Perhaps your've heard that Micheal Jackson has made some really famous music videos, and perhaps you've seen some of them. "Billie Jean", "Beat It", "Black Or White", etc. You know them all, but did you also know that Michael Jackson made basically the king of all celebrity cameo music videos? Well he did, and it's batshit insane.
So today, we're watching a music video that I feel like has been largely overshadowed by Jackson's other iconic video work, the ridiculous but fascinating video for "Liberian Girl" (1989), directed by Jim Yukich.
The music video takes place on the set of a music where everyone is waiting around to make a music video. However, the people that are waiting around are some of the most famous people in the world in 1989. Not just people many of us in 2013 will not recognize like Suzanne Somers and Lou Ferrigno, but people like Steven Spielberg and Whoopi Goldberg. Hell, Weird Al is in this. Fuckin' Billy Dee Williams is in this. Olivia Hussey from the Franco Zeffirelli version of Romeo and Juliet is in this. I have no idea why, but she's in it.
And they are literally just waiting around, wondering where Michael Jakson is while "Liberian Girl" plays relatively softly in the background. John Travolta kind of sings it, and a few others kind of sing it while they're waiting, but mostly people are just talking to each other and wondering where Michael Jackson is. There are some gags, like Don King's son having big hair (lol u guys). Of course, Bubbles does a little jokey thing too because he's a chimp and that's funny. Even Michael Jackson knew chimps are funny.
Towards the end, we are all treated to a bizarre glimpse of what it must've been like being Michael Jackson's friend in the late 1980s. After Dan Aykroyd inexplicable rides in on a police motorcycle and yells, "hey where's Michael?", Michael Jackson descends on a camera crane, looking into the view finder and wearing one of the all time greatest shit eating grins. The reactions are obviously staged but feign amazement when people like Danny Glover realize that Michael Jackson has been filming them the whole time, guys. You thought you were here to make a music video? Well you are the music video. Michael Jackson just blew your mind.
There are several things I find fascinating about this video. One is that the song in this video is completely incidental. This was the ninth single from Bad, so at this point I don't really know if anyone cared anymore about the specific song (the single was also never released in America, and the video never was either). The song might as well be playing on low volume in the background. "Liberian Girl" is also a pretty unengaging song that sort of flows steadily along, so it's a good background tune.
The other thing is the sheer insanity of the premise of Jackson's staged "prank". The message of the video seems to be less "omg prankin these famous people" and more "Michael Jackson can get the most famous contemporary entertainers in the world in a room without telling them what is going on and they will take it". When Akroyd say "oh Mike!" when Michael Jackson is lowering himself towards them, barely able to contain his giggle, I detect a twinge of helplessness in Akroyd's voice. Michael Jackson is the king of all these people, and Michael Jackson will do what Michael Jackson wants to. After the joke there is a forced golf clap-like applause that tells you all you need to know.
This feels like a look at the sort of sheer insanity that I'm sure everyday life with Michael Jackson was like, and for that I'm glad we have this video. And the best part? David Spade was in this video but Michael Jackson asked Jim Yukich to remove him because he didn't know who he was. As the article we linked to points out, David Spade was not even on SNL until a year after this video, so why he was there in the first place is a mystery to us.
