SONG OF THE WEEK: Is It Scary

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20 years ago on Saturday, Blood On The Dance Floor was released and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was reading the critics the album got. It received generally negative reviews regarding the album and Michael's vocals as "weak." They must had been deaf or had comprehension problems when they played Is It Scary and Morphine, 2 of the most poignant, sincere and personal songs Michael ever wrote and performed.

Michael told Teddy Riley "you've got to hurt the people" while performing and Is It Scary shuttered my heart to pieces when my fluency in the language improved and could finally listen and understand what he was saying. He addressed his detractors and inquisitors in that track more brilliantly than in any other anti tabloid song he ever wrote because in this one he included the tabloids, the media and the general public who persecuted and condemned him.

He still is the grotesque monster the lynching mobs all over the world love hate. Are we the fans and people who really knew him the only ones who can see the human being?


Is It Scary
Michael Jackson

There's a ghost out in the hall
There's a goul beneath the bed
Now it's coming through the walls
Now it's coming down the stairs

Then there's screaming in the dark
Hear the beating of his heart
Can you feel it in the air
Ghosts be hiding everywhere

I'm gonna be
Exactly what you want to see
It's you who's haunting me
You're warning me
To be the stranger
In your life

Am I amusing you
Or just confusing you
Am I the beast
You visualized
And if you want to see
Eccentrialities
I'll be grotesque
Before your eyes

Let them all materialize

Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Is it scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Is it scary for you, baby

There's a creak beneath the floor
There's a creak behind the door
There's a rocking in the chair
But nobody sitting there
There's a ghostly smell around
But nobody to be found
And a coughin' and a yawnin'
Where restless soul's spoke

I'm gonna be
Exactly what you gonna see
So did you come to me

To see your fantasies
Performed before your very eyes

A haunting ghostly treat
The foolish trickery
And spirits dancing
In the light

But if you came to see
The truth the purity
It's here inside
A lonely heart


So let the performance start
Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
So tell me is it scary for you, baby
So tell me is it crazy for you, baby
Am I scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Am I scary for ya

Masquerade the heart
Is the height of haunting souls
Just not what you seek of me
Can the heart reveal the proof
Like a mirror reveals the truth
See the evil one is you


Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Am I scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you
So tell me am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for ya, baby
Is is scary for ya, baby
Am I scary for you
(I don't want to talk about it)

Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
I'm tired of being abused
You know you're scaring me too
I see the evil is you
Is it scary for you, baby
 
I find it interesting how this song and Ghosts both share the same opening lines. I also always really loved the chorus in this song, it felt out of this world in a sense. I even made a short remix for myself once which was just all the choruses merged into one another :p

About a month or so ago, I was going through a rough patch (everything's fine now!!) and I properly revisited the Blood on the Dance Floor album for the first time in years. I came to really appreciate Michael's brutally honest reflections of himself and society, just basking in the whole dark side of it all, especially Morphine. The dark, raw and industrial feeling of the album was a really good outlet of anger and confusion... it would've made a great EP, I kind of think of it in that way :)
 
As a standalone EP, the five tracks on BOTD stand up as amongst the very best work MJ ever produced.

You're absolutely right. See unlike many people here, I actually don't mind most of the remixes, but I've come to the conclusion that they just detract from the impact of the original five tracks. Doesn't feel right to have songs like Morphine or Is It Scary followed up by... club remixes...
 
BOTDF and HIStory are so damn autobiographical it hurts.

Is It Scary isn't the best original track on the album but the lyrics are heartbreaking and for the first time I realised that he does realise how many talk about him and how much it hurts. Combine this with the 'freaky boy' scene in Ghosts and him pounding his face on the floor until it crumbles and it is incredibly sad.

The line 'I'll be grotesque before your eyes' especially pains my heart.
 
Totally. BOTD is an EP with a bunch of crap added to fill it out. MJ wanted to release it originally as an EP, it was Sony who pushed the remix album idea.



As a standalone EP, the five tracks on BOTD stand up as amongst the very best work MJ ever produced.

A couple of the remixes are good (Scream Louder and 2 Bad Refugee Mix), but that's all. YANA and Earth Song especially shows what the nuclear apocalypse will sound like.
 
