Hazel, Al Green, David Gest

MickyDolenz said:

Wow, never knew she was married to Spencer Haywood. He just was named a finalist to the Basketball Hall of Fame this past weekend.

I LOVE his singing voice, but not so much his songs.

And naming your son Jermasgesty...

This here may cause some controversy...

Clive Davis Confirms: Michael Jackson Plotted to End Brother Jermaine’s Career

In his wonderfully juicy new book, “Soundtrack of My Life,” Clive Davis — “the Man with the 45 RPM Ears” –confirms what has always been out there: Michael Jackson purposely tried to kill off brother Jermaine’s career. In the mid 80s, Davis signed Jermaine Jackson and had a couple of hits that still stand up: “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming.” Michael didn’t like this.

When Clive hired Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid in the late 1980s to produce Jermaine’s fourth album at Arista Records, Michael had enough, Davis says. The King of Pop tied up Babyface for his own projects, ripping him away from Jermaine. Clive writes: “Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way.”At a dinner in Paris, Clive recalls, Jermaine was “crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him.”

The older brother was so angry that he wrote his infamous song, “Word to the Badd,” which denounced Michael as shallow and selfish. Michael responded by calling Davis and demanding he take the song off of Jermaine’s new album.

Read this about Jermaine’s unpublished book about Michael from 2003: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/0...ished-book

Davis was between a rock and a hard place, as they say. Jermaine leaked the track so the world could hear his bitterness. Clive “I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off an album. This was a family and personal matter that they would need to resolve themselves.”

Eventually a watered down version of the song was officially released. Davis’s story lines up with the one told by Michael’s longtime pr man, the late Bob Jones, in his book with Stacy Brown.

I’m sorry: this is the petty side of Michael Jackson that his fans don’t like to hear about. But now we have the same story from two people who never knew each other–Bob Jones, and Clive Davis. Bob Jones wrote that Michael systematically destroyed the careers of Rebbe and Jermaine, and even LaToya, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Janet.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/19/clive-davis-confirms-michael-jackson-plotted-to-end-brother-jermaines-career

^^Years ago Terence Trent D'Arby gave an interview in which he implied that Mike or his people had spoken to CBS Records (now Sony) about not promoting his records after his debut album Hardline According To became a hit.

Jermaine was so adorable then aw, but who in their right mind would cheat on Hazel Gordy? Gosh!

I've heard that too about michael, jermaine and terence before, too bad cause I love those artists.

NaughtyKitty said:

This here may cause some controversy...

Clive Davis Confirms: Michael Jackson Plotted to End Brother Jermaine’s Career

In his wonderfully juicy new book, “Soundtrack of My Life,” Clive Davis — “the Man with the 45 RPM Ears” –confirms what has always been out there: Michael Jackson purposely tried to kill off brother Jermaine’s career. In the mid 80s, Davis signed Jermaine Jackson and had a couple of hits that still stand up: “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming.” Michael didn’t like this.

When Clive hired Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid in the late 1980s to produce Jermaine’s fourth album at Arista Records, Michael had enough, Davis says. The King of Pop tied up Babyface for his own projects, ripping him away from Jermaine. Clive writes: “Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way.”At a dinner in Paris, Clive recalls, Jermaine was “crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him.”

The older brother was so angry that he wrote his infamous song, “Word to the Badd,” which denounced Michael as shallow and selfish. Michael responded by calling Davis and demanding he take the song off of Jermaine’s new album.

Read this about Jermaine’s unpublished book about Michael from 2003: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/0...ished-book

Davis was between a rock and a hard place, as they say. Jermaine leaked the track so the world could hear his bitterness. Clive “I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off an album. This was a family and personal matter that they would need to resolve themselves.”

Eventually a watered down version of the song was officially released. Davis’s story lines up with the one told by Michael’s longtime pr man, the late Bob Jones, in his book with Stacy Brown.

