Question about Blood on the Dance Floor (album)

Arunas

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I'd like to know from people who are interested in all things Michael for a long time. This album has remixes in it,which, for me, seem odd. Why ?

I kinda imagine Michael being all perfectionist and stuff, someone who would not ever change his original stuff, let alone someone ELSE mess with hit, so I was wondering if there is ANY behind story about the release of this album and its idea (particularly the remixed songs)
 
In the 90s every song released as a single was remixed multiple times to adapt it for the contemporary club or r'n'b scenes. Songs like They Don't Care About Us alone had ~25 official remixes / versions of remixes released on various commercial and promo-only singles around the world. It was then also a common thing to do a compilation album of the "best" or most successful remixes. Janet had a remix album before Michael, Madonna too etc.

As the story goes, initially Blood On The Dance Floor was supposed to be just an EP with some new songs only, to support the Ghosts film and to basically have a fresh product in stores while Michael was still touring the world. Ultimately Sony fused that idea with the remix album concept, which makes perfect sense from their financial point of view. Spice up a small EP with already existing remixes into an "album", and the profits will be higher.

I think Michael once told the guys from the french Black & White Magazin that he wasn't happy about having the remixes on there. He probably went along with it anyway because of pressure from Sony or contractual reasons.
 
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It was stipulated in his contract to release a remix album but he didn't like them, he hated others changing his stuff but Michael had to do it.

I regard BOTDF as a brilliant EP.

So it was the agreement for the Thriller 25 release to get a quick amount of money.
 
It was smart as far as the European market goes. The remixes to Michael's songs around this time often garnered more airplay than the original edits, and Michael was a mainstay on the dance charts. The creme de la creme of the 90s dance music scene clambered to remix a Jackson hit - Frankie Knuckles, Todd Terry, David Morales to name but a few.

These remixes extended Michael's reach to his audience even further and, dare I say it, kept him relevant in Europe as far as radios, clubs and the 'youf' goes.
 
It was then also a common thing to do a compilation album of the "best" or most successful remixes. Janet had a remix album before Michael, Madonna too etc.
Speaking of Janet, I never understood why when her 1982 debut album was later re-released on CD, the Say You Do on it was the remix from the 12" single and not the version from the original album.
 
I'd like to know from people who are interested in all things Michael for a long time. This album has remixes in it,which, for me, seem odd. Why ?

I kinda imagine Michael being all perfectionist and stuff, someone who would not ever change his original stuff, let alone someone ELSE mess with hit, so I was wondering if there is ANY behind story about the release of this album and its idea (particularly the remixed songs)

It was a remix album, so it had remixes on them.
And a few new/unreleased cuts.
 
I'd like to know from people who are interested in all things Michael for a long time. This album has remixes in it,which, for me, seem odd. Why ?

I kinda imagine Michael being all perfectionist and stuff, someone who would not ever change his original stuff, let alone someone ELSE mess with hit, so I was wondering if there is ANY behind story about the release of this album and its idea (particularly the remixed songs)

He signed a contract to release 1 remix album. He had to do it. Simple. He regretted it later. He wanted BOTDF to be an EP, but a contract is a contract and Sony wanted a remix album which was very fitting for the '90s. So the message here should be: Be careful of what you're signing, something MJ never did and almost always regretted later on. I like the album very much so I'm glad it turned the way it did.
 
He signed a contract to release 1 remix album. He had to do it. Simple. He regretted it later. He wanted BOTDF to be an EP, but a contract is a contract and Sony wanted a remix album which was very fitting for the '90s. So the message here should be: Be careful of what you're signing, something MJ never did and almost always regretted later on. I like the album very much so I'm glad it turned the way it did.


Did the contract he signed prior to Dangerous for 6 albums really include a remix album? I somehow can't imagine that, as in 1991 that was nothing ever done before. The contract was probably just about "albums", and for Michael the (remix)-album was an easy step to get closer to the fulfillment of the contract.
 
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