Bad (album)


Bad is the seventh studio album by American singer Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic Records, nearly five years after Jackson's previous album, Thriller. Bad was written and recorded in nearly a year, and was the final collaboration between Jackson and producer Quincy Jones. Jackson co-produced it and composed all but two tracks. The album features appearances from Siedah Garrett and Stevie Wonder. Incorporating pop, rock, funk, R&B, dance, soul and hard rock, Jackson experimented with modern technology, including digital synthesizers and drum machines, resulting in a sleeker and more aggressive sound on Bad. The lyrical themes include media bias, paranoia, racial profiling, romance, self-improvement, and world peace.
Among the most anticipated albums in popular music, Bad debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, selling over 2 million copies in its first week in the US. The album also reached number one in 24 other countries, including the UK, where it sold 500,000 copies in its first five days and became the country's best-selling album of 1987. Nine songs were released as official singles, and one as a promotional single. Seven charted in the top 20 on the Billboard Hot 100, including a record-breaking five number ones: "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana". By 1991, the album was the second-best-selling album of all time at the time, behind Thriller, having sold 25 million copies worldwide.
Bad was promoted with the film, Moonwalker, which included the music videos of songs from the album, including "Speed Demon", "Leave Me Alone", "Man in the Mirror" and "Smooth Criminal". The film became the best-selling home video of all time. The Bad tour, which was Jackson's first solo world tour, grossed $125 million making it the highest-grossing solo concert tour of the 1980s. Jackson performed 132 concerts in 15 countries to an audience of 4.4 million including a record seven sold-out shows at Wembley Stadium. The third concert on July 16, 1988, was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles. It was also Jackson's last tour where he performed in the United States.
With sales of over 35 million copies sold worldwide, Bad is one of the best-selling albums of all time. In 2017, it was certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album has been named by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time. It was nominated for six Grammy Awards, winning Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Best Music Video. In 1988, Jackson received the first Spotlight Award. Following the critical appraisal of the music videos for the singles from the album, along with his previous music videos throughout the 1980s, Jackson was honored with the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award.

Background

Jackson's sixth solo album, Thriller, was released in 1982, and by 1984 it was certified 20× platinum for sales of 20 million copies in the United States alone. Jackson was widely considered the most powerful African American in the history of the entertainment industry, whose popularity was comparable only to Elvis Presley in the 1950s and the Beatles in the 1960s.
The four years following Thriller were marred by Jackson's rifts with his family and the Jehovah's Witnesses, broken friendships with celebrities, and the pressure of celebrity. Jackson aimed to sell 100 million copies with his next album. According to some associates, Jackson was nervous about completing his next album. Reports spread of eccentric behavior and changing appearance, including a more chiselled face, fairer complexion, a perkier nose, and a cleft chin. In 1987, Spin wrote that "in record time, has gone from being one of the most admired of celebrities to one of the most absurd. And the pressure to restore himself in the public eye is paralyzing him."
Jackson wanted to move in a new musical direction, with a harder edge and fiercer sound. According to guitarist Steve Stevens, who featured on Bad, Jackson asked about rock bands including Mötley Crüe. After Jackson had written a handful of the tracks on Off the Wall and Thriller, producer Quincy Jones encouraged him to write more for his followup. Jones recalled: "All the turmoil was starting to mount up, so I said I thought it was time for him to do a very honest album."

Production

Bad was Jackson's final collaboration with co-producer Quincy Jones, who had produced Off the Wall and Thriller. Jackson began recording demos for the anticipated follow-up to Thriller in November 1983 while recording Victory with the Jacksons. He spent much of 1985 to 1987 out of the public eye, writing and recording at his home studio in Encino, Los Angeles, with a group of musicians and engineers including Bill Bottrell known as the "B team". The demos were brought to Westlake Studio to be finished by the "A team", with Jones and engineer Bruce Swedien. Jones said the team would stay up for days on end when they "were on a roll": "They were carrying second engineers out on stretchers. I was smoking 180 cigarettes a day."
Jackson was eager to find innovative sounds and was interested in new music technology. The team made extensive use of new digital synthesizers, including FM synthesis and the Fairlight CMI and Synclavier PSMT synthesizers. They sometimes combined synthesizers to create new sounds. Other instruments include guitars, organs, drums, bass, percussion and saxophones, washboard and digital guitars.
Work was disrupted in July 1984, when Jackson embarked on the Victory Tour with his brothers. Work resumed in January 1985 after the tour ended and after Jackson had recorded "We Are the World". In mid-1985, work was disrupted again so Jackson could prepare for Disney's 4D film experience Captain EO, which featured an early version of the Bad song "Another Part of Me." Studio work resumed in August that same year and continued until November 1986, when Jackson filmed the "Bad" music video. Recording resumed in January 1987, and the album was completed in July.
Jackson wrote a reported 60 songs, and recorded 30, wanting to use them all on a three-disc set. Jones suggested that the album be cut down to a ten-track single LP. Jackson is credited for writing all but three songs; other writing credits include Terry Britten and Graham Lyle for "Just Good Friends" and Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard for "Man in the Mirror".

