RS-IV:Quincy-jones-on-the-making-of-michael-jacksons-bad-

Annita

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Rolling Stone and Q. Jones seems to be a perfect team to downplay Michaels work

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/f...on-the-making-of-michael-jacksons-bad-w500107

Quincy Jones Looks Back on the Making of Michael Jackson's 'Bad'

"I thought it was time for him to do a very honest album," producer says of 1987 smash that spawned "Man in the Mirror" and four other Number Ones

By Elias Leight

Quincy Jones had already built an exceptional, prolific and wide-ranging career in multiple genres by the time he met Michael Jackson. He toured with Dizzy Gillespie, arranged Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon" and Ray Charles' Genius + Soul = Jazz, led his own groups, scored films and TV shows, and showcased his knack for pop-leaning production on records like Big Maybelle's "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" and a string of four consecutive Top Five singles for Lesley Gore in 1963 and 1964.


Jones brought all this training to bear on his work with Jackson, and the pair become one of the most important duos in the history of pop. Between 1979 and 1987, Jackson released Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad, a hat trick of Jones-produced albums that sold countless millions of copies and scored 17 Top 10 hits, including nine Number Ones, in the U.S. In honor of Thursday's 30th anniversary of Bad, Jones spoke with Rolling Stone about his work on the historic LP.

Did you and Michael talk about a vision for Bad before you started working?
That's not the way it works. You go song by song. The songs are the power. They take it home. From what I learned, the melody is the voice of God. That's what you look for. I have never ever in my life made records for money or fame. That's how you blow it. 'Cause God walks out of the room if you're going after money. And you don't know how to go after money – it doesn't work like that. You have to go with your first intuition. If there's anything I've learned at age 84, it's how little we have to do with most things. It's divine intervention.

People get into their own opinions about I, me, my, those perspectives on making records. It doesn't work like that, man. It's we, us, they – team, all the time. The more you get involved in that team, the better the project's going to be. It's an amazing process. I've been doing it a long time. But all the way back to when I did Lesley Gore in the Sixties, the least-favorite records of mine were ones at Numbers Two, Six and 11. You ever hear anybody say I got a Top Six record? A Top 11 record? Nuh-uh. And if it's Number Two, you want to be Number One.

How do you assemble a great team?
I had a superstar team way before I even worked with Michael. Jerry Hey, Rod Temperton, Bruce Swedien, Greg Phillinganes – that was way before Michael. These cats are the best in the world.

I'm not guessing. One of the responsibilities of a producer is to know what's best at everything. A producer's job is hard, man. It really is. When you get your team all involved going in the same direction, that's when you make great records.

And it takes total loyalty to the songs. All my musicians think that way. Even if it's not their song, they've got something to add to it. Like, remember James Ingram's "One Hundred Ways?" I had tried to record that with George Benson. But it didn't have a C section, and that's what stopped me for George. For James, Rod went into another room and in an hour he wrote a C section. He didn't put his name on it, didn't ask for any credits. That's the kind of dedication you have to have, or God will not answer the phone.

How do you know what's best for the team or an artist?
My experience in the business. I started with big bands, gospel quartets, bebop – I was a stone-cold bebop junkie. That was a revolutionary movement. I've been out here 70 years. It's a long time. You gotta hope you can make all the mistakes you can so you learn. If you don't make mistakes you don't learn a thing. I made all the mistakes. All of 'em. But by the time I got to Michael, I'd already made 'em all. I was 50 when I did Thriller. I did Sinatra at 29 years old.

How did you pick songs for Bad?
I'll tell you how it was. On Off the Wall, Michael wrote "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough," he wrote "Working Day and Night," and I got him to write a part of "Get on the Floor" with Louis Johnson – 'cause that was the middle of the Brothers Johnson kicking ass. On Thriller, he did "Beat It" – that was the last one we got – "The Girl Is Mine," "Billie Jean" and "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin.'"

All the turmoil [in his life] was starting to mount up, so I said I thought it was time for him to do a very honest album writing all the songs. I suggested that for Bad. He did all but two songs. I made a mistake on the duet with him and Stevie ["Just Good Friends," written by Terry Britten and Graham Lyle]. That didn't work. But "Man in the Mirror" sure worked. Siedah [Garrett] was one of my 13 songwriters. I had a meeting to ask them for an international kind of anthem to make yourself a better person. And she wrote "Man in the Mirror" with [Glen] Ballard. That did not stop. That baby did it. It was the biggest song from the album. And they were all big – we had five Number One records.

