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28 Years Ago: HIStory Began Being BAD!

MikeFann

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In mid-late 1986, Michael Jackson and the team at Westlake studio began working in earnest on his follow up to "Thriller". Later this month, Michael will began to film the short film to the song he's been working on: "Bad".

I'm not sure if they could have ever imagined this short film and the song that accompanied it being the hit it is while working on it.

Something tells me Michael knew. ;)
 
Production for the album already began in 1985, with songs such as Tomboy and Chicago 1945,....just saying...
 
Yes but from what I understand, they began working at Westlake studio in 1986.
 
MikeFann said:
Yes but from what I understand, they began working at Westlake studio in 1986.
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The title track had already been recorded before November 1986, could have been done in the early month's of that year.
 
Zakk said:
The title track had already been recorded before November 1986, could have been done in the early month's of that year.
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Oh, I'm sure the song was being worked on before November '86 but the song up to then could not have been more than a rough early version because it was still being worked on through the early months of 1987. Now, I wasn't there (oh man, do I wish I was!) so I don't know exactly how it went down but that's from what I can understand so far.

To clarify, I do know that songs for "Bad" was being worked on in 1985 but I was looking at the fact that it was at Westlake that the album's production really took off.
 
no no no, you guys are ALL wrong. It started in 1958 when he was born. DUUH

-IT-S-MICHAEL-S-BIRTHDAY-michael-jackson-31985477-1200-901.jpg
 
AtlasAir said:
no no no, you guys are ALL wrong. It started in 1958 when he was born. DUUH

-IT-S-MICHAEL-S-BIRTHDAY-michael-jackson-31985477-1200-901.jpg
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You've got a point. Though, I was speaking specifically about the Bad album. :)

Nice art you've linked to, by the way.
 
The working title before MJ wrote the lyrics was 'Pee' and originally intended as a duet with Prince.

4 pages of complete lyrics for Bad written in blue pen, and signed by MJ sold by Julien's Auctions in 2010 for $30,000.

Bad hit #1 on The Hot 100 for 2 weeks, & for 3 weeks on the R&B Singles chart. It went to #3 in the UK & a limited edition red vinyl 12" single was released.

Cyndi Lauper claims the bass line for Bad was inspired by her 1983 hit 'She Bop.

Can you imagine how different it would have been, had Prince agreed to guest on it? I'm a Prince fan, but I love Bad the track and short film just the way they are, absolutely perfect!
 
Personally, I would have loved to be a fly on the wall at Encino, when he and his B team were conjuring up the 60 songs for the 3 disc album that he originally wanted!!!! Oooooh, I would have loved to watch that.
 
It would be a dream to see the documentary MJ planned to release with all the studio footage he had filmed. I believe there were interviews done for that documentary as well, like the Quincy one in BAD 25,talking about the Spanish version of IJCSLY.
 
@aazzaabb: Yeah, I was like "what?" when I found out the working title was Pee. Apparently, that name was actually thought up by Quincy Jones, like, Pee for Prince. Prince was right when he said it would have been a hit without him thought yeah, I do wonder what Bad would have been like had he been on it. Oh well, it's still a great song/video in it's current form! Also, as for She Bop's bass line, the first part is similar to Bad's but both bass lines are different in their own right. Maybe Bad's bass line was inspired by the song, I don't know. I wasn't there. :)

@Barbee0715: But I would have loved to have been there! Like you, I would just have a blast watching them working on those songs, coming up with the initial melodies and then sculpting them into more complete songs. Yep, Bad was indeed going to be a triple album but someone objected to it. I'm curious to know about other plans for this album that never got off the ground.

@SmoothCriminal1995: I'd love to see that documentary, too. I hope one day the estate would consider releasing it and maybe with other behind the scenes footage Michael took during that time. Maybe footage of them working on the "Bad" short films would be a great additional as well. I'm talking unedited, uncensored, just them havin' a good time makin' this thing. :)
 
They filmed 'the making of bad' over three days, featuring recording sessions & Michael talking with the crew in the studio! Bruce said Michael recorded 65 great shape song's for the BAD album, how many have we heard as of now? around 22 right? so there's 43 great shape demo's from that era left.. i assume they'll be released over a length of 50 years with the other tracks.
 
MikeFann said:
I'd love to see that documentary, too. I hope one day the estate would consider releasing it and maybe with other behind the scenes footage Michael took during that time. Maybe footage of them working on the "Bad" short films would be a great additional as well. I'm talking unedited, uncensored, just them havin' a good time makin' this thing. :)
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Love your thinking right here, but i think there should be a HUGE box set with a making of documentary for each short film, a Blu-Ray of any concert, the making of bad documentary, on the road documentary, special appearances & rehearsals! plus Moonwalker, & Behind the scenes/dance rehearsals etc. that would be a DREAM! 'BAD' is my favorite album of Michael's, and it deserves such a celebration :)
 
That's cool!! I'd buy it first day. Bad is Michael's super prime. Still healthy still happy and most creative. And I want to see all those behind the scenes edited or not!!!
 
barbee0715 said:
That's cool!! I'd buy it first day. Bad is Michael's super prime. Still healthy still happy and most creative. And I want to see all those behind the scenes edited or not!!!
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Most definitely, there are so many thing's from that era that deserve to be seen/heard eventually! an archives kinda package is the best idea i think
 
Zakk said:
Love your thinking right here, but i think there should be a HUGE box set with a making of documentary for each short film, a Blu-Ray of any concert, the making of bad documentary, on the road documentary, special appearances & rehearsals! plus Moonwalker, & Behind the scenes/dance rehearsals etc. that would be a DREAM! 'BAD' is my favorite album of Michael's, and it deserves such a celebration :)
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That's even better: extensive making-of's of Moonwalker and each of the Bad short films. I'd LOVE to see more rehearsal footage, especially the rehearsals and raw footage of the Bad video that was shown on Bad 25. I'd like to find out whether not Michael was singing to music on set.

