Abstract: This month, MJ Studies Today columnist Kerry Hennigan considers the importance of Michael Jackson’s song “Stranger In Moscow” in the context of what happened to the artist that prompted him to write agonising lyrics like “Armageddon of the brain” and “here abandoned in my fame.” At a time in his life when he was very low, Jackson produced a masterpiece that can speak to all of us during difficult times.
Column by Kerry Hennigan, editor of the free monthly newsletter A Candle for Michael, administrator of the fan group “Michael Jackson’s Short Film Ghosts” on Facebook, and an MJ blogger on WordPress. Kerry is retired from the workforce but remains a life-long student of archaeology, history, and anthropology. She holds Certificates in the Archaeology of the Ancient World and the Archaeology of Ancient Britain from Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education and is passionate about Viking longships.
REFERENCE AS:
Hennigan, Kerry. “MJ Studies Today CXIII: ‘Armageddon of the Brain.’ The relevance of Michael Jackson’s ‘Stranger In Moscow’ in our lives.” (14-05-2025). The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies Vol 11, No. 4 (2025). https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mj-studies-today-cxiii/
The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies asks that you acknowledge The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies as the source of our content; if you use material from The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies online, we request that you link directly to the stable URL provided. If you use our content offline, we ask that you credit the source as follows: “Courtesy of The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies.”
“Armageddon of the Brain.” The relevance of Michael Jackson’s “Stranger In Moscow” in our lives.
By Kerry Hennigan
Photo montage © Kerry Hennigan
It was a particularly low time in Michael Jackson’s life. In September 1993 he was in the Soviet Union on his Dangerous world tour, riding a crest of popularity unlike any seen in the history of the music industry, when he received the shocking news. Back in California, he had been accused in a civil suit of inappropriate behaviour towards a boy whom he had befriended and whose family had become something of a fixture in his own life. Now the family was suing him for financial compensation. Jackson was emotionally crushed by the allegations, the nature of which were abhorrent to him. Michael did what anyone should do at such a time: he phoned a friend, his musical director for the tour, Brad Buxer, and had him come round and play some chords on the piano in the hotel suite.[1][2] The end result was a song that would not be heard by the public until nearly two years later, but it can be argued that “Stranger In Moscow” is one of the most achingly beautiful tracks Jackson ever recorded.
“Stranger In Moscow” speaks to the loneliness and alienation felt by many individuals across all levels of society, irrespective of nationality and ideology. Artists at least have the ability to express their feelings through their work. According to Melanie Walker of Art Business News, “Visual [and audio] representation of an artist’s personal story makes others with similar struggles feel seen. Depression is the modern world’s most widespread disease that doesn’t discriminate. Artists, therefore, act as mediums between the deep and complex experiences depression entails and their audience.”[3]
Earlier in 1993, Michael Jackson had performed at the Super Bowl in Los Angeles. His approx.13 minute show is appropriately credited with changing the nature of the half time entertainment from one of marching bands and minor acts to major artists who bring all the bells and whistles to their performances. Before Michael, no-one had commanded that number of half time viewers, in fact, people who tuned in for the game would often turn off during the break. Michael changed all that.[4] Not just at the Super Bowl, but in all his solo stage shows, Jackson led the charge in turning on-stage entertainment into supercharged performance art. Even if he didn’t do it first, he did it better, and he made the world take notice, motivated by his desire to use his art as a means to “heal the world,” as he put it in the track of the same name. (His efforts towards making this a reality would eventually earn him a Guinness World Record for his philanthropy, i.e. Most Charities supported by a Pop Star.) [5]
But when the news of the allegations reached Jackson in Moscow in 1993, his spirits had plummeted. It was, in his own words, “a strange, eerie, lonely time…Outside my hotel was just a sea of faces of fans, chanting and screaming, but I was inside my room and I felt so all alone like I was the last person on the planet .”[6] The lyrics to the song that came out of this were totally autobiographical, he said. “When you hear lines like ‘here abandoned in my fame, Armageddon of the brain’ – at the time, on the last tour when we were in Moscow, that’s really how I felt…just all alone in my hotel, and it was raining – and I just started writing it.”[7]
Brad Buxer remembers, “He was really depressed at the time with everything going on.”[8] Together the two worked on the song for an hour and a half, until they ran out of time. Buxer didn’t even ask for credit for his musical contribution to the song. “We were on tour so that was it for the time; we didn’t work on it [further] because a lot of times he was just trying to keep his head together. If you listen to the lyrics…he was going through some really tough things.”[9]
The song was revisited in preparation for Michael’s double album HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book 1. “Stranger In Moscow” appeared as Track #3 on Disc 2 of the set in June 1995, and was released as the final single off the album a year later. To promote the song, an evocative black-and-white short film by photographer Nick Brandt was released and has touched many fans with its images of isolation and alienation, and a world through which one walks out of pace with time.
