In 1996, Disney rejected Michael Jackson in involved on its soundtrack for their 1996 animated movie, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame. And as reported by Stereogum, Slash Film are releasing an oral history of the movie, which tells all.
In the oral history, longtime Disney composer and recent EGOT winner, Alan Menken, tells Jackson’s story.
Menken said, “I met Michael Jackson when we were looking for someone to sing ‘A Whole New World’ for Aladdin. Michael wanted to co-write the song. I could get a sense of who Michael was. He was a very unique, interesting individual… in his own world.”
“I get a call out of nowhere from Michael’s assistant, when Michael was at the Four Seasons Hotel in New York. He had to [deal with] allegations about inappropriate behaviour with underage kids, and the breakup with Lisa Marie Presley. He’s looking to change the subject. And he obviously loves Disney so much.”
“So I mentioned Hunchback,” Menken continued, “He said he’d love to come to my studio, watch the movie and talk about it. So we got in touch with Disney Animation. They said, ‘Meet with him! If he likes it… well, see what he says.'”
Jackson expressed interested in some of the film’s songs including ‘Out There’, ‘God Help the Outcasts’ and ‘Someday’, where he said, “I would like to produce the songs and record some of them.”
Menken says that they got in touch with Disney, their response? “Uh, we’ll get back to you about that.”
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Long story short, Disney had barred Jackson from working on the film’s soundtrack. Menken says they came back saying, “‘Disney doesn’t want to do this with Jackson.’ I go, ‘Okay, could someone tell him this?’ You can hear a pin drop, no response, and nobody did [tell him]. It fell to my late manager, Scott Shukat, to tell Michael or Michael’s attorney.”
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