This is why some sort of collector's label should exist.
 
MikeFann said:
That's even better: extensive making-of's of Moonwalker and each of the Bad short films. I'd LOVE to see more rehearsal footage, especially the rehearsals and raw footage of the Bad video that was shown on Bad 25. I'd like to find out whether not Michael was singing to music on set.

This is why some sort of collector's label should exist.
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Idea added to the connection thread!
 
Zakk said:
Idea added to the connection thread!
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Thanks for adding the idea to the connection thread.

If I were overseeing production of this set, I'd have it so that in the set, there would be three sections/mini-boxes: The Bad Album, The Bad Short Films, & The Bad World Tour. Each section/mini-box would have behind the scenes material that focus on the subject of that box. For instance, the Bad Album box would feature archival material that would focus solely on the production of the album. The Bad Short Film box would include behind the scenes footage of the shorts films, as well as Moonwalker and the Pepsi commercials. The Bad World Tour box could mostly focus on the very first tour but would also include behind the scenes footage from other tours as well, including the last tour.

In one of the sections, behind the scenes footage of Michael's 1988 The Way You Make Me Feel and Man In The Mirror could be included as well.

Of course, there would be CD's with demo, rough versions, extended dance mixes...all that good stuff. :)
 
MikeFann said:
Thanks for adding the idea to the connection thread.

If I were overseeing production of this set, I'd have it so that in the set, there would be three sections/mini-boxes: The Bad Album, The Bad Short Films, & The Bad World Tour. Each section/mini-box would have behind the scenes material that focus on the subject of that box. For instance, the Bad Album box would feature archival material that would focus solely on the production of the album. The Bad Short Film box would include behind the scenes footage of the shorts films, as well as Moonwalker and the Pepsi commercials. The Bad World Tour box could mostly focus on the very first tour but would also include behind the scenes footage from other tours as well, including the last tour.

In one of the sections, behind the scenes footage of Michael's 1988 The Way You Make Me Feel and Man In The Mirror could be included as well.

Of course, there would be CD's with demo, rough versions, extended dance mixes...all that good stuff. :)
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You have a good point, but i kind of based it on Elvis' latest box set, but instead.. have more visual discs and just one audio CD (that can still hold 1 hour 20 minutes of information)! I think, for the BAD Tour compilation Blu-Ray though, the upscaled & restored rehearsal footage can be packaged in the same case! it should be a metal tin, and i also think their should be some film cells in there, a mini BAD Tour Program and a Moonwalker t-shirt also :)
 
Anything "BAD era" is more than welcome. Ive seen the Bad25 so many times now, though never get enough. And the Another part of me HD footage is the best thing ever.
 
Zakk said:
You have a good point, but i kind of based it on Elvis' latest box set, but instead.. have more visual discs and just one audio CD (that can still hold 1 hour 20 minutes of information)! I think, for the BAD Tour compilation Blu-Ray though, the upscaled & restored rehearsal footage can be packaged in the same case! it should be a metal tin, and i also think their should be some film cells in there, a mini BAD Tour Program and a Moonwalker t-shirt also :)
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Oh no, there'd be quite a few visual discs but I'd try to include enough audio CDs (2-3 at minimum) so that enough Bad outtakes and demos would be included. And these will NOT to touched up in any way; they will be left as they were. Just like Bad 25, the recordings would come as they were recorded during the Bad production period.

Ooh! Okay, here's how I'd do it: On the first CD would be the worktape versions of songs. I'm fairly certain Michael had the tape running as they were trying out different melodies, riffs, ideas, what have ya. This way, they could go back to this worktape for reference whenever they started working on the more complete versions. Maybe recordings of Michael beatboxing his song ideas into his tape recorder could be included.

On the second CD, more complete demos, alternate, and early versions would be featured. These would be the uncut versions in their original speed before they were altered for the final versions. This CD could also include the Pepsi versions of Bad (several versions) and Price of Fame. It could also include the Badder version of Bad.

The third CD would include unreleased songs, be they just rough musical sketches or full songs. This could include Streetwalker and it's alternate versions, as well as earlier versions of songs like I'm So Blue and Abortion Papers.

Maybe this could be added to the second CD but a forth CD could include the Short Film versions of songs like Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Speed Demon, and Smooth Criminal.

There could also be a book that could come with this. Like a book full of Michael notes and scribbled ideas centered around the making of Bad and other Bad era events. Also, scanned track sheets would be great to include in it.
 
Themidwestcowboy said:
Haha, actually this exact Bad cassette was the first thing I owned from MJ :)
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That's pretty cool! In 1987, I'm sure it was for a lot of people. In fact, when I think about it, that Bad CD is actually the first MJ CD I brought for myself. The other CDs I mostly rented from my local library. :)

Meanwhile, back in 1986, Michael would either be shooting the black and white segments of the Bad film or at the hotel to rehearse the music segment.
 
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