飙25（2012）

我有种重生的感觉 因为在工作那么久之后
I feel rejuvenated, kind of, because after working on it so long,
工作那么多
it’s so much work.
很多人都只习惯于看到工作的成果
A lot of people, they’re used to just seeing the outcome of work.
他们从来不会关注获得这些成果的过程
They never see the side of the work you go through to produce
我重获了新生 很高兴
the outcome, and I feel, you know, rejuvenated and happy,
这真的是种重生
it’s a jubilation, is what it is.
就像庆祝吧 我们做到啦
It’s like a celebration, it’s like, “We’re done!”
我想一个公认的事实是”Thriller” 是史上销量最高的专辑
People were holding on to the fact that Thriller was the biggest selling record in the world.
你要如何和这样的辉煌匹敌呢
How are you going to follow up on something like that?
几乎不可能啊 你试试把这话讲给Michael Jackson听听
It’s almost impossible. Try telling that to Michael Jackson, though.
Thriller是那个年代的重磅炸♥弹♥
Thriller is the blockbuster behemoth in the era
这本身就是个巨星辈出的年代
of blockbuster artists. You know, that was the era
有着Madonna Springsteen 和Whitney Huston
when you had Madonna, Springsteen, Whitney Houston,
那么多巨星和和优秀的音乐作品 加上音乐录音带正大唱主角
so big stars, big albums, MTV era, music videos are in ascendance.
这张专辑依然是这样一个时代的标志性作品
And that’s the signature album of that era.
至今为止Thriller全球销量超过了1亿张
Thriller sold over 100 million copies worldwide to date.
美国本土有3500万张 海外有超过7000万张得销量
35 million in the US, over 70 million outside the US,
这还不包括单曲唱片的销量
and that’s not even counting singles.
世界为Michael和 Thriller专辑疯狂了三年多
There was a mania around Michael
真的很难再创同样的辉煌
and Thriller for those three years that was very difficult to
回头看看猫王 Frank Sinatra
capture again, and you go back to Elvis, or Frank Sinatra,
甚至是披头士 包括今天的Justin Bieber LadyGAGA
or the Beatles, even today with Justin Bieber or Lady Gaga,
无论在时间和空间概念里
it’s a space and time, the window’s only opened so far,
这样的辉煌之门只为Thriller敞开了 那简直神奇的杰作
and Thriller captured that. It was magical.
Thriller打破了有记载的所有纪录
Thriller broke every record that existed, and it sold more records
它是音乐史上最畅销的专辑
than any other album in the history of the music industry.
对大多数人来说他只是疯狂的小杰克
To most of us he’s just Wacko Jacko,
但有些媒体并宣称他用巴黎水洗澡
and if some of the press are to be believed, he bathes in
用鲜花当午餐 还睡在氧气舱里
Perrier water, eats flowers for lunch, and sleeps in an oxygen tent,
总是和大猩猩 蛇
often with a chimp, a snake,
甚至外星人为伴 多么诡异的三角恋啊
and an alien, in a sort of bizarre love triangle.
这一切都是胡说八道
All that stuff is trash,
就是因为Michael Jackson不接受访问
and it all comes from the fact that Michael Jackson doesn’t do
他们除了这些垃圾就没别的好写了
interviews, and they have nothing else to write about him.
让我震惊的是人们在听到Michael的音乐
What surprises me sometimes, the people that get distracted
看到他的表演后 还是总更多得关注
and myopic about Michael’s eccentricities, when they listen to
Michael的某些不寻常的方面
his music and watch his performance, that’s like someone saying,
就好像有人说 看呢 西斯廷教廷顶上有个蜘蛛网呢
“Hey, there’s a cobweb on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.”
这是《花♥花♥公♥子♥》杂♥志♥1985年1月刊的一篇文章
This article is from Playboy magazine, January 1985.
题目是“怪胎 美国的完美男性” 由James Baldwin撰写
It’s called Freaks And The American Ideal Of Manhood, by James Baldwin.
Michael Jackson这种异状之所以有趣 并不是因为Michael Jackson本身
The Michael Jackon cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all.
