Abstract: When working on new material for his 1987 album Bad, Michael Jackson wrote a song about the experience of fame, the media and the pressures of being a successful show business professional. Called, appropriately, “The Price of Fame,” a demo of the song was released in 2012 on the 25th anniversary reissue of Bad. In this month’s MJ Studies Today column, Kerry Hennigan looks at the song in the context of it being an autobiographical commentary of Michael Jackson’s life.
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 and travel writer on WordPress. Academically, Kerry holds Certificates in Archaeology from Cambridge University’s Institute of Continuing Education. She is passionate about Viking longships and global trade routes from the Bronze Age to the Medieval period.
REFERENCE AS:
Hennigan, Kerry. “MJ Studies Today CXV: Michael Jackson and ‘The Price of Fame’ – the song as a commentary on his life in the spotlight.” (14-07-2025). The Journal of Michael Jackson Academic Studies Vol 12, No. 1 (2025). https://michaeljacksonstudies.org/mj-studies-today-cxv/
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Michael Jackson and “The Price of Fame” – the song as a commentary on his life in the spotlight.
By Kerry Hennigan
Photo montage © Kerry Hennigan
For music and art critics generally, and in particular for those who write on Michael Jackson, understanding his relationship with success and international fame and the media scrums that always surrounded him is crucial to understanding the emotions that infused some of his music and short films. Released in 2012 as a demo extra on the Bad 25 anniversary album, “The Price of Fame” is an example of Jackson using his art to express his feelings about constant media scrutiny and the general pressures of super stardom. Matt Forger worked on the song with Bill Bottrell, both frequent collaborators with Jackson in the studio throughout his career. “You can just tell it’s an emotionally charged song,” Forger says. “It’s clearly based on his experience but blended with other characters and people’s experiences as well.”[1]
I feel their envious looks at me
Their mistaken jealousy
Then stand here in my shoes
And then get a taste of my blues! [2]
The excessive scrutiny and often unfair (and inaccurate) assumptions made of artists by the media are indicative of an industry that, almost since its inception, has loved to build up individuals as almost superhuman, only to later savagely deconstruct that image. Often referred to as the “tall poppy syndrome,” there are critics and commentators who appear determined to bring successful individuals back down to earth. Anyone that successful has to have some dirty little secrets, right? There are gross generalisations at play here that certainly suggest “mistaken jealousy.”
Unless, that is, Jackson is talking about jealousies closer to home, i.e. sibling rivalries. This has been suggested of Michael and his older brother Jermaine, whom Michael replaced as lead singer of the Jackson 5, [3] and younger sister Janet and Michael were reputedly very competitive in terms of their respective careers. But sibling rivalry and competitiveness occur in all walks of life, and it should come as no surprise that the serpent of jealousy raised its head occasionally amongst the many members of such a creative and driven (by patriarch Joseph) family. However, according to Jermaine, “we’ve [the Jackson family] always been able to put matters into perspective and move on.”[4]
My father always told me
You won’t live a quiet life
If you’re reaching for fortune and fame [5]
Michael Jackson’s relationship with his father was one fraught with regrets of a lost childhood and the emotional scars of corporal punishment. Yet Michael did not hesitate to credit Joseph for instilling in him the attitude that “the show must go on,” despite any personal pain one might be feeling. For example, in 1999 during his Michael Jackson and Friends charity concert in Munich, a hydraulic bridge accidentally came down at an accelerated rate, with Michael standing on it singing “Earth Song.” Michael duly climbed back up on the stage and finished the song – and the show – because of the show business professionalism he had learned from his father.[6] Inevitably, there are consequences to such stoicism: after that concert Jackson collapsed and was rushed to hospital where he was treated for a back injury which, “according to Jermaine and others,” Zach O’Malley Greenburg writes, “troubled him for the rest of his life – and led him to seek more prescription drugs to relieve the pain.”[7]
My father never lies
So don’t be feelin’ no pain boy! [8]
Of “The Price of Fame,” Joe Vogel writes, “One of the recurring themes in Jackson’s work…is about being in control versus being controlled.”[9] Unlike with “Billie Jean,” where the lyrics reference a mother’s cautioning advice to her son to “be careful who you love,” in “The Price of Fame” Vogel suggests “the father dominates via harsh dictums about the realities of show business.”[10]
Michael acknowledged in interviews that Joseph had taught him everything he needed to know about showbusiness from an early age. “He trained me as a showman,” Michael said in 2001, “and under his guidance, I couldn’t miss a step.”[11] It was a tough kind of training by all accounts, resulting in a father and son bond that was ever present as subtext in Jackson’s adult life. Despite all he said he owed his father with respect to his career, Michael admitted that all he ever really wanted was a Dad. “I wanted a father who showed me love. And my father never did that.”[12]
In Jackson’s own words in Moonwalk, “The price of fame can be a heavy one. Is the price you pay worth it? Consider that you really have no privacy. You can’t really do anything unless special arrangements are made. The media prints whatever you say. They report whatever you do. They know what you buy, which movies you see, you name it…All of this is the price of fame.”[13] For most individuals this kind of all-pervasive, ever-present scrutiny is not only beyond comprehension, but would likely not be tolerated. For Michael Jackson, it was his reality from childhood right up to the day he died – two months shy of his 51st birthday.
I bleed all this pain, don’t you ever complain! [14]
Kerry Hennigan
14 July 2025
Sources:
[1] Vogel, Joseph. Michael Jackson and the Reinvention of Pop. “Bad: the Outtakes.” Blakevision Books 2017, p 100.
[2] Jackson, Michael. “The Price of Fame.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC. Source: https://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/m/michael_jackson/price_of_fame.html
[3] Philips, Chuck. “Jermaine Jackson: ‘word to the Badd!!’ a Call to Michael…” LA Times, Nov 7, 1991. Retrieved 12 Jul 2025 from https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-11-07-ca-1387-story.html
[4] Jackson, Jermaine. You Are Not Alone: Michael, Through a Brother’s Eyes. Harper UK paperback edition 2012, p 297.
[5] Jackson, Michael. “The Price of Fame.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
[6] Greenburg, Zack O’Malley. Michael Jackson, Inc.: The Rise, Fall, and Rebirth of a Billion-Dollar Empire. Atria Books, 2014, p 182.
[7] Greenburg, p 182.
[8] Jackson, Michael. “The Price of Fame.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
[9] Vogel, Joseph. Michael Jackson and the Reinvention of Pop, p 99.
[10] Vogel, Joseph. Michael Jackson and the Reinvention of Pop, pp 99-100.
[11] Speech by Michael Jackson at the Oxford Union, UK, 6 March 2001. Transcript in Lewis, Jel D. Michael Jackson, The King of Pop. An Anthology by Jel D. Lewis (Jones). Amber Books, 2005 p 158.
[12] Speech by Michael Jackson at the Oxford Union, in Lewis(Jones) 2005 p. 158. An audio recording of the speech can be accessed on YouTube at https://youtu.be/PkElyPTY1u8?si=Hu1drT5Bre_5q07p
[13] Jackson, Michael. Moonwalk. Arrow paperback edition 2010, pp 270-271.
[14] Jackson, Michael. “The Price of Fame.” Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Illustration: “The Price of fame…” photo montage compiled by Kerry Hennigan using Photoscape X Pro software. No infringement of original photographic copyright is intended in this not for profit, educational exercise.