"I would never look in the mirror," he recalled of his teenage years. But in an interview with Martin Bashir for the 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson revealed a longstanding dislike for mirrors, and for the public focus on his face. Jackson, a star since the age of 11, was a secretive and intensely private soul for much of his life. In terms of the lifestyles of the homeless and derelict, Jackson was hardly the expert. Jackson, who loved the idea of being forever young, increasingly retreated to Neverland as his career faltered in the 1990s and 2000s. Neverland was a mansion and manor where Jackson lived surrounded by the childlike fruits of his riches, building amusement park rides and keeping bizarre pets, including the famous chimp Bubbles. About the same time he recorded Bad, he was busy constructing his extravagant and secluded California retreat, known as the Neverland Ranch.
The legendary performer is said to have lived in a bubble almost his entire life. By the time "Man in the Mirror" hit the radio in 1987, urban America had endured a decade and a half of economic misery.Īt the same time, Michael Jackson himself didn't have much first-hand experience with poverty. And while things improved overall in the 1980s, ruinous economic conditions continued to wrack most American inner cities. The 1970s brought nationwide recession, inflation, and unemployment. Jackson lived through an era of American history when there was plenty of economic misfortune to go around. Jackson founded the now-defunct Heal the World Foundation in 1992, and since his death has been recognized for a legacy of charitable giving. In 1985, Jackson's " We Are the World," recorded with Lionel Richie and a slew of other stars, served as the centerpiece for a large fundraising effort against poverty in Africa. Jackson donated proceeds from sales of the "Man in the Mirror" single to a camp for children with cancer, and ticket sales from one of the shows on the Bad tour went to an organization working against child abuse. And whatever his other motives may have been, Jackson was known for being active in his charitable giving and involvement with social justice. The "Man in the Mirror" video makes it clear that Jackson wanted to connect the song explicitly in fans' minds with themes of racial justice, civil rights, and the problems of poverty. A child star with the Jackson 5 from 1969 on, Jackson had become, by the late 1980s, "The King of Pop." He was a superstar about as high profile as any singer, ever. It's hard to know what's inside a man's soul, but there's no question that the Jackson family, and especially the superstar Michael, was well situated to make social statements. So, did Jackson mean it when he said it was time to look in the mirror and make that change? There's no denying the earnest message of "Man in the Mirror." Improve yourself, improve the world, or "be the change you wish to see in the world," if we want to borrow the common bumper-sticker phrasing (or as most people think, Gandhi).īut how sincere, really, was Michael Jackson in singing this ballad of social change? After all, MJ didn't pen the words the song was actually written by backup singer Siedah Garrett and producer Glen Ballard.
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