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It’s been far too long since The MJCast had a good old fashioned Q&A episode, so the team is bringing this format back with host Jamon Bull and everyone’s favorite Brit, Charles Thomson! The guys received over 80 questions, with no topics barred, covering everything from their favorite songs, to fan experiences, to insights on legal proceedings. We so appreciate all of our MJ Fam who submitted questions (and wish we could have gotten to each and every question), and hope you enjoy this fascinating, deep-dive chat about all things MJ!
“The Pale Prince of Peculiarity”
1) Can you tell us what you know about MJ‘s relationship with Sony? What went wrong and why did he hate them so much at the end of his life? It‘s a really confusing topic for me.
Annie
2) If the planet was about to be blown up by an evil super villain, and the only way to save humanity was for Charles Thomson to perform either Heal The World, The Lost Children or I Just Can’t Stop Loving You – which one would he choose?
Neil G
3) There have been reports of a MJ movie in the works. Is this a good idea? If so, who should play Michael?
Tom Rujitermann
4) Do you think it’s possible that Taj’s series could change the minds of many people? Or do you feel Michael has been so dehumanised that people will never be able to see past what the media portrays?
Curtis Roberton
5) Invincible is Michael’s last album and probably worst in eyes of a lot of people. But for me, it’s one of his best. I have friends who aren’t MJ fans and I have shown them the Invincible album and they think it’s amazing and start downloading the album, almost like a lost MJ album. What positives can you say about Invincible?
6) During This Is It, there are moments where MJ looks fragile and ill, like the start of The Way You Make Me Feel. Later on, when MJ is in the blue, he looks on top form, same with They Don’t Care About Us–he looks great and on form? Why is this?
Gillian Rice
7) How often does Charles listen to Michael’s music? And what are his top 3 songs?
Wendy
8) Can you tell us what you know about all of the aftermath of Michael’s injuries during the 1999 concert? Like medically, how was he treated, how did people around him respond to it, and more?
9) Do you think Dan Egghead Reed Is going to make Leaving Neverland 2?
?
10) Do you like John Branca, and tell me all the reasons why not?
Bob
11) Were you surprised that the court dismissed the James Safechuck lawsuit?
Jonny
12) Any idea why MJ used to let Prince have his hair bleached at such a young age? Always wondered and unsure if it has ever been answered. Very young age to colour a child’s hair. Maybe the freedom of expression he allowed his children behind closed doors?
Bella
13) Are you ever going to do the estate roundtable episode you’ve been teasing us with for years?
Genevieve Castello Branco
14) Marcos Cabota’s documentary “Sonic Fantasy” is completed, but he’s facing legal issues to release it. Any details about such legal issues, which probably involve Bruce Swedien’s estate?
Bob
15) Off the Wall or Purple Rain?
Captain Blackthorne
16) Which song has Michael’s most impressive vocal performance? My vote it for Earth Song or Billie Jean.
17) Do we know any details about the “lost classical album” that Michael worked on before his passing?
Marni Cochrane
18) Dear Charles, what is the most interesting or surprising thing you learnt about MJ, his life and/or his work while working on the documentary with Taj and other collaborators, which was totally new to you?
Anita
19) How do we manage that Jamon and Elise will be invited to the next Halloween party hosted by the Jackson family?
Dane Thomson
20) What has shaped your views on life throughout your years?
“Oprah”
21) If MJ Estate approached you with an olive branch and ask for your help and input, what are the top 5 list of things that you like to immediately work on and do?
“Billie Jean”
22) Which MJCast special episode is your favorite why?
Constantinos
23) Top 5 guests who you would love to interview in the near future?
24) Would you like one day to create your own visual documentary to combine all your special interviews?
MJJQ
25) Out of each of Michael’s full length solo albums (OTW, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous, HIStory and Invincible), could you choose 1 track which is your personal favourite, and on the other hand, an unreleased demo or outtake song which could replace your least favourite track on each album – with short explanations as to why.
“James Brown”
26) Does anyone know what happened to the Vogue documentary that had a preview on YouTube and why it was never released?
27) How do you feel about supposed friends of MJ such as Quincy, some of the Ross family, etc, still openly supporting Oprah? Or do you think Oprah is just so big that it’s career suicide to come out against her?
Kieran Kibble
28) What are your top 3 MJ short films and why? Thanks for all the work you guys do in supporting Michael’s legacy.
Ben
29) What motivates you both to still remain active in the MJ fan community all these years later?
Dorsa
30) If you had to choose one documentary/book that captures the whole essence of Michael Jackson, which one would it be?
Suzie
31) If you had a time machine and could make two trips to the past, one to any MJ performance and one to any moment in Michael’s life where you could use your time to speak with him personally (and maybe warn him of certain things), which moments in time would you choose?
