My “magnum opus” pick: Bad
Thriller fulfilled Michael Jackson’s boyhood dream of making the biggest album ever. We felt his wounds when Off the Wall got one GRAMMY nomination in 1980. We basked in his glory when he clutched eight awards against his chest in 1984.
Now, put yourself in his black Florsheim 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?
Most musicians would have squinted when the big spotlight arrived and coasted on their back catalog. Not the King of Pop, though. He wanted Bad to be his best work yet 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.
After a five-year hiatus, the King of Pop returned with more hits than most artists have in their “Best Of” collections.
As you mentioned, Bad is the first and only album by a male artist with five back-to-back #1 pop singles. It’s also the first album to reach #1 in 25 different countries. (It debuted at #1 in America; stayed there for six weeks straight and remained in the Top Five on the Billboard 200 chart for 38 weeks.)
The entire album is a musical Halloween. Each track shows us an artist at play in his creative toy box, throwing on different styles and personas.
On an album loaded with pure pop classics, some underestimate “Speed Demon’s” high-powered engine. But this ear-scorching funk roadster embraces its dark horse status, swerving 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.”)
On a quest for music’s outer orbits, Bad expanded MJ’s signature sound in unique and creative ways.
Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones, and their creative dream team wanted to find new sounds the human ear hadn’t heard before. The album’s use of the Synclavier expertly balanced the line between natural and abstract melodies. As a result, Bad’s irresistible tunes sparked head-bobbing and hip-shaking motions of approval.
The blockbuster short films from this intensely creative period changed how we hear and see music today.
“Smooth Criminal” is the best short film ever made, an Old Hollywood fusion of Rear Window and The Bandwagon. There are slow-motion coin tricks, anti-gravity gangster leans, and Tommy guns galore. You are watching a master at work! Thankfully, Jackson’s goal to “study the greats and become greater” never got lost in translation, earning him an MTV Video Vanguard Award in 1988.
I know it’s tough for some folks to speak positively about Michael Jackson these days. In some cases deservedly, and other times, unfairly. None of that speaks to the criteria.
When you look at the album’s economic, creative, and cultural impact, very few albums check off the boxes as emphatically as Bad. That’s why I believe it’s his magnum opus.