“There’s screaming all over the house.”
That was Michael Jackson talking in 1999. He didn’t mean a stadium full of fans, either. He meant his own living room, and the two tiny people who ran it.
Back then Michael was still a pretty new dad. His son Prince was born on Feb 13, 1997. His daughter Paris came along on April 3, 1998. So in April 1999, when Michael sat down in London with a British newspaper, he had a 2-year-old and a 1-year-old at home. The fan archive that saved the interview says it was his first newspaper interview in 20 years.
When the talk turned to his children, one thing he shared is a little funny when you think about who said it. This was the man who gave the world some of the biggest dance records ever made. You’d guess his children bounced to Dad’s songs from the day they could stand up.
They didn’t. The records that sent Prince and Paris flying around the room belonged to somebody else in the family.
It was his little sister, Janet Jackson.
Here’s how Michael described it, word for word: “To see my kids leaping round the room going mad to my sister Janet’s music is just fantastic. It fills my heart with so much joy. As soon as Janet’s songs with a good beat like ‘The Knowledge’ or ‘Rhythm Nation’ come on they both go crazy. You’d think a machine is moving them around. I start singing and there’s screaming all over the house. I start dancing and Prince is all in the way trying to dance with me.”
So the King of Pop had a toddler blocking his moves in his own house. And he sounds thrilled about it.
When he was asked which of Janet’s songs the kids liked, he didn’t have to think. On the interview audio he answers, “The Knowledge, Rhythm Nation any of the (starts beatboxing) all the songs with great grooves you know?” Yes, he actually beatboxed to explain his kids’ taste in music.
Both songs come from Janet’s 1989 album “Rhythm Nation 1814.” Play the first one he named and try to keep still yourself, because that’s exactly what a 2-year-old couldn’t do.
Janet Jackson’s “The Knowledge,” the first song Michael named
Now think about the second one coming on in that house. Michael starts singing along. The kids start screaming. Michael starts dancing and little Prince plants himself right in the middle.
Watch Janet’s video for the other song with that picture in your head, and it lands a little differently.
Janet’s “Rhythm Nation,” the song that set the kids off
There was one more twist in what Michael said. He wasn’t playing his own music for his children yet. The newspaper noted that he smiled when he explained why.
“I’m saving that for a surprise when they are a bit older,” he said.
He traveled a lot in those days. While he was away, the kids stayed with an old school friend of his. But he made sure they still heard his voice.
“I call them all the time and we have great conversations. Hearing them say ‘Dad! Dad!’ is such a thrill.”