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Why did MJ not do Live Aid in '85?

Gatesy2006

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I watched a documentary on BBC4 tonight, which was all about Live Aid, and they commented on Mike saying that bascially he wasn't interested, and that the majority of the people who sang We Are The World did not want to make an appearance on the USA side of the show. What was the deal with MJ not doing it? as we all know MJ loved doing everything for charities, I always wondered why he never did perform on Live Aid.

Anyone know the full story behind this folks?
 
Mike didn't participate in Hands Across America or Farm Aid either. Maybe he was busy.
 
I find it strange as well that he didn't do many benefit shows like this. He probably would've boosted the popularity of such shows. I wonder if he would've been approached to do Live 8 in 2005 if the trial wasn't going on.
 
Michael tends to have these big productions like a Broadway play, which I think doesn't fit well with these kinds of shows. He's rarely done any type of concert (if at all) where he's just singing and without the flash.
 
He supported so many charities(in the guiness book of records on top of most supported charities) gave crazy amounts of money to them, so for me thats a clear indication of his caring and him not showing up during a few of those concerts/shows, means very little to nothing in my book then.
 
I think he just wanted to do a lot for charity without bragging about it.
So he did it out of the spotlights like visiting hospitals and donating to them.

I have a lot more respect for that then a Bono who's always in the picture to show how much he cares and gives to charity, resulting in boosting u2's record sales.
 
this has been asked m any times but i cant remember the exact answer. i think it was said he was filming captain eo at the time. something was mentioned along those lines
 
I'm sure this was answered before and that Michael was extremely busy and didn't have time. Plus Michael never liked to publicise his charity week, the $300 million was only stuff that we know about, everyone knows in reality Michael gave a lot more, whereas people like Bob Geldof like to publicise it.
 
sloride said:
I'm sure this was answered before and that Michael was extremely busy and didn't have time. Plus Michael never liked to publicise his charity week, the $300 million was only stuff that we know about, everyone knows in reality Michael gave a lot more, whereas people like Bob Geldof like to publicise it.
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You said it!
 
i think it was a good idea for MJ to step out of the way, and let some other people try and be charitable...whether or not they were successful at doing it as well as he did. as MJ said in 'cry'...he couldn't do it, alone. nobody can.
 
Wasn't the Victory tour going on, or just about being wrapped up around this time? Also as mentioned earlier, Captain Eo was probably being worked on.
 
Michael was already doing proper things for charity.............


And I also think that Michael played with keeping himself exclusive..........

He hardly performed outside His concerts and that just made people want him more.....


Just a theory...............
 
Prince Of Pop said:
Wasn't the Victory tour going on, or just about being wrapped up around this time?
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If I'm not mistaken, started on July 6, 1984 and ended on December 9, 1984.


Prince Of Pop said:
Also as mentioned earlier, Captain Eo was probably being worked on.
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Probably began to be filmed in 1985......... the premiere was in 1986.
 
i think its a good thing he didn't publicize on his charity works he doesn't need that kind of attention, you look at most of the live aids,live8, live earth,etc sure they were amazing concerts, however i wouldn't trust any of those events for charity as many of them are sponsored by corporate interests and we all know that when corporations get involved with charities money is neither divided properly or given to the people that need it the most at all
 
It was a thread about it earlier but I don´t find it.
I think Michael was busy.
Even if he didn´t do the concerts he could have been involved with the help to Africa anyway.
Someone wrote that at least one of the Jacksonbrothers went to Africa to make sure that the help reached those in need.
 
mier said:
I have a lot more respect for that then a Bono who's always in the picture to show how much he cares and gives to charity, resulting in boosting u2's record sales.
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I just wanna add that this is not at all the intention of U2. The intention is to open up peoples eyes, making them aware of the injustice in the world, and inspire them to make a change.
They also makes no secret of thinking they already have enough money to make them last, so money is no objective at all. They actually hardly don't generate any in touring around the world either, so they cover all the costs them self.

Guess U2's and Michaels ways are two different ways, with same intentions, and hopefully will lead to the same goal.
 
Like all of you said he gave so much, more than any celebrity.
One more thing....if he went on that stage, all of the others would be forgotten in a second, he would steel a concert for himself....:)
 
I don't understand the thinking of folks here. Since when is giving or helping others a race? What difference does it make who gives the most? Just as long as people are helped & problems are solved. Some people just have to rank everything, no matter what it is.
 
I also saw part of that docu. Didn't it say something about "be in no doubt, the artists took part for their own publicity/sales, above anything else".

Most of these artists released singles/albums around the same time as 'Live Aid', 'Live Aid 2', etc. - making buckets of cash for themselves - and yet they could have probably given more money between them without performing if they really cared about Africa. That would not have helped their careers/sales though would it?
 
