‘Michael’ Is a Vain Account of the Man in the Mirror

The 32-foot-tall replicas of a defiant, bandolier-clad Michael Jackson commissioned to promote his 1995 double album, HIStory, were thought up by their subject, an imperial edict from an authentically world-conquering hero. The story goes that when Sony executives asked MJ what they could do in support of a purportedly historical double album, he told them to build him a statue. Eager to nab their all-you-can-eat meal ticket, the label not only called Jackson’s bluff but raised it by ponying up for 10 separate exercises in freestanding pop idolatry.