Heartbreak Hotel appreciation thread

[innuendo141]

Couldn't see another one of these (if there is one Im sorry!) but after reading Moonwalk again to see if anything jumped out at me, and one thing is Michael really did pick this song out of the others and go into detail about it.

This is probably the first Michael Jackson song that would foreshadow the themes of his music, let alone give us a glimpse of what the man was capabale of by putting pen to paper and opening his mouth. This is such an underrated song, and one of the few songs that, despite it being a great song to begin with, was made 100 times better live.

His voice is perfect in this song. Perfect balance between fear and frustration. The verses are riddled with anxiety and you can hear it in his voice, then we get to the bridge and Michael is almost singing in his aggressive spitting voice that he would master by 87.

It really is a masterpiece bookended by a theatrical intro and outro. The outro is one of the most beautfil pieces of music ive ever heard, and was cleverly incorporated into the intro of Shes Out Of My Life on stage, continuing the story. Greg really made it come to life.

Another thing is that this can almost be considered a Michael Jackson song- listening to the background vocals its 80-90% Michael (much the same as State of Shock on Victory. Michael seemed to like keeping his own compositions to be mostly him from 1980 onwards).

I wonder how this song would have sounded with the Quincy treatment at that time, or if it had been held until 87 to get the Bad sound. Thankfully the instrumentation sounds quite different live from 1980-89 so we have some good versions.

I was first introduced to the song in live format on The Legend Continues, an edited version of the Yokohama performance. This to me has always been my favourite version and also still to this day the best performance of any song Ive ever seen. The energy is apocalyptic. The balance between choreography and spontaneity really brings out the story, which by 87 had been made more aggressors and popping. Everyone is on their A game in this performance, especially Jennifer, Don and Kevin. The subtle minimalistic dance behind the curtain is such a perfect teaser for the opening chords.

This song is always on my playlists of best MJ songs.

I really went on sorry! Hope to hear other opinions!

 

[HIStory]

I totally agree with you on this. It is one of my fave songs too. I actually think the whole Triumph album and also Destiny deserve more attention, not only from the general public but also from fans.

HH is indeed a forerunner of what was to come: the forerunner of songs such as Billie Jean or Who Is It.

 

[analogue]

I wanna thank the O.P for calling the song Heartbreak Hotel, and not This Place Hotel. I know it's only a minor thing, but I hate it when the song is called This Place Hotel.

 

[innuendo141]

I wanna thank the O.P for calling the song Heartbreak Hotel, and not This Place Hotel. I know it's only a minor thing, but I hate it when the song is called This Place Hotel.

My iPod has all references of "This Place Hotel" eliminated and offenders will be prosecuted.

 

[Psychoniff]

Couldn't see another one of these (if there is one Im sorry!) but after reading Moonwalk again to see if anything jumped out at me, and one thing is Michael really did pick this song out of the others and go into detail about it.

This is probably the first Michael Jackson song that would foreshadow the themes of his music, let alone give us a glimpse of what the man was capabale of by putting pen to paper and opening his mouth. This is such an underrated song, and one of the few songs that, despite it being a great song to begin with, was made 100 times better live.

His voice is perfect in this song. Perfect balance between fear and frustration. The verses are riddled with anxiety and you can hear it in his voice, then we get to the bridge and Michael is almost singing in his aggressive spitting voice that he would master by 87.

It really is a masterpiece bookended by a theatrical intro and outro. The outro is one of the most beautfil pieces of music ive ever heard, and was cleverly incorporated into the intro of Shes Out Of My Life on stage, continuing the story. Greg really made it come to life.

Another thing is that this can almost be considered a Michael Jackson song- listening to the background vocals its 80-90% Michael (much the same as State of Shock on Victory. Michael seemed to like keeping his own compositions to be mostly him from 1980 onwards).

I wonder how this song would have sounded with the Quincy treatment at that time, or if it had been held until 87 to get the Bad sound. Thankfully the instrumentation sounds quite different live from 1980-89 so we have some good versions.