Can the heart reveal the proof
Like a mirror reveals the truth
See the evil one is you

These lyrics are more autobiographical than Moonwalk.

One of my favourite songs from Michael. The acapella to this would be hauntingly beautiful
 
A few more thoughts...

I'd have loved the song to appear more than just some chorus lines. Maybe it would have been more effective to have it in the beginning than those corny dialogs since the people featured on Ghosts are essentially a lynching mob leaded by that snake Sneddon and the song is directed to his inquisitors.

It's been discussed in the past that being unfairly accused of one of the most heinous crimes a human being can be accused of triggered Michael Jackson the artist to release the most creative, innovative and intelligent works he had ever made but I often wonder if HIStory, Ghosts and BOTDF would even exist if the allegations had never been made.
 
It's been discussed in the past that being unfairly accused of one of the most heinous crimes a human being can be accused of triggered Michael Jackson the artist to release the most creative, innovative and intelligent works he had ever made but I often wonder if HIStory, Ghosts and BOTDF would even exist if the allegations had never been made.

Obviously they wouldn't as majority of songs on them directly relate to what happened.

But as much as I love the two albums, I quite happily give them up for all the crap not to happen.
 
I find it interesting how this song and Ghosts both share the same opening lines. I also always really loved the chorus in this song, it felt out of this world in a sense. I even made a short remix for myself once which was just all the choruses merged into one another :p

About a month or so ago, I was going through a rough patch (everything's fine now!!) and I properly revisited the Blood on the Dance Floor album for the first time in years. I came to really appreciate Michael's brutally honest reflections of himself and society, just basking in the whole dark side of it all, especially Morphine. The dark, raw and industrial feeling of the album was a really good outlet of anger and confusion... it would've made a great EP, I kind of think of it in that way :)

I feel so stupid for never noticing that they share the same opening lines. Has anyone asked someone like Brad Sundberg about this? I'm actually quite curious now.
 
Snow White luvs Peter Pan;4194868 said:
20 years ago on Saturday, Blood On The Dance Floor was released and I couldn’t believe my eyes when I was reading the critics the album got. It received generally negative reviews regarding the album and Michael's vocals as "weak." They must had been deaf or had comprehension problems when they played Is It Scary and Morphine, 2 of the most poignant, sincere and personal songs Michael ever wrote and performed.

Michael told Teddy Riley "you've got to hurt the people" while performing and Is It Scary shuttered my heart to pieces when my fluency in the language improved and could finally listen and understand what he was saying. He addressed his detractors and inquisitors in that track more brilliantly than in any other anti tabloid song he ever wrote because in this one he included the tabloids, the media and the general public who persecuted and condemned him.

He still is the grotesque monster the lynching mobs all over the world love hate. Are we the fans and people who really knew him the only ones who can see the human being?


Is It Scary
Michael Jackson

There's a ghost out in the hall
There's a goul beneath the bed
Now it's coming through the walls
Now it's coming down the stairs

Then there's screaming in the dark
Hear the beating of his heart
Can you feel it in the air
Ghosts be hiding everywhere

I'm gonna be
Exactly what you want to see
It's you who's haunting me
You're warning me
To be the stranger
In your life

Am I amusing you
Or just confusing you
Am I the beast
You visualized
And if you want to see
Eccentrialities
I'll be grotesque
Before your eyes

Let them all materialize

Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Is it scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Is it scary for you, baby

There's a creak beneath the floor
There's a creak behind the door
There's a rocking in the chair
But nobody sitting there
There's a ghostly smell around
But nobody to be found
And a coughin' and a yawnin'
Where restless soul's spoke

I'm gonna be
Exactly what you gonna see
So did you come to me

To see your fantasies
Performed before your very eyes

A haunting ghostly treat
The foolish trickery
And spirits dancing
In the light

But if you came to see
The truth the purity
It's here inside
A lonely heart


So let the performance start
Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
So tell me is it scary for you, baby
So tell me is it crazy for you, baby
Am I scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Am I scary for ya

Masquerade the heart
Is the height of haunting souls
Just not what you seek of me
Can the heart reveal the proof
Like a mirror reveals the truth
See the evil one is you


Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, oh
Am I scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you
So tell me am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for ya, baby
Is is scary for ya, baby
Am I scary for you
(I don't want to talk about it)

Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
I'm tired of being abused
You know you're scaring me too
I see the evil is you
Is it scary for you, baby

Great thread OP!
I really really love IIS.
And aside from Michael calling out the media and other people that wanted so much to take him down, my favorite thing about the song is the visuals that it can spark in one's mind.
Even when Michael's songs didn't have an actual visual they were still very visual (I hope this makes sense).
When I listen to IIS I can imagine entire environments and story lines.:yes:

Now, as for those that knocked his vocals I'd say it would be best to ignore them.
Even now I've noticed an annoying trend of people rating Michael's vocals laughably low or just straight up saying he couldn't sing because he wasn't a traditional belter with a Barry White deep voice or because he wasn't "a good technical singer."
When I see that type of mess I roll my eyes and keep it moving.:lol:
 
Am I the only one who thinks the lyrics in the OP are not correct? I cannot find any other lyrics version on Google or YouTube but I've listened to Is It Scary a million times and I hear something different in several places. This would be my version (with changed lyrics in bold):

[youtube]ctTmETTRSPA[/youtube]

There's a ghost out in the hall
There's a ghoul beneath the bed
Now it's coming through the walls
Now it's coming down the stairs

There's a spirit in the dark
Hear the beating of his heart
Can you feel it in the air
Ghosts be hiding everywhere

I'm gonna be exactly what you wanna see
It's you who's taunting me
Because you're wanting me
To be the stranger in your life

Am I amusing you
Or just confusing you
Am I the beast you visualised

And if you wanna see
eccentric oddities
I'll be grotesque before your eyes
Let them all materialise!

Is it scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
Is it scary for you baby
Is it scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Is it scary for you baby

There's a creaking in the floor
There's a creak (or creep) behind the door
There's a rocking in the chair
But nobody's sitting there

There's a ghastly smell around
But nobody to be found
And a coffin inlay open (?)
Where a restless soul is poking

I'm gonna be exactly what you're gonna see
So did you come to me to see your fantasies
Performed before your very eyes

A haunting ghostly treat
The ghoulish trickery
And spirits dancing in the light

But if you came to see
The truth, the purity
It's here inside a lonely heart
So let the performance start!

Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
So tell me is it scary for you, baby
Tell me
So tell me is that realist for you baby
Am I scary for you
You know the stranger is you
Is it scary for ya

Masquerade the heart
Is the height of hurting souls
Just not what you seek of me

'Cause the heart reveals the proof
Like a mirror reveals the truth
See the evil one is you!

Is that scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
Am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you
So tell me, am I scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you, baby
Am I scary for you

(Wanna talk about it
I don't wanna talk about it)

Am I scary for you, baby
Is it scary for you
I'm tired of being abused
You know you're scaring me too
I see the evil is you
Is it scary for you
 
Yes I too loved that song. Listening to his voice as he sings it evokes so many emotions, i.e. anger, hurt, sadness loneliness...I too believe that it was his most autobiographical piece, even if he never admitted it. :2cents: One of my regrets is not seeing Michael ever perform it and l know it would've been awesome!
 
Perfect choice for song of the week.

Is It Scary is one of my all time favorite songs. The structure of the song, the darkness, the roughness, the vocals, the lyrics - everything is perfect.

Imagine being able to make such a sad, sad song so unique and danceable.... Many could hear the song and enjoy it a lot without hearing the lyrics - so they would not really know just how sad the song really is. - Like Stranger in Moscow

I really hope The Estate re-releases BOTDF as a EB without the remixes. - Maybe they could even add one or two songs from the BOYDF sessions if any are in a releasable state.
 
Can the heart reveal the proof
Like a mirror reveals the truth
See the evil one is you

These lyrics are more autobiographical than Moonwalk.

One of my favourite songs from Michael. The acapella to this would be hauntingly beautiful
Excellent point.

I would give up this song in a heartbeat for Michael not to have been hit by those allegations. But, since I can't change history, I can say that this song is one of those that I can't live without.
 
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