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Moonwalker: The Life of Michael Jackson (Advanced Program) · Spotlight English: Advanced

• 0:03
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Spotlight Advanced. I'm Colin Lowther.
• 0:08
  Speaker 2: And I'm Megan Nolette. Spotlight uses a special English method
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand no
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: matter where in the world they live.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: A music album is a collection of songs, but this
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: was more than a collection of songs. It was the collection.
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: It changed the music industry, It broke racial barriers, It
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: lifted the economy, It changed people's lives. But most of all,
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: this album captured a time and place better than any
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: album since the Beatles music had in the nineteen sixties.
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: It defined the decade of the nineteen eighties. Everyone knew
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: its name, everyone owned a copy. Its title was just
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: one word, and that word became one of the most
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: famous in music history.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Thrilla Today's Spotlight looks at Michael Jackson. Jackson was born
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: in nineteen fifty eight in a small town in the
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: state of Indiana in the United States. He was African American.
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: He had nine brothers and sisters. Jackson's father strongly encouraged
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: his children to learn about music. They sang together, learned
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: how to play instruments, and danced.
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: Jackson was only five years old when he joined his
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: brother's group, the Jackson Five. Soon Jackson became the lead singer.
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  Speaker 1: Because of his great singing ability, he was fun to
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: watch perform. They had shows at local schools and talent competitions.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: They won many fans.
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: Jackson's father, Joe, managed their group. He wanted them to succeed.
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: He demanded a lot of his children, especially Michael. Jackson
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: later admitted that his father sometimes hit him. Jackson said.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: He was very hard on us, very firm. Just a
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: look would frighten you, you know.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: In nineteen sixty nine, Motown Records in Detroit's, Michigan signed
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  Speaker 1: The Jackson Five to record for them. The group made
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: pop music short for popular. Their music appealed to many people.
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: The Jackson Five I've had several popular songs throughout the
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: nineteen seventies, including I Want You Back, ABC, and I'll
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: Be There.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: Jackson became well known as the main singer for the
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: Jackson Five. He also released two albums without the group
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: during the nineteen seventies, including the popular Off the Wall album.
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: Several songs from Off the Wall became popular, including rock
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: with You, Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, and She's
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: Out of My Life.
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  Speaker 1: After his off the Wall album, Jackson decided to concentrate
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: on his own albums. He stopped playing with The Jackson
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Five for several years. He wrote a note to himself
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: about what he wanted to do. He wrote, I.
• 3:53
  Speaker 3: Should be a totally different person. People should never think
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: of me as the kid who sang ABC or I
• 4:03
  Speaker 3: Want You Back. I should be a new, amazing actor, singer,
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  Speaker 3: dancer that will shock the world. I will not explain myself.
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: I will be magic. I will be a perfectionist, a researcher,
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  Speaker 3: a trainer, a master. I will be better than every
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  Speaker 3: great actor combined into one.
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: Jackson used the same producer, Quincy Jones, who worked on
• 4:41
  Speaker 2: his album Off the Wall, to work on his next album, Thriller.
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  Speaker 2: A music producer guides the recording and completion of all
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: the songs that make up an album. Jones found other
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  Speaker 2: musicians to play different instruments on Jackson's songs. Jackson liked
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: Jones because he was an expert at recording songs in
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  Speaker 2: a studio. Jackson also liked him because Jones enjoyed and
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: used different musical styles.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: Jackson and Jones shared the same goal for the album Thriller,
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: to make every song popular around the world. To reach
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: this goal, they brought in the best musicians. Eddie Van Halen,
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: one of the greatest guitar players in history, played on
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: Jackson's song beat It. Paul McCartney, one of the members
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: of the Beatles, sang with Jackson on a song called
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: The Girl Is Mine. Several members of the popular group
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  Speaker 1: Toto helped write and record other songs like Human Nature.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: Jackson used a new tool in music to help spread
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  Speaker 2: the popularity of his songs, music videos. Music television had
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: recently started. They showed videos that the artists created to
• 6:10
  Speaker 2: go with their songs. The music videos Jackson made for
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: his songs beat It, Billy Jean, and Thriller became huge successes.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Jackson's video for Thriller was particularly influential. Jackson wanted to
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: make a short film instead of just a marketing tool
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  Speaker 1: to sell his song. He asked successful filmmaker John Landis
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  Speaker 1: to direct the video for Thriller. Together, they created a
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  Speaker 1: fourteen minute music video, even though the song Thriller was
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: only six minutes long. They added a fully developed storyline
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  Speaker 1: with actors and talking. They also included dancing. No one
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: had ever made a music video that looked like a
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: short film. Jackson's Thriller video changed how people thought about
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  Speaker 1: music videos. Many artists wanted to create works of art
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  Speaker 1: like Jackson.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: The Grammy is the biggest award a musician can win.
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  Speaker 2: Jackson won eight Grammys for his album Thriller. It was
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  Speaker 2: the most Grammys ever won for a single album. Fans
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  Speaker 2: bought seventy million copies of Thriller. It is the biggest
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  Speaker 2: selling album in history.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson was not just influential with his music videos. His
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: songs mixed different styles so they appealed to more people.
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  Speaker 1: His music became so popular that radio stations began playing
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  Speaker 1: songs by other African American musicians. His videos were so
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: well made and successful that MTV started playing more videos
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  Speaker 1: by African American artists.
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: Jackson's clothing style also influenced his generation. Many people bought
• 8:21
  Speaker 2: the same coats, hats, and shoes that Jackson wore in
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  Speaker 2: his music videos and shows. Stores that created and sold
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  Speaker 2: these things made a lot of money.
