mj_brainiac
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Scorpeze is a one half of the band Windimoto and is a HUGE MJ fan and constantly defends him
here is the essay he did on Michael and Sony
http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=2164801&mesg_id=2164801&page=
here is the essay he did on Michael and Sony
http://board.okayplayer.com/okp.php?az=show_topic&forum=5&topic_id=2164801&mesg_id=2164801&page=
Michael's gravy years with CBS Records occurred during the reign of Walter Yetnikoff, then president of CBS Records...Yetnikoff thought very highly of MJ and believed in his talent...MJ appreciated Yetnikoff's support of his career and showed it by bringing Yetnikoff onstage at the 1984 Grammys(where Michael won 8 Awards) and having him present at the Guiness Book ceremony that proclaimed Thriller the best selling album of all time....
This was, of course, a huge. feather in Yetnikoff's hat...he bragged that after appearing onstage with MJ at the Grammys, he requested and received a $2M raise...
It also didn't hurt MJ that after firing Ron Weisner and Freddy DeMann as his managers--he picked Epic Records promotions man, Frank DiLeo, as his new manager...DiLeo was close with Yetnikoff...
During these years, MJ could write his own ticket at CBS...whatever he wanted, he got...
Things changed in 1988, when Sony bought CBS Records...Yetnikoff retired in 1990 and named Tommy Mottola his successor....
In 1989, before becoming chief of Sony, Mottola signed 19 year old singer Mariah Carey to Sony...Mottola threw all the company's power into promoting the gifted young singer...Mottola would serve as Carey's Svengali--personally supervising every aspect of her career...much the same way Berry Gordy had done with Diana Ross at Motown...
mirroring Gordy and Ross, perhaps unsuprisingly, a romance developed btwn the Mottola and Carey...they would be wed in 1993...
During those years, MJ would release his last scandal free album, Dangerous, in late 1991...
Dangerous would go on to be a huge seller, with 2 monster singles out of the gate(Black Or White, Remember The Time)
In an effort to derail his public image as a bizarre recluse, MJ agreed to do a prime time television interview with Oprah Winfrey from his Neverland Ranch home...
In the 1993 interview, Michael came off as intelligent, humble, funny, and still immensely talented...he gained public sympathy by revealing that he was abused as a child by his father Joseph--but he was making strides to forgive and mend the relationship...he explained that the dramatic change in his skin color was the result of a skin disease(later identified as vitiligo) and declared that he was proud to be a Black man and that the loss of his color makes him sad...and the allegations that he doesn't want to be Black hurt him...he cleverly turned the point around on white people "who sit out in the sun...to become darker...to become something other that what THEY are"...MJ declined to reveal if he was a virgin or not and lied abt the extent of his plastic surgery("I've had two...")...
Even if he was not completely forthright, the interview worked...the ratings broke records and Dangerous surged back to the top of the charts...
Shortly after this victory, 13 year old Jordan Chandler accused MJ of child molestation...Santa Barbara prosecutor Thomas Sneddon jumped on the case with unusual zeal, applying full pressure to MJ with his investigation...
MJ's surge in popularity was completely scrapped by the scandal...it ultimately ended with a cash settlement to the accuser, who subsequently refused to cooperate with Sneddon's vicious investigation(which included ransacking Michael's homes and the home of his parents and subjecting MJ to a dehumanizing strip search and photo session)...
Meanwhile, Sony continued to pump out Carey product at an astounding pace...it could be said that with her husband as label boss, Carey replaced MJ as the top priority at Sony....
after putting the scandal behind him, MJ wanted to continue his career...he also needed to vent...MJ was set to release a greatest hits album with a few new songs in 1990...but rejuvenated by the grooves of producer Teddy Riley, inspiration struck and MJ turned the project into the Dangerous album...he decided to go ahead with the greatest hits package he had beem promising but once he got in the studio inspiration struck again and a full new album was recorded...he decided to make it a 2 disc set--one disc of hits, and one disc of new material...
the late 80's and early 90's were a time of sea change in the music industry....uncompromising forms of underground music seized the mainstream in the form of hip-hop and grunge...vinyl and cassette faded away as CDs became the primary media of recorded music...many wondered if there was still a place for the mega popstars of the 80's in this new landscape...
Many also wondered if MJ mattered anymore...he represented the excess of the 80's and his recent scandal had permanently tarnished his image in the public eye...
