The Invisible Man Returns

This year, however, things don't bode as well. In part, that's because Jackson is facing significantly stiffer competition. Artists like U2 and Prince have fashioned some of the most ambitious and visionary music of their careers — music that reflects the state of pop and the world in complex and enlivening ways. By contrast, Jackson's latest LP, Bad, is foremost a celebration of the mystique and celebrity of the artist himself.

More important, though, there is a suspicion among many critics and observers that Jackson's season as pop's favorite son may have passed. Indeed, when Jackson arrived in New York this week, he picked up some bitter hints of this possibility. In the 1987 Rolling Stone Readers and Critics Poll (RS 521), Jackson placed first in six of the readers' "worst of the year" categories (including "worst male singer" and "worst album"); in addition, the 1987 Village Voice critics poll failed to mention Jackson's Bad in its selection of 1987's forty best LPs. This is a startling turnaround from a few years ago, when Jackson and his work topped the same polls in both publications.

There are numerous — and sometimes opposing — ways to view this development. According to his detractors, Jackson has created his own difficulties. His oversize ambitions and his much–vaunted "weirdness" have combined to help fuel a massive backlash that has made the pop star if not distasteful to the public, at least far less compelling.

Yet there are also those who claim that Jackson's troubles are the work of an overcritical press — that, in fact, he would not be seen to have lost so much of his public standing if the American media did not portray it that way. This may seem like a defensive posture, and yet it is not without some validity. Certainly, Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley and the Beatles were often reviled — and sometimes damaged — by the coverage they received from an uncomprehending media.

In Jackson's case, though, the media's response has often seemed extraordinary — and excessive. "Your own magazine sometimes hurts us a lot," says Dileo who — like virtually everybody around Jackson — is incensed by the results of the Rolling Stone poll.

What does Dileo think he or Jackson can do to counter the backlash?

"We don't try to counter it," Dileo says, "because we just don't care. We just hope it goes away. I mean, it seems there's nothing you can do to counter it. It's like this: Michael just gave $600,000 to the UNCF. He didn't do that to counter press. We already had a scholarship fund set up; we already gave away ninety–seven scholarships in four years — it's just that nobody cared to find out. And did you know that Michael supports a camp for children with cancer or that he has a wing at Mount Sinai Hospital for leukemia patients? Nobody has reported that, and if we release that news, it just looks like we're trying to create an image. When Michael sees something in the press that makes him uncomfortable, I say, 'Mike, we're big boys. We'll take our lumps. We got a great album. Sooner or later people will discover that album, 'cause it ain't gonna go away.'"

Dileo rests his cigar in an ashtray, then leans forward. "Consider all the early reports about Bad and how it wasn't selling like Thriller. Well, with: Thriller we sold 40 million records, but it only took us: two years to sell the first 35 million. But Bad was out for only two weeks, and already; there were articles comparing the sales between the two albums, as if the new record were a stiff. But as of now, this album has sold over 13 million copies worldwide, and we are ready to have our fourth Number One single from it Maybe we'll do five in a row. Why aren't they talking about that? You know, where is the justice?"

Dileo retrieves his cigar and leans back, smiling. "Let me ask yoou this," he says. "What happens if Bad doesn't match Thriller but ends up still selling 25 million and becomes the second largest album of all time? What are the people going to say to that? That we're losers?"