2 Michael Jackson reviews, 1995

One of the only times this happened: Two entirely different (albeit seeing eye to eye) longer-than-blurb reviews of the same album, contributed to two different publications with minimal shared readership — both, for some bizarre reason, neglecting to mention the angry staccato Top 30 single “They Don’t Care About Us,” a prime piece of past-his-prime Michael Jackson paranoia marred by casual anti-semitism (“Jew Me,” “kike me”) and covered a quarter century later by the Finnish-Hungarian-Greek power metal band Beast In Black. Also not sure what inspired me to verbally attack Jam & Lewis; I’m hardly their biggest booster, but “hacks” is overkill, and they are no doubt responsible for a few records I love. As for the troubled and troubling superstar they produce here, for deeper investigations one can consult my writings about Dangerous and Blood on the Dancefloor, both collected in my third book.

Eye Weekly, 29 June 1995

Request, September 1995