I’m sorry: this is the petty side of Michael Jackson that his fans don’t like to hear about. But now we have the same story from two people who never knew each other–Bob Jones, and Clive Davis. Bob Jones wrote that Michael systematically destroyed the careers of Rebbe and Jermaine, and even LaToya, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Janet.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/19/clive-davis-confirms-michael-jackson-plotted-to-end-brother-jermaines-career

this is not new news. jermaine's baby mama, margaret maldonado, talked about this entire episode in her tell all, published in the mid 90s.

i find it funny that friedman would accuse mj of not liking the success of 'tell me i'm not dreaming'. after all, mj sang on the damn song! he tried to help rebbie. the only reason most people remember her is b/c of "centipede". it's not mj's fault that her career didn't take off after that. la toya is an untalented p.o.s. mj tried to give her a leg up by putting her in his videos, but you can't create something from nothing. as for janet, she proves the point that mj could do little to stop anyone who wanted a career and was willing to work for it. but who in their right mind, except friedman, would give two shits about what bob jones had to say, the same man who couldn't get his story straight on the stand at mj's trial.

what i don't understand is this: clive davis had and has more clout in this industry than mj, even at the height of his success, ever did. davis was the head of a record label, and had a track record of making careers. if he hired babyface, why did he stand back and allow him to leave to go work w/mj? he could have made a couple of phone calls to sony and mj's little misadventure of "stealing" babyface would have been shut down. the man who made whitney houston's career could have made mj sorry for fucking up his business w/jermaine, if he had wanted to. i just don't think he wanted to, and this "family matter" gave him the perfect excuse to let jermaine twist in the wind. by the early 90s, jermaine hadn't had a real hit in a while and i just don't believe that if davis were really invested in promoting jermaine that he would have allowed babyface and mj to screw *him* over like that, let alone jermaine.

moreover, why does babyface get let off the hook in all this? if he promised to work with jermaine, then threw him over once mj came a calling, why would jermaine just sit there crying like a little bitch? get a new producer, flip mj and babyface the bird, and keep it moving. surely, jermaine's entire career did not hinge on whether he worked with babyface, did it? was mj going to stop him from working with *everybody*? highly unlikely. the difference between mj and jermaine was not only in the talent, but in the initiative and drive. lots of people tried to stop mj in his tracks; he kept it moving to the very end, even when he wasn't sure he could make it.

finally, jermaine sabotaged his own career. as margaret also points out in her book, jermaine insisted on releasing "word to the baad", and mj told jermaine to his face that if he did jermaine was only hurting himself. and so it did. the song only reinforced the public's perception that jermaine was a vicious, jealous little creep, and that image of him has lingered to this day.

kibbles said:

NaughtyKitty said:

This here may cause some controversy...

Clive Davis Confirms: Michael Jackson Plotted to End Brother Jermaine’s Career

In his wonderfully juicy new book, “Soundtrack of My Life,” Clive Davis — “the Man with the 45 RPM Ears” –confirms what has always been out there: Michael Jackson purposely tried to kill off brother Jermaine’s career. In the mid 80s, Davis signed Jermaine Jackson and had a couple of hits that still stand up: “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming.” Michael didn’t like this.

When Clive hired Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid in the late 1980s to produce Jermaine’s fourth album at Arista Records, Michael had enough, Davis says. The King of Pop tied up Babyface for his own projects, ripping him away from Jermaine. Clive writes: “Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way.”At a dinner in Paris, Clive recalls, Jermaine was “crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him.”

The older brother was so angry that he wrote his infamous song, “Word to the Badd,” which denounced Michael as shallow and selfish. Michael responded by calling Davis and demanding he take the song off of Jermaine’s new album.

Read this about Jermaine’s unpublished book about Michael from 2003: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/0...ished-book

Davis was between a rock and a hard place, as they say. Jermaine leaked the track so the world could hear his bitterness. Clive “I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off an album. This was a family and personal matter that they would need to resolve themselves.”

Eventually a watered down version of the song was officially released. Davis’s story lines up with the one told by Michael’s longtime pr man, the late Bob Jones, in his book with Stacy Brown.