Quincy Jones Looks Back on the Making of Michael Jackson's 'Bad'

"I thought it was time for him to do a very honest album," producer says of 1987 smash that spawned "Man in the Mirror" and four other Number Ones
 
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Another song I could hear Stevie and MJ dueting on is Leave Me Alone! I can hear how it would have suited Stevie's voice. Oh what if...
 
It was an interesting read, but Quincy really doesn't do himself any favors with the way he talks about Michael and the past nowdays. He used to be a lot more articulate about it all-
If anybody wants to know where Quincy's true genius lies, they need to read stuff by Brad Sunberg, or Glen Ballard and songwriters that worked for/with him or his collaborators.
Fantastic article in Billboard about the BAD album today, that I loved-lots of new things that even I never knew.
 
Just Good Friends will always remain a favourite song from mine.
I don't understand why people think that track is weak.
 
Another song I could hear Stevie and MJ dueting on is Leave Me Alone! I can hear how it would have suited Stevie's voice. Oh what if...

Wow imagine that. That's really got me thinking. I wish they had either done Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming or Don't Be Messin' Round would have been more complete.


I get frustrated with Q of late, I have a lot of respect for him and his legendary musical ability but why does keep doggin' Mike every chance he gets. I can't remember the last time he mentioned how incredible Michael was a singer/songwriter or how brilliant he was in general in fact. Yet he seems to give everybody else love and respect. I do understand that from a producer's mindset giving the unsung hero's of the record some dues which is great but still come on.

Also have you noticed at the same time, all the other producers that worked with MJ talk about him in the upmost regard, Teddy, Gamble and Huff, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Cory Rooney ,Darkchild. Stuff about his musical genius, how hard he worked and his kindness.

Sorry to rant but it just annoys me. The way it comes across is Q and his team did everything on those 3 records and Michael just showed up sung and left , which is so far from the fact it's laughable. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of listening to any demo from that era would know Michael was the driving force and heartbeat of those records.

Side note it's fantastic seeing all the love and attention the Bad album is getting on it's 30th anniversary
 
Just Good Friends will always remain a favourite song from mine.
I don't understand why people think that track is weak.

It's mainly the fact it's a relatively average track that is surrounded by pop masterpieces. It's definitely not a bad track, it just stands out from the rest so it'll get singled out more.

Wish MJ and Stevie wrote something together, that would've been amazing. I wonder why they didn't...
 
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Wow imagine that. That's really got me thinking. I wish they had either done Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming or Don't Be Messin' Round would have been more complete.


I get frustrated with Q of late, I have a lot of respect for him and his legendary musical ability but why does keep doggin' Mike every chance he gets. I can't remember the last time he mentioned how incredible Michael was a singer/songwriter or how brilliant he was in general in fact. Yet he seems to give everybody else love and respect. I do understand that from a producer's mindset giving the unsung hero's of the record some dues which is great but still come on.

Also have you noticed at the same time, all the other producers that worked with MJ talk about him in the upmost regard, Teddy, Gamble and Huff, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, Cory Rooney ,Darkchild. Stuff about his musical genius, how hard he worked and his kindness.

Sorry to rant but it just annoys me. The way it comes across is Q and his team did everything on those 3 records and Michael just showed up sung and left , which is so far from the fact it's laughable. Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of listening to any demo from that era would know Michael was the driving force and heartbeat of those records.

Side note it's fantastic seeing all the love and attention the Bad album is getting on it's 30th anniversary

My thoughts, exactly. Q has a huge ego.
 
It was an interesting read, but Quincy really doesn't do himself any favors with the way he talks about Michael and the past nowdays. .

I think his intention is to cementing himself in history to the true mastermind for OTW, Thriller and Bad and the press like RS will not call him out for this and only happy adapt it.
 
Just Good Friends will always remain a favourite song from mine.
I don't understand why people think that track is weak.

I don't understand the dislike for that song either. Maybe people's expectations where too high, because it had Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder on a song together
 
^Too average for the caliber of such genuises. I wonder why they didn't get together to write songs like Michael did with Paul. Call TGIM corny all you want but it's a better song and duet than JGF, well, Say Say Say and The Man are better too.
 
For some reason, Quincy Jones strikes me as somewhat overconfident, like he's king of the music world all by himself. I've never met him, so I don't know if that's his intention...but the interviews I've seen and heard have given me that impression more than once. I always wondered though, why Michael split from him; none of the albums after Bad reached that super-high level again. They're still very good, and I really enjoy them...but when people think of Michael its usually the albums he and Quincy did which first spring to mind.
 
