On 2 March 1988, Michael Jackson performed live on television for the first time in five years at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The last time had been the night he did the moonwalk. Expectations were not small.
He arrived at the 30th Grammy Awards with four nominations for Bad. He won nothing. Reports from the night describe him as visibly deflated — he had genuinely hoped Bad would beat the records Thriller set.
But what he did on that stage is still talked about.
Michael Jackson – The Way You Make Me Feel and Man In The Mirror 30th Annual Grammy 1988
It began with the lights going down and a silhouette appearing behind a white screen — the same trick he used to open shows on the Bad tour. He stood completely still, hat tipped over his eyes, and glided slowly from one pose to another as the screen rose.
Then he did something with “The Way You Make Me Feel” that he never did anywhere else. He sang the opening dramatically slowed down, in a lower key, mimed putting out a cigarette on the floor — and his video co-star Tatiana Thumbtzen walked across the stage in front of him. Then the beat kicked in, he threw the hat, four dancers joined him, and he performed a variation on the choreography that exists in no other recording.
Michael Jackson – Man in the Mirror – 35th Annual Grammy Awards
Then the dancers left, and he sang “Man in the Mirror” with the New Hope Baptist Church Choir in blue gowns behind him, alongside Siedah Garrett — who co-wrote the song — and Andraé Crouch.
By the end, he was on his knees, and Crouch walked out to help him up and wipe his forehead, a gesture lifted straight from James Brown.
He got a standing ovation. He did not get a Grammy.
One thing to clear up, because it is constantly reported wrongly. Jackson did lose Record of the Year for “Man in the Mirror” to Bobby McFerrin’s “Don’t Worry, Be Happy” — but that happened at the next ceremony, in 1989. Two separate nights, routinely merged into one.