我希望他能意识到并
I hope he has the good sense to know it
成功逃过暴发户式成功的反噬
and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success.
他占尽了便宜 发了大财
“He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables,
我们不会轻易原谅他的
“for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring.”
怪胎始终是怪胎 也会一如既往得被人厌恶
Freaks are called freaks and are treated as they are treated in the main, abominably
因为他们激发了 人类最原始隐藏的恐惧和欲望
because they are human beings who cause to echo, deep within us our most profound terrors anddesires
人们想要抵充掉Michael的怪才 造成强烈的社会效应
People tend to reduce the backlash to Michael Jackson to these
但我觉得James Baldwin的想法
eccentricities, but I think that the James Baldwin quote
不止出自这个原因
suggests that it was more than that. Michael Jackson became
Michael Jackson已经是 娱乐业最举足轻重的人物之一
one of the most powerful figures in the entertainment industry, and
也肯定是当时最有权势的非洲裔美国人
certainly he was the most powerful African-American to that time.
除此之外 1985年和John Branca一起
And in addition to that, 1985, along with John Branca,
他取得了披头士的版权
he acquires the Beatles catalogue.
我们宣布获得披头士的版权时
When we announced the acquisition of the Beatles’ catalogue,
好像总有某种声音说
it was almost a feeling that Michael didn’t have the right
Michael就不该是个正经的商人
also to be a savvy businessmen.
Michael并没有背着 Paul McCartney去竞拍版权
It was a misconception that Michael went behind Paul McCartney’s back
这和事实完全不符
to bid on the catalogue, but that was absolutely not the case.
我记得他买♥♥披头士版权的时候
I remember when he bought the Beatles’ catalogue.
他来找我 他说他们要5200万美金
He came to me and he said they want whatever it was at that time,
就算是今天 这也忒贵了 他却说 我认为你错了
52 million, it sounds like too much money. He said, “I think you’re wrong.”
披头士的很多音乐对人们来说就像圣歌♥
A lot of those Beatles’ songs are considered sacred songs by people.
他们不只是在电台里播放的流行歌♥曲
They are really just more than pop songs on the radio,
他们跟其他歌♥相比 的确蕴含了不少人生哲理
they meant something in their lives beyond almost any songs they heard.
尤其像“辣椒警官”这样的专辑 是吧
I mean, Sergeant Pepper, particularly right?
他取得了这些歌♥的版权 并按照自己的想法使用
And for him to take that catalogue and use it the way he’s used it,
肯定会有人强烈抵♥制♥
it’s going to have some kind of backlash.
Thriller后 Michael有了些钱来投资
After Thriller, you know, Michael had a few extra dollars to invest,
我们有个投资委员会
and we had an investment committee, and we used to look at
也为他寻觅过各种投资方式
all sorts of possible deals for Michael,
但他从来都不会对房♥地♥产♥啊 避税投资啊有兴趣
and he never had interest in buildings, tax shelters,
这些在其他人看来
the kinds of things that other people
都是理所当然的投资项目
were interested in at the time.
有一天他来找我说
One day Michael came to me and he said,
“我看到了Paul McCartney的歌♥曲版权
“I saw Paul McCartney’s song catalogue.
他展示给我看 说 “你能帮我买♥♥下这些版权吗
“He showed it to me. Do you think you can help me buy copyrights?”
我说 当然了 Michael
And I said, “Absolutely, Michael.”
我们买♥♥了两首Dion & The Belmonts的歌♥
We bought a couple Dion & The Belmont’s songs,
Runaround Sue和The Wanderer
Runaround Sue and The Wanderer.
之后又买♥♥了Sly & The Family Stone的版权
Then we bought the Sly & The Family Stone catalogue,
那是Michael的重要投资之一
which was a major acquisition for Michael.
Michael 28岁了 不是小孩子了
Michael’s 28 years old now. He’s not a baby dumpling now.
他会成长 会聆听
He’s grown, he’s listened, he’s going up,
他会有他想要抒发的想法
and those are the kinds of things he wants to say now.