I’m sorry: this is the petty side of Michael Jackson that his fans don’t like to hear about. But now we have the same story from two people who never knew each other–Bob Jones, and Clive Davis. Bob Jones wrote that Michael systematically destroyed the careers of Rebbe and Jermaine, and even LaToya, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Janet.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/19/clive-davis-confirms-michael-jackson-plotted-to-end-brother-jermaines-career

this is not new news. jermaine's baby mama, margaret maldonado, talked about this entire episode in her tell all, published in the mid 90s.

i find it funny that friedman would accuse mj of not liking the success of 'tell me i'm not dreaming'. after all, mj sang on the damn song! he tried to help rebbie. the only reason most people remember her is b/c of "centipede". it's not mj's fault that her career didn't take off after that. la toya is an untalented p.o.s. mj tried to give her a leg up by putting her in his videos, but you can't create something from nothing. as for janet, she proves the point that mj could do little to stop anyone who wanted a career and was willing to work for it. but who in their right mind, except friedman, would give two shits about what bob jones had to say, the same man who couldn't get his story straight on the stand at mj's trial.

what i don't understand is this: clive davis had and has more clout in this industry than mj, even at the height of his success, ever did. davis was the head of a record label, and had a track record of making careers. if he hired babyface, why did he stand back and allow him to leave to go work w/mj? he could have made a couple of phone calls to sony and mj's little misadventure of "stealing" babyface would have been shut down. the man who made whitney houston's career could have made mj sorry for fucking up his business w/jermaine, if he had wanted to. i just don't think he wanted to, and this "family matter" gave him the perfect excuse to let jermaine twist in the wind. by the early 90s, jermaine hadn't had a real hit in a while and i just don't believe that if davis were really invested in promoting jermaine that he would have allowed babyface and mj to screw *him* over like that, let alone jermaine.

moreover, why does babyface get let off the hook in all this? if he promised to work with jermaine, then threw him over once mj came a calling, why would jermaine just sit there crying like a little bitch? get a new producer, flip mj and babyface the bird, and keep it moving. surely, jermaine's entire career did not hinge on whether he worked with babyface, did it? was mj going to stop him from working with *everybody*? highly unlikely. the difference between mj and jermaine was not only in the talent, but in the initiative and drive. lots of people tried to stop mj in his tracks; he kept it moving to the very end, even when he wasn't sure he could make it.

finally, jermaine sabotaged his own career. as margaret also points out in her book, jermaine insisted on releasing "word to the baad", and mj told jermaine to his face that if he did jermaine was only hurting himself. and so it did. the song only reinforced the public's perception that jermaine was a vicious, jealous little creep, and that image of him has lingered to this day.

Yep, I remember reading about this incident in Margaret's book too. Lol @ Latoya the untalented p.o.s I agree that Jermaine didnt have the initiative and drive that Michael had. I think he is quite talented, but he just doesnt seem to have the ambition, drive and work ethic that Michael had. Which isnt necessarily a crime but...he would've had more success if he would have applied himself and developed the focus, determination and discipline it takes to sustain success in the music biz.

NaughtyKitty said:

Yep, I remember reading about this incident in Margaret's book too. Lol @ Latoya the untalented p.o.s I agree that Jermaine didnt have the initiative and drive that Michael had. I think he is quite talented, but he just doesnt seem to have the ambition, drive and work ethic that Michael had. Which isnt necessarily a crime but...he would've had more success if he would have applied himself and developed the focus, determination and discipline it takes to sustain success in the music biz.

exactly. as i said, he could have found someone else to produce him, and kept it moving.

i went to friedman's link and most of the posters are pointing the same thing i did: neither babyface nor mj could have kept jermaine from something that was truly his.

Come on, who didn't want to work with LaFace then?

NaughtyKitty said:

This here may cause some controversy...

Clive Davis Confirms: Michael Jackson Plotted to End Brother Jermaine’s Career

In his wonderfully juicy new book, “Soundtrack of My Life,” Clive Davis — “the Man with the 45 RPM Ears” –confirms what has always been out there: Michael Jackson purposely tried to kill off brother Jermaine’s career. In the mid 80s, Davis signed Jermaine Jackson and had a couple of hits that still stand up: “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming.” Michael didn’t like this.

When Clive hired Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid in the late 1980s to produce Jermaine’s fourth album at Arista Records, Michael had enough, Davis says. The King of Pop tied up Babyface for his own projects, ripping him away from Jermaine. Clive writes: “Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way.”At a dinner in Paris, Clive recalls, Jermaine was “crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him.”

The older brother was so angry that he wrote his infamous song, “Word to the Badd,” which denounced Michael as shallow and selfish. Michael responded by calling Davis and demanding he take the song off of Jermaine’s new album.

