I immediately flashback to when I was a child playing a cassette tape of "Thriller". It was summertime and I was in the backyard at a family cookout with my bare feet in the grass. My grandfather was cooking on the grill. My cousins were running around me as I held the encyclopedia sized player up like an idol emitting audible sunshine for all.
The music videos are what I remember the most. I can recall most from my memory, scene for scene, if the music is playing. Let's set aside the uber-expensive ground breakers like "Scream" and the obvious milestones like "Thriller". (And while we're at it let's also set side the "Don't stop till you get enough" too...Chroma-key-tastic!)
Upon looking back upon the arc of his music video legacy, I believe the strongest example to focus on is "Leave me alone" from the 1987 video centric "Bad" album. The song was written and composed by Jackson as a counter-attack at the tabloid press that persecuted him for most of 80's.
This video was produced by Jim Blashfield who also produced the music videos for Tears for Fears' "Sowing the seeds of love" and the Talking Heads' "And she was". Both of these videos and "Leave me alone" have that same kind of similar stop motion photography feel to them that was very popular when MTV first rolled onto the scene. Blashfield's image technique, coupled with Jackson's music and ideas, would land him his first MTV music video award for best special effects. Later that year, "Leave me alone" would win the Grammy for best music video.
The video itself is a surreal environment with Michael riding an amusement park ride through a series of his public and private imagery. National Enquirer headlines come to life with Michael singing from the pages. Cameras and phones emerge in his wake trying to catch him as he flies by. A floating nose and scalpel passes into view as an iguana climbs the wall among other exotic animals. Dogs dressed in business suits litter the landscape.
The reoccurring theme of the dogs in business suits throughout the video in something to note. The chorus lyrics are "Leave me alone. Stop it. Just stop dogging me around." At one point the viewer gets a glimpse of Jackson's over sized hand being staked down by by one of the dogsuits as if somewhere off screen they are erecting a circus tent.
He seems to take those ridiculous tabloid cover stories and run with them. "Michael Builds Shrine to Liz" reads a newspaper as he steers into a pyramid where different versions of Liz Taylor throughout the years are on display. "Michael Buys Elephant Man's Bones" reads another newspaper as we move through a sideshow featuring animal oddities. This scene resolves on Michael dancing a choreographed number with the animated elephant man's bones. The fact that Jackson is dancing happily with a ball chained to his ankle as if he is a prisoner in this sideshow is commonly overlooked.
(also overlooked is the floating nose followed by a scalpel which address' his plastic surgery issues)
The real kick of this video comes when you realize that Jackson himself is the amusement park. All involved are having fun at his expense. The piece ends with Michael breaking free of all the rollercoaters and ferris wheels that hold him down in this twisted park. The final shot is Michael alone, standing tall and triumphant above the decimated games and rides.
It is one the the most creative and insightful videos to come from Michael Jackson's music. "Leave me alone" illustrates a fantasy within a fantasy that is ultimately Michael Jackson's unfortunate reality.
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