Sony tread carefully and released HIStory in 1995...a brilliant, yet defiantly angry work, the album met an uncertain public...critics complained that MJ's music was too dark and too angry...the public still gave in, giving the album hits like Scream, You Are Not Alone, and Stranger In Moscow...HIStory sold well, but still slightly less than Dangerous...
One could reason that Mottola saw his young bride as the future and MJ as the past...still, the success of History meant that MJ was able to move on with his career and his life to an extent...
PART 2
in that same year, Sony merged their publishing arm with MJ's ATV/Northern catalogue...making Michael richer by $90M and making him 50% owner in the new entity, Sony/ATV...
since the scandal, rumors had been running rampant that MJ was strapped for cash...perhaps driven by his settlement with Jordan Chandler and his recent divorce from Lisa Marie Presley...when news of a deal between Sony and MJ broke, the news first reported it as MJ selling ATV/Northern to Sony for much-needed cash...when the story was corrected, MJ described as not an act of desperation but as "just good business..."
Sony's motives for the merger were unclear at the time but their handling of MJ's career at the time denoted a change in the company's attitude towards him...
In 1997, after completing the History tour and still feeling creative, MJ returned to the studio more quickly than usual...he completed Blood On The Dancefloor, a hybrid EP and remix album containing 5 new songs...a video was shot for the title track...critics who listened to the new songs objectively opined that the work was cutting edge and daring and a testament to MJ's artistry and creativity...
Zero promotion was done for the project by Sony and quickly the album disappeared in the US...however, the album caught on abroad and sold4M total making it the best selling remix album of all time...something was amiss...
also in 1997, MJ welcomed his first child named Prince Michael Jackson, Jr.(after himself and his maternal grandfather, Prince Albert Scruse)--a product of an arrangment between MJ and his dermatologist's nurse and longtime friend Debbie Rowe...the next year, another child was born of the same union...MJ wed Rowe shortly before Prince's birth to placate his deeply religious mother Katherine...
Mariah Carey would divorce Tommy Mottola in 1998.
MJ threw himself into fatherhood full tilt...lavishing his full attention on raising his children...MJ had long threatened to quit touring...the process drained him emotionally as well as physically...its been confirmed that he would not eat or rest properly when preapring for a tour, taking a toll on his health(he was hospitalized in 1990 for these reasons), causing dehydration related poblems and in 1996, causing him to be hospitalized while preparing for HBO concert...
The long 1978-79 Destiny Tour was exhausting and difficult...dating as far back as The Jacksons 1981 Triumph Tour, he has vowed that that tour and each subsequent one would be his last...for any artist--even under the best conditions, touring is a grueling process...he was an unwilling participant in the 1984 Victory tour with his brothers because he was outvoted....his anger at being forced to tour by his family and the fiasco that the organization of the tour became spurred him to finally quit the family group, a decision that he'd been struggling with since Off The Wall...his 1988 Bad tour would be his first solo tour and he publicly declared it his last, even though he would tour twice more for Dangerous and History..
PART 3
1998 marked 30 years for MJ as professional entertainer, and 35 years onstage...MJ was 40 years old...having accomplished all there is to do as a recording artist and being a new father to 2 infants, it certanly isn't a stretch of the imagination that MJ may have been eyeing retirement...the years onstage, the public scrutiny, the constant lawsuits(frivolous and otherwise) and media cruelty had definitely taken their toll...
but it was true that MJ was having cashflow problems...his expenses not only included his lifestyle but his staff, his numerous business ventures, and supporting various relatives and friends(it was revealed in court documents that Debbie Rowe at one time was receiving 1.5M per MONTH)...
he used his ownership in Sony/ATV as collateral for a $200M loan--a decision that would haunt him for the rest of his days...
at one time, it seemed Sony's interest in getting into business with MJ was motivated purely by enterprise...but the truth soon became clear...Sony no longer considered MJ a priority as an artist...the fact that he had made the company billions meant nothing to Mottola and the new gatekeepers at Sony Music USA...the respect that existed between MJ and former label head Yetnikoff was discarded with the change in leadership at the label...MJ fired Frank DiLeo in 1989 after the Bad tour...DiLeo vacated his post with CBS Records to become MJ's manager and had no juice with the new Sony configuration of the company(MJ rehired DiLeo recently)....
soon after the merger, Sony got tired of waiting for MJ's finances to crumble and began pushing him to sell his half of Sony/ATV...the pressure to sell never relented...it became clear that if MJ failed as a recording artist it would force him to sell his half of the company to survive...Sony decided to play with fate starting with Blood On The Dancefloor...MJ never even considered selling his half of Sony/ATV...
