12 épisodes
Think Twice: Michael Jackson Wondery
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- Society & Culture
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4,3 • 69 notes
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More than a decade since Michael Jackson’s death, his legacy remains complicated and unresolved. Think Twice: Michael Jackson is an exploration of the King of Pop’s life and impact – and an investigation into why his global influence continues to endure, despite the disturbing allegations against him. In this ten-part series, journalists Leon Neyfakh and Jay Smooth bring you a new perspective on the Michael Jackson story, based on dozens of original interviews with people who watched it unfold from up close.
You can binge every episode of Think Twice: Michael Jackson, ad-free on Amazon Music, Wondery+ or Audible.
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Is This Scary?
It’s 1993 and Michael Jackson is on top of the world: receiving lifetime achievement awards, appearing at Bill Clinton’s inaugural gala, performing at the Super Bowl Halftime Show. More popular and powerful than he’s ever been, he uses that caché to create a music video that stands among his most personal and prescient works. Then everything falls apart.
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All Children, Except One, Grow Up
As news breaks of the first sexual abuse allegations against Michael, reporters scramble to dig up any information they can while Michael Jackson’s PR machine battles to control the narrative. Meanwhile, a by-the-book LAPD detective struggles to investigate the case in the midst of the frenzy.
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Big Boy
Michael Jackson’s childhood, or lack thereof, is cited constantly in the conversation around his relationships with children. In this episode, we go back to Michael’s earliest days in Gary, Indiana, where he grows up under the domineering hand of his father while he and his brothers take the local music scene by storm in search of a better life.
Think Twice: Michael Jackson was produced by Dustin DeSoto, Benjamin Frisch, Kim Gittleson, Danielle Hewitt, Sam Lee, Leon Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons, and Jay Smooth, and edited by Diane Hodson. The lead producers for this episode were Jay Smooth and Sam Lee.
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The Sound of Young America
The Jackson family signs with the Motown Record Corporation and moves out to California. As Black artists across the country are achieving new levels of visibility, the Jackson 5 become an overnight sensation and a young Michael must navigate growing up in the spotlight as the front man of America’s hottest boy band.
Think Twice: Michael Jackson was produced by Dustin DeSoto, Benjamin Frisch, Kim Gittleson, Danielle Hewitt, Sam Lee, Leon Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons, and Jay Smooth, and edited by Diane Hodson. The lead producer for this episode was Danielle Hewitt.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. -
Wiz Kid
As the Jackson family tries to stay relevant as former teenyboppers, Michael Jackson breaks away in New York City and stars in a movie based on The Wizard of Oz that sets the course for the rest of his life.
Think Twice: Michael Jackson was produced by Dustin DeSoto, Benjamin Frisch, Kim Gittleson, Danielle Hewitt, Sam Lee, Leon Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons, and Jay Smooth. It was edited by Diane Hodson. The lead producer for this episode was Benjamin Frisch.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info. -
Michael on High
Michael Jackson climbs to new heights with the success of his Thriller album and the groundbreaking music videos that follow. But he finds that his fame and faith are on a collision course, and he's forced to make a choice.
Think Twice: Michael Jackson was produced by Dustin DeSoto, Benjamin Frisch, Kim Gittleson, Danielle Hewitt, Sam Lee, Leon Neyfakh, Andrew Parsons, and Jay Smooth, and edited by Diane Hodson. The lead producer for this episode was Dustin DeSoto.
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Avis des utilisateurs
Multifaceted
This podcast gave me a fuller picture of both Michael Jackson’s faults and failures, and his contributions and accomplishments. Listening through the whole series my opinion on MJ went up and down with every episode it seemed—the hosts resist giving a definitive thumbs up or thumbs down, but grapple with the complexity of the mark Michael made on the world. More accurately, they highlight Michael Jackson shaped hole he left behind. I recommend it.
Not appropriate
Poor quality. Content is highly racist.
One-sided and manipulative rubbish
The more you study the life of Michael Jackson, the more you realize how he was living in conditions that did not allow him to live a childhood. Whether at Gary Indiana which was plagued in Crime and violent gang fights to Hollywood's opportunistic climate, he never lived a peaceful childhood free from parasites and dangerous individuals. If he was good at detecting the parasites in showbiz so that he would not befriend them, he was unfortunately not very good at detecting the ordinary people and families who only befriended him for his cash and work opportunities. His family has always been welcoming toward everyone. That is why so many fans got to visit Neverland and get to have easy dialogues with the Jackson family. That family is among the most accessible toward the public. So Michael's welcoming nature was something that he did as well. But as a bigger celebrity than the rest of his family, he became at the mercy of more parasitic individuals than other celebs. Such as the Chandlers, the Arvizos, the Robsons, and the Safechucks.
What is infuriating is how the latter two families were constantly praising him and defending him when he was alive and when he was dead for many years. But the minute they got money issues or career problems (ex: Robson's Cirque du Soleil failed opportunity), then they decided to claim the opposite of what they stood by under oath for many decades.
As someone who consulted the testimonials of hundreds and hundreds of people who either befriended or interacted closely around MJ, I noticed how they were all supportive and very defensive of him as one of the best human being that they ever met. Whereas those who interacted around his accusers, including people who never met Michael, all had very strong and negative words about these accusers' history and about their behaviors either in public, in private, or at work.
Furthermore, I find it baffling and hypocritical that some medias make a big fuss about MJ being friends with families and with kids, but when other adult celebrities also develop a friendship with kids or with child actors/actresses, they don't experience such media attacks.
Personally, the reason MSM have decided to demonize MJ since the 1980s has something to do with his vitiligo and lupus, and most of all his success with Thriller and his purchase of that music catalogue containing the Beatles songs. Had he not experienced these situations, then he would not have gone through such witch hunts since the 1980s.
Anyone who wants to know more information about Michael can consult the podcasts called "Michael Jackson Case for Innocence", "Red Jackson Dance", "The Mjcast", and the documentaries "Square One MJ", "The Lies of Leaving Neverland”, “Michael Jackson Private Home Movies”, “Michael Jackson Take Two The Footage You Were Never Meant to See”, “Michael Jackson The Humanitarian” and “Loving Neverland”. These sources of information are precious and rich in information that the media refuses to adequately represent.