Latest on MJJC

Should the ‘Bad’ album have been released with more songs?

mj_frenzy

Proud Member
Joined
Aug 26, 2014
Messages
2,785
Points
113
Location
Greece
Country
Greece
According to Quincy Jones, MJ wrote 33 songs during the ‘Bad’ sessions with a view to include all of them on that record (without a doubt, a sign of MJ’s songwriting abilities & self-confidence at that time).

The quality & potential of the recorded material that never made that album cannot be denied. For example, ballads like ‘Fly Away’ or ‘I’m So Blue’ would probably have made the album look more balanced, the thematically very different ‘Abortion Papers’ would have made the album lyrically more diversified, not to mention the song ‘Streetwalker’ which would have looked like the dark side of ‘The Way You Make Me Feel’.

Also, MJ’s momentum during that period was really big. He was coming from the phenomenal success of his two previous, solo albums (‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’) & also from a successful world tour (Victory Tour) as the lead singer.

On the other hand, a few reasons seem to explain the one-disc set release (lower price thus bigger sales, technical standards, for example).

In other words, when an artist is on top form (in terms of songwriting, mainly), should he still stick to the ‘less is more’ adage?
 
No. Imo the greatest albums (in terms of a collection of songs that is more than the sum of its parts) are in the old-fashioned 40 to 50 minute range. This to me is the perfect amount of time to tell a story or set a particular mood without having to resort to filler material or simply becoming ever so slightly uninteresting to listen to in one go. Of course there are always exceptions, but on average I prefer this over 80 minute albums.

Double albums make more sense to me when an artist is just trying to get out a bunch of songs without caring much about cohesion. I think you make much less of a statement that way though, and the individual songs get a bit diluted and matter less.
 
:no: to the posts above.

I posted on another thread about this months back. here:

I also think that as a whole, all songs excluding "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Just Good Friends" and maybe "Liberian Girl", are not interchangeable, especially now that we've been exposed to the demos during the that era. I think the Bad era seems to have made the strongest possible case outtakes wise (bar Dangerous). I mean "Cheater", "Streetwalker", "Abortion Papers", "Al Capone" and "Price Of Fame"? If those songs replaced the weakest tracks on Bad, goodness knows how much better the response may have been from critics. Those songs could have been replaced with "Cheater", "Al Capone" (with more polished production), "Streetwalker", "Price Of Fame", and/or "Abortion Papers". Those songs would made the album less 'safe' and more edgy particularly "Cheater" and "Streetwalker". "Abortion Papers" and "Price Of Fame" would have given it more social realism and lyrical dynamism. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and "Just Good Friends" are weren't strong enough imho. Agree with you lyrically speaking about "Dirty Diana", it's basically a rock rip-off of "Billie Jean", but it's stil vintage MJ and works well on that album soundscape wise.
Click to expand...

The truth is, that this album is not perfect and would have been his 'Songs In The Key Of Life' had the technological capabilities been available at the time.
 
Last edited:
Psychoniff said:
"If those songs replaced the weakest tracks on Bad, goodness knows how much better the response may have been from critics."
Click to expand...

Since when did Michael make albums to appease the critics? Lol Michale made albums for his fans and his fans all love the bad album. And the critics are hypocrite anyways. Did they want him to be edgy or did they want him to do the fluffy carefree songs? Make up your damn minds.


Psychoniff said:
:no: .


The truth is, that this album is not perfect and would have been his 'Songs In The Key Of Life' if had the technological capabilities been available at the time.
Click to expand...

The truth? The truth is everyone can have a different opinion about an album. Everyone looks for different things in albums.
 
When Bad came out and I read that Michael wanted it to be a three album set, I was sad that it wasn't-after hearing the demos on BAD 25, and how great they are, I was really sad about it.
I also want that album Branca talked about in BAD 25-covers of songs by people that influenced Michael-Jackie Wilson and James Brown. I just want it all.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Since when did Michael make albums to appease the critics? Lol Michale made albums for his fans and his fans all love the bad album. And the critics are hypocrite anyways. Did they want him to be edgy or did they want him to do the fluffy carefree songs? Make up your damn minds.




The truth? The truth is everyone can have a different opinion about an album. Everyone looks for different things in albums.
Click to expand...

A three-disc set by MJ was needed at the time. He needed to prove beyond doubt that the success of Thriller was more that just record sales, unfortunately he never got to release a full body of work at that time.
 
Psychoniff said:
A three-disc set by MJ was needed at the time. He needed to prove beyond doubt that the success of Thriller was more that just record sales, unfortunately he never got to release a full body of work at that time.
Click to expand...
Not only that, but music was just pouring out of Michael at the time. The Bad 25 demos as well as some of the songs released later are all fantastic and should have been completed.

There's no filler on those 3 "Quincy" albums and there still wouldn't be with a 3 disc album.
 
I personally think the album was great the way it was... coming off of Thriller I personally believe a 3 disc set would have been too much... with more discs (well I guess I should also say tapes) that means more money. more money becomes sale drop... Plus we all know Michael did not believe in Fillers... and that is was it would have had if the album size doubled or tripled... If songs were not up to par or not ready at the time I'm glad they did not make the cut... I think all those outakes used for special releases are great...
 
I think the Bad album is great the way that it is but I am still curious about the other songs that didn't make the final release of the album. When I hear them, I do compare them with what's already out there, but I am happy with the album that we have. MJ could have released the other songs in a special set. If they were going to release additional songs other than the ones that ended up on the final album, they could have done a double tape, or later, CD set. I didn't know that he had so many songs that they had to pick from but it does show how creative MJ was.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top