"That is why I want to forgive my father and to stop judging him. I want to forgive my father, because I want a father, and this is the only one that I’ve got. I want the weight of my past lifted from my shoulders and I want to be free to step into a new relationship with my father, for the rest of my life, unhindered by the goblins of the past.

To all of you tonight who feel let down by your parents, I ask you to let down your disappointment. To all of you tonight who feel cheated by your fathers or mothers, I ask you not to cheat yourself further. And to all of you who wish to push your parents away, I ask you to extend you hand to them instead. I am asking you, I am asking myself, to give our parents the gift of unconditional love, so that they too may learn how to love from us, their children. So that love will finally be restored to a desolate and lonely world."

"Michael’s background in making his own show clothes was ever present in his style, particularly in his jackets. The outfit he donned in the “Bad” short film was store-bought off the rack in a store off Melrose. He just had that eye for things that could work with a little magic added to them. Michael was window-shopping and saw the cotton jacket and pants, went in, and bought them. He took them to Western Costume Company in Melrose to have the outfit enhanced with buckles and straps and wore it in the “Bad” short film. Knowing he’d have to perform “Bad” live in concert wearing the short film outfit, Michael brought us in his street wear and asked us to modify it for the upcoming tour, making it performance friendly, durable, cleanable, and fit to dance in.

To make our version of “Bad”, the pieces came from 4 or 5 stores off of Melrose Avenue, and we used stretch gabardine to replace the cotton. The main objective was to enable the costume to function and fit better and to turn the outfit from street wear to performance wear. For some more “biker” essence, we severely embellished the jacket, pants, and gloves with twice as many buckles and straps.

For the 30^th anniversary Special, we made the Bad outfit in black patent leather, but the song was cut because the show was running too long."

~ Michael Bush

Michael listened to all types of music. For example, during the HIStory  sessions he was listening to two albums frequently, the first being “Ready to Die” by Biggie Smalls & the second (which he was a big fan of) “The Downward Spiral” by Nine Inch Nails.

Morphine the haunting and gritty masterpiece is basically Heavy Metal & deeply influenced by Nine Inch Nails, one of the most innovative acts of that time. Michael wrote the song discussing a very disturbing & personal subject, drug addiction.

The relentless funky beat crashing like metal waves and pressurized gas synthesizer sounds hissing with Slash’s & Michael’s aggressive guitar riffs (yea, MJ plays guitar on this) make this Gothic pop at it’s finest and one of Michael’s most experimental songs ever, lyrically and sonically. Something that would have made Nine Inch’s front man Trent Reznor proud. Michael even uses an audio clip from David Lynch’s “The Elephant Man” (who Michael related with on some level). “You heard what the doctor said….go on…take it and….” from Matron Mothershead to the Merrick character played by John Hurt.

But it’s not just the subject matter but how it was conveyed and expressed. Michael’s lashes out in anger and pain, almost screaming in the verses then transcending into a calm but creepy, paranoid state … “relax, this won’t hurt you” before switching back with a grunting “Ohhh!!!”, as if he’s experiencing violent mood swings of some kind and physiological reaction on and off drugs (Demerol and Morphine)

(Hittade denna text på Tumblr)