• 8:34
  Speaker 1: Jackson was not only a gifted singer, but a talented dancer.
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  Speaker 1: His dance moves were skilled and exciting. One dance move
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  Speaker 1: he performed was called a moonwalk. Jackson appeared to be
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  Speaker 1: moving forward whilst sliding backwards. The moonwalk became popular all
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  Speaker 1: over the world. Jackson did not invent the moonwalk, but
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: he made it famous. Fred Astare, a dancer and actor
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  Speaker 1: who was popular in the nineteen thirties and forties, called
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  Speaker 1: Jackson after he watched him perform the moonwalk during a concert.
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  Speaker 1: A Stair was amazed by Jackson's dancing. A Stair had
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  Speaker 1: been one of Jackson's heroes growing up. Jackson later said.
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  Speaker 3: It was the greatest encouragement I had ever received in
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  Speaker 3: my life.
• 9:39
  Speaker 2: After his success with the album Thriller, Jackson rejoined the
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  Speaker 2: Jackson Five for a series of shows for several months.
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  Speaker 2: Then he wrote and recorded another album called Bad. It
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  Speaker 2: was a big success. It was the first album in
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  Speaker 2: United States history to have five song songs become the
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  Speaker 2: most popular song in the country. Band bought forty million
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  Speaker 2: copies of the album.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson sold one hundred and eighty one million albums in
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  Speaker 1: the nineteen eighties. He was the most popular musician in
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  Speaker 1: the world. They even called him the King of pop.
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: Writer Edmund W. Davis said Jackson's music was not just
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  Speaker 1: listened to, It was studied, felt, and lived.
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: But over the last twenty years of his life, Jackson's
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: popularity decreased. A new style of music called alternative music
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  Speaker 2: became popular. Jackson got older, it was harder for young
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  Speaker 2: fans to connect with Jackson and his music.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson also had problems outside the music world. Over the years,
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: five different young men accused Jackson of hurting them sexually.
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  Speaker 1: Jackson denied all the accusations and was never found guilty
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  Speaker 1: in court, but he did privately settle with one of
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  Speaker 1: his accusers, paying him twenty three million dollars.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: Jackson's skin also lightened over the last twenty years of
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: his life. Some people accused him of lightening his skin
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: on purpose to look more like a white person. Jackson
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: said he had a skin condition called vitiligo. Vitiligo causes
• 11:43
  Speaker 2: white patches on the skin. Jackson said he used whitening
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  Speaker 2: makeup to lighten the rest of his skin to even
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  Speaker 2: out the white patches. Jackson also appeared to have had
• 11:57
  Speaker 2: medical work on his face to further change his looks. Again,
• 12:02
  Speaker 2: people accused Jackson of trying to look more like a
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  Speaker 2: white person. They said he was not proud to be
• 12:09
  Speaker 2: African American. Jackson denied this too. He often talked about
• 12:15
  Speaker 2: the African American musicians he looked up to.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: Jackson died at the age of fifty. Jackson's personal doctor
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: gave him medication to help him sleep. Because Jackson struggled
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: with insomnia, which makes it hard to fall asleep, his
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: doctor gave him too much medication. Jackson died in his sleep.
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  Speaker 1: His doctor tried to save him but could not. Jackson's
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  Speaker 1: doctor was sent to prison for accidentally killing him.
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  Speaker 2: Jackson was married and divorced twice. He had three children.
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  Speaker 2: His children all said he was a wonderful father. Both
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  Speaker 2: his ex wives said he was supportive and kind. Jackson's
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  Speaker 2: millions of fans never stopped loving his music. But there
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: are some who do not believe Jackson deserves to be
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  Speaker 2: remembered well. They do not believe Jackson's denials about hurting children.
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  Speaker 2: They think he was guilty and should have been punished.
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  Speaker 1: People remember the end of something more than any other part.
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  Speaker 1: It is the part that stands out most. It is
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  Speaker 1: the last feeling people walk away with. Jackson's life did
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  Speaker 1: not end well. Perhaps he deserved this kind of ending,
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  Speaker 1: But there was a time before the accusations and strange
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  Speaker 1: behavior when a young man slid backwards while appearing to
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  Speaker 1: walk forward, the world sat on the edge of their seats,
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: unable to take their eyes off him, moonwalking across their
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  Speaker 1: television screens. From Fred Astaire to Paul McCartney to the
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  Speaker 1: next generation of musicians, they knew they were witnessing history,
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  Speaker 1: the kind of history that does not come along often,
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  Speaker 1: the kind of history that is in every sense of
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  Speaker 1: the word, a thriller.
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  Speaker 2: Which songs by Michael Jackson. Do you like? Why do
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: you think he was so influential? You can leave a
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: comment on our website at www dot Spotlight English dot com.
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram,
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: and x You can also get Spotlight episodes delivered directly
• 14:59
  Speaker 2: to your Android Apple device through our free official Spotlight
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: English app.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: The writer of this episode was Peter Anderson. The producer
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: was Michyo Ozaki. The voices you heard were from the
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: United Kingdom and the United States. All quotes were adapted
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  Speaker 1: for this episode and voiced by Spotlight. No AI or
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: artificial intelligence was used in this episode. Spotlight episodes are written, voiced,
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: and produced by real people for real people, no matter
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  Speaker 1: where in the world. They live. This episode is called Moonwalker,
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  Speaker 1: The Life of Michael Jackson.
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  Speaker 2: We hope you can join us again for the next
• 15:52
  Speaker 2: Spotlight episode. Goodbye,