Read this about Jermaine’s unpublished book about Michael from 2003: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/0...ished-book

Davis was between a rock and a hard place, as they say. Jermaine leaked the track so the world could hear his bitterness. Clive “I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off an album. This was a family and personal matter that they would need to resolve themselves.”

Eventually a watered down version of the song was officially released. Davis’s story lines up with the one told by Michael’s longtime pr man, the late Bob Jones, in his book with Stacy Brown.

I’m sorry: this is the petty side of Michael Jackson that his fans don’t like to hear about. But now we have the same story from two people who never knew each other–Bob Jones, and Clive Davis. Bob Jones wrote that Michael systematically destroyed the careers of Rebbe and Jermaine, and even LaToya, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Janet.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/19/clive-davis-confirms-michael-jackson-plotted-to-end-brother-jermaines-career

Damn.

Herbie Hancock

Ashanti, Abdulrazaq Garba, Laila Ali

NaughtyKitty said:

This here may cause some controversy...

Clive Davis Confirms: Michael Jackson Plotted to End Brother Jermaine’s Career

In his wonderfully juicy new book, “Soundtrack of My Life,” Clive Davis — “the Man with the 45 RPM Ears” –confirms what has always been out there: Michael Jackson purposely tried to kill off brother Jermaine’s career. In the mid 80s, Davis signed Jermaine Jackson and had a couple of hits that still stand up: “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming.” Michael didn’t like this.

When Clive hired Kenny “Babyface” Edmonds and LA Reid in the late 1980s to produce Jermaine’s fourth album at Arista Records, Michael had enough, Davis says. The King of Pop tied up Babyface for his own projects, ripping him away from Jermaine. Clive writes: “Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way.”At a dinner in Paris, Clive recalls, Jermaine was “crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him.”

The older brother was so angry that he wrote his infamous song, “Word to the Badd,” which denounced Michael as shallow and selfish. Michael responded by calling Davis and demanding he take the song off of Jermaine’s new album.

Read this about Jermaine’s unpublished book about Michael from 2003: http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/0...ished-book

Davis was between a rock and a hard place, as they say. Jermaine leaked the track so the world could hear his bitterness. Clive “I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off an album. This was a family and personal matter that they would need to resolve themselves.”

Eventually a watered down version of the song was officially released. Davis’s story lines up with the one told by Michael’s longtime pr man, the late Bob Jones, in his book with Stacy Brown.

I’m sorry: this is the petty side of Michael Jackson that his fans don’t like to hear about. But now we have the same story from two people who never knew each other–Bob Jones, and Clive Davis. Bob Jones wrote that Michael systematically destroyed the careers of Rebbe and Jermaine, and even LaToya, but wasn’t fast enough to stop Janet.

http://www.showbiz411.com/2013/02/19/clive-davis-confirms-michael-jackson-plotted-to-end-brother-jermaines-career

I always wondered why Jermaine didn't follow up “Do What You Do” and “Tell Me I’m Not Dreaming” with similar songs... I really liked these songs and thoght Jermaine's career was going to take off. It's a shame if it is true that MJ had a hand in hijacking his career, but it is a;so true that Jermaine could have pursued other avenues to keep the ball rolling if he had felt so inclined...

this is a prime example of why i would take what clive davis has to say about the mj/jermaine situation with a grain of salt:

http://www.whosay.com/kel...de=GLO5cY7

from kelly clarkson:

So I just heard Clive Davis is releasing a memoir and spreading false information about me and my music. I refuse to be bullied and I just have to clear up his memory lapses and misinformation for myself and for my fans. It feels like a violation. Growing up is awesome because you learn you don't have to cower to anyone - even Clive Davis. ... cried after I played him a song I had written about my life called "Because Of You." I cried because he hated it and told me verbatim that I was a "sh*tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me." He continued on about how the song didn't rhyme and how I should just shut up and sing. This was devastating coming from a man who I, as a young girl, considered a musical hero and was so honored to work with. But I continued to fight for the song and the label relented. And it became a worldwide hit. He didn't include that in the book.

clive davis is no pushover. he's a straight up mean bastard who will say what's on his mind and handle his business. he could have shut mj down if he had wanted to, and made babyface come work with jermaine or lose the producing fees that he no doubt fronted. besides, babyface eventually DID come to work with jermaine; how'd that work out? not great, and you can't blame that on mj. clive was responsible for the promotion of the resulting babyface-produced CD. he let jermaine shoot himself in the foot with "word to the badd", and then he had the perfect excuse to release him from his contract.