I was first introduced to the song in live format on The Legend Continues, an edited version of the Yokohama performance. This to me has always been my favourite version and also still to this day the best performance of any song Ive ever seen. The energy is apocalyptic. The balance between choreography and spontaneity really brings out the story, which by 87 had been made more aggressors and popping. Everyone is on their A game in this performance, especially Jennifer, Don and Kevin. The subtle minimalistic dance behind the curtain is such a perfect teaser for the opening chords.

This song is always on my playlists of best MJ songs.

I really went on sorry! Hope to hear other opinions!

I'm so proud of this song because it proved that MJ wasn't reliant on Q. for crafting exceptionally high quality projects.

 

[innuendo141]

I'm so proud of this song because it proved that MJ wasn't reliant on Q. for crafting exceptionally high quality projects.

Exactly. Quincy may have made it sound more mainstream and polished but this song is just perfect. There's a cold feel to the production and sound, which works perfectly.

 

[Electro]

Masterpiece. Can't really say more about it.
The whole Triumph album is great. Fits right in between Off The Way and Thriller.

When was the song title actually changed? Before the release?
Or are there some early vinyl pressings that say "Heartbreak Hotel" on the cover?

 

[Tony R]

A thread worth me coming back to post on

I've been a fan since 1980 but strangely I only got into Heartbreak Hotel in the last 6 or 7 years.

My favourite version is on the 'Jacksons Live' album which beats the 'Bad Live at Wembley' version as he puts more focus in the vocal.

It is indeed a foreshadowing of his darker wanton women works (www) of Dirty Diana, Billie Jean, Who Is It, Give In To Me.

By far for me the best song of the Jacksons (although I also tend to think of it as a solo MJ song).

I guess the man himself was also rather proud of it as I always thought this and WDAN were rather strange choices for the Bad & (in WDAN case) the Dangerous Tours, but welcome ones none the less. Especially in the Bad tour as song 2 of the setlist ahead of better known material.

 

[HIStory]

I'm so proud of this song because it proved that MJ wasn't reliant on Q. for crafting exceptionally high quality projects.

Oh yes. I think everyone who thinks Quincy "made" MJ should listen to Triumph.

I think HH suffers from the fact it is not on a solo MJ album, though. I think it would have been a much bigger hit if it had been on OTW or Thriller. Not because of Q, just simply for the fact that people paid more attention to MJ's solo material. But it is actually funny, because Triumph and Destiny have as much MJ input as his solo albums. Out of the 9 songs on Triumph MJ wrote or co-wrote six and Destiny IMO is one of MJ's most personal albums until Dangerous. I say "MJ's" because just listen to the lyrics - many, many of them so very typically MJ. Another one of my "hidden gem" obsessions is Things I Do For You.

 

[innuendo141]

Oh yes. I think everyone who thinks Quincy "made" MJ should listen to Triumph.

I think HH suffers from the fact it is not on a solo MJ album, though. I think it would have been a much bigger hit if it had been on OTW or Thriller. Not because of Q, just simply for the fact that people paid more attention to MJ's solo material. But it is actually funny, because Triumph and Destiny have as much MJ input as his solo albums. Out of the 9 songs on Triumph MJ wrote or co-wrote six and Destiny IMO is one of MJ's most personal albums until Dangerous. I say "MJ's" because just listen to the lyrics - many, many of them so very typically MJ. Another one of my "hidden gem" obsessions is Things I Do For You.

Yes, fact. This is as another song I consider to be full blown Michael Jackson before he got to be full blown Michael Jackson. It fits perfectly with the rest of his solo catalogue. Destiny and Triumph really are forgotten gems. They are the basis and groundwork for everything that came after it for me.

I kind of see Destiny, Triumph and Victory as it's own Trilogy with regards to Michael's seperate solo career. Destiny is Michael's first proper "Here I am" as a serious songwriter and artist along with the Jacksons, setting the way for his first big dip in the water. Triumph continues with that, with Off the Wall behind him and making a name for himself as his own person (finally, as MJ was always stsill considered Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5 when releasing his Motown work), Michael is still branching out, putting something like Heartbreak Hotel on there to say "you've heard Off The Wall, wait for what's next" kind of thing. The obviously that Thriller thing came out. And then with Victory, it's like he has accomplished everything and is able to include 2 of his most minimalistic songs (Be Not Always in terms of instrumentation and State of Shock in terms of lyrics, complexity- still 2 of my favourite MJ songs) and is like he is stepping back after Thriller going "My work is done" and has come full circle as a solo artist, going on to take complete artistic control of his albums and take over himself as main songwriter for each album.

