I think I have a slight advantage in all of this because I always do my best work under pressure.
"Bad" is a song about the street. It's about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school.
He comes back to the old neighborhood when he's on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood start
giving him trouble. He sings, "I'm bad, you're bad, who's bad, who's the best?" He's saying when you're strong and good, then you're bad.
"Man in the Mirror" is a great message. I love that song. If John Lennon was alive, he could really relate to that song because it says that if you want to make the world a better place, you have to work on yourself and change first. It's
the same thing Kennedy was talking about when he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you
can do for your country." If you want to make the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change.
Start with the man in the mirror. Start with yourself. Don't be looking at all the other things. Start with you.
That's the truth. That's what Martin Luther King meant and Gandhi too. That's what I believe.
Several people have asked me if I had anybody in mind when I wrote "Can't Stop Loving You." And I say that I
didn't, really. I was thinking of somebody while I was singing it, but not while I was writing it.
I wrote all the songs on Bad except for two, "Man in the Mirror," which Siedah Garrett wrote with George Ballard, and "Just Good Friends," which is by these two writers who wrote "What's Love Got to Do with It" for Tina Turner.
We needed a duet for me and Stevie Wonder to sing and they had this song; I don't even think they intended for it to
be a duet. They wrote it for me, but I knew it would be perfect for me and Stevie to sing together.
"Another Part of Me" was one of the earliest songs written for Bad and made its public debut at the end of Captain Eo when the captain says good-bye. "Speed Demon" is a machine song. "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Smooth Criminal" are simply the grooves I was in at the time. That's how I would put it.
"Leave Me Alone" is a track that appears only on the compact disc of Bad . I worked hard on the song, stacking
vocals on top of each other like layers of clouds. I'm sending a simple message here: "Leave me alone." The song is about a relationship between a guy and a girl. But what I'm really saying to people who are bothering me is: "Leave
me alone ."
The pressure of success does funny things to people. A lot of people become successful very quickly and it's an
instant occurrence in their lives. Some of these people, whose success might be a one-shot thing, don't know how to
handle what happens to them.
I look at fame from a different perspective, since I've been in this business for so long now. I've learned that the way
to survive as your own person is to shun personal publicity and keep a low profile as much as possible. I guess it's
good in some ways and bad in others.
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The hardest part is having no privacy. I remember when we were filming "Thriller," Jackie Onassis and Shaye
Areheart came to California to discuss this book. There were photographers in the trees, everywhere. It was not
possible for us to do anything without it being noticed and reported.
The price of fame can be a heavy one. Is the price you pay worth it? Consider that you really have no privacy. You
can't really do anything unless special arrangements are made. The media prints whatever you say. They report
whatever you do. They know what you buy, which movies you see, you name it. If I go to a public library, they print
the titles of the books I check out. In Florida once, they printed my whole schedule in the paper; everything I did
from ten in the morning until six at night. "After he did this, he did that, and after he did that, he went there, then he went door to door, and then he . . ."
I remember thinking to myself, "What if I were trying to do something that I didn't happen to want reported in the
paper?" All of this is the price of fame.
I think my image gets distorted in the public's mind. They don't get a clear or full picture of what I'm like, despite the press coverage I mentioned early. Mistruths are printed as fact, in some cases, and frequently only half of a story will
be told. The part that doesn't get printed is often the part that would make the printed part less sensational by
shedding light on the facts. As a result, I think some people don't think I'm a person who determines what's happening with his career. Nothing could be further from the truth.
I've been accused of being obsessed with my privacy and it's true that I am. People stare at you when you're famous.
They're observing you and that's understandable, but it's not always easy. If you were to ask me why I wear
sunglasses in public as often as I do, I'd tell you it's because I simply don't like to have to constantly look everyone in the eye. It's a way of concealing just a bit of myself. After I had my wisdom teeth pulled, the dentist gave me a
surgical mask to wear home to keep out germs. I loved that mask. It was great - much better than sunglasses - and I
had fun wearing it around for a while. There's so little privacy in my life that concealing a little bit of me is a way to give myself a break from all that. It may be considered strange, I know, but I like my privacy.
I can't answer whether or not I like being famous, but I do love achieving goals. I love not only reaching a mark I've
set for myself but exceeding it. Doing more than I thought I could, that's a great feeling. There's nothing like it. I
think it's so important to set goals for yourself. It gives you an idea of where you want to go and how you want to get
there. If you don't aim for something, you'll never know whether you could have hit the mark.
I've always joked that I didn't ask to sing and dance, but it's true. When I open my mouth, music comes out. I'm
honored that I have this ability. I thank God for it every day. I try to cultivate what He gave me. I feel I'm compelled
to do what I do.
There are so many things all around us to be thankful for. Wasn't it Robert Frost who wrote about the world a person
can see in a leaf? I think that's true. That's what I love about being with kids. They notice everything. They aren't
jaded. They get excited by things we've forgotten to get excited about any more. They are so natural too, so unself-
conscious. I love being around them. There always seems to be a bunch of kids over at the house and they're always
welcome. They energize me - just being around them. They look at everything with such fresh eyes, such open
minds. That's part of what makes kids so creative. They don't worry about the rules. The picture doesn't have to be in
the center of the piece of paper. The sky doesn't have to be blue. They are accepting people too. The only demand
they make is to be treated fairly - and to be loved. I think that's what we all want.
I would like to think that I'm an inspiration for the children I meet. I want kids to like my music. Their approval
means more to me than anyone else's. It's always the kids who know which song is going to be a hit. You see kids
who can't even talk yet, but they've got a little rhythm going. It's funny. But they're a tough audience. In fact, they're the toughest audience. There have been so many parents who have come to me and told me that their baby knows
"Beat It" or loves "Thriller." George Lucas told me his daughter's first words were "Michael Jackson." I felt on top of the world when he told me that.
I spend a lot of free time - in California and when I'm traveling - visiting children's hospitals. It makes me so happy
to be able to brighten those kids' day by just showing up and talking with them, listening to what they have to say