117: Howard Bloom Special

Howard Bloom joins host Elise Capron for her first solo episode to discuss his time working as Michael Jackson’s publicist in the 1980’s, during the Victory era. Though Bloom grew up as full-blown science nerd who knew nothing about popular music, he fell into the music world through magazine publishing, and, in 1976, founded what would become one of the biggest PR firms in the music industry during the ’70s and ’80s. He helped build or sustain the careers of more than 100 rock and roll icons, including Prince, Bob Marley, Joan Jett, ZZ Top, Bette Midler, Billy Joel, and, of course, Michael Jackson.

Howard and Elise discuss his fascinating and unusual journey into music, how he came to work with the Jackson family, and dig deep into Howard’s philosophies around what made Michael Jackson so seemingly magical—a concept Howard describes as “finding the gods within”. They also chat about Howard’s new book, which goes even further into his many great stories, Einstein, Michael Jackson, & Me: A Search for Soul in the Power Pits of Rock and Roll.

Additional Links
• Howard Bloom’s website, Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube channel.
• Buy Howard’s new book here.

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If you have feedback on this Michael Jackson podcast episode, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at themjcast@icloud.com or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!

One Reply to “117: Howard Bloom Special”

  1. alexinou

    What a fantastic episode.
    I was looking forward to listening to Elise as I hadn’t had the chance yet – still catching up with the MJ Cast’s “back catalogue”, and we are in for a treat!
    Howard Bloom is fascinating to listen to, he sounds strong minded, with clear ideas and a quest for truth. I would have loved to hear how he ended up leaving the music industry and learn more about the projects he mentioned at the very end.
    Howard’s story is mesmerising and although I would have loved to get to know more Elise throughout this episode, I commend her decision to give Howard space to tell his story. I could have listened to him for hours.
    Howard sounds very meticulous, I suspect he might have prepared his participation in the programme with great details and I am grateful for his captivating storytelling.
    I particularly liked his approach that highlights the difference between believing and knowing:
    We believe Michael Jackson was innocent of all the abuse he is accused off, based on our studying him for many years and the amount of proofs that demonstrate that all his accusers have lied. But we do not actually know, nor can anyone ever know what he felt.

    Howard mentions Michael Jackson had been preparing the tour for a year, I would be very interested in learning how it started, at which point during the Thriller promotion and how it was envisaged.

    This episode was a real treat, thank you!

    Alexandre (he/him)

    Reply

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