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Blood on the Dancefloor should have been Invincible - minus remixes

Hurley509

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I've been an MJ fan for about 30 years but I can be a bit late to the party sometimes. I've really only gone back to Blood on the Dancefloor again recently, and while some of it is a bit dated, (the title track was considered dated even upon release), there are moments of that album that represent more experimentation than we ever saw in Invincible.

One of the crowning moments, for mine, of the album is when the rock beat of Morphine gives way to this really haunting piano riff, "Demerol, Demerol, Oh god he's taking Demerol!" On Invincible he never dares to be to take his music this far "out of the box".

And then there's Is It Scary, which I've now rediscovered as one of my favourite songs. There's something a bit James Bond theme song to it. It's theatrical, and it has different moods and textures.

These kinds of songs are a far cry from the artistically stagnant fare of much of Invincible, which only has maybe 5 songs that I would choose to listen to of my own volition and certainly none of its attempted dance tracks (bar YRMW) are much above a Brittney Spears B side.

I wonder what may have happened had Michael kept those tracks from BOTDF and let that build into a fully realized album, ala Decade turning into Dangerous. I think the MJ of 1997-8 and even up to 99 and 00 was far more creative and ambitious than what he became for Invincible.

I know there are people who, beyond my better reasoning, will always love Invincible but for me the album that should have been was cut short and maybe Invincible came in half cocked because it just wasn't the time for it.
 
Hurley509 said:
I've been an MJ fan for about 30 years but I can be a bit late to the party sometimes. I've really only gone back to Blood on the Dancefloor again recently, and while some of it is a bit dated, (the title track was considered dated even upon release), there are moments of that album that represent more experimentation than we ever saw in Invincible.

One of the crowning moments, for mine, of the album is when the rock beat of Morphine gives way to this really haunting piano riff, "Demerol, Demerol, Oh god he's taking Demerol!" On Invincible he never dares to be to take his music this far "out of the box".

And then there's Is It Scary, which I've now rediscovered as one of my favourite songs. There's something a bit James Bond theme song to it. It's theatrical, and it has different moods and textures.

These kinds of songs are a far cry from the artistically stagnant fare of much of Invincible, which only has maybe 5 songs that I would choose to listen to of my own volition and certainly none of its attempted dance tracks (bar YRMW) are much above a Brittney Spears B side.

I wonder what may have happened had Michael kept those tracks from BOTDF and let that build into a fully realized album, ala Decade turning into Dangerous. I think the MJ of 1997-8 and even up to 99 and 00 was far more creative and ambitious than what he became for Invincible.

I know there are people who, beyond my better reasoning, will always love Invincible but for me the album that should have been was cut short and maybe Invincible came in half cocked because it just wasn't the time for it.
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Sorry, but I don't understand your point of view. Michael Jackson started to record Invincible album right after he released Blood on the Dance floor album. It was like a brand new big era for him. Moreover, I would even say that during Invincible session, he created/get biggest amount of songs, comparing with other eras. Because he even planed to use some of them for his 12th album. That's why Invincible just couldn't be small project. No way. It was full Michael Jackson's album, just like HIstory, Thriller, Bad and so on
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Hurley509 said:
I've been an MJ fan for about 30 years but I can be a bit late to the party sometimes. I've really only gone back to Blood on the Dancefloor again recently, and while some of it is a bit dated, (the title track was considered dated even upon release), there are moments of that album that represent more experimentation than we ever saw in Invincible.
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2000 Watts, Heartbreaker and Shout sound experimental to me.
 
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Sony Music wanted the 'Invincible' album to be played on radios.

The problem with such songs (like, 'Morphine', 'Is It Scary', etc) is that they are not radio friendly songs.

That is why, they called Rodney Jerkins because he was able to easily create and produce radio friendly songs, like 'You Rock My World' which became the first single from that album.

They also called R. Kelly, who gave another radio friendly song ('Cry') which became the second single from that album.
 
Sony was in the wrong for almost everything, but i do think Michael should have just toured for Invincible. Not worldwide or anything, but just in the United States, just do 50 shows spread out across 2001-02 call it his final tour and he sells out all of them instantly.

Could he have genuinely done this or was his physical state not in the condition to do it?
 
IhateTheMedia said:
Sony was in the wrong for almost everything, but i do think Michael should have just toured for Invincible. Not worldwide or anything, but just in the United States, just do 50 shows spread out across 2001-02 call it his final tour and he sells out all of them instantly.

Could he have genuinely done this or was his physical state not in the condition to do it?
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I think he could
 
mj_frenzy said:
Sony Music wanted the 'Invincible' album to be played on radios.

The problem with such songs (like, 'Morphine', 'Is It Scary', etc) is that they are not radio friendly songs.

That is why, they called Rodney Jerkins because he was able to easily create and produce radio friendly songs, like 'You Rock My World' which became the first single from that album.

