Home Music Michael Jackson New Album: Rolling Stone Scams Its Readers

Rolling Stone–great about General McChrystal, wrong about Michael Jackson.

The magazine issued a story today about a new Michael Jackson album for November, with quotes from Frank DiLeo, Michael’s manager.

What RS doesn’t say is that the quotes attributed to DiLeo were given more than nine months ago, and answered to other questions. There’s nothing new. DiLeo tells me the last time he spoke to Rolling Stone was before the movie “This Is It” came out. “Everyone knows Sony’s putting out a new album, that’s not new,” says DiLeo. “No one from Rolling Stone spoke to me for that article.”

In fact, this column broke the story that there would be a new Jackson album several times. Jackson co-executor John McClain has been working on selecting tracks and mixing and re-recording.

But McClain is not Bruce Swedien, who was Jackson’s engineer in the studio for all of his famous recordings. McClain has nixed working with Swedien, I am told, which is not so good because Jackson’s unreleased record, “This Is It,” turned out to be a snore when it was prepared this way. McClain, a long time A&R man at A&M, is strong in artist signing and support but is not a record producer.

So tsk, tsk to Rolling Stone. Now we know how General McChrystal feels!

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Author
Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News, where he created the Fox411 column. His movie reviews are carried by Rotten Tomatoes, and he is a member of both the movie and TV branches of the Critics Choice Awards. His articles have appeared in dozens of publications over the years including New York Magazine, where he wrote the Intelligencer column in the mid 90s and covered the OJ Simpson trial, and Fox News (when it wasn't so crazy) where he covered Michael Jackson. He is also the writer and co-producer of "Only the Strong Survive," a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals, directed by DA Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus.
19 replies to this post
  1. After Bruce Swedians horrible attitude to Jackson during the trial – I don’t blame the estate for keeping him away from the mixing desk. Horrible man. He should know better.

  2. Yeah, that’s what Im so angry about. What the reason publishing this story again and again? I knew it since early this year, for God sake. Everyone knows it. And I felt really bad about it. I’ve been waiting for 8 years but now, after Michael left, he coming out with one. GOSH!!

  3. I hate Rolling Stone mag and $ONY. John Branca has NO business having anything to do with the production of these posthumous albums. This whole thing has exploitation written all over it. If Michael wanted those song released, he would have released them. Besides, $ONY didn’t give a shit about him before he died. Now they have such interest in his fans. Give me a break.

  4. Rolling Stone stopped being a source for credible information two decades ago.The magazine has never been able to cover a Michael Jackson story without resorting to rumor,speculation,salacious material and downright lies.Rolling Stone is unable to be a credible source as long as it fails to admit to its many errors.These poor excuses for reporters apparently don’t know how to read autopsy reports that prove their reporting of a false nose to be wrong–I’d have more respect for these people if they could fess up,apologize and correct their errors.

  5. Dieter Wiesner claims in his latest interview for a german fanboard that DiLeo wasn’t Jackson’s manager at any time and had no right to sign any contract in his name (AGE), wiesner is of the opionion that Jackson would never have ok’ed This it it and that jackson was told by Tohme, Colony Capital and AEG that he would lose Neverland if he didn’t give 50 concerts for This is it. Wiesner is also in possession of a book called “Michael Jackson – King of Pop – The legend” which Jackson wrote himself and planned to publish in order to correct public perceptions about him and his place in the music industry. Another book that jackson gave to Wiesner was Leni Riefenstahl’s “Africa” which can explain his odd view on megalomanic camera work and idolism quite well. Wiesner also claims that he never saw jackson abuse medicine which is IMo more than naive and lonely and egocentric as Jackson himself was that was a point that Jackson could hide from an yone around him at any point. Wiesner said that Jackson never told his mother anything important about his life or crisis in it. All very interesting stuff to say the least but Wiesner is clearly exaggerating things…for example he told the interviewer of a meeting Jackson’s with the Dalai Lama on August 13, 1999 that “they talked for hours and hours” acc. to Wiesner but in reality it was a 20 Minutes meeting between them in new York according to MJJ Productions that arranged the meeting.

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