kibbles said:

this is a prime example of why i would take what clive davis has to say about the mj/jermaine situation with a grain of salt:

http://www.whosay.com/kel...de=GLO5cY7

from kelly clarkson:

So I just heard Clive Davis is releasing a memoir and spreading false information about me and my music. I refuse to be bullied and I just have to clear up his memory lapses and misinformation for myself and for my fans. It feels like a violation. Growing up is awesome because you learn you don't have to cower to anyone - even Clive Davis. ... cried after I played him a song I had written about my life called "Because Of You." I cried because he hated it and told me verbatim that I was a "sh*tty writer who should be grateful for the gifts that he bestows upon me." He continued on about how the song didn't rhyme and how I should just shut up and sing. This was devastating coming from a man who I, as a young girl, considered a musical hero and was so honored to work with. But I continued to fight for the song and the label relented. And it became a worldwide hit. He didn't include that in the book.

clive davis is no pushover. he's a straight up mean bastard who will say what's on his mind and handle his business. he could have shut mj down if he had wanted to, and made babyface come work with jermaine or lose the producing fees that he no doubt fronted. besides, babyface eventually DID come to work with jermaine; how'd that work out? not great, and you can't blame that on mj. clive was responsible for the promotion of the resulting babyface-produced CD. he let jermaine shoot himself in the foot with "word to the badd", and then he had the perfect excuse to release him from his contract.

Interesting to hear the point of view of a younger artist who has had to deal with Clive...

Marie Osmond

Madonna & Randy

MickyDolenz said:

The Osmonds sure had some big teeth...

Roger twisted the story in his own little way. Here's the full quote from the book

Full quote from Clive Davis book about Michael and Jermaine -

I had signed Jermaine Jackson to Arista and, like L.A. and Babyface, he had also worked with Whitney Houston. We had some success with his three albums for the label, but as we were getting started on his fourth, I thought he might be an ideal fit for LaFace. As Michael Jackson’s older brother, Jermaine was now in his late thirties and, beginning with the Jackson 5, had been making records for more than two decades. I thought that working with L.A. and Babyface would give him a new sound, expose him to a younger audience, and bring him success on the scale that he so badly wanted. Jermaine loved the idea, and L.A. and Babyface, who had grown up with the family mystique of the Jacksons, were excited as well. It seemed like a well-made match.

As the three of them began working on Jermaine’s first album for LaFace, which would be titled You Said, Jermaine was startled to learn that his brother Michael had approached L.A. and Babyface and offered them very substantial amounts of money to work on songs for his new album, and surprisingly they had agreed to do it. Everything they wrote during this immediate, well-defined period of a couple of weeks would be for Michael to use. Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way. The tensions that existed within the Jackson family are no longer a mystery to anyone, and the sibling rivalry between Michael and Jermaine was certainly one element of them. Jermaine spent his professional life very much in his younger brother’s shadow, and, as brothers will, he saw himself as every bit Michael’s equal in terms of talent. That was not the case, of course. Really, it’s hard to think of any artist who could be compared to Michael Jackson, but Jermaine could not accept that. Consequently, he regarded Michael’s hiring L.A. and Babyface as a profound betrayal, and he was shaken to his core.

I had dinner with Jermaine in Paris around this time, and he was totally disconsolate throughout the entire meal. He was crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him. Unfortunately, that hurt turned to anger, and Jermaine recorded a song called “Word to the Badd” that was a bitter excoriation of Michael. It was leaked to radio and instantly created a sensation. In the song, Jermaine vilified Michael for lightening his skin; for being “a child,” not “a man”; and for “takin’ my pie,” a seeming reference to the situation with L.A. and Babyface. The tabloid media covered the song intensely. Jermaine was accused of leaking the song himself to piggyback on the media attention Michael was getting for his album Dangerous, which had come out not long before, and to call attention to his own album You Said. I have no idea if Jermaine did that or not, but the publicity backfired. He came off as petty and desperate. Of course, no one knew about the dramatic situation that had triggered his anger and generated the song in the first place.

“Word to the Badd” was set to go on You Said, and there wasn’t much I could do about that, even after Michael Jackson personally called me to complain. Michael and I had always been on good terms. We would often run into each other during the glory years of Studio 54. Both of us would be taking all of it in, and he always felt comfortable being next to me. He was a huge early fan of Whitney’s, and loved her music. In later years I would regularly invite him to my pre-Grammy party. He never ended up coming; his legal problems had already started, and I’m sure his lawyers advised him that it would not be a good idea while litigation was ongoing. But in the week before the show, he would call me every day and insist that he would be there. His security and publicity people would visit the venue, and he would want to know what table he’d be seated at and with whom he’d be sitting. He’d also want to know who would be performing. I never reveal that in advance, but in his case I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone. When the O’Jays were going to be there, he was so enthusiastic: “They’ve got to play ‘Back Stabbers’!” he declaimed. “Tell them I insist they perform ‘Back Stabbers’!” We would take turns singing songs together on the phone as we talked about the various artists who would be performing and his favorite hits of theirs.

It was in this spirit that Michael called me to pull “Word to the Badd” off Jermaine’s forthcoming album. He said, “I know you have respect for me, and I have respect for you. How could you let my brother do this? I don’t want you to release that record.” I told him, “Look, Michael, Jermaine is an artist on a label in which I have an interest. I do have great respect for you, but this really is a problem between the two of you. You’ve got to deal with him directly.” As uncomfortable as I was with what Jermaine had done, I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off his album. This was a family and personal matter that they needed to resolve themselves. Michael said that Jermaine was avoiding him and he couldn’t find him anywhere. I told him, “He’s just gotten to your parents’ house. I spoke to him ten minutes ago.” A few hours later, Jermaine called me. “You’ll never guess what happened,” he said. “I’m at my parents’ house, and Michael went around to the back, climbed up and went through a window, and came down the stairs and confronted me with the problem. We really had it out.” Jermaine stuck to his guns and kept the song out there, but eventually he and Michael came to some sort of understanding. Jermaine softened the lyrics to the song and changed its focus. It stayed on You Said, but much of the sting had been taken out of it. Still, even recast as a lovers’ quarrel, the song says a great deal about the hurt Jermaine felt about what Michael had done: “You never think about who you love / You only think about number one / You forgot about where we started from / You only think about what you want / You don’t care about how it’s done.” Ultimately, the album didn’t make much impact, so the song is most interesting for the personal story it tells.

Jermaine signed with Arista in 1984. Dynamite and Do What You Do were the only songs that reached the top 20 on the Hot 100. He had better success on the R&B chart where he got 4 top 20 singles

bboy87 said:

Roger twisted the story in his own little way. Here's the full quote from the book

Full quote from Clive Davis book about Michael and Jermaine -

I had signed Jermaine Jackson to Arista and, like L.A. and Babyface, he had also worked with Whitney Houston. We had some success with his three albums for the label, but as we were getting started on his fourth, I thought he might be an ideal fit for LaFace. As Michael Jackson’s older brother, Jermaine was now in his late thirties and, beginning with the Jackson 5, had been making records for more than two decades. I thought that working with L.A. and Babyface would give him a new sound, expose him to a younger audience, and bring him success on the scale that he so badly wanted. Jermaine loved the idea, and L.A. and Babyface, who had grown up with the family mystique of the Jacksons, were excited as well. It seemed like a well-made match.

As the three of them began working on Jermaine’s first album for LaFace, which would be titled You Said, Jermaine was startled to learn that his brother Michael had approached L.A. and Babyface and offered them very substantial amounts of money to work on songs for his new album, and surprisingly they had agreed to do it. Everything they wrote during this immediate, well-defined period of a couple of weeks would be for Michael to use. Jermaine couldn’t believe that Michael, his close brother, would hijack his producers’ material this way. The tensions that existed within the Jackson family are no longer a mystery to anyone, and the sibling rivalry between Michael and Jermaine was certainly one element of them. Jermaine spent his professional life very much in his younger brother’s shadow, and, as brothers will, he saw himself as every bit Michael’s equal in terms of talent. That was not the case, of course. Really, it’s hard to think of any artist who could be compared to Michael Jackson, but Jermaine could not accept that. Consequently, he regarded Michael’s hiring L.A. and Babyface as a profound betrayal, and he was shaken to his core.

