Famed ’80s actor Corey Feldman, who played characters like “Mouth” in The Goonies (1985) and Edgar Frog in The Lost Boys (1987), is now a full-fledged musician. As frontman of Corey & the Angels, he’s been praised, but also criticized for his unique brand of music, with many dismissing it as a cheap novelty act. Feldman, however, is bursting with passion for his craft and intends to continue fine-tuning it, so one day, he can be taken more seriously as an artist. Growing up beneath the bright Hollywood lights and scrutiny of the public eye, the 45-year-old has been through his share of challenges, but has emerged sober, happy and with an intense faith in spirituality.
“Being a spiritualist, I am ok with anything that God grows as is, so to me, weed and mushrooms aren’t a big deal,” Feldman tells HipHopDX. “It’s organic and God put it there for a reason, but with that said, you could say that about everything. You could say, ‘Cocaine is organic! Heroin is organic!’ But yeah, I was done with everything by the time I was 18.”
Along with his celebrity lifestyle came outrageous opportunities, including a friendship with the indisputable King of Pop — Michael Jackson. Although there is lingering controversy surrounding Jackson’s relationship with younger boys and molestation allegations, back then (like many teenagers), Feldman worshiped Jackson. He would try to emulate the way he dressed and how he danced. To this day, he often performs a Jackson tribute with songs like “Billy Jean.” But it was his friendship with the legendary singer he cherished the most.
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“Back then, I would have loved to trade lives with Michael Jackson for just one day,” he says. “I would do anything. When I was 13, 14, 15 — he was it. He was everything. The fact that he was my friend, I just felt so lucky, so honored — what a lucky guy I was to have this amazing pop star at my finger tips basically. I knew one day I could learn and become that great, but those are hard shoes to fill.”
Feldman got the opportunity to walk a day in his shoes — literally. Around the time he was filming License To Drive (1988), he was invited over to Jackson’s Encino, California home, the house he lived in before Neverland Ranch, and crashed downstairs while Jackson retreated to his two-story bedroom upstairs.
“I go to bed and wake up the next day, and go to knock on the door to see if he’s there, but the door’s locked and he’s not answering,” he explains. “I hear a voice come over the intercom like, ‘Mr. Feldman, Mr. Jackson had an early morning meeting so we’re going to have to take you home. Gather your belongings and head downstairs. Your ride will be waiting.'”
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At the time, the then 16-year-old actor practically mirrored the way Jackson dressed — from the gloves and fedoras to white socks and penny loafers. “I was in that phase of dressing just like him and trying to be kind of an extension of him at that point,” he recalls. “All the kids were wearing gloves and penny loafers.”
He quickly figured out how Jackson was able to execute the infamous Moonwalk so effortlessly.
“I wore those penny loafers, too, and I knew the trick to what made him able to glide on the stage when he did the Moonwalk,” he says. “It’s the fact the penny loafers had leather soles. Ninety percent of loafers now are all plastic on the bottom, but in those days, they still had the solid leather bottoms.”
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And that day, as he continued scrambling to catch his ride back home, he ran into a small problem.
“I don’t know if we did it this way on accident or if someone organized something in the middle of the night,” he says. “Whatever it was, my shoes and his shoes were sitting right next to each other. Apparently, we had the same size feet. I look down and am like, ‘Which one is which? I don’t know!’ I just put on a pair and went home. I thought, ‘Well if I can’t figure it out, he probably can’t either so it probably doesn’t matter.’ By the time I got home, there were 10 messages on my answering machine from his assistant like, ‘Oh my god you took Michael’s shoes! You have the wrong pair! Oh no! We need those back right away. We’re sending somebody to get them for you!’ I was like, ‘Man, I just walked a mile in his shoes and I can tell you that after walking in his shoes, those are indeed hard shoes to fill.”