MJ restructured his deal with Sony in 1990...the way he understood it, the ownership of his masters would revert back to him in 2000...at that point, he could release and market those recordings anyway he liked without having to share any of the profit with Sony...at least that's how it was supposed to be...
but the contract had much fine print regarding the masters reverting back...
in order to get the masters, MJ was required to turn in a new CD every cpl of years, and with each failure to do so more years were added to the wait time for ownership of the masters to revert back to him...also required were soundtracks and a Christmas album with same time penalty applied to them as well...four more albums were left on the contract...
in all, the contract was set up so that MJ would NEVER get his masters...Mottola and his cohorts told MJ that they were in control and the last laugh would be theirs...
if MJ was eyeing retirement, those masters would have definitely created a new revenue stream for him to work with if he decided to stop performing...
when Mike found out abt this, he launched an investigation...he found that one of the lawyers representing him was also working for Sony on the sly and snuck the bogus clauses into the contract...the obvious conflict of interest allowed Mike to walk owing Sony one more studio album, a greatest hits album, and box set...the ball was back in Mike's court...
MJ told Mottola that after Invincible that he and Sony could suck it--he was outta there...one could gather that Invincible was one last cash grab before MJ called it a day on his career...
as MJ got to work on Invincible, it was clear that his heart was not in the project...instead of writing and producing most of the music like he normally did, he left the grunt work to a group of producers and writers resulting in the very long writer and producer credits on Invincible...instead of working day and night(no pun intended)like he normally did on an album, he would leave the studio at the drop of a hat...
if he got a phone call, he would be gone for the day...business meeting--gone for the day...any distraction would mean the end of that day's session...
the final product is not a bad album at all minus his few now trademark sacchrine pop songs, but the whole lacks the stamp of MJ's artistic trademark...
what he did was made an album with a group of surefire singles that would carry the album with the right promotion...by 2001, pop music was entering a stagnant period and with the Chandler scandal far behind, music fans realized that a musical talent like MJ's was still needed...there were very few, if any innovators who could energize the music scene like MJ...the new breed of artists were mostly cardboard cutouts foisting disposable music on the masses...the torch was still not ready to be passed...there was anticipation for the new MJ record...
Mottola decided he had one last trump card--pull all promotion for Invincible...
PART 4
Sony refused to issue the high energy comeback track Unbreakable as the first single or film the video he had planned, insisting on the laid back album cut You Rock My World being released as the lead off...
Sony harassed MJ abt funding the video for Rock to the point where MJ seemed "over it" to the film crew...the video had been shooting for days before he showed up on set...
Sony also refused to give MJ a decent video budget for Cry, another forced single choice by Sony...frustrated and angry, he refused to appear in the clip...
on the streets, Butterflies was getting major airplay and incredible buzz...Sony refused to fund a video or even an official single release...
an MJ project with no label backing seemed strange from the outside looking in...Sony had to explain themselves and took the opportunity to attack....they announced that recording the album was a $30M affair and they simply could not afford to put anymore money into the project...by announcing such a number to the public made MJ look like a spoiled and wasteful artist...
to the non industry public, $30M was a huge number, but in reality, recording an MJ record had always been a costly affair and each time out the label recouped their costs quickly--and Invincible was no different...Sony made a profit on the album anyway...
even though Invincible was successfully sabatoged by Sony, the album still racked up 10M in worldwide sales...
Tommy Mottola stepped down as head of Sony Music in 2003.
of course, MJ was ready to get back in the ring and salvage his career, but unfortunately, he agreed to let a conniving journalist film a documentary called Living With Michael Jackson...
the fallout from the documentary brought about new child molestation allegations against MJ...
he fought the allegations in court and was acquitted of all charges...but the damage was done...
it seemed that MJ might have been finished...
Then...Michael Jackson decided to end his career with a bang...
in early 2009, a series of 10 final MJ concerts titled This Is It("I mean it...this is IT...")in London were announced...the overwhelming response grew the total number of shows to 50...all sold out very quickly...
the public had spoken...they didn't care abt the accusations, the bad press, the plastic surgery, or the nasty fight with Sony....the people had crowned him King and they anxiously awaited his return...
Michael Jackson would not live to conclude his career the way he had planned...
...and though many predicted a tragic end, Michael Jackson still went out on top.
