Tue 13 Jun 2006
Bad days
ANNA SMYTH
SOME people fainted. Ambulance crews offered oxygen masks. A few spectators were even hospitalised due to hysteria. The trial of the decade was over and Michael Jackson had been found innocent. After ten years of investigation, district attorney Tom Sneddon and his team of prosecutors failed to convince a jury of the veracity of allegations that Jackson had committed child molestation offences: the 47-year-old King of Pop was officially vindicated.
One year ago today, the Michael Jackson faithful rejoiced. Many had followed him since the days of the Jackson Five, danced with him into his 1980s heyday and supported him staunchly through his later troubles, and they stood outside that Santa Maria courthouse with banners proclaiming that justice had been done.
But in the year since, there has been no triumphant comeback, and no public displays of relief for Jackson. The public seems unable to forget his revelations about his late-night play sessions with teenage boys, nor the accusations that he shared his bed with some of these "friends", even though the court chose not to believe the allegations. So painful has been the continuing negativity that he has even beat a retreat away from his native US, to live in the Middle East.
So, having cleared his name against heinous allegations, why is Jacko's life so far removed from that he enjoyed prior to his legal battle? Why have his attempts to revive his fortunes failed? Why, from a distance, does it still look as if it's all going wrong for Jackson?
One man who might be in a better position than most to answer these questions is Bob Jones, who for 17 years ran Jackson's public relations machine, before he was unceremoniously sacked via a note from Jackson in 2004.
Jones, the author of Michael Jackson: The Man Behind the Mask, suggests that the Jackson he knew is unlikely to have faced up to his past, an issue which may be hampering his recovery in the public's eyes.
"He surrounds himself with 'Yes' men," says Jones, speaking exclusively to The Scotsman. "He just wants people who will tell him what he wants to hear, and that goes for his finances, his children, everything. I tried to tell the truth, but the other advisers were happy to collect their money and let him do whatever he pleased."
What pleases Jackson, it currently appears, is not to publicly address his critics, or commence a concerted effort to change the global caricature which has been his worldy image for so long.
Instead Jackson has been largely out of view in Bahrain, where he is long rumoured to have had business links, seeking solace in the company of wealthy friends. For much of the 12 months since his acquittal, he has been the guest of Crown Prince, Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Khalifa, along with his three children - Prince Michael Joseph Jackson Jr, nine, Paris Michael Katherine Jackson, eight, and Prince Michael Jackson II, two.
One might think he has taken time out to evaluate the recent scandals, and heal the wounds from the trauma and humiliation of his court case, perhaps reconsidering the way he has lived his life. But reports suggest that, in some ways at least, life goes on as normal for Jackson. In a country where he can literally hide his face from the crowds, he has been spotted on shopping sprees with his children, dressed as a woman. The abaya is worn by many Arab Muslim females to cover them from head to toe, but also provides Jackson with the opportunity for privacy he has craved for years.
Beneath this guise, it seems Jackson has indulged his infamous love of shopping which brings us to another area in which things do not seem to be pick up for Jackson - his finances.
By December 2005, his spending habits, out-of-court settlements and luxury lifestyle had mounted debts of $300 million (£162 million), and the Bank of America had had enough. They sold his $300m debt to a collection firm, Fortress Management, and Jackson was in danger of being declared bankrupt.
After years of struggling to live within his impressive means, in April he hit rock bottom and took the significant step of selling part of his most treasured asset - the Beatles back catalogue. Until then, he had split ownership with Sony, but, in order to avoid bankruptcy, has had to sell half of his share for a reported £200m (£108m). In turn, Fortress agreed to lend the singer a further $325m (£176m) at a reduced interest rate, presumably aimed at keeping the wolves from the door for a while. "When finances were low, it got bad," recalls Jones, whose book can fairly be described as a warts-and-all account of his time with Jackson. "We knew they were out of control for a long time. But even when business managers came halfway round the world to meet Jackson, he would refuse to talk to them. Even in the meetings I had with him towards the end, I was told, 'Mr Jones, don't bring me no bad news'. He just won't address the problems."
Others have talked about this lack of interest - particularly those who worked on his Neverland ranch in California, which, over the course of the past year, has become a symbol of the apparent disintegration of Jackson's world.
For months the fabled fantasy palace, which cost $240,000 (£130,000) per month to maintain, has been quiet.The 2,600-acre estate, which Jackson bought for $14.6m (£7.9m) in 1988 and featured an exotic menagerie and domestic train tracks, lies closed and empty. Staff were dismissed in March after Californian labour officials forced Jackson to address his domestic concerns - he was faced with paying a $100,000 (£54,000) fine and $306,000 (£166,000) in back pay owed to workers who hadn't been paid since December 2005.
But whatever Jones says about his former employer's reluctance to address financial difficulties, it seems that Jackson has made some attempts to improve his bank balance. Nobody would question that Jackson, who started out with his family pop group, The Jackson Five, and went on to rule the world of pop as an adult, is one of the most talented musicians and performers of his generation. Although sales of his work have plummeted in the west in recent years, in April he made a rare public appearance at MTV Japan's Video Music Awards, to accept their Legend gong - proving he is still popular for his older material if nothing else.
Immediately after the trial, in July 2005, he released an album, but it was a nostalgic throw-back entitled Number Ones collection which only featured his historical hits. He has not released any new tracks since his trial, but in January this year he "did an Elvis" and re-released 20 single tracks from his 1980s heyday.
It hasn't worked. None made a sustained impression on the charts, and although there have been reports that he is working on a charity album for the victims of Hurricane Katrina - on his new, Bahrain-based label he set up with the Crown Prince - as yet, nothing has been released.
Paul Rees, editor of Q, the music magazine, doubts that Jackson is capable of a comeback. "He made some fantastic pop music 20 years ago, but he's not done anything of note since," says Rees. "He released Invincible in 2001, which cost Sony more than a million dollars to produce, but it bombed.
"The only thing since has been a Number Ones compilation that celebrated his past. These sorts of allegations will have done nothing for his creativity, and although many people talk about a post-trial comeback, I just can't see it happening.
"Records like Thriller and Off the Wall were genuinely fantastic pop albums and as a performer he was magnificent, but the upbringing, the stardom, has meant he hasn't functioned in any way since the Bad era. He's a damaged guy and that's the problem. I know that most of the major record companies are still very interested in working with him - as long as there's money in the freak factor, of course they will be - but considering the records after Bad were financial disasters, and there's been a very damaging trial since then, it's hard to imagine fans rushing to support him."
Others suggest that there is no way Jackson's musical talent can surmount the stains which attach themselves to his image following the trial, even if he was innocent, and that this is hampering his somewhat limiting attempts at a comeback. "People here [America] have no great love for him," says Jones. "Especially when people see his kids walking around with masks on. He seems to have found some people in the Middle East who care for him, but here that has gone now. When accusations like that are made once, you can dismiss it as a mistake, but, if it happens again, it's a different story."
So, what does the future hold for Jackson? Will his fortunes revive? Will the next 12 months see him turn around his image?
"He is the one of the world's greatest manipulators," says Jones from Los Angeles. "He loves people to believe he is a victim and that people have taken advantage of him, but that's bullshit. He has chosen the route he has taken. I tend to think that we grow through all our situations, but, to be honest, I couldn't say that he will. He has chosen to be what he is, and, although it is rather sad to see the world's greatest entertainer - and it's undoubted that he has no peer - whatever befalls him, he brought on himself."
(scotsman.com)
ein echt netter kerl, dieser bob jones...:skepsis
verkauft sich sein buch net so gut,
oder isser wegen dem rauswurf noch versäuert... 
