Saturday, September 02, 2006

September 2nd

The September 2, 1995 Billboard has "You Are Not Alone" debuting atop the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot 100 charts. For Michael, it's another record. The single was the first to debut at Number One. It was also a needed boost for the HIStory double-CD it promoted.

That hits and new music combination carried expectations as gargantuan as the Michael statue in its $4 million trailer. HIStory's expected December 1993 release was supposed to cap his pre-August accessibility. Michael's Oprah tête-à-tête in February was to launch what a former Sony executive called "Michael's first comeback." Now, there was another disc of tunes that could only pale to his feats of yore. Some songs aimed to vindicate him after a 1994 out-of-court settlement didn't. On "D.S.," Michael genuflects paranoia. There's a thinly veiled (and rhymed) slap for District Attorney Tom Sneddon when he couples C.I.A. with K.K.K. In HIStory's booklet, Michael's self-portait diplays a young boy and a caption's deceptive question: "Before you judge me, try hard to love me, look within your heart and ask, have you seen my childhood?" Who hasn't? More insinuating is the equation of spectacle with empathy. Clever is its exposure of consumerism's complicity. Most shocking was Michael's one-off expletive riff in a chorus for "Scream": "Stop fucking with me!" Sister Janet took middle-finger duty in the video.

The video for "You Are Not Alone" bares flesh. Michael's a cherubic bathing angel. The water laps where pubic hair should show. His wings extend. He romps naked with then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Onstage, he sings glamorously solo with a shirt that seems impossible to button. He's facing backwards to show the empty seats behind him. Of course, Michael's solitude remains metaphoric, as the all-important crowd scenes remind us. There, flashes abound when the paparazzi shoots him with aesthetic savagery. Michael consents despondently. He bows but does not shield his head. The fame he stages here seems routine. Missing is the thrill of zealous fans. In Moonwalk, Michael recalls "near hysterical girls" with a certain glee. Sure, he "can testify that it hurts to be mobbed." But there's also pleasure in "a thousand hands grabbing at you." The man who loves horror movies can make his own reel whenever he plans public attention: "I know the fans mean well and I love them for their enthusiasm and support, but crowd scenes are scary."

A genuinely unnerving scene sister LaToya shares in her autobiography. Michael and mother Katherine were in Alabama to visit his grandmother after Thriller broke. One day, he went driving with Bill Bray, who'd worked security since the Jackson 5 days. Bill went to a gas station restroom while Michael browsed its store. Bill returned to Michael crying and bleeding on the floor. The white attendant was kicking and screaming, "I hate all of you!" Bill stopped the attack and any lawsuit. According to LaToya, when the assailant learned who Michael was, "he threatened to kill Michael. Bill convinced us that this person was mad, that the threat was quite serious and that it was better for everyone to drop the action."

Evan Chandler's assault on September 2, 1993 came before 8 a.m. He was struck on the back of his head walking toward his office building's elevator. He defended himself against cameras rolling with his briefcase. His brother Raymond says he had not heard Evan sob since they were kids. Raymond hung up the phone and drove to Los Angeles. They worried about the death threats and "the media frenzy ... that could very well trigger a real lunatic." Raymond remembers the palpable panic: "Were we being paranoid? No, we decided. Paranoia is unreasonable fear."

At 4 p.m., an ex-Neverland employee called because "Michael has to be stopped." She agreed to meet with Evan and Raymond in an hour in the lobby of Warner Records in Burbank. For over two hours, they exchanged hush tones in a small garden across the street. Any passerby inspired conspicuous chit-chat. She told them to seek out Miko Brando, actor Marlon's son, and Norma Staikos, Michael's chief of staff. She warned, "I don't want to stick my neck out if you're going to give up." Evan and Raymond left high-fiving. "Looking back, I've got to laugh," Raymond admits now. "Too many Charlie Chan movies, I guess." Pop culture intoxicates. Two days later, their lead called again to scream "You sold me out!" Police had questioned her that morning. The rolodex she claimed to have never materialized. Raymond never knew how the cops found her so quickly.

No comments: