There weren't near as many cable channels as there are now. In my area, back then, basic cable was channels 2-13. Now it is channels 2-78. And even with all the additional channels nowadays, there isn't a fraction of good shows on now like there was back then. Television as a whole was much more entertaining back then and with an abundance of good programming like they had back then, they didn't have time to air each little detail of a particular topic over and over and over again like they do now.

That is terrible man, I did not know it was that bad. Horrible.

suga10 said:

yes, they absolutely did.

i remember all of this soooo vividly. mj didn't want to tour with his brothers. i think in his mind, with thriller, he had become bigger than the group, and wanted to move on. but his mother prevailed upon him to do it because the family needed the money. it was clear to everyone at the time that mj was being guilted into doing this by his family. (and they continued guilting him until three weeks ago.)

don king became part of the money grab somehow and there was this tug of war between katherine, joe and don on the one hand and this concert promoter on the other. they finally worked out an arrangement amongst themselves. i remember ted koppel on nightline interviewing the concert promoter on opening night of the tour.

anyone who wanted to go to the concerts had to buy at least four tickets, which caused a lot of bad publicity, and mj bore the brunt of it. even though he gave all of his earnings from the tour to charity, that was the beginning his bad relationship with the media.

pepsi agreed to sponsor the tour in exchange for mj promoting the product. he agreed, only he didn't want to be seen drinking it. so he never would have even been on that sound stage that night if not for his family and others pressuring him into it. i remember the footage of them carting mj to the hospital after the accident, the crush of cameras and family members, etc.

it's a weird sense of deja vu, seeing this death circus. it's the macabre flip side of thriller-mania. .

(i have two 12 oz can of pepsi from 1984 in my utility closet right now. they were released to promote the tour and they're autographed by all the brothers; i wonder how much they're worth?! they didn't play san francisco, so i got the next best thing!)

LittleBLUECorvette said:

For Godssakes, he had to spin around to get rid of the flame.....

kibbles said:

Yeah,Michael was pressured into doing that tour.I think that,after 'Off The Wall',he should have never went back to performing with his brothers.That album established him as a huge solo artist,there was no need to be part of a group anymore.I always felt that in 1984,he should have launched a 'Thriller' World Tour of his own.

I think after "Triumph", he should have stayed with his brothers permanently and never made "Thriller" at all.

SoulAlive said:

exactly. i like triumph, and heartbreak hotel still sounds good, but was it really worth him going back to the group to do that album after the massive success of OTW? no, i don't think so.

i think mj harbored great conflict, ambivalence and guilt about his career with respect to his brothers.

SoulAlive said:

I dont think he should have did a Thriller world tour. I think the Bad tour was perfect timing because he already had 3 HUGE albums under his belt.

It sucked for him because he didnt want to do that Victory tour. Thats what happens when you're the lead singer. Him not doing the tour would have been like Destinys Child going on tour without Beyonce. She sings 90% of the songs, so it can't happen

vainandy said:

kibbles said:

He certainly did That's why,after the 'Victory' tour,he was done with them completely.He concentrated on his solo career.

Hey, look at the era from "Destiny" through "Triumph" and don't forget that "Off The Wall" is sandwiched between those two albums. Those three albums are three of the funkiest of any of the Jackson family members' careers. With "Off The Wall" in the middle, even though he was by himself, the influence of his other brothers still showed through because apparently they were still around. With "Thriller" though, the funkiest thing on that album is "PYT" and even it is weak compared to the earlier stuff. "Thriller" was a good album but it was full of pop and you know if it comes down to funk vs. pop, I'm gonna choose funk every time.

I remember when this happened, it was all over the news. For weeks, it was talked about in some form. But of course then, THIS footage was not released. There was one pic of Michael coming down the stairs and you could see this flame on his hair but that was it. I was extremely shocked when I saw this footage on the news. Even though all of the people eventually came rushing to Michael's aid, the damage had been done. Michael was the one who put that out too by instinctively spinning. He was steady walking down the stairs, performing, all the while he hadn't realised he was on serious fire. All I remember them showing back then was when he was on the stretcher with the cover pulled over most of his face and all you could see was his eyes and him waving his gloved hand at his fans while they wheeled him out. And even THEN, Michael STILL looked cool! If the public had seen THIS footage initially, ....man oh man.....Girls were all on the news at the hospital crying hysterically. And that was just because they knew Michael had gotten burned. They hadn't even seen THIS. If the media had released this THEN, people would have been straight flipping out. Just look at the effect that it has on people NOW. I also think that people in general would have been less harsh in making fun of Michael as time went on. Damn....I know hindsight is a motherfucker but I can't help but feel IF this one incident had NOT happened, the man's life would have been so much different.
[Edited 7/16/09 20:37pm]

I remember this incident as if it happened yesterday.It was a BIG DEAL.It happened on a Friday evening.I was listening to the radio (KSOL in the Bay Area) and they were playing the song "Joy Stick" by the Dazz Band.Suddenly,the DJ stopped the song and announced that Michael Jackson's hair caught on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial.When I went back to school on Monday,everyone was talking about it.I was happy to see him just a few weeks later,on the Grammys.