Composition and lyrics

Bad is musically a heavier and more "aggressive" record than Thriller, with Jackson moving away from the heavy-groove sound and high-pitched vocals which featured on both Off the Wall and Thriller. Bad primarily incorporates pop, rock, funk and R&B, but also explores other genres such as soul and hard rock. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic noted that Bad moved Jackson "deeper into hard rock, deeper into schmaltzy adult contemporary, deeper into hard dance – essentially taking each portion of Thriller to an extreme, while increasing the quotient of immaculate studiocraft."
The album's song lyrics relate to romance and paranoia, the latter being a recurring theme in Jackson's albums. "Bad" was originally intended as a duet between Jackson and Prince. Jackson also planned duets with Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin and Barbra Streisand. The song was viewed as a revived "Hit the Road Jack" progression with lyrics that pertain to boasting. "Dirty Diana" was viewed by AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine as misogynistic and its lyrics, describing a sexual predator, do not aim for the "darkness" of "Billie Jean", instead sounding equally intrigued by and apprehensive of a sexual challenge, while having the opportunity to accept or resist it. "Leave Me Alone" was described as being a "paranoid anthem". "Man in the Mirror" was seen as Jackson going "a step further" and offering "a straightforward homily of personal commitment", which can be seen in the lyrics, "I'm starting with the man in the mirror / 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 then make a change."
"Liberian Girl"'s lyrics were viewed as "glistening" with "gratitude" for the "existence of a loved one". "Smooth Criminal"'s recalled "the popcorn-chomping manner" of "Thriller". The track was thought of as an example of "Jackson's free-form language" that keeps people "aware that we are on the edge of several realities: the film, the dream it inspires, the waking world it illuminates". The music in "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", a duet with Siedah Garrett, consisted mainly of finger snaps and timpani. "Just Good Friends" is a duet with Stevie Wonder; Jones said later: "I made a mistake with . That didn't work."
Jackson's mother, Katherine Jackson, wanted him to write an R&B song with a shuffle rhythm for the album, which came to be "The Way You Make Me Feel". The song consists of blues harmonies and a jazz-like tone, comparable to the classic Motown sound of the 1960s. The lyrics of "Another Part of Me" deal with being united, as "we". Critics Richard Cromelin and Richard Harrington associated the song's lyrics with the Harmonic Convergence phenomenon that occurred around the time of the album's release, with Harrington highlighting the verse: "The planets are lining up / We're bringing brighter days / They're all in line / Waiting for you / Can't you see? / You're just another part of me".

Release

Bad was released on August 31, 1987. Described as "the most anticipated album in history" by the Miami Herald, it debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 and remained there for six consecutive weeks. Bad sold at least 2 million copies in its first week of sales in the US and was eventually certified diamond for shipping 10 million copies in the US alone, however, it failed to match the sales of Thriller in the US, causing some in the media to label the album a disappointment. Michael Goldberg and David Handelman had predicted that "If Bad sells 'only' 10 million copies, that will be more than virtually any other record but could be viewed as a failure for Michael Jackson".
In the UK, Bad debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 500,000 copies in its first five days. It was the country's best-selling album of 1987. The album peaked at number one in 25 countries in total including Austria, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. It also charted at No. 13 in Mexico and at No. 22 in Portugal. Bad sold 7 million copies worldwide in its first week and 18 million copies in its first year. By 1991, it was become the second-best-selling album of all time, behind Thriller, having sold 25 million copies worldwide.
In the UK, Bad certified 13 times platinum with sales of 3.9 million, making it Jackson's second best-selling album there. It was certified seven times platinum for the shipment of over 700,000 copies in Canada by the Canadian Recording Industry Association. In Europe, the 2001 reissue was certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry for the sales of one million units. The album was also certified platinum by the IFPI for the shipment of over 20,000 copies in Hong Kong. Globally, Bad is Jackson's second best-selling album behind Thriller, with sales of 35 million copies.