They also called R. Kelly, who gave another radio friendly song ('Cry') which became the second single from that album.
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The thing is ..... half the stuff on Invincible I wouldn't consider to be radio friendly, the choruses are not snappy enough and often too long winded before they get going. šŸ˜²
 
IhateTheMedia said:
Sony was in the wrong for almost everything, but i do think Michael should have just toured for Invincible. Not worldwide or anything, but just in the United States, just do 50 shows spread out across 2001-02 call it his final tour and he sells out all of them instantly.

Could he have genuinely done this or was his physical state not in the condition to do it?
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The fact he barely ate, slept etc was probably the main reason that touring became less and less of an appealing prospect the older he got. MJ was always in pretty good physical condition for his age (speaking generally I know he had some problems) , but the not eating and mental strain were the main problem imo and MJ even said this himself.
 
IhateTheMedia said:
Sony was in the wrong for almost everything, but i do think Michael should have just toured for Invincible. Not worldwide or anything, but just in the United States, just do 50 shows spread out across 2001-02 call it his final tour and he sells out all of them instantly.

Could he have genuinely done this or was his physical state not in the condition to do it?
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No. MSG 2001 put the final nail in the coffin in the idea of touring even before the horrible events that occurred the day after those shows.
 
ZeconMusic said:
No. MSG 2001 put the final nail in the coffin in the idea of touring even before the horrible events that occurred the day after those shows.
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Except for the fact he did several performances the next year they were all, adequate if nothing else.
 
Hurley509 said:
These kinds of songs are a far cry from the artistically stagnant fare of much of Invincible, which only has maybe 5 songs that I would choose to listen to of my own volition and certainly none of its attempted dance tracks (bar YRMW) are much above a Brittney Spears B side.

I wonder what may have happened had Michael kept those tracks from BOTDF and let that build into a fully realized album,
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Had Michael compiled the album after the 2nd leg of HWT or if there had been a much longer gap between both HWT legs then the outcome could have been more appealing - no remixes but more newly finished previous outtakes plus 2 or 3 rarities.
 
Clearly an album that's half new material and half remixes is a bit bizarre, and doesn't flow very well.

Plus, remembering how HIStory itself was half old and half new, the whole thing left a bad taste in people's mouths that Sony would expect them to do the same thing again.

Probably would have been best if BOTDF was just a remix album. That way people not into dance music could safely ignore it. But then what to do with the 5 new tracks? If I'm honest, the real answer is simply create more new tracks to make it long enough. I don't think anything off Invincible would fit the right vibe, so they would have to be different tracks. Either way, nothing from that album should have been used elsewhere.
 
No, but I wish we had gotten a full BOTDF album. All darkish tracks. The remixes made no sense... But several artists were doing that at the time like White Zombie.
 
Hurley509 said:
but I can be a bit late to the party sometimes.
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sad but it's ok. also (off topic) you joined this site on May 31, 2023. well guess what. that was my 13th birthday. you joined here on my birthday ! :D and my 13th one to be exact. That's all I wanted to say.
 
@mjfanatic777 said:
sad but it's ok. also (off topic) you joined this site on May 31, 2023. well guess what. that was my 13th birthday. you joined here on my birthday ! :D and my 13th one to be exact. That's all I wanted to say.
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You're literally talking to a guy who hasn't been here since August,
 
If anything, "Blood on the Dance Floor" should have just been on Dangerous. "Ghosts, "Morphine" and "Is It Scary" should have just been on History. "Superfly Sister" should have just stayed in the vault with the rest of Loren's garbage.

All of these songs were too outdated for 2001.
 
I think this would've worked as an album with outtakes only:

1. Blood on the Dance Floor
2. Morphine
3. Superfly Sister
4. Ghosts
5. Is It Scary
6. Monkey Business
7. She Got It
8. If You Donā€™t Love Me
9. Men In Black
10. Serious Effect


But I wouldn't replace it for Invincible, just for the regular Blood album.
 
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pinballmaster said:
The remixes made no sense... But several artists were doing that at the time like White Zombie.
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Yeah, a few artists released them as whole albums. But mostly people (including MJ) just used to use the remixes as B-sides for singles.
 
Remixes have been around since the 1970s disco era released on 12" maxi singles, and there were remix albums in the 1980s (Madonna, Janet Jackson, Jody Watley, Milli Vanilli, Howard Jones, Phil Collins, etc.). There is even a dance/maxi singles chart in Billboard magazine. Some singles & music videos had remixes instead of using the album versions. Some people would buy the album and get upset that the radio version wasn't on it.
 
The appeal of BOTDF is that it is short and sweet. When it comes to new material, that is. It's a succinct darkly funny little ode to the 90s industrial funk.



Bloating it would just make for a hodge podge.





If you don't like the remixes, don't listen to em?



It was never a bad proposition though. Most singles have an A Side and a B Side. Maxi singles would give you radio and remix edits of the same song.
 
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