In 1987, Michael Jackson unveils a new image in the “Bad” music video, an 18-minute short film directed by Martin Scorsese.
If one major critique must be leveled at the recent biopic devoted to Michael Jackson, it would be that it glosses over the rocky corners of his brief and troubled film career. From the crushing failure of his first film, Sidney Lumet’s The Wiz released in 1978, perhaps sprang his ardent desire to transcend his clips into bona fide, Hollywood-scale short films.
After a brilliant breakthrough under John Landis (Thriller), the King of Pop sought to break his own image with an iconoclastic album and its roaring titular track. It’s August 31, 1987. MTV airs the Bad video exclusively, shot under Scorsese’s direction in the heart of Harlem. Curls, a black leather jacket, and clenched jaws — we would never see the King of Pop the same way again.
When Michael Meets Marty
Nothing destined a kid from Chicago’s suburbs to cross paths with a kid from Little Italy. Especially at the dawn of the 1980s. New Hollywood wore a muted palette after a dazzling decade. After the triumph of Raging Bull in 1980, Martin Scorsese released his most ill-received and least-loved film, The King of Comedy with Robert De Niro. A scorching flop from which he miraculously emerged unscathed in the profession. Unjustly relegated to the rank of his “minor” works, his next film, the very respectable After Hours, helps him weather that rough patch before The Color of Money confirms his comeback in 1986.
Michael Jackson’s popularity had never shone brighter than at that moment. Thriller, his first album of the decade sold more than 32 million copies, becoming the best-selling album of all time according to the Guinness World Records. Jackson outpaced the competition on every front, including television, where MTV rose to prominence. The network, which had long favored white artists largely drawn from pop or rock (Tom Petty, Phil Collins…), broke a major taboo in March 1983.
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