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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
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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