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He was convinced afront that if he didn't change,he wouldn't be able to outdo his earlier feat. But again the toughness of Quincy's production and Bruce Swediens excellent Acousonic recording process keeps it from being what I once heard referred to as "tinky tinky dance",someones description of a very dated and poppy style of 80's electro funk-disco."Dirty Diana" is a good tune and an okay hit.I admit it's not my favorite on the album;Michael drove a rock kind of tune home more directly with "Beat It" from the previous album but this was okay in a big arena kind of way;the addition of audience noise was a good effect.On the CD of this album you also get "Leave Me Alone",a tense dancey-funk tune that introduced itself as one of his first direct rantings about his own negative press. First off obviously it had to follow up Thriller,a really good album made that due to it's record breaking sales was made to seem inhumanely perfect.
Being how his commerciality is a huge part of Michaels artistry he really puts a huge amount of energy into what ended up being the hits here."The Way You Make Me Feel",with it's edgy sexual shuffle is the prime example of that,with some unusually swaggering singing from MJ. Overall this album puts Michael in a possition where being commercial and an artist of some not musically and otherwise began to become a complication rather than a clear career choice. The other hits were "I Just Can't Stop Loving You".more or less a latinish pop ballad that Michael and Siedah Garrett sang the pants off of.It has recently been pointed out to me that there's an unexpected mix of funk and.operatic classical chordal patterns to the edgy "Smooth Criminal",another of the tougher hits from this collection."Man In The Mirror".is a song I've always loved and respected.As I've grown older I have to admit it's been one of the more imitated styles of message songs and that can make it sound slightly corny musically by todays standards.But whatever you think about the arrangment the yearning,consciencious song more than makes up for what energy it may lack in the musical department for some."Another Part Of Me" is one of the better uptempo songs on here,even if it was a minor hit only for him (who know MJ in the 80's would ever have a MINOR hit) and wasn't actually recorded spesifically for this album but rather for the Disney World based 3-D film 'Captain Eo',starring Michael and which few people who never visited Disney World have ever seen say for that MTV airing of it in 1995 or so.It's on some of the non hit material that you really hear the toughness in sound Mike was going for."Speed Demon" sadly tends to serve as this albums whipping boy.It's aggresive funk-rock approch is not as hit worthy as most of his music in terms of how the pop world approches this kind of music but it was definately something that seemed to be written based on his dancing style than for the purposes of getting on the radio."Liberian Girl" was never officially a hit but was such a great,sexy groove that it became very popular and even got it's own music video as well.It's definately a highlite of this album,for me anyway."Just Good Friends" is the "forgotton" song here,a duet with Stevie Wonder that.well lets just say little screams "late 80's urban contemporary/R&B/funk dance crossover song" louder than this.
Crass as this may seem MJ's recent passing has lead me to review some of his albums on here.I actually thought I had early in my years on Amazon but this is as good a time as any to start.This album was critical for Michael in a lot of different ways. The heavy funk of the title track alone,with an excellent solo by jazz organist Jimmy Smith of course grabbed the most attention right off. But no matter how you look at it the album was good enough and successful enough to end up becomming a success even at this point.And how many obvious pop albums of recent years can you say that about.
In short,the standards for this album were'nt set very high-not even by the artist himself so it seems. So he set about with Quincy Jones on making what basically amounted to music that was generally tougher minded.It has all the basic elements of the previous album but everything is a lot more dramatic and diliberate.Does it work in the end.You bet.
With this album, Michael shows how down and bad he really is. But as the night wears on, the guys see a major change in Daryl, as he is trying to clean up his life and break free of his bad habits. This video features Michael as a young man named, Daryl, coming home from school, after a successful term, for a Winter Break. Great song."MAN IN THE MIRROR" The fourth single from the album.
The video features Michael in his infamous forward-lean dance move."LEAVE ME ALONE" (Bonus Track featured on CD release) The eighth single from the album. The song is accompanied by a great music video, as well."SPEED DEMON" Though, never released as a single, this great tune was accompanied by a music video featured on Michael Jackson's, "Moonwalker" video, where Michael is dressed as a clay-mation rabbit to escape a crazy mob of clay-mation fans and paparazzi."LIBERIAN GIRL" The ninth single from the album, though, released as a single in Europe and Australia only. Michael, with this album, proves to us that he'll always be the King of Pop. Always a great song to listen to. At first, the reunion is a happy one.
What a beautiful ballad. besides THRILLER, of course. He is greeted by his three best friends, one of which, is played by an up-and-coming Wesley Snipes. I mean. The music video to this song is one of my favorites.
In 1987, two years after Michael's involvement with USA For Africa's "We Are The World", Michael released his eighth album entitled, BAD. Great song."JUST GOOD FRIENDS" (performed by Michael Jackson & Stevie Wonder) Great song. This song will always be in my heart, in dedication to Michael."I JUST CAN'T STOP LOVING YOU" (performed by Michael Jackson & Siedah Garrett) The first single from the album. no pun intended."BAD" The second single from the album. Not a fan of Stevie Wonder's, but still a great duet."ANOTHER PART OF ME" The sixth single from the album. Listen to Michael rockin' it out.