Debi T
32) How do you as hosts of The MJCast who have interviewed several members of the Jackson family feel about reports coming from the bodyguards, Randall Sullivan, and others that Michael’s family were a bunch of grifters during his life and after his death?
Mira Kontar
33) What are the best arguments to make when discussing Michael’s status as the greatest entertainer? I see weak arguments like he makes people faint or he can just stand there and entertain us, which doesn’t hold when discussing skill-set. I have my own answer, but I’d like to hear yours.
Dexter Williams
34) Between catching snippets of the Chauvin trial on television, and seeing discourse and comments about it on social media, I’ve wondered what effect having filmed MJ’s 2005 trial would have had. Do you think, in hindsight, that filming/broadcasting the 2005 trial on television would have hurt or harmed MJ’s reputation as far as the general public is concerned?
Shawn Clarence
35) If you had access to Michael’s vault and could release ONE Definitive Project, what would part/parts of Michael would you showcase and why?
36) Jamon, if you could sit in the studio and watch Michael record a song what would it be?
Additional Links
• The MJCast 063: Q Q&A
• The MJCast 069: C Q&A
• The MJCast 074: J Q&A
• The MJCast 099: Leaving Neverland Q&A
Sponsors
• Thank you to our anonymous listener, whose donation to The MJCast has allowed us to give back to Children International.
• The MJCast’s official shop. Support The MJCast and Michael Jackson all at the same time by buying some of our merchandise.
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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!
Hello to the Mj cast,thank you for another interesting show again and I enjoyed listening to Charles once again. I just want to say about the topic making a movie about Michael Jackson(not that I want one) as complicated as it is if they tell the truth it can’t be that bad.The truth about Michaels appearance mostly it’s the vitiligo(we need to talk about it without using it as an excuse it was different bag then not many people knew about it and even today many people don’t know much I have been exposed to it from a close friend not in public life and I witnessed the effects of it) and then whatever else it did,but he said it himself that it didn’t like his face and he thought that he looked like a lizard but I also read his nose would not heal because of the lupus decease that’s why it ended like this, and then it did drugs but it did proscription drugs not illegal but Prince did illegal drugs and he died from them (I like Prince).Put the truth out there make him human like so many of us you go to peoples houses and they have a special dedicated cabinet just for medicine how many people today suffering from depression and loneliness its big business these days,people kill themselves young and old from bullying and harassment even on line can you imagine being Michael Jackson every day something negative and all the name calling and then you have people who have health problems young and old I’ve got a friend she takes six different tablets for different things three times a day.How you nam the pane physical or emotional you turn to medication especially if you have a problem trusting people.Anyway about the phone call from Jordan Chandler I read about it about ten years ago on vindicating Michael from Helena.Prince and his white hair are we sure that they were bleaching his hair am asking because I have a close relative her son was born with white hard sticking up hair lots of them by two years old he lost them all and the new ones come out dark brown and soft,now he’s in his forties he is white again it can happened.Thank you.
This was really good fun and I felt Charles even didn’t swear as much as usual 😁
A couple of reations:
– Recording Speed of The Way You Make me Feel: Jamon if you listen to the 2001 MSG concerts, I think the playback used for the song might be the original pitch.
– MJ vs. Sony: I’ve often wondered if he still felt at war with Sony after Mottola left in 2003. And then, how easy/complex would it be for the Estate to release projects with songs originally recorded under Sony?
– Depression: completely agree that his behaviour seemed to indicate depression, for me most notably in the early 2000 when he started complaining a lot, like the New York public accusations with Al Sharpton “They called me a homosexual!” and the crowd “booh!” – Michael are you listening to yourself? – or the 2003 allegations: “they’re trying to sabotage me because I have a new record coming out, they always do that!” like One More Chance was anything to write home about. Complaining without seemingly doing anything to sort out what was wrong, other than more complaining and completely losing control over his image.
– Escape not being on Invicible: I remember when it leaked, there were reports that he was absolutely furious because he had plans for the song. My guess is that it came down to either Unbreakable or Escape and he seemed to favour any song with “break” in them for the album 😁
Loved this episode, thank you!!
Alexandre (he/him)
I forgot:
– Childhood recording with the coughing: it’s here 😬: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7MIonrFV680
Is this the MJcast or the Princecast? WTF!
I find it interesting that Charles admits he completely ignores all of Michael’s Motown work (that he lost his childhood to produce) simply because Michael wasn’t involved in the writing and production, How about listening to it because simply for his beautiful singing voice and performance. Charles mentions Michael’s vocal performance as a criteria for him liking a song, well Michael has so many awe inspiring vocal performances as a child. “Happy” for example is absolutely beautiful. And Motown has released so much unreleased music since his death. Charles is missing out.