'Michael' - love it, hate it, or just don't care?

This wasn't the post I intended to write today, but I can't help myself. One with lots from the good old Memory Box in my head.

---

Just a reminder that instead of reading you can also listen to my own voiceover if you hit ‘play’. And apologies upfront for any typos below - it’s rare that I write, edit, and record a post from scratch in a single day. But today was the day. Enjoy!

---

We went to see ‘Michael’ at our local mini multi-plex yesterday afternoon. If you’ve been living under a rock, perhaps you may have missed this movie being hailed as the ‘controversial’ hit of the year. It’s been panned, actually probably better described as annihilated, by the critics mostly for failing to address the abuse allegations. But it’s been welcomed with open arms by the public who have helped it break records. On it’s opening weekend it took somewhere around $217 million globally, making it the biggest ever opening (by a long way) for a music biopic.

I enjoyed his music back in the day - I was a teenager in the 80’s after all and Thriller came out the year I turned sixteen. You can just imagine all the memories associated with those iconic songs.

I wasn’t a super fan by any means. But I wanted to see the movie and it’s one of the few in recent years that I felt was worth the price of a ticket to see it on the big screen and get the full music experience.

Spoiler alert - my only major criticism yesterday was leveled against our multi-plex operator in that they should have turned the damn sound up a few decibels to make it more immersive and allow for the fact that all the old gits in there (like us) were probably a touch deaf! It was a Monday at 4.30pm so who else had time to go and see a movie other than us more ‘seasoned’ souls?

Picture: IMDB/Lionsgate Pictures

The movie itself didn’t disappoint - I won’t write too much about it’s content and spoil it for others who still want to go and see it. The acting was spot on. Jaafar Jackson did a phenomenal job as Michael, as does Juliano Valdi who plays ‘Young Michael’, and Colman Domingo is nasty as hell as his ogre-like father. It’s well directed and beautifully shot.

There are gentle hints in there that at his drug-related issues originated from treatment required after the awful Pepsi incident, where his hair caught fire while filming an advert. And they quietly let you know that he donated all the money he received in compensation to the hospital burns unit where he was treated.

Oh, and then there’s Bubbles - remember him? A technological creation in this instance, but one that won’t fail to make you smile and laugh. Unless you don’t have a heart that is! And you can’t miss the giraffe that wanders past the window of the house in one scene.

As I sat there in the darkness yesterday, relishing the music in all it’s various forms, I felt that the entire movie had a ‘neverland’ quality to it. I want to say ethereal, but I’m not sure that’s right. Though it’s the word that came into my head at the time.

It wasn’t just the repeated references to the Neverland and Peter Pan of J.M. Barrie fame, but the whole thing felt unreal somehow. They paint Michael as one of the lost boys, or more likely Peter Pan himself - a child, in a mans body, who was never given the opportunity to truly grow up.

Even when you were watching, what you knew to have been a real event, it felt as if it were fictionalized. You had to remind yourself that you lived through those same years. You saw a lot of these stories play out on the TV and in the press. You too fell in love with the Thriller video. Or Beat It. Or Billy Jean. You remember that sparkly glove. And of course, the moon walk.

The facial metamorphosis of Jaafar Jackson from Michael as a late (more natural) teenager to (a surgically ‘enhanced’ or ‘adulterated’ depending on your point of view) adult was phenomenal. At one point in the movie I cried and I mean really cried. Michael and his brothers were performing ‘Human Nature’. A song I’d forgotten that I loved. But it wasn’t that. Staring at that big screen it was almost impossible to comprehend the fact that you were watching Jaafar Jackson and not the real Michael. He had become Michael.

As I said back at the beginning I was a fan. Not the biggest. Though I have to admit I had one of those tight 80’s home perms applied regularly to my naturally dark and usually only wavy mid-length hair. But I loved both Thriller and Off the Wall. I played those LP’s over and over again. I bought the later albums, but I never connected with them the same way. Seeing the film, which focused so much on the time period when I was a teenager and Michael was celebrating his success with those two albums, brought back SO many memories.

I remember walking into our local W.H.Smiths in Watford. The (back) entrance, leading directly into the record department, was buried in the concrete monolith of a shopping centre known as Charter Place. You had to go up five or six steps and through glass swing doors to get in. Just in front of Watford Market. It was always dark, dank, and gloomy in that shopping centre, whatever the weather.

Right in front of that entrance was a shoe repair kiosk. I seemed to be there every week getting new heels on my school shoes - it was a long walk from the station to school each day. I usually added blakeys - anyone else remember those little kidney shaped metal bits that they could nail into your heels to make them wear down slower, but you’d clack along like some sort of escaped tap dancer?

Picture: Watford Observer: Memories of Charter Place

I had a Saturday job from the time I was sixteen at C&A - just a few doors away from W.H.Smiths. I would pop over there during my lunch break. And I did almost every week. I can still see myself walking up to the rack, flicking through the records, and pulling out Off the Wall. Then turning left and going up to the desk to pay. The cash in my hot, sticky hand.