I love the way whatever Mike's reason was, it's justified. In reality if Mike had done Live Aid and say Prince didn't you'd say that Prince was selfish and Michael did the right thing.

As it is, you say that Mike did the right thing by not doing it as performing in these things is self-aggrandising.

Thing is, he should have done it. Mike was the biggest star in the world at that point so it wouldn't have been about self-promotion, He already had routines from the recent Jacksons tour and could eaily have done Billie Jean & Beat It. Filming Captain Eo isn't a real excuse.

Having said that, it's not as if Mike was short on doing his bit for charity, so I'm not having a go, it just seems odd bearing in mind his involvement in USA For Africa.

And finally, for those lambasting Bob Geldof, you go off and open the world's eyes to massive, unspoken travesty where millions are dying make it into a worldwide issue and raise multi millions of pounds to go some way to helping then have a go - yes?
 
mjs charity work needs no justification. so not sure why ppl are so obssessed about defending what he did and whether he took part in live aid or not. its hardly the be all and end all of what he did through out his life.
 
Michael Jackson was so humble and how do you say this......he never ever bragged about himself. I remember in a interview where he said the songs weren't really written by him, it came from above. It was 'sent' to him from someone higher..i mean...what other artist says this?

Also in a interview he explained why he didn't 'advertise' his charity work alot cause it came from his heart, he doesn't wanna go around and bragging it. That was MJ...and that's just something beautiful.
 
I remember when all this happened in 85. And the simple explanation was that Michael did not want to be seen as someone taking advantage of the publicity that all these charities would create. Let's face it these events bring huge publicity and some of these celebrities just do it for that reason. Michael was genuine, and would never take advantage of such a thing. Michael had already participated in the most successful charity event in history with "We are the World" which of course brought him loads of publicity but most importantly for him helped millions of starving children in Africa. So if he started participating in all of these events, it would diminish what he had done with WATW. It is that simple.

Also, like some other posters mentioned, he gave to charities behind the scenes, and that to me is more genuine than someone who is out there upfront for every charity event that is out there. I always respected Michael for that. He was genuinely caring, loving and of course generous to a fault. A genuine heart of gold like no other! :angel:
 
Songs

Staffordshire Bullterrier said:
It was 'sent' to him from someone higher..i mean...what other artist says this?
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John Lennon has said something similar, but John said he was just a "channel" and the songs were already written. Donny Hathaway & Marvin Gaye have said their songs come from God.
 
The most important thing was that people gave money and I don´t think they had given more if Michael had performed.
When you saw the pictures from Africa,I believe it was nearly 1 million people who starved to death,you gave money because you wanted to help them.
I believe most of the artists did it because they wanted to help.
Maybe some of them gave money too.
 
Michael didnt like the fact that it was called USA for Africa when the song is called We Are The WORLD ;)

MJ thought that this shouldnt be a one nation thing but a world wide event.
 
The word that comes to mind when recognizing Michael's humanitarian work is humility. Michael understood the 4 cardinal virtues well (no doubt from his upbringing); Prudence, Justice, Temperance or Restraint (Humility being a part of this) & Courage or Fortitude.
Faith, hope and charity were a driving force in this man's life, his modesty came from that inner humility, he used his supernova fame as the conductor for his philanthropy.
If I remember Live Aid was a continuation of Band Aid and the song from '84 "Do They Know It's Christmas", simultaneously held in the UK and in the US @ RFK Stadium in Philly, PA. There were a lot of no-shows who were scheduled to perform, so MJ not being there doesn't mean anything, other than he was somewhere else at that time. Bob Geldolf through Live Aid brought attention to a global injustice that to this day has not been eradicated, there is no race to being #1, there are no points earned, there are only human lives saved because of all these efforts. If someone can use their celebrity to illuminate an injustice, let them do it however they see fit. I applaud Bono's efforts, no one has the fame that Michael has so everyone else has to be a bit louder with their rooftop scream to get noticed.
Michael's work in Africa includes financially supporting programs to build and equip hospitals, orphanages, homes and schools. He has also financially supported programs relating to Child immunization, HIV-AIDS, Education and Apartheid, the recipients of this man's help know of his goodness and in the end, that is the true measurement of his virtue.
 
He did more charitable things privately, without raising a flag as many others do. And when the things that he'd do charitably got scarcely publicized, too few would take notice, the media wouldn't and still won't cover them, and all his words, speeches, statements, interviews, song lyrics, poetry didn't really have an echo, except in some fans' heart. He was just silenced, and now, it takes other people to bring some of that stuff to surface.

http://www.thesilencedtruth.com/
 
He wanted to make his performances exclusives, so that you had to buy a ticket to an actual show of his to see him. Thats allways been my take on it anyway.

It would take away some of the aura around him if her performed at shows such as this.
 
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