Promotion

The marketing strategy for Bad was modeled on that for Thriller. Similarly to the first Thriller single, "The Girl Is Mine", the first Bad single, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", was a ballad duet, followed by two "more obvious modern pop knockouts" backed by music videos.
A commemorative special on Jackson's life, The Magic Returns, aired on CBS during prime time on the day of the release of Bad. At the end of the documentary, the channel debuted the short film for "Bad", directed by Martin Scorsese and featuring Wesley Snipes. The marketing strategy, mastered by Frank DiLeo among others, also included Jackson producing another mini-movie around the time of the Bad world tour. That film, Moonwalker, included performances of songs from Bad, including "Speed Demon", "Leave Me Alone", "Man in the Mirror" and "Smooth Criminal", the latter two released as sole videos at the end of the film. The film also included the music video for "Come Together", with the song featuring seven years later on . It became the best-selling home video of all time.
Sponsored by Pepsi, the Bad tour began in Japan, marking Jackson's first performances there since 1972 with the Jackson 5. Attendance figures for the first 14 dates in Japan totalled a record-breaking 450,000. Jackson performed seven sold out shows at Wembley Stadium, beating the previous record held by Madonna, Bruce Springsteen and Genesis. The third concert on July 16, 1988 was attended by Diana, Princess of Wales and Prince Charles. Jackson was entered into the Guinness World Records three times from the tour alone. The Bad tour was a major financial success, grossing $125 million. Jackson performed 132 concerts in 15 countries to an audience of 4.4 million.
For the Bad era, Jackson wore black outfits decorated with zippers and buckles, similar to his outfit on the Bad album cover. Stevens recalled that when he met Jackson, "I was wearing patent leather, he was wearing penny loafers. I turned him onto the guy who did my clothes." Jackson also grew out his jheri curl over shoulder-length and began wearing eye liner.

Singles

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You", a duet with Siedah Garrett, was the lead single. It peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and also reached number one in Belgium, Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, the UK and Zimbabwe.
"Bad" reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and remained there for two weeks, becoming the album's second number-one single, and Jackson's eighth number one entry on the chart. It also peaked at number one on the Hot R&B Singles, Hot Dance Club Play and Rhythmic chart. Internationally, the song was also commercially successful, charting at the top of the charts in seven other countries including Ireland, Italy, Norway, Spain, and the Netherlands.
"The Way You Make Me Feel" was the third consecutive Billboard Hot 100 number one hit and also hit number one in Ireland and Spain. Jackson performed the song at the 1988 Grammy Awards.
"Man in the Mirror" charted at number one on Billboards Hot 100. It hit number one in Canada and Italy too. Jackson performed the song at the 1988 Grammy Awards. It was nominated for Record of the Year at the next year's 1989 Grammy Awards.
"Dirty Diana" was the record-breaking fifth Billboard Hot 100 number-one single from Bad. Before the start of the Wembley Stadium show during the Bad tour in 1988, Diana, Princess of Wales, who was in attendance, informed Jackson that it was one of her personal favorite songs
"Another Part of Me" achieved less success, reaching number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100, but topped the R&B Singles Chart. Like Jackson's earlier songs in his career such as "Can You Feel It" and "We Are the World", the lyrics of the song emphasize global unity, love and outreach.
"Smooth Criminal" became the sixth top 10 single on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number seven. The song reached number one in Belgium, Iceland, the Netherlands and Spain. Though it was not one of the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles, in retrospective reviews it has been regarded as one of the best songs on Bad and one of Jackson's signature songs.
Released outside the United States and Canada, "Leave Me Alone" topped the Irish charts and reached the top ten in five other countries. "Leave Me Alone" was Jackson's response to negative and exaggerated rumors about Jackson that frequently appeared in the tabloids post-1985 after the success of Thriller. The music video was the recipient of Best Music Video at the 1990 Grammy Awards.
The album's final single, "Liberian Girl", did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but reached the top 20 in various countries and reached number one in Ireland. The song has been sampled and covered by various artists including Chico Freeman, 2Pac and MC Lyte.
Bad became the first album to have five consecutive singles peak at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. In 2011, the record was tied by American singer Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. In the UK, seven of the Bad singles reached the UK top ten which was a record for any studio album for over 20 years.