That's how I kind of see the 3. I still love the Jacksons and Goin Places, but there is not real glue tying all songs together like Destiny and Triumph. Can't really include Victory in that as it's just lots of solo songs paving the way for the new era of the Jacksons.

 

[cmstrike]

Agree with everything that's been said. A gem.

 

[MpMj1011]

Aside from his amazing vocals in the song, his writing skill was outstanding. In my opinion, this song has the best plot compared to his other narrative songs.

 

[innuendo141]

A thread worth me coming back to post on

I've been a fan since 1980 but strangely I only got into Heartbreak Hotel in the last 6 or 7 years.

My favourite version is on the 'Jacksons Live' album which beats the 'Bad Live at Wembley' version as he puts more focus in the vocal.

It is indeed a foreshadowing of his darker wanton women works (www) of Dirty Diana, Billie Jean, Who Is It, Give In To Me.

By far for me the best song of the Jacksons (although I also tend to think of it as a solo MJ song).

I guess the man himself was also rather proud of it as I always thought this and WDAN were rather strange choices for the Bad & (in WDAN case) the Dangerous Tours, but welcome ones none the less. Especially in the Bad tour as song 2 of the setlist ahead of better known material.

Snap. This was largely because of The Legend Continues for me, so when I later got Triumph when I was like 7 or 8 it felt like the Jacksons did a cover version! But even since when I listen to me that's all Michael.

 

[KOPV]

It's special to me because it was one of the first times we heard the evolved creative side of Michael at it's finest... You have someone listen to that song, the styling of it without ever hearing it before they probably would not guess that is Michael in the Off The Wall era... the vocal styling, the way he layered in sound effects (though some sound effects are dated) were very Thriller and post Thriller for Michael...

I think of the song as Michael dabbling into what became Michael... Almost like a glimpse into the future at the time.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

Love this song!!

Had this been on Off The Wall, (rather than the criminally underrated Triumph album) I think it would have been ranked higher within the fan base and especially the general public. I wouldn't change a think about this song. And the way he performed on the Bad Tour, what a song.
Great thread, this song needs more love

 

[innuendo141]

Masterpiece. Can't really say more about it.
The whole Triumph album is great. Fits right in between Off The Way and Thriller.

When was the song title actually changed? Before the release?
Or are there some early vinyl pressings that say "Heartbreak Hotel" on the cover?

Released on December 7th 80 but Triumph was released in September. Unless Triumph was originall packaged with Heartbreak Hotel as the title and then changed at the last hour- then when going to release they went with the original title?

Never should have changed, and I get the feeling from Michael that he really didn't want to but felt obligated because of Elvis' monster track

This below shows a Vinyl with the original title

 

[Lil]

The first time I ever heard Heartbreak Hotel was when I was just becoming a fan, and I watched Yokohama '87 for the first time because I was curious what he would sound like live. I'd never heard half of the songs he performed before in my life but man, was I blown away… Heartbreak Hotel (together with Things I do for you & Lovely one) was an instant favorite, and has been ever since.
It was a little while later that I found out it was a Jacksons' song, but I still see it as Michael's (he wrote and sang it by himself, so yeah) and I still love the (Yokohama) live version better than the album version, lol. IMO the faster tempo works really well, Jennifer kills that solo and the incredible energy Michael put into the performance just brought it to another level. Perfect. I don't think I'll ever get enough of it.

 

[analogue]

Oh yes. I think everyone who thinks Quincy "made" MJ should listen to Triumph.

I was talking to someone who thought just that, and when I brought up Triumph their response was that MJ's brothers were the real masterminds behind that album lol. Some people will do anything to take credit away from Michael

 

[HIStory]

I was talking to someone who thought just that, and when I brought up Triumph their response was that MJ's brothers were the real masterminds behind that album lol. Some people will do anything to take credit away from Michael

Funny that all those masterminds could never create a decent album without MJ.