I've said it before but Michael wouldn't have been the pioneer he was if had played safe. MJ and Q achieved great things together with those 3 albums and he said himself he learned a lot from Q but I'm glad he parted ways to be the main driving force on Dangerous, HIStory and BOTDF proving his creative genius achieved its peak in the 90s.

Goingback to Quincy Jones, I don't get why he started to get bitter towards MJ, downplaying him as an artist and human being ever since 2005. He had lot of love and praise for him in the 90s and still was loving to Michael when he called to the Oprah show to pay tribute to Quincy in October 2001 and also the 2002 Vibe photo shoot. I don't get what went wrong to Q to start saying such hurtful comments about not knowing Michael, the idiocies about Michael's skin and his children in 2005, spiraling out of control after Michael passed.
 
I don't understand the dislike for that song either. Maybe people's expectations where too high, because it had Michael Jackson and Stevie Wonder on a song together

I never understood it but understood it at the same time.........Just Good Friends is a great song, always one of my favorites on Bad, an arguably, that could have been the album's debut single release just as I Just Can't Stop Loving You Was....

Stevie had just released his own brand new LP that year Characters with the #1 r&b single Skeletons that fall

I think the reason JGF gets so much flack is that there's a r&b element to the song and the BAD LP and the concept behind it was geared to go full scale pop.

Just Good Friends could have been on Thriller or Off The Wall and I don't believe it would have received any flack at all.

I listen to this song all the time along with Liberian Girl, Another Part of Me, MITM, and Leave Me Alone from the Bad LP....
 
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The 80s albums are simply more fun, more light hearted thus more accessible to the general public, so it is understandable why they are more popular. It doesn't mean the 90s albums are weaker. In many ways I actually find them stronger. Staying with Quincy would have meant MJ had kept repeating himself. I think MJ had a good sense of realizing that their relationship started to become exhausted. And already on Bad re. these stories of "A Team" and "B Team" you can see MJ felt somewhat artistically limited by Quincy. And I think what they both had to offer after Bad proved MJ right. Just compare Dangerous to Quincy's Back on The Block or his production on Tevin Campbell's album. All that proves that Q's success in the 80s with MJ wasn't all down to Quincy - to put it politely.


Technically, I never had a problem with Michael working with another producer, but not because he was "limited" but because there was nothing else to prove, and no matter whoever else he worked with after Quincy Jones, and with today's ever declining musical standard, that collaboration between Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones/Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson is the best years of Michael's career, but the most prolific collaboration between any artist and any producer in the history of recorded music and nothing will ever change that.....


After making groundbreaking music, when the 90s hit, MIchael sought the most popular producer at the moment to work with, whether it was TEddy Riley, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, R. Kelly, Rodney Jerkins, Dr. Freeze, Bill Botrell....we can go down the line, anyone who was the most popular to help stamp his musical presentation......

by the time he collaborated with Riley, New Jack Swing had already been on the scene as early as late 1986, 5 years before the fact

and based on this latest interview by Quincy, he perfectly illustrates why the music industry is suffering, because nobody really knows how to truly produce records anymore, when it comes to full production, reading musical notes, the whole nine........everything has to be layered out or done digitally these days, plus the fact that culture has been appropriated and used up to the tilt, nothing stands out.......



and it's not like MJ continuously worked with Teddy Riley, he basically worked with him for one album, whereas with Quincy, he did 3 albums, back to back to back

as a fan of music, I'm not going to let narratives and agendas get in the way of how I feel about their collaboration now and in the future, exactly how I did when it actually happened in real time, it was if not the most joyous times I've ever had as a music fan and it will always be that way for me, and I'm thankful I have the memory I have to allow today's narrative to taint that....that can and will never be taken away


when it's all said and done, the best, most quintessential r&b album ever made was produced by Quincy Jones....and the greatest selling album of all time was produced by Quincy Jones.....nothing will ever change that......and when these achievements took place, he never ever took all the credit, or even tried to take all the credit for their success together...he always mentioned the word team and that a great album is the product of the works of many........


I'll leave this subject be because I know better...
 
respect77;4205048 said:
Yet, Quincy Jones himself followed that trend. Haven't you heard his production for Tevin Campbell which was more generic and cliché NJS than anything on Dangerous? Same year as when Dangerous was released. LOL. Not to mention his Back on the Block album which aged horribly.


