January 27, 1984: Michael Jackson's Pepsi Commercial Goes Horribly Wrong

This photo is from an earlier take that night.

January 27, 1984: Michael Jackson's hair catches fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial with his brothers, at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The Jacksons were preparing for their Victory Tour, trying to strike while the iron was hot, and Michael's iron was hotter than any musical performer's had been since The Beatles in 1964. Tito played lead guitar, Jermaine played bass, and Randy, Marlon and Jackie played percussion instruments. David Williams and Gregg Wright also played guitars. Rory Kaplan, Pat Leonard and Jai Winding played keyboards. And Jonathan Moffett played drums.

To help build publicity for the Tour -- and to help sell Pepsi-Cola -- 2 Pepsi commercials were filmed. One was fairly innocent, with Alfonso Ribeiro, at age 12 already a Broadway star in The Tap Dance Kid, dressing like Michael in the "Billie Jean" moonwalking backwards while drinking from a can, and bumping into the real Michael, and then Alfonso and the Jacksons dance together.

The other was a simulated concert at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, with pyrotechnics. But on the 6th take, a spark from the pyrotechnics landed on Michael's head, and his hair caught fire. As with President Ronald Reagan after he got shot, he was more badly hurt than anyone let on at the time.

He recovered, but it's been alleged that, to alleviate the pain, he began taking the drugs that drove him to bizarre behavior, and eventually killed him.

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January 27, 1984 was a Friday. Baseball was out of season. Football season ended 5 days earlier, when the Los Angeles Raiders beat the Washington Redskins, 38-9 in Super Bowl XVIII at Tampa Stadium. No games were scheduled for the NBA. But there were 6 games in the NHL:

* The New Jersey Devils and the Edmonton Oilers played to a tie, 3-3 at the Northlands Coliseum. It had been just 2 months earlier that the Oilers had beaten the Devils, 13-4, and Wayne Gretzky called the Devils "a real Mickey Mouse operation." 

* The Washington Capitals beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 6-1 at the Capital Centre in the Washington suburb of Landover, Maryland.

* The Detroit Red Wings and the Buffalo Sabres played to a 2-2 tie at the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium.

* The Minnesota North Stars beat the St. Louis Blues, 10-8 at the St. Louis Arena. For the Stars, Dino Ciccarelli had 3 goals and 3 assists, while Gordie Roberts had 4 assists.

* The Los Angeles Kings and the Calgary Flames played to a 2-2 tie at the Saddledome in Calgary.

* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the Philadelphia Flyers, 4-0 at the Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver.