Interview with Luka Neskovic (author of "Invincible Sabotage")

[Veronas]

RTCG2 (Montenegrin National Television):

He is so sweet

 

[Veronas]

REVIEW BY LYNTON GUEST



This is a book that needed writing. At last someone has zoomed in on a time in Michael Jackson’s career which, it could be argued, was the most important in his long stint at the top of his calling. While the artist was trying to make sense of his past during a period when, for the first time in his life, he was being marginalised both as a recording star and as a person, at the same time he was also looking to the future and where his life might lead.

Throughout all of this two important things occurred. First Michael recorded and released the Invincible album, which many proclaim to be his best ever. Second, behind the scenes the hidden hand of the Sony Corporation in the USA was attempting, for its own ends, to sabotage one of the most iconic careers in the history of popular music.

Luka Neskovic’s book details much of this dramatic manoeuvring. He brings together the various strands of the saga into a coherent story so the reader can understand what the main issues and motives were. Sony wanted to get their hands on control of the famous Sony/ATV music publishing catalogue, with its cash cow of some of the greatest songs of the 1960s (including Lennon and McCartney) and Michael Jackson, who felt that Invincible was his greatest album and should be promoted accordingly.

Perhaps the most important element of the affair that Luka deals with is the fact that while little of significance could happen at Sony without the at least tacit approval of the executives in Tokyo, the campaign against Michael Jackson was carried out, in the main, by those who ran the music business in the USA, particularly Tommy Mottola, who was best known as the husband and svengali of Mariah Carey. Mottola ensured that the promotion of Invincible in the USA was at best sullen and mediocre and at worst a major breach of contract. All contracts between record companies and their artists oblige the record company to use its best endeavours to maximise sales of the artist’s efforts and Michael Jackson’s contract with Sony was no exception. Yet, as Luka points out, even the simple things like coordinating radio play with availability of a strong video and stock in the shops were criminally neglected in the case of Invincible.

Despite this, the album was a triumph and remains so to this day. Indeed, the distance in time that exists between those events and the present day shows exactly what a magnificent effort Invincible turned out to be, both in artistic and commercial terms. Unfortunately it also proved to be the harbinger, through the debilitating machinations of Sony, of terrible fortune: Michael’s trial and his ultimate death. This book isolates the crucial seminal occurrences so that the reader can better understand their crucial role in this tumultuous period of Michael’s career.

I understand there is an updated translation of Luka’s work. This is pleasing since the translation I read left a lot to be desired. This caveat apart, ‘Invincible Sabotage’ should be a compulsory read for anyone interested in these remarkable happenings.


Lynton Guest: Author of ‘The Trials of Michael Jackson’

https://lukaneskovicblog.wordpress.com/reviews/

 

[IvanaIloveMJ]

Thanx for sharing!

 

[Veronas]

I found him on twitter :

https://twitter.com/#!/LukaNeskovic1