我有感觉到他想要迸发
I feel the stretches are there,
但那不是有意识的迸发
but they don’t feel like they’ve been conscious stretches.
我觉得那只是成长中的必经过程
I think that things have just occurred along the way to say that
他想讲出此刻自己的想法
this is the way I feel like thinking,
和自己的感受
and I feel like feeling at this time.
我们真不想看到的是自己担心
And one thing we’ve really tried not to do, to sit down and worry about
如何和Thriller相较
competing with Thriller,
那就真的是自我毁灭了
because that’s really self-destructive, you know.
也是对音乐不真诚的表现
And it’s dishonest.
他到哪里 都会在房♥间的镜子上
He would always write with a red Sharpie
用红色标记笔写上
on his mirrors in his rooms, wherever he was.
BAD要销到1亿
He would write 100 million albums sold for Bad, to remind him,
这样他站在镜子前面
when he would stand in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth,
梳洗整装的时候就能提醒他 这就是他的目标
brushing his hair, doing himself up, that that was his goal.
我记得坐在Michael的镜子前
I remember sitting on Michael’s mirror,
上面写着很大的标记 1亿张
he wrote the big note, 100 million albums.
这是他给自己定的目标
And that was a goal that he set for himself, but I remember one time,
我记得有一次和Michael在香港 应该是在唱片录音制♥作♥期间
I was in Hong Kong with Michael, and it was in between the records,
我对他说 Michael 你压力那么大
and I said, “you know, Mike, there’s a lot of pressure.
你考虑过先做一张
“Maybe you should think,
翻唱歌♥曲专辑吗 用一些给你带来灵感的歌♥
“why not do an album of cover songs that inspired you?
比如Jackie Wilson James Brown 小打个擦边球
“Jackie Wilson, James Brown, just going little left of centre,
你不用非得赢过自己的
“so you don’t feel like you have to compete with yourself.”
他看着我 好像我是火星来的
And he looked at me like I was from Mars.
因为Michael就是在压力中爆发的
Because Michael thrived on that pressure,
压得越狠 爆发力越强 同时也激发了他身边的人
he thrived on pushing himself, and everybody else around him.
这张专辑如果没像Thriller那么优秀
If this record doesn’t do as well as Thriller, and doesn’t win
或同样获得那么多格莱美奖的话 他会很不高兴的
a whole bunch of Grammy awards, he’s going to be very unhappy.
他在Thriller和BAD 刚发行的时候打电♥话♥说
He would call during the Thriller and the Bad days.
我的唱片还不是第一呢
“My record’s not number one.
我的唱片还不是第一呢 我们怎么办啊
“My record’s not number one, what are we going to do?”
我对他说 Michael 咱们睡觉 明天早上起来
I said, “Michael, we’re going to go to sleep, we’re going to get up tomorrow,
咱再研究怎么拿第一
“and we’re going to work on getting you a number one.”
Michael是没有极限的 Michael想得比任何人都远
Michael didn’t have limits, Michael thought bigger than anyone.
Off the Wall大卖♥♥
Off The Wall was a huge hit, and when he told people after
他跟别人说我要再接再厉
that album, “I’m going to follow this up with an album that’s going
下一张专辑销量要翻倍 当时没人相信 可他做到了
“to sell twice as much as Off The Wall, people didn’t believe him.” And he did it.
BAD制♥作♥的时候 他说我还要来一次
And so with Bad, he said, “OK, I’m going to do it again.”
Bad是一张♥杰♥作
Bad has the special distinction.
是第一张连续有5首流行单曲 荣登榜首的专辑
It’s the first album in history to generate five consecutive
这个记录直到最近才被Katy Perry的
number one pop singles, and that record was only recently
Teenage Dream专辑追平
tied by Katy Perry, with her Teenage Dream album.
从1987年夏天的I just can’t stop loving you
It started with I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, in the summer of 1987.
Bad 接着是The Way You Make Me Feel Man In The Mirror
– Bad. – Then you had The Way You Make Me Feel. – Man In The Mirror.
最后是Dirty Diana
And finally, Dirty Diana.