I don't know about anybody else, but this album is a big favorite of mine. Damn. Siedah's vocals are incredible."DIRTY DIANA" The fifth single from the album. And Michael's vocals sound just as powerful. This song is so powerful, lyrically and musically. Another a great song.
Been a favorite of mine ever since MJ's "Moonwalker" video was released.
Another one MJ's greatest songs.
His three friends confront him angrily, where the song finally kicks in."THE WAY YOU MAKE ME FEEL" The third single from the album.
What an awesome, kick-a** song."SMOOTH CRIMINAL" The seventh single from the album.
Pretty much every song on here rocks my world.
What an awesome song.
The harmony vocals are just awesome.
I always loved how Michael turned his songs into short films.
He swears them off by saying he's still down and bad, where he tries to show them by robbing an elderly man, but Daryl backs out and lets the old man go.
i enjoy this album which allows one to pat his feet or dance to the rythm of the beat.
Amazingly, Michael Jackson turns 50 today. #1 hit "The way you make me feel" has a swinging retro whiplash feel, "Speed demon" with its sparse funky riff and skeletal beats finds Michael treading in Prince territory, the bewitching ballad "Liberian girl" with excellent vocal layering and a sensuous groove (which oddly features some lyrics in the un-Liberian language Swahili. The world was waiting hungrily for his follow up to the Grammy guzzling, best selling album ever (a record it holds to date), and Michael wisely reteamed with super producer Quincy Jones. While there are those that believe "Thriller" to be the best album ever released, I feel "Bad" was an excellent follow up, as good as, or even better than "Thriller".
The #1 hit "Dirty diana" is a hard Rock number alternating between gentle haunting verses and an explosive chorus, telling the tale of a Rock groupie. The video was a star studded affair), and the energetic funky duet "Just good friends" with Stevie Wonder. The #1 hit "Man in the mirror" features one of Michael's most emotional performances, backed by a stunning choral performance by the Andre Crouch Choir. It features a blistering guitar solo by Steve Stevens."Smooth criminal" is high-octane Dance/Pop, one of the catchiest songs on the album (and featured the heartbeat of his then manager Frank DiLeo, no doubt worrying about sales of the album), and closing is his message to the press, the rolicking Pop song "Leave me alone", a UK #2 hit.The album "Bad" had an unprecedented 5 US #1 singles (the only album to date to achieve this feat) and 8 UK top 20 hits, and sold about 25 million copies worldwide (including becoming his biggest selling album ever in the UK). Unfortunately, it seems he was so inspired by this song, he later went on to pen the rather maudlin "Heal the world", "Earth song", et all. While these days, he's in the press for all the wrong reasons (well, most of the time), there was a time he was also in the press mainly about the great music he released.1987 was such a time.
Michael would return the favour on "Get it" from Wonder's "Characters" album."Another part of me" is a funky horn peppered futuristic tale which will get you moving. While not matching sales of "Thriller", I bet it helped calm Mr DiLeo's pulse rate. The album found Michael penning 9 of the 11 tracks, the first time so many of his songs were used on any of his albums and showing his growing confidence as a songwriter. Lead-off single, the syrupy sweet duet with sound alike Sieddah Garret (the #1 hit "I just can't stop loving you") aside, every track is a delight.#1 hit "Bad" has a deep sonuous riff and blaring horns racing ahead at full speed.
far so good that it even gave the enough reasons for the jealous to start the harassment that lead to Michael Jackson decline. Remarkable collaborations also helped to made this one an essential.Keeping in mind it was dated on 1987, you'll understand why this chap was used to be considered then the "king of pop" as it sounds far ahead from it's era. It marks the beginning of the end of a legend, away from the music scenario.A personal masterpiece on Michael Jackson's career, carefully produced by Quincy Jones, who also deserves a special recognition on being the one who put "Off the Wall", "Thriller", "Bad" and Michael Jackson himself on the place they are, even today, no matter the resentful: at the pop highest.For a full "Bad experience" customers and real fans might find interesting to get also a copy of the complementary movie, 'Moonwalker', which showcases a kindo story around the "Bad" songs (keeping also in mind that the imdb rating is 4.7/10 as of today.).:Micheal Jackson - Moonwalker [Non-US Format, PAL, Region 2, Import] Having released the best-selling-album-ever just five years before pushing this one out to the market was, already, a quite difficult milestone. However, "Bad" still delivers good music not to disappoint the true fans, even though it did disapointed the critics and the profane masses expecting a "Thriller v.2".If compared with "Thriller" this one would definitely look unfairly like a poor recording, but when listened as a standalone project (what it really is) you'll find quite a good R&B dance pop album, delivering quality, creativity and a several pop gems.
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