Defending Michael Jackson’s ‘Bad’: A Labor of Love
Of all the hot takes I’ve seen on Twitter, nothing prepared me for this one. I didn’t think someone could contradict themselves this much in less than 280 characters. Then again, the Internet remains undefeated.
How is one of the most decorated and beloved albums, “pop perfection,” yet “easily his weakest?”
Consider my rebuttal a plea for sanity, or better yet, common sense: Bad is Michael Jackson’s magnum opus. The album’s legacy—on wax, film, and onstage—was a labor of love.
CROWN OR DROWN
No other album in music history had to live up to the global phenomenon that is Thriller:
- Over 66 million copies sold worldwide… and counting.
- 37 consecutive weeks at #1.
- Eight GRAMMY Awards in one night.
- Seven Billboard Top 10 singles, two of which were #1.
- Three short films starring dancing zombies, red zipper jackets, and glowing pavement tiles.
- Two Library of Congress inductions as an album and a short film.
- One boyhood dream of making the biggest album ever come true.
Put yourself in Michael Jackson’s black penny loafers. Do you retire and become a bankable, oldies act? Or do you take an extraordinary leap of faith and show the world that you can do more?
Many musicians would’ve coasted on their back catalog when the big spotlight arrived. Not MJ, though. He wanted Bad to be his best work and sell 100 million copies. “I love not only reaching a mark I’ve set for myself but exceeding it,” he explained in his 1988 memoir, Moonwalk. “Doing more than I thought I could, that’s a great feeling.”
Many people came to see the spectacle. More came to see him fail, and most left blown away.
KING OF CHARTS
I wish I could say Bad’s résumé needs no review, but it does.
- The first and only album by a male artist with five back-to-back #1 pop singles. (Jackson received Billboard’s first Spotlight Award for this record-breaking success.)
- The first album to reach #1 in 25 different countries. (It debuted at #1 in America. It stayed there for six weeks straight. It remained in the Top Five on the Billboard 200 chart for 38 weeks.)
- Bad sold more than 2 million copies in its first week alone and outsold the rest of the Top 40 combined.
- The Recording Industry Association of America certified it Diamond in February 2017.
- Worldwide sales are above 45 million, making it a Top 5 best-seller in music history.
Bad wasn’t the commercial juggernaut that Thriller was—no album by any artist has come close. But album sales and chart positions don’t tell the whole story.
THE SKY’S THE LIMIT
It’s no surprise the King of Pop’s triumphant return put his opponents on edge. The surprise is how many people ignore Bad’s creative and technical leap forward.
On an album loaded with pure pop classics, “Speed Demon” embraces its dark horse status. This ear-scorching funk roadster swerves past them in slow motion, middle fingers up.
“Ain’t nothin’ gonna stop me
Ain’t no stop-and-go
I’m speedin’ on the midway
I gotta really burn this road.”
Fun fact: Jackson wrote the song after getting a speeding ticket on his way to the studio. Quincy Jones challenged him to turn that experience into music; MJ returned with a banger. “‘Speed Demon’ is amazing,” Q raved. “I mean, Michael’s imagination is awesome. You know, it really is. He’s very unique, man… He stays out of the box, and I love that.”
A calm, coastal breeze runs through “Liberian Girl.” Jackson’s love letter to black beauty proves that he never left the rhythm and blues that birthed him.
“Liberian girl
More precious than any pearl
Your love so complete
Liberian girl
You kiss me then, ooh, the world
You do this to me.”
“‘Liberian Girl’ is one of my absolute favorites of all the music that I’ve done with Michael,” engineer Bruce Swedien said. “Who could think of a thing like that except Michael Jackson? It’s astounding; the imagery and everything else in it. It’s just an amazing musical and sonic fantasy.”
Bad only won the “Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical” award at the 1988 GRAMMYs. But MJ set a new gold standard for modern pop stars in other ways. Unlike many who hire outside writers, he wrote nine of 11 songs and co-produced the entire project. Taken together, Bad is a musical Halloween with the production value of an Oscar-worthy film. Each track shows us an artist at play in his creative toy box, throwing on different styles and personas.
BLOCKBUSTER POP
Another element of Bad that elevated the music was the short films. But it’s the subtle details that set his work apart from his peers.
- “Bad” struts its West Side Story street ballet in a Brooklyn subway. But near the 14-minute mark, it becomes a story about freedom. To embrace who we are and let go of what our culture tells us to be.
- “Smooth Criminal” is an Old Hollywood fusion of Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and Fred Astaire’s The Band Wagon. But did you know Hermes Pan was one of several celebrities invited on the set? But did you know Hermes Pan was one of several celebrities invited on the set? He worked with Astaire on many films and assured Michael that Fred would be proud of the tribute. (Before Astaire passed away in June 1987, he said, “I didn’t want to leave this world before meeting my successor. Thank you, Michael.”)
- “Leave Me Alone” fires a funky middle finger at the tabloids. But it’s also fascinating to watch it on mute and not miss a beat. The price of fame shows a life-sized MJ crushing the media circus around him. In some cases, he toyed with the media, and other times, he felt like a victim. Either way, he was a modern-day Charlie Chaplin.
We’re fortunate that Jackson’s goal to “study the greats and become greater” never got lost in translation. He earned the MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988, changing how we hear and see music forever.
THE GREATEST SHOWMAN
MJ’s globe-trotting Bad Tour made him the greatest showman since P.T. Barnum.
One day in rehearsals, he heard a wrong note. “[Michael] said, ‘Let’s go from the top,’” recalls assistant music director Kevin Dorsey. “I thought he meant the top of the song — he meant the top of the show!” Couple that with the murderers’ row of musicians around him. You have an endless arsenal of hits. Even with the world-class talent around him, did the King of Pop impress!
- When he performs “Another Part of Me” onstage, he’s connecting to something out of this world. When the groove stirs him, he whoops and hollers. He claps. He unleashes a flurry of taps on the floor as if his feet are on fire.
- Ax-shredding rocker “Dirty Diana” not only plunges into the abyss of celebrity fandom. It brings the rock-and-roll genre back to its Black American Music roots.
- “Man in the Mirror” is as close to a religious experience as pop culture can deliver. 4.4 million people felt their hearts break, only to have them pieced back together again.
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror
And I’m asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you wanna make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself and make a change.”
As a 30-year-old, Jackson honed his brilliant skills to perfection. He didn’t rest for two calendar years when he could have taken a night or two off. I can’t hate on that, and you shouldn’t, either.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We’re almost 35 years removed from seeing a musical genius achieve the unthinkable. But ignorant opinions are what’s wrong with social media. Those with the least amount of information seem to get the most attention.
It’s one thing to have God-given talent; it’s another to have a constant yearning to be the best you can be. Michael Jackson had both, and he delivered every last drop on Bad.
Go ahead and rank that.