Covers

In 1988, "Weird Al" Yankovic recorded "Fat", a parody of "Bad", which won a Grammy Award for Best Concept Music Video at the 1989 Grammy Awards.

Critical reception

Davitt Sigerson from Rolling Stone wrote that "even without a milestone recording like 'Billie Jean', Bad is still a better record than Thriller." He believed the filler, such as "Speed Demon", "Dirty Diana" and "Liberian Girl", made Bad "richer, sexier and better than Thriller's forgettables." In a contemporary review for The New York Times, Jon Pareles called Bad "a well-made, catchy dance record by an enigmatic pop star". He said while nothing on the record compared to "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'", the music's "concocted synthesizer-driven arrangements" were "clear" and carried "a solid kick". In USA Today, Edna Gundersen called it Jackson's "most polished effort to date," that is "calculated but not sterile."
The Village Voice critic Robert Christgau was also critical. While he felt album's "studio mastery" and Jackson's "rhythmic and vocal power" made for "the strongest and most consistent black pop album in years", he lamented its lack of "genius" in the vein of "Beat It" or "Billie Jean" and panned the lyrical themes: "He's against burglary, speeding, and sex, in favor of harmonic convergence and changing the world by changing the man in the mirror. His ideal African comes from Liberia. And he claims moonwalking makes him a righteous brother. Like shit."
The Daily Telegraph commented that while Bad was another worldwide commercial success, the album "inevitably failed to match the success of Thriller despite Jackson's massive and grueling world tour", though Rolling Stone commented that "the best way to view" Bad was not as "the sequel to Thriller. Richard Harrington of The Washington Post felt that while the album could not live up to post-Thriller expectations, it would be "considerably fairer to compare" Bad with Off the Wall. His overall opinion on Bad was that it was "a very good record" that is "immaculately produced and with some scintillating vocal performances from Jackson". Richard Cromelin of the Los Angeles Times called Bad "a fair-to-strong array of soul and rock blends", commenting that the record was "not bad" and was more "reminiscent of Off the Walls uniform strength than Thrillers peaks and valleys". Cromelin felt that it would be "disappointing" if this album's "creative level" is where Jackson wants to stay.
In 1988, Bad was nominated for Grammy Awards for Album of the Year, Best Pop Vocal Performance – Male, Best R&B Vocal Performance – Male, and won for Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical. The following year, it was nominated for Record of the Year for "Man in the Mirror", and in 1990 won for Best Music Video – Short Form. "Bad" won an American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Song at the 1988 American Music Awards. At the 1988 Soul Train Music Awards, the album won Best R&B/Soul Album – Male and "Bad" won Best R&B/Soul Single – Male. The following year, "Man in the Mirror" also won Best R&B/Soul Single – Male. At the 1989 Brit Awards, "Smooth Criminal" won British Video of the Year. At the 1989 Billboard Music Awards, Bad won Album of the Year. Following the appraisal of the music videos of the singles from Bad, along with his previous music videos throughout the 1980s, Jackson was awarded the MTV Video Vanguard Artist of the Decade Award.