Brandt had worked with Michael on the short films for “Earth Song” and “Childhood” also from the HIStory… album. His sensitivity for the subject matter as represented by the lyrics, and choice of black and white rather than colour imagery, makes “Stranger In Moscow” hauntingly beautiful. The shots of Michael walking in the rain, and eventually, opening himself up to feeling every drop in an almost sacrificial manner, or perhaps embracing life in spite of his alienation by the media – and others – are some of the most beautiful images of Jackson ever captured on film. Could this be the same prank-loving pop star who liked pillow fights and dropped water balloons from the balcony of his hotel?
While he would never lose his sense of fun, it is probably true that the maturation of Michael Jackson can be traced back to the devastating news he received when he was in Moscow in September 1993. The emotions he felt at that time, the lyrics he wrote, the chords Brad Buxer played for him, marked the birth of a significant work of art that became “Stranger In Moscow.” This is what great artists do in the face of disaster: they create masterpieces that remind us that, no matter how big, how successful, how universally loved they may be, artists are still human beings. They are not impervious to pain or emotional anguish.
One of the important “take-aways” from “Stranger In Moscow” is that it reminds us that all of humanity is susceptible to feelings of abject sorrow, depression and despair. That susceptibility is something we all share, but in which we can also take solace. After the rain comes the sunshine, and from that combination comes growth. That growth may produce something beautiful: a sprouting seed that will grow into a magnificent tree, or a song – like “Stranger In Moscow.”
Kerry Hennigan
14 May 2025
Sources:
[1] Jax, Pez. The Story of HIStory. Sixteen11 Media Group, 2020 pp 101-102.
[2] Vogel, Joseph. “3. Stranger In Moscow.” Man In The Music. The Creative Life and Work of Michael Jackson. Vintage paperback edition, 2019 pp 308-311.
[3] Walker, Melanie. “Is There a Connection Between Depression and Creativity?” Art Business News. Published digitally Feb 16, 2023 at https://artbusinessnews.com/2023/02/is-there-a-connection-between-depression-and-creativity/
[4] Cole, Samuel. “20 Ways Michael Jackson’s 1993 Halftime Show Changed Super Bowl History.” Published electronically Feb 11, 2025. Retrieved 29 Apl 2025 at https://backintimetoday.com/20-ways-michael-jacksons-1993-halftime-show-changed-super-bowl-history/
[5] Guinness World Records. “Most Charities supported by a Pop Star.” 2000. https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/105188-most-charities-supported-by-a-pop-star
[6] “Behind the song: ”Stranger in Moscow” by Michael Jackson.” https://www.popiconsblog.com/pop-icons/behind-the-song-stranger-in-moscow-by-michael-jackson
[7] Cadman, Chris and Halstead, Craig. Michael Jackson for the Record. 2nd edition – Revised and Expanded. 2009, pages 234-235.
[8] Najar, Brice. Let’s Make HIStory. CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2016, p.160.
[9] Najar, Brice. Let’s Make HIStory, p.161.
Illustration: “When you’re alone and you’re cold inside” compiled by Kerry Hennigan using Photoscape X Pro software. No infringement of original photographic copyright is intended in this not for profit, educational exercise.