[video=youtube;DwgprId0mQk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwgprId0mQk[/video]

Yeah, a revised production of the song he originally produced for the Brothers Johnson during the late 70s

Lollllll
 
I've seen many lists of the worst Grammy winners and Q's album Back on the Block is considered one of the worst Grammy winners but Quincy has many powerful friends in the industry. Michael has never been considered undeserving winner, actually criminally snubbed for BAD and Dangerous.
 
Michael achieved plenty after BAD, probably some of his very best work, and Quincy was nowhere near any of it.

Again I ask. What did Quincy achieve after BAD?

That Back On The Block album is a complete joke. Just compare it to Dangerous. It's laughable.
 
I get frustrated with Q of late, I have a lot of respect for him and his legendary musical ability but why does keep doggin' Mike every chance he gets. I can't remember the last time he mentioned how incredible Michael was a singer/songwriter or how brilliant he was in general in fact. Yet he seems to give everybody else love and respect. I do understand that from a producer's mindset giving the unsung hero's of the record some dues which is great but still come on.

Quincy's statements in the recent court case were so telling to me in this regard. Quincy got agitated on the stand when the Jackson lawyers forced him to compare Michael's original demos with the finished tracks and he expressed that producers get blamed for failures while artists get credit for hits which shows very clearly to me that Quincy has harboured this grievance for a long time in respect of his work with Michael. I think Quincy worries that his legacy will be as Michael's producer and he feels strong insecurities as to what he actually brought to the table in this role.
 
respect77;4205053 said:
^ Sure this is the absolute same production. LMAO.

[video=youtube;XgsJLGQTfEE]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgsJLGQTfEE[/video]

He revised it in the generic NJS style of the early 90s. I brought it up because you have thrown shade at MJ for using NJS five years after it was invended. So did Quincy - and a lot more generic and cliché version of it at that.

And BTW, it is very characteristic of Quincy to revise old hits he produced in the trendy style of an actual era. So it is not like it's only MJ who has been following current production trends. So did Quincy. And it's not like it's only MJ who used current producers, Quincy also used currently hip artists at any given era.

Case in point:

1995

[video=youtube;nxhMvrNSB84]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxhMvrNSB84[/video]

2010

[video=youtube;kJI0wgxlSnI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJI0wgxlSnI[/video]



I didn't throw shade if it isn't true......

as far as Back On The Block, it was really a celebration of Quincy's career in the music field as he featured artists from all genres he either knew personally or had the opportunity to work with from jazz artists, soul artists, gospel artists, rap artists, and a prodigy such as Tevin Campbell

and Quincy revised former songs he already produced, not taking other people's songs and using it......

as mentioned earlier, after Bad, there wasn't anything left to prove and the handwriting was on the wall that MJ was going to work with someone else when sales did not meat his expectation......

he made accomplished music post Quincy Jones that extended from Dangerous to Invincible, a fan of music would not be fair to suggest other wise, songs like Break of Dawn, Will You Be There, Earth Song, Smile, You Are Not Alone, is some of the best work he ever did

but his most successful work and most memorable in the eyes of the public at large, with many of those people supporting the Jackson Five from day one, that work as an adult solo artist was done with Quincy.....even Teddy Riley and Rodney Jerkins know this, or even a Will I Am who alluded to it

the quintessential r&b/soul album, the greatest selling album ever, and the most anticipated follow up in music history, all produced by Quincy Jones...

and that's not throwing shade, those are facts...
 
Michael's demos proved where the bulk of the credit needs to go, for most of MJ's #1s. Quincy hates that, and has become bitter over time.

He's turned on Michael like the rest of them. Forget him.
 
I didn't throw shade if it isn't true......

as far as Back On The Block, it was really a celebration of Quincy's career in the music field as he featured artists from all genres he either knew personally or had the opportunity to work with from jazz artists, soul artists, gospel artists, rap artists, and a prodigy such as Tevin Campbell

and Quincy revised former songs he already produced, not taking other people's songs and using it......

as mentioned earlier, after Bad, there wasn't anything left to prove and the handwriting was on the wall that MJ was going to work with someone else when sales did not meat his expectation......

he made accomplished music post Quincy Jones that extended from Dangerous to Invincible, a fan of music would not be fair to suggest other wise, songs like Break of Dawn, Will You Be There, Earth Song, Smile, You Are Not Alone, is some of the best work he ever did

but his most successful work and most memorable in the eyes of the public at large, with many of those people supporting the Jackson Five from day one, that work as an adult solo artist was done with Quincy.....even Teddy Riley and Rodney Jerkins know this, or even a Will I Am who alluded to it

the quintessential r&b/soul album, the greatest selling album ever, and the most anticipated follow up in music history, all produced by Quincy Jones...

and that's not throwing shade, those are facts...