Legacy and influence

Reappraisals

Bad has been credited as defining the sound of "late-80s' pop". The album further set the standard for innovation in music videos following the success of the music videos for "Bad", "Smooth Criminal", "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Leave Me Alone". A writer for the Miami Herald reflected back on the anticipation for Bad, describing the album's release as being the "most hotly anticipated album in history". In a retrospective review for BBC Music, Mike Diver regarded Bad as a landmark factor of 1980s pop culture: "A multi-million-unit-shifter, Bad was as important to 1980s pop culture as the rise of the Walkman, the Back to the Future movies, and the shooting of JR. Like 1982’s Thriller, it’s an album that appeared to easily find a home within the record collection of rockers and poppers, punks and poets alike." Diver also praised the album for being the "best of the best " and an "essential pop masterpiece". Writing for Billboard, Gail Mitchell wrote that Bad is "one of the most important pop albums of the late '80s, and one of the most successful albums in Billboard chart history".
In 2009, VH1 said of the album:In 2009, Jim Farber of the Daily News wrote that Bad "streamlined the quirks" of Jackson's two previous albums to "create his most smooth work of pop to date." Writing for The Root, Matthew Allen claimed that Bad was the start of Jackson's three-year "prime" in his "vocals, songwriting, producing, performing and video output". Allen also regarded the album as " down on the edge" of Thriller in both subject matter and instrumental arrangement. Writing for Albumism, Chris Lacy considered Bad possibly being superior to Off the Wall and Thriller: "Comparisons with Off the Wall and Thriller are unimportant, except for this one: Bad is a pure pop masterpiece that stands parallel with—and, at times, eclipses—its classic predecessors." Lacy also stated that Bad set a "new gold standard for pop music and entertainment".
Joseph Vogel was also enthusiastic about the record. "On Bad, Jackson's music is largely about creating moods, visceral emotions, and fantastical scenarios.... each song work as a dream capsule, inviting the listener into a vivid new sound, story, space." He called Bad "a compelling, phantasmagorical album, which a handful of critics recognized from the beginning." According to Jayson Rodriguez of MTV, "following the twin cannons that were Off the Wall and Thriller wouldn't be an easy task for most, but Jackson's follow-up, 1987's Bad, was formidable by all accounts." Rodriguez also felt that Bad was "wrongfully dismissed by critics because it wasn't the sales blockbuster that Thriller was" and that during the Bad era, Jackson's vocal hiccups and stammered "shamone" would become staples in his music that were "heightening and highlighting the emotion of his lyrics." Erika Ramirez of Billboard highlighted "Another Part of Me" and "Man in the Mirror" for showcasing Jackson as a "caring humanitarian" and emphasizing world unity.

21st century appeal

25 years after its release, film director Spike Lee claimed that Bad sounds the 'freshest' today compared to other Billboard 200 number-one albums which were released in 1987, such as U2's The Joshua Tree, Bruce Springsteen's Tunnel of Love and Whitney Houston's Whitney: "Go to the charts... and see what were the top albums 25 years ago, play those albums now and then play Bad, and then see which one still sounds fresh and doesn't sound dated." Following the 30th anniversary of the album's release, Kendall Fisher of E! Online regarded it as having an impact on contemporary artists; "Essentially, epitomized the massive influence had on many of today's biggest artists."
American rapper Kanye West claimed that Jackson's outfit in the "Bad" video is "far more influential" than Jackson's outfit in the "Thriller" video. West also said "I almost dress like that today." American rapper Ludacris, who was featured on Canadian singer Justin Bieber's "Baby", said that the music video for the song is "like a 2010 version" of "The Way You Make Me Feel". After the video was released in 2010, MTV said that the video is "the new version" of "The Way You Make Me Feel", also noting that the choreography "uses a few of Jackson's less-suggestive moves."

Rankings

In 2003, Bad was ranked number 202 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, and 203 in a 2012 revised list. In NMEs The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list, Bad was ranked number 204. It was also included in the book titled 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. In 2009, VH1 listed Bad at number 43 on their list of 100 Greatest Albums of All Time of the MTV Generation. In 2012, Slant Magazine ranked the album at number 48 on its list of The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s. Billboard ranked Bad at number 138 on its list of the Greatest of All Time Billboard 200 Albums. It was ranked number 30 in Billboards list of the Greatest of All Time R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, out of 100 albums. On Billboards list of All 92 Diamond-Certified Albums Ranked From Worst to Best: Critic's Take, it was ranked number 41.

Accolades

''Bad 25''

It was announced on May 3, 2012, that the Estate of Michael Jackson and Epic Records would be releasing a 25th anniversary album of Bad. The album was named Bad 25 and was released on September 18, 2012. Since the release of Bad 25, there has been a discontinuation of the 2001 special edition.

Track listing

All tracks written by Michael Jackson, except where noted; all tracks produced by Quincy Jones and co-produced by Jackson.
;Notes
Re-issues of Bad feature a number of changes when compared to the original 1987 release:
Personnel as listed in the album's liner notes are:

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Austrian Albums 2
Germany 3
New Zealand Albums 14
UK Albums 3
US Billboard 2005
US Cash Box6

Decade-end charts

Certifications

Citations

Works cited