But if you’ve put two and two together you’ll already realize that didn’t happen in 1979 when that particular album was released. That year I would have been just twelve still fairly oblivious to pop music unless it was Tiger Feet by Mud - if you need a refresher (I’d suggest for your sanity not to do it!) then go check it out on YouTube. I can only promise that it’s less annoying than Baby Shark!

The first single that I remember buying myself, actually I may have talked my unsuspecting Dad into buying it, was the theme from the movie Fame by Irene Cara. It was 1980. I was thirteen. And my mother was mortified that I wanted to ‘waste’ my money on pop music. I stirred the proverbial pot by also throwing into the argument mix that I wanted to give up playing the violin at school too. Yep, it didn’t go down well. To put it very mildly. I think I was banned from buying more music for what seemed like forever, though it was probably just a few weeks. I’m sure Mum will correct me!

I think I bought Thriller fairly soon after it came out in December 1983. Oddly I don’t have the same clear memory of that purchase, though I’m sure it was in the same shop. I have a feeling that the first time I went to buy it they’d sold out and I had to come back again the following week. But once I got it I loved it and when I found out that there was another earlier album that I’d missed, i.e. Off the Wall, then I was straight out to buy that too. Probably in early 1984 on another Saturday lunchtime. At least I got there in the end.

I went to see Michael Jackson in concert just once. It brought back yet more memories as it happens to be right where the movie finishes, with Michael strutting across the stage playing the title track from the Bad album.

In the movie they list the location as ‘London, 1988’. But I know that it was Wembley Stadium. It was summer - from my memory it was August rather than the dates he also played in July. And I was there. Along with 100,000 people.

How do I know it was August? Well, that was a full on summer when it came to music. I’d been to see Prince on his Lovesexy tour - playing in the round - in the much, much, much smaller Wembley Arena. I’d seen him not once, but twice, at the end of July / beginning of August. I was a fan, but again not a mega fan. But I have to say Prince was special. An amazing showman, though he did have the advantage of a venue a tenth of the size of the stadium. Having been once I rushed to get tickets to go again a few days later. Can you even imagine being able to do that now in our mad ‘Ticketmaster’ world?!

When we went to see Michael Jackson we got to Wembley Stadium as soon as the doors open. We didn’t run, but there was some speed walking involved, to make our way down the pitch to get as close to the stage as we could. We sat down. Parked for the duration. Waiting hours for the show to begin. Only one person was allowed to go to the bathroom at any one time, while the other spread out, so that we didn’t lose our spot!

Finally he exploded on to the stage. It felt like the entire stadium screamed. The noise was incredible. And the crowd SURGED forwards…

I was lifted clean off my feet. I couldn’t breath in the crush. I almost fell. The crowd moved like a single wave and I was tossed around like a bottle floating in the sea. So close to losing my balance. How can you balance when your feet aren’t even on the ground? I’ve never been so scared in all my life - before or since. It seemed to go on forever, though it was likely a matter of seconds not minutes.

As the crush eased, just slightly, I could get my feet back on the floor. I immediately started to slide sideways. Desperate not to repeat the experience. I just wanted to get out of there. I kept pushing until I was out of the side of the crowd. And there I stayed for the rest of the concert.

In the movie they show girls being pulled by security guys from the front of the crush. Though it wasn’t me (thank goodness) I can definitely say that was real.

I don’t remember anything more about that evening. Nothing. Was Michael a great showman like Prince or even Freddie Mercury / Queen who I had also seen at Wembley Stadium two years earlier? I’ve always said ‘no’. But if I’m honest I have to say that I simple don’t know.

I would go to many more concerts, particularly in the decade after that trip to Wembley. But I never went (or wanted) to see Michael Jackson again.

Make up your own mind about ‘Michael’ the movie. I know it’s not everyone’s cup of proverbial tea. Take it entirely as a work of fiction if you prefer. Personally, I’m looking forward to seeing it again. At home this time. Where we can turn up the sound as loud as we like, dance to our hearts content (don’t worry the neighbours can’t see us), sing along while likely getting the lyrics all wrong, and probably do a little more damage to our already dodgy hearing!

But now I’m off to listen to my Spotify playlist of liked songs - I wonder what’s all over it this week?!

Have you seen ‘Michael’? I’d love to hear what you thought of it? What are your memories of concerts in the 80’s?

---

Thank you for reading or listening along. If you liked this post then I’d love it if you would click on the heart and add a comment about what resonated for you – it means a lot to me to hear from each and every one of you.

---

In case you missed it, I published my book - Hold My Hand: A Journey Back to Life - for FREE here on Substack last year. If you’d like to read it then you can find each chapter by clicking HERE and you’ll go directly to the webpage dedicated to the book.

If you would also be kind enough to share it I would be eternally grateful as it will help more people learn about these deadly infections. Maybe one day that knowledge will save a life.

Thank you!