Nite Line
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Inspired by the recent ‘Michael’s vocals changing between Thriller and Bad’ thread.
As far as live vocals go, I think Michael was at his best from 1969-1988. Recently, I have been watching and listening to a lot of Michael’s performances from the 70s and early 80s, and it’s astonishing how smooth and effortless he sounds. At times, I can’t tell if he is singing live or lip-syncing. His vocals were out of this world during that period.
Sadly, his live vocals declined after the 80s, and I blame that on the long and gruelling bad tour. We all know about the disaster that was the History tour, so I won’t even talk about it. But even the Dangerous tour had at times had less than diserable vocals. WBSS & Human Nature both sounded quite average. They both sounded great in the 80s. At times, Mike sounded out of breath. But there were some great vocals on the Dangerous Tour such as MITM as-libs.
Now, as far as studio vocals are concerned, I think Michael was at his best during the 90s, in particular, the History album. Michael always had nice, gentle and soft vocals, but starting from the Bad album, his vocals got more gritty, more angry. And it was during the History album, where Michael grittier vocals were at its peak. Listen to songs such as Scream, They Don’t Care About Us, Earth Song ad-libs, Morphine etc. His vocals are so raw, angry and gritty. I can’t imagine Thriller and Off The Wall Michael singing those kind of songs. And of course, Michael didn’t lose his natural soft & tender vocals during the 90s, if songs like Stranger In Moscow, Childhood, Little Susie, Gone Too Soon are anything to go by. I think the History sessions provided us with the perfect blend of Michael’s soft and tender vocals with his grittier and angry vocals.
So, what do you guys think? I think the decline of Michael’s live vocals coincided with the improvement of his studio vocals.
As far as live vocals go, I think Michael was at his best from 1969-1988. Recently, I have been watching and listening to a lot of Michael’s performances from the 70s and early 80s, and it’s astonishing how smooth and effortless he sounds. At times, I can’t tell if he is singing live or lip-syncing. His vocals were out of this world during that period.
Sadly, his live vocals declined after the 80s, and I blame that on the long and gruelling bad tour. We all know about the disaster that was the History tour, so I won’t even talk about it. But even the Dangerous tour had at times had less than diserable vocals. WBSS & Human Nature both sounded quite average. They both sounded great in the 80s. At times, Mike sounded out of breath. But there were some great vocals on the Dangerous Tour such as MITM as-libs.
Now, as far as studio vocals are concerned, I think Michael was at his best during the 90s, in particular, the History album. Michael always had nice, gentle and soft vocals, but starting from the Bad album, his vocals got more gritty, more angry. And it was during the History album, where Michael grittier vocals were at its peak. Listen to songs such as Scream, They Don’t Care About Us, Earth Song ad-libs, Morphine etc. His vocals are so raw, angry and gritty. I can’t imagine Thriller and Off The Wall Michael singing those kind of songs. And of course, Michael didn’t lose his natural soft & tender vocals during the 90s, if songs like Stranger In Moscow, Childhood, Little Susie, Gone Too Soon are anything to go by. I think the History sessions provided us with the perfect blend of Michael’s soft and tender vocals with his grittier and angry vocals.
So, what do you guys think? I think the decline of Michael’s live vocals coincided with the improvement of his studio vocals.