So they were playing "Joystick"? See how much better radio was back then. When Michael Jackson died, I found about it immediately here on the org right before it was time to go home from work. In the car on the way home, there wasn't a mention of Michael Jackson's death or even that he was in the hospital because computers play the music on the radio now with the DJs voice pre-recorded. You should hear them announce the weather sometimes, especially on a Sunday. One day, they announced that it was bright and sunny while it was raining cats and dogs outside.

SoulAlive said:

This may come as a shock to most of you, but Michael's own mother Katherine was THE only reason why he even agree to do the Victory album AND tour with his brothers. Katherine was far more successful in convincing Michael to reunite with his brothers "for the good of the family".

SoulAlive said:

Wow you have a great memory! Aww...KSOL

vainandy said:

I disagree. For Michael, the success of Thriller help him to become the first artist to be greater than Elvis in North America.

And besides, Michael helped prevent Christopher Cross from being The King Of Pop!

vainandy said:

So you're not a fan of Wanna Be Startin' Something?!?
[Edited 7/16/09 1:49am]

funkyslsistah said:

Yeah,I always seem to remeber the smallest details "Joy Stick" was being played and right in the middle of it,the song stops and the DJ made that shocking announcment.This was at the height of Michaelmania,so it was a big deal.

KSOL I really miss that station,and that era.

vainandy said:

Yep,they were playing "Joystick" It was January 1984.

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah,and we know how much Michael loved his mother.He didn't wanna let her down.But when he turned 18,he really should have moved out and became more independent,and made his own decisions.If I'm not mistaken,his father and Don King played a major role in the Victory tour but when things went wrong,Michael was unfairly blamed.The tickets were sold in a lottery style,which pissed off many fans.At that point,Michael was too big a star to be taking orders from other people,even family members.

TonyVanDam said:

Yeah,that song should be one of his favorites.It's extremely fast And "Billie Jean" boasts one of the funkiest basslines ever.

It's OK. I like that song better than anything he did on the albums that came after "Thriller" but it's not one of my favorites from the "Thriller" album itself or the albums before it. It's a lot better than "The Girl Is Mine" or even "Human Nature" which I consider the worst track on that album.

When it comes to "Thriller", I favorites are in this order:

PYT
Thriller
Beat It
Billie Jean
The Lady In My Life
Baby Be Mine
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
The Girl Is Mine
Human Nature

The funkier tracks (if you wanna call them that) are at the top of my list. "Beat It" is high on my list also although I would have preferred that he stayed away from rock and replaced it with a funkier track. It's a good album but it's just too all over the place and trying to appeal to too broad an audience which I consider a turnoff. Even the funkier tracks are watered down for the pop crowd. Like I always say, if the pop fans like the funk, that's fine, but if they don't, fuck 'em so don't try to please 'em.

vainandy said:

THE new signature of the month of July right THERE^!

There's an infamous photo of Michael on a stretcher,being taken to the hospital shortly after this incident.He still has on his white glove and is waving to his fans.Even with the pain he was in,he wanted to reassure his fans that he was okay.



I remember it was reported that one of the nurses who treated Michael told him...

"I know you're hot,but this is ridiculous!"

It made him smile

This is disturbing and in my opinion shouldn't have been released. Btw I saw many people saying that MJ had Lupus. Is that confirmed or just a rumour? Because I saw an interview on CNN or BBC I don't remember with his lawyer (I think) after he died and when he mentioned his painkiller addiction and the reporter asked him in what kind of pain he was he mentioned the fire incident but not lupus which would have been a totally logical source of serious pain. (I suffered autoimmune stuff too it's not pleasant)

It makes me hate Pepsi.

jiorjios said:

Yes, it's been out there for a number of years that MJ had lupus. I believe it was even confirmed in court documents. Just another one of those things that the haters simply refused to believe for no logical reason other than they just hated Michael Jackson. He also spoke at an event for lupus once, although there was never a report of what he actually said.

The Victory Tour should have been a solo tour for Michael Jackson instead- the Thriller tour.

Its too bad that Bad World Tour turned out to be his first solo tour.

vainandy said:

I agree Triumph was special and he should have worked more with his
brothers but i can't deny Thriller's success but i'm like you i
enjoy Triumph til this day more than Thriller. It's obvious Michael
wanted to move on afte Thriller.