 

[Electro]

Released on December 7th 80 but Triumph was released in September. Unless Triumph was originall packaged with Heartbreak Hotel as the title and then changed at the last hour- then when going to release they went with the original title?

Never should have changed, and I get the feeling from Michael that he really didn't want to but felt obligated because of Elvis' monster track

This below shows a Vinyl with the original title

Cool! Thanks for posting. I was a mad busy MJ vinyl & CD collector all through the 90s, but never got into the Jacksons things.

I always though the title change was due to some sort of legal problem. Although I can't imagine on what ground.

 

[mjprince1976]

Totally agree, as the themes preclude Billie Jean and Thriller and it is a truly Michael Jackson song, rather than a Jacksons song. Like most of Triumph, I almost think it is a bridge between Off the Wall and Thriller. The song rings with tensions and Michael's voice conveys that gravitas and I agree the style and timbre remind me a lot more of frenetic songs off Bad and Dangerous, I hear a lot of Dangerous (The song) and Can't let her get away along with Dirty Diana.

The whole Triumph album is genius though, as much as I love Heartbreak hotel, I just seem to like Walk Right Now more. I just wonder though, if anyone listening to Triump in late 1980 when it was the latest Jackson thing out (Besides Jermaine's - Lets get serious) and had anticipated that Michael would unleash upon the world Thriller and its phenomenon or Heartbreak Hotel would be the pinnacle of Michael Jackson's serious side.

I mean after seeing Triumph build upon Destiny's solid base, were they to think a new Jacksons album would be better (In 1980 it was unsure if Michael would do another solo album, as he was a bit nonplussed with its lack of grammy success) or a step back to Goin Places (In my opinion a terrible follow up to the Jacksons, which was a solid debut). Thank God for Thriller as Victory was neither, not really a huge flop or rubbish, but not a smash either (Triumph, was not a huge commercial hit, but it was a critical one and showed that the Jackson brothers, particularly Michael, Jackie and Randy could write great songs).

But yeah Heartnreak Hotel is amazing (Or this place Hotel if the Presley estate is watching).

 

[slugger]

niice

 

[analogue]

I still don't understand why the name of the song had to be changed. I know the reason was to avoid confusion with the Elvis song, but there are tons of different songs out there that share the same name.

So if Men In Black gets released one day will the title of that have to be changed to avoid confusing with the Will Smith song?

 

[1nn5]

I agree with you, Heartbreak Hotel is an underrated song, Michael performed it very well in Victory and Bad Tour, with a great vocal.
I like the piano between , in victory tour and the first leg of bad tour, HH and she's out of my life.

 

[Psychoniff]

Oh yes. I think everyone who thinks Quincy "made" MJ should listen to Triumph.

I think HH suffers from the fact it is not on a solo MJ album, though. I think it would have been a much bigger hit if it had been on OTW or Thriller. Not because of Q, just simply for the fact that people paid more attention to MJ's solo material. But it is actually funny, because Triumph and Destiny have as much MJ input as his solo albums. Out of the 9 songs on Triumph MJ wrote or co-wrote six and Destiny IMO is one of MJ's most personal albums until Dangerous. I say "MJ's" because just listen to the lyrics - many, many of them so very typically MJ. Another one of my "hidden gem" obsessions is Things I Do For You.

I've said it somewhere before and I'll say it again, Destiny foreshadowed lyrically what was to come and Triumph foreshadowed what was to come production wise.
Things I Do For You on the Jackson's Live album is ****ing amazing.

Yes, fact. This is as another song I consider to be full blown Michael Jackson before he got to be full blown Michael Jackson. It fits perfectly with the rest of his solo catalogue. Destiny and Triumph really are forgotten gems. They are the basis and groundwork for everything that came after it for me.

