgical creation of a cleft in his chin
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he justified these operations by stating “to help me breathe better
and to hit higher notes”
but MJ also did his nose operations, on account of feeling “ugly” with
it, and being made fun of by his family for having such a big nose
5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
A. Rumours
Why is MJ always surrounded by children??
→ he states that he always loved and appreciated children’s
innocence, which in his opinion he lost too soon
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Let us therefore look at his lyrics from his song “Childhood”:
“It’s been my fate to compensate for the childhood I’ve never known”
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Now let us take a short look at the most-watched television interview
of all times in 1993, where MJ talks to Oprah Winfrey about every
single rumor about him
5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
B. Child abuse case
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turning point in 1993
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suddenly had to cancel his “Dangerous World Tour”, when
allegations of child molestation had appeared against MJ in 1993
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13-year-old Jordan Chandler pressed charges against MJ and
accused him of sexually molestating him
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Michael avoided having to go to court by paying 23 million US-Dollar
to the accuser
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this was heavily criticized and people wanted to use that as a proof
for Michael’s guilt
5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
B. Child abuse case
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but in November 2005 Jackson’s lawyer T. Mesereau reports to
Harvard Law School students:
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the defence would have had a witness that would have confirmed
that Jordan Chandler told him that he actually was not molestated
and that he was extremely angry with his parents, on account of
them forcing him to press charges against MJ
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a proof: Chandler put an end to his relationship with his parents and
stopped talking to them for eleven years
5. Downfall of the „King of Pop“
B. Child abuse case
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in 2005 MJ was again facing allegations of child molestation by
Gavin Arviso
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but on June 13, 2005 MJ was cleared of being inoccent of all ten
charges made against him
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after the trial CNN reported that two jurors thought that MJ abused
children sexually in the past, but this time there was not enough
evidence to prove it
6. Conclusion
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He used his influence like no other artist to help the poor and
showed his enormous generosity through various donations
MJ managed to break down the barriers of racism and
revolutionized pop music in a very unique way
Nevertheless it is hard to judge over his personal life because it is
and always will remain mysterious
The „King of Pop“ is one of a kind and his fame is not comparable to
any other artist in terms of extreme obsessity and adorance of an
artist whether caused by himself or by the brutal and immoral media
coverage
→ you should always keep this in mind when you judge any of his
seemingly „obscure“ and „megalomaniac“ actions and behaviour
Conclusion
Ask yourself if it is more important for all of you
to take a closer look at only his private life e.g.
playing with his chimp „Bubbles“ and the various
number of surgeries he has undergone or to
HONOUR and CHERISH his achievements
which everyone of us knows or at least has
heard of…
7. Facts and curious stuff
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In 1992, Michael was crowned 'King Sani' in a West African village in Gabon,
Ivory Coast
He has won 13 Grammy Awards
To help keep his voice clear, Michael would normally put 2 Ricola drops in a cup
of hot water and drink this
1984: Michael received two stars on Hollywood's Walk of Fame
the "Official Michael Jackson 1985 Calendar" was a huge seller but did not
contain an acknowledgment of any holidays, because Jehovah's Witnesses,
Jackson's religion at the time, do not celebrate holidays
When touring, Michael loses about 10 pounds of water weight during his
performances
Jackson told an interviewer his famous moonwalk performance was a lastminute production and that he learned his trademark move from three street kids
Bibliography
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„Michael Jackson“
URL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Jackson#Personal_life
(visited on Jan 15, 2006)
„Michael Jackson Homepage“
URL: http://www.mjackson.de/mjfakten/index.htm
(visited on Dez 21, 2005)
URL: http://www.allmichaeljackson.com
URL: http://www.eonline.com/On/Holly/Shows/Jackson/Facts/index.html
URL: http://www.mjfanclub.net/history/key_facts_2.html
URL: http://www.michaeljackson.com
(all visited on Jan 15, 2005)