Michael Jackson
– Bad
(Epic/CBS, 1987)
Buy the album
here
In
exchange for 13 issues of the Dandy and Beano I received a cassette copy of Bad from a kid down the road. The deal was struck over a competitive game
of Outrun on a Commodore 64, and,
while I lost that game, I’m pretty sure I won on the trade. My Dad’s stereo system made the most of the
rich production, the incredible instrumentation, Michael Jackson’s unbelievable
voices, and all the bizarre sounds l had never heard before. It probably still ranks as the best decision
I’ve ever made.
And
“Speed Demon” is still one of the best songs I’ve ever heard. Swirling horns, bass playing that seems
impossible, a powerful driving beat, and vocals that the phrase ‘he’s got range’
fails to cover. It’s a song with
aggression and skill in equal measure, and it never feels out of place on my predominantly
metal and hardcore playlists, even if the plasticine bunny in the video does. Intensity is found again and again on Bad, but it is backed up by legitimately
great musicianship. “Another Part Of Me”
and “Liberian Girl” might come across as sappy and slightly creepy respectively,
but their rich, atmospheric instrumentation create vivid mental images that
perfectly convey the story Jackson is telling
“Man
In The Mirror” is an undeniable classic, and one of the few songs on the album
not written by Jackson himself. Retrospectively,
it comes across as a confused attempt at self-improvement from a person
struggling to love and understand himself.
His story is one we know all too much about, while the story of “Man In
The Mirror” may only be a hope he longed to make reality. There aren’t always stories to tell
though. “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”
is straight up, almost directionless, love song. It doesn’t have the darkness or intricacy of
many of the other tracks on this album, but its heartfelt delivery and
Jackson’s incredible vocal make it another memorable song on this album. It is, however, a victim of the high quality
of its surroundings, sitting between the glory of “Man In The Mirror” and the
intensity of “Dirty Diana”.
The
brilliantly named Steve Stevens’ solo on “Dirty Diana” was the first time I
thought that guitars were cool, but Michael’s performance is still the
centrepiece. The dark, brooding quality
of his voice coupled with his storytelling prowess makes ”Dirty Diana” the
perfect set up for epic closer “Smooth Criminal”. Unfortunately, the 9-year-old me was cheated
in that trade I mentioned. The cassette
cut off just as “Dirty Diana” was fading out, and I didn’t know what “Smooth
Criminal” sounded like until I saw it on VHS at my friend’s house as part of
the “storyline” of Moonwalker. As a result, it’s the song I take least for
granted, and hearing it now it’s still fresh to me, despite a certain
annoyingly popular cover version. A
sampled heartbeat builds the anticipation before a synthesiser pounds out that
now infamous riff, and Michael freestyles with his oft parodied vocal noises. Following the beat, the staccato delivery of
the verse vocal gives the song its sense of purpose while the layered, dense sound
is perhaps the best example of Quincy Jones’ production skills. It’s a song that the world has come to take
for granted, but should be remembered as one of the great pop tracks of all
time.
To
think I had gone years without being able to hear one of the album’s highlights
and I still loved it. I haven’t
mentioned the title track, and, in retrospect, I wish that if one track from
that cassette had to be scratched from existence in my little world nearly 30
years ago it could have been “Bad”. An
unnecessarily cheesy and uncool song that is made to look sillier and sillier
as each track passes. But if one of the
biggest hits of all time is a low point, it was probably not the worst decision
he ever made….
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