I had dinner with Jermaine in Paris around this time, and he was totally disconsolate throughout the entire meal. He was crying, indeed sobbing at times, so deeply hurt that his brother would do this to him. Unfortunately, that hurt turned to anger, and Jermaine recorded a song called “Word to the Badd” that was a bitter excoriation of Michael. It was leaked to radio and instantly created a sensation. In the song, Jermaine vilified Michael for lightening his skin; for being “a child,” not “a man”; and for “takin’ my pie,” a seeming reference to the situation with L.A. and Babyface. The tabloid media covered the song intensely. Jermaine was accused of leaking the song himself to piggyback on the media attention Michael was getting for his album Dangerous, which had come out not long before, and to call attention to his own album You Said. I have no idea if Jermaine did that or not, but the publicity backfired. He came off as petty and desperate. Of course, no one knew about the dramatic situation that had triggered his anger and generated the song in the first place.

“Word to the Badd” was set to go on You Said, and there wasn’t much I could do about that, even after Michael Jackson personally called me to complain. Michael and I had always been on good terms. We would often run into each other during the glory years of Studio 54. Both of us would be taking all of it in, and he always felt comfortable being next to me. He was a huge early fan of Whitney’s, and loved her music. In later years I would regularly invite him to my pre-Grammy party. He never ended up coming; his legal problems had already started, and I’m sure his lawyers advised him that it would not be a good idea while litigation was ongoing. But in the week before the show, he would call me every day and insist that he would be there. His security and publicity people would visit the venue, and he would want to know what table he’d be seated at and with whom he’d be sitting. He’d also want to know who would be performing. I never reveal that in advance, but in his case I knew he wouldn’t tell anyone. When the O’Jays were going to be there, he was so enthusiastic: “They’ve got to play ‘Back Stabbers’!” he declaimed. “Tell them I insist they perform ‘Back Stabbers’!” We would take turns singing songs together on the phone as we talked about the various artists who would be performing and his favorite hits of theirs.

It was in this spirit that Michael called me to pull “Word to the Badd” off Jermaine’s forthcoming album. He said, “I know you have respect for me, and I have respect for you. How could you let my brother do this? I don’t want you to release that record.” I told him, “Look, Michael, Jermaine is an artist on a label in which I have an interest. I do have great respect for you, but this really is a problem between the two of you. You’ve got to deal with him directly.” As uncomfortable as I was with what Jermaine had done, I felt it would be wrong for me to tell an artist to take a song off his album. This was a family and personal matter that they needed to resolve themselves. Michael said that Jermaine was avoiding him and he couldn’t find him anywhere. I told him, “He’s just gotten to your parents’ house. I spoke to him ten minutes ago.” A few hours later, Jermaine called me. “You’ll never guess what happened,” he said. “I’m at my parents’ house, and Michael went around to the back, climbed up and went through a window, and came down the stairs and confronted me with the problem. We really had it out.” Jermaine stuck to his guns and kept the song out there, but eventually he and Michael came to some sort of understanding. Jermaine softened the lyrics to the song and changed its focus. It stayed on You Said, but much of the sting had been taken out of it. Still, even recast as a lovers’ quarrel, the song says a great deal about the hurt Jermaine felt about what Michael had done: “You never think about who you love / You only think about number one / You forgot about where we started from / You only think about what you want / You don’t care about how it’s done.” Ultimately, the album didn’t make much impact, so the song is most interesting for the personal story it tells.

Jermaine signed with Arista in 1984. Dynamite and Do What You Do were the only songs that reached the top 20 on the Hot 100. He had better success on the R&B chart where he got 4 top 20 singles

it find it interesting (assuming all this is true):

one, mj should not have not asked face and l.a. reid to work with him. he could have let jermaine have his moment.

two, face and l.a. reid could have had more integrity and not bailed on jermaine when mj approached them. as a matter of fact, jermaine shouldn't have wanted to work with them after this.

three, clive's whole timeline is fucked. mj's legal problems began *after* the "word to the badd" episode.

four, according to kelly clarkson, clive davis has no problem whatsoever telling an artist where to 'get off' when it comes to putting songs on and taking them off albums. he's really the one who sabotaged the project by allowing jermaine to allow his anger to get the better of him. if he really had "an interest" in jermaine, there is no way clive davis would have allowed jermaine to shoot off his own foot. no way.