I kind of see Destiny, Triumph and Victory as it's own Trilogy with regards to Michael's seperate solo career. Destiny is Michael's first proper "Here I am" as a serious songwriter and artist along with the Jacksons, setting the way for his first big dip in the water. Triumph continues with that, with Off the Wall behind him and making a name for himself as his own person (finally, as MJ was always stsill considered Michael Jackson of the Jackson 5 when releasing his Motown work), Michael is still branching out, putting something like Heartbreak Hotel on there to say "you've heard Off The Wall, wait for what's next" kind of thing. The obviously that Thriller thing came out. And then with Victory, it's like he has accomplished everything and is able to include 2 of his most minimalistic songs (Be Not Always in terms of instrumentation and State of Shock in terms of lyrics, complexity- still 2 of my favourite MJ songs) and is like he is stepping back after Thriller going "My work is done" and has come full circle as a solo artist, going on to take complete artistic control of his albums and take over himself as main songwriter for each album.

That's how I kind of see the 3. I still love the Jacksons and Goin Places, but there is not real glue tying all songs together like Destiny and Triumph. Can't really include Victory in that as it's just lots of solo songs paving the way for the new era of the Jacksons.

The Jacksons album has some really good cuts on there whereas for Goin' Places it seems a bit lost. "Music Takin' Over" is great though.

 

[Tony R]

I don't think that anyone from Elvis' estate forced the name change, e.g. Whitney Houston also had a song called Heartbreak Hotel.

The record company suggested it so people wouldn't presume it was a cover version and get it mixed up.

Personally I'd have gone for 'This Place is Heartbreak Hotel' or 'Welcome To (Heartbreak Hotel)'

 

[HIStory]

There are many songs with the title Heartbreak Hotel.

Elvis, The Jacksons, Whitney, an 80s euro dance star called C.C. Catch. And these are ALL different songs, not covers.

 

[analogue]

I haven't read Moonwalk in a while, but didn't MJ say that he wasn't thinking of Elvis when he wrote Heartbreak Hotel?

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

"For the most part they (The tracks on the triumph album) were suffering from too many cooks and not enough broth.

There was one exception : Heartbreak Hotel. I swear that was the phrase that came out off my head and I wasn't thinking of other song when I wrote it. The record company printed it on the cover as "This Place Hotel", because of the Elvis Presley connection. As important as he was to music, black as well as white, he just wasn't an influence on me. I guess he was too early for me. Maybe it was timing more than anything else. By the time our song had come out, people though that if I kept living in seclusion the way I was, I might die the way he did. The parallels aren't there as far as I'm concerned and I was never much for scare tactics. Still, the way Elvis destroyed himself interests me because I don't ever want to walk those grounds myself.

LaToya was asked to contribute the scream that opens-not that auspicious start to a recording career, I'll admit, but she was just getting her feet wet in the studio. She has made some good records since and is quite accomplished. The scream was the kind that normally shatters a bad dream, but our intention was to have the dream only begin, to make the listener wonder whether it was a dream or reality. That was the effect I think we got. The three female backup singers were amused when they were doing the scary backup effects that I wanted until they actually heard them in the mix.

Heartbreak Hotel was the most ambitious song I had composed. I think I worked on a number of levels: You could dance to it, sing along with it, get scared by it, and just listen. I had to tack on a slow piano and cello coda that ended on a positive note to reassure the listener; there's no point in trying to scare someone if there isn't some to bring the person back safe and sound from where you've taken them. Heartbreak Hotel had revenge in it and I am fascinated by the concept of revenge.

It's something I can't understand. The idea of making someone "pay" for something they've done to you or that you imagine they've done to you is totally alien to me. The setup showed my own fears and for the time being helped quell them. There were so many sharks in this business looking for blood in the water.
If this song, and later Billie Jean seemed to cast women in an unfavourable light, it was not meant to be taken as a personal statement. Needless to say, I love the interaction between sexes; it is a natural part of life and I love women. I just think that when sex is used as a form of blackmail or power, it's a repugnant use of one of God's gifts."

This is a direct quote by MJ from his book Moonwalk. Pages 171-173. Sorry it's really long I didn't know where to stop :cheeky:

 

[Psychoniff]

I haven't read Moonwalk in a while, but didn't MJ say that he wasn't thinking of Elvis when he wrote Heartbreak Hotel?

I don't believe for onw second that MJ had know clue about Elvis' Heartbreak Hotel. Come On, this MJ we're talking about, who knew every thing musically.