"The Law of Equivalent Exchange" — MJJ VAULT EDITION

king_of_style

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So for those not aware, there's this anime franchise called FullMetal Alchemist and one of the big concepts in that universe is this "law of equivalent exchange", which states: "In order to obtain or create something, something of equal value must be lost or destroyed." And as controversial as this might be, I thought it would be interesting to apply that principle to the Michael Jackson Vault. Essentially, if you were an Alchemist (basically a wizard-scientist-whatever) and you wanted a certain song out of the Vault, another song which is already out would have to go back in. I'm hoping this will spark some interesting discussion — since this is the law of equivalent exchange, that means all Michael Jackson songs are viewed as equally awesome and precious in their own way. So what song or songs would you be willing to trade for others?

RULES:
  1. Pick 1-3 songs at a time that are out of the Vault to exchange for 1-3 songs that are still locked in the Vault.
    1a. Example: "Blue Gangsta" for "Hot Fun In The Summertime"
  2. Songs officially released during either his Jackson 5, Jacksons, or solo career on his studio albums, singles, or rereleases are acceptable to be exchanged.
    2a. (This includes bonus tracks!)
  3. Songs put on compilation albums like Anthology, Original Soul, and The Ultimate Collection are acceptable.
  4. "Leaked" songs that we have only in low quality, partial, or snippet form are acceptable so long as they're probably authentic.
    4a. (i.e. "Danger Is The Game" is out since it's fake, but "Cocoa Butter" snippet is in)
  5. The Cascio tracks officially released on Michael can be exchanged, but only one of the three can be exchanged.
    5a. (i.e. You can't just trade all three for three Will.i.am tracks, only one for one Will.i.am track)
  6. The other Cascio tracks (like "Stay", "Water", "Burn Tonight") cannot be exchanged since they were neither officially released or made by Michael.
  7. Snippets cannot be exchanged for full versions, since that would make things boring quick.

Alright, so with the rules out of the way, what are my picks? Personally, I would trade:

"Keep Your Head Up" for "Rocker"
"Cry" for "Rampage"
"Free" for "Monster" (1999)

What would you guys trade?
 
Considering that I really don't like "The Way You Make Me Feel", but considering that it's a super hyped song ... can I trade it for like half of the entire vault ?

And if I trade "State Of Shock", do I get a bonus because Mercury and Jagger were involved at different points ?


Also why is there so much hype about Rampage ? From the snippets I heard, it sound like they picked a random word for a soundcheck or voice warming or I don't know ...
 
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Alright, so with the rules out of the way, what are my picks? Personally, I would trade:

"Keep Your Head Up" for "Rocker"
"Cry" for "Rampage"
"Free" for "Monster" (1999)

What would you guys trade?

Monster and Rocker? Monster has only chorus vocals as far as I know and Rocker isn't complete but I could be wrong. The fact that we don't know much about these songs makes them mystical so I understand your choices.

My trades would be:
"You Are Not Alone" for "Throwing Your Life Away"
"Keep Your Head Up" for "Get Your Weight Off Of Me"
"Girlfriend" for "Chicago 1945"
 
Considering that I really don't like "The Way You Make Me Feel", but considering that it's a super hyped song ... can I trade it for like half of the entire vault ?

And if I trade "State Of Shock", do I get a bonus because Mercury and Jagger were involved at different points ?


Also why is there so much hype about Rampage ? From the snippets I heard, it sound like they picked a random word for a soundcheck or voice warming or I don't know ...

Now that is an unpopular opinion if I've ever seen one, that someone doesn't really like "The Way You Make Me Feel"...but to be honest it's not my favorite song off Bad. On the point of "State of Shock", I think you'd have to go with either the Jagger or Mercury version but not both. Probably the same with all 36,000 versions of "Cheater" that Michael worked on.
 
Wow ... I didn't know there were more than 1 version of Cheater ... I'll have to check that someday...

Regarding TWYMMF, yeah, I already wrote it in the unpopular opinion thread.
 
Oh yeah, how could I forget? I would trade "Girlfriend" for "Chicago 1945"
 
I'm surprised that no one has said "the 3 Cascio tracks in exchange for LITERALLY ANYTHING ELSE" yet.

EDIT:
*reads entire original post*
Nevermind, I can't read.
 
Also why is there so much hype about Rampage ? From the snippets I heard, it sound like they picked a random word for a soundcheck or voice warming or I don't know ...

^^^^I agree with this.

Also, I believe that there are very few complete songs in the vault (if any) and therefore in my mind, they are not worth swapping with finished and fully produced songs. That's just not what "equivalence" is, to me. On that premise, swapping HALF of the vault for TWYMMF is a crazy notion. LOL
 
^^^^I agree with this.

Also, I believe that there are very few complete songs in the vault (if any) and therefore in my mind, they are not worth swapping with finished and fully produced songs. That's just not what "equivalence" is, to me. On that premise, swapping HALF of the vault for TWYMMF is a crazy notion. LOL

Yeah I guess the whole idea is that it's a gamble. Knowing the entirety of, say, "Girlfriend", would you be willing to take a chance that "Chicago 1945" (in whatever form it exists) is better? Personally I would but of course I don't think we have any snippets or anything from "Chicago 1945" which makes it all a personal taste thing.

As regards "Rocker" and "Rampage", I'd take whatever barebones scratch vocals demo chorus that exists for "Rocker" over "She works in a restauraaaaaaaaant". And I just think "Rampage" sounds cool, although I do admit it's probably not finished in any sense at all.
 
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