And it's "facts" that Quincy has done nothing of note, without Michael, since. Whereas it's "facts" that Michael did without him.
 
I don't think musically his projects were that successful after BAD.Back on the block may have been awarded but it's not acclaimed critically and I don't count The Fresh Prince of Bel-air because that's television.
 
How many did Back on the block sell, compared to Dangerous or History? That album pales in comparison.
 
George Martin

that collaboration between Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones/Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson is the best years of Michael's career, but the most prolific collaboration between any artist and any producer in the history of recorded music and nothing will ever change that.....
The Beatles & George Martin did more albums together than Mike & Quincy. They only did 3 albums, (4 if you count The Wiz soundtrack) how is that prolific? George Martin also produced a couple of Paul's solo albums. Quincy did more albums with The Brothers Johnson than with Mike
 
New Jack Swing

I always wondered though, why Michael split from him
I'd guess that by the time Bad came out, Quincy's sound was on the way out. Around 1986 hip hop hit the mainstream in the US with Run DMC and then The Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, & LL Cool J. Hip hop started to influence R&B. New Jack Swing was the result. Bobby Brown was the first act to have big mainstream success with NJS, although the sound began around 1984 or 85, but it didn't have a name yet. It was just on R&B radio at first. Quincy's albums under his own name were generally considered jazz and were in the jazz section in the average record stores. Other than a few acts like George Benson, Al Jareau, & Kenny G jazz performers didn't get much radio airplay, especially on Top 40. After the succes of Bobby's album Don't Be Cruel, and others like Al B. Sure, Guy, & Keith Sweat. even veteran acts jumped on the New Jack wagon. It was all over R&B radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s and pop too. People put out NJS remixes if their song wasn't.
 
Re: George Martin

The Beatles & George Martin did more albums together than Mike & Quincy. They only did 3 albums, (4 if you count The Wiz soundtrack) how is that prolific? George Martin also produced a couple of Paul's solo albums. Quincy did more albums with The Brothers Johnson than with Mike

I don't get it but I got it......

Prolific, meaning, in those 3 albums MIchael and Quincy collaborated on together, their music sold more album copies than any other collaboration in music history......that's what I mean by prolific...those are undisputed facts

I know today's narrative is trying to wash all that away, I get it......but that's one thing that can't be touched......
 
Re: New Jack Swing

I'd guess that by the time Bad came out, Quincy's sound was on the way out. Around 1986 hip hop hit the mainstream in the US with Run DMC and then The Fat Boys, Beastie Boys, & LL Cool J. Hip hop started to influence R&B. New Jack Swing was the result. Bobby Brown was the first act to have big mainstream success with NJS, although the sound began around 1984 or 85, but it didn't have a name yet. It was just on R&B radio at first. Quincy's albums under his own name were generally considered jazz and were in the jazz section in the average record stores. Other than a few acts like George Benson, Al Jareau, & Kenny G jazz performers didn't get much radio airplay, especially on Top 40. After the succes of Bobby's album Don't Be Cruel, and others like Al B. Sure, Guy, & Keith Sweat. even veteran acts jumped on the New Jack wagon. It was all over R&B radio in the late 1980s and early 1990s and pop too. People put out NJS remixes if their song wasn't.


what I don't get, but I got, is how Quincy a man who was in his 50s then, and a producer to boot, is being compared to the activity of artists who the majority of the time gets more publicity......

and that's why the music industry is running on fumes today because the adult audience was being pushed out of the equation beginning in the late 80s as the industry solely looked to appeal to the young demographic exclusively.......huuuuuge mistake...as ageism practices has siphoned off the careers of people who had the talent to stand the test of time

that was not the case years before, even during Thriller, you had a great balance between new artists, young artists, older artists, and luminaries who shared billing and standing on the music charts.........that's how it should have remained.....matter of fact, that's why Thriller was able to achieve what it did because it wasn't just teenagers who bought that album...........without the support of the adult recording buying public who was buying that album for themselves and for their children, Thriller never would have become the greatest selling album of all time
 
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