“Fans know that Quincy nicknamed Michael “Smelly”, because of my brother’s talent for writing funky music. “Man that’s smelly, Smelly,” he’ll say after a hot take in the studio (to translate, that’s a compliment). Anything’s possible, but we at home thought Smelly meant something else. Inexplicably, when he was twenty, Michael decided deodorant was unhealthy and daily showering excessive. He wore the same jeans and socks for days, perplexing his brothers, who appealed to me, “La Toya, you’re closest to Mike. Talk to him!”
“What do you want me to do? It’s just his personality; maybe a stage he’s going through.”
“But La Toya, you’re not in the studio with him,” One of the guys said, wrinkling his nose. “It’s um, musky in there.”
Randy was more direct. “The whole studio stinks!” he exclaimed.
When Mother picked up Michael’s shoes one day, she noticed gaping holes in the soles and bought him a new pair. He refused to wear them. I had to plead with him to discard the old shoes and, tempting fate, to change his socks. Forget about it.
“La Toya, these things are not important,” he said, turning suddenly profound. “Why do people care about clothes? Music is what’s important to me, how it sounds, that I get it right. And why do we care about having new shoes? What about the man who has no shoes? Or the man who has no feet?”
Hoo boy. “Mike, really. You look awful.”
“These are great shoes,” he said resolutely. “And I’m going to keep wearing them.”
Michael is nothing short of true to his word.”- La Toya Jackson (Autobiography)
(And yes, he is twenty in these photos, on the cusp of 21! You can tell by the hairstyle, by the time of his birthday at Studio 54 he’d already got it cut short to the pre-jheri curl look. I feel like a creeper now.)
oh Mike
