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The Lady In My Life is one of the best songs on Thriller. Do you agree?

StarlightXX

StarlightXX

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So Rolling Stones have ranked The Lady In My Life the worst song on Thriller. But I disagree. I think it’s one of Michael’s finest ballads in his solo career. His soothing and tender vocals, and the low-tempo, whimsical melody, are gorgeous. This also reminds me of the song For All Time (a similar-sounding ballad) that should have been included on the album.
 
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No, I don't agree with you. It's my least favorite song from Thriller
 
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They also wrote "Billie Bean" in their article, these fools 😂. It's not my favourite song on the album, but I like it more than others. And it's definitely not a weak song, as they say.
 
It is not just the 'Rolling Stone' magazine.

Many people and several other publications regard 'The Lady In My Life' as the worst song on the 'Thriller' album.

It can even be said that 'The Lady In My Life' would have fitted better in an album collection of lullabies, rather than in the 'Thriller' album.
 
StarlightXX said:
So Rolling Stones have ranked Lady In My Life the worst song on Thriller. But I disagree. I think it’s one of Michael’s finest ballads in his solo career. His soothing and tender vocals and whimsical melody are gorgeous. This also reminds me that For All Time (a similar-sounding ballad) should have been included on the album.
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yes
 
Absolutely love TLIML. Wish they released the original longer version of it. Indeed one of his greatest ballads. The production is beautiful. My least favourite Thriller track is The Girl Is Mine. Much prefer Someone In The Dark to take its place
 
Personally, I disagree. It’s a good song, but it’s definitely (in my opinion) a strong contender for the weakest on the album. It’s also just not a good closing track; it doesn’t wrap the album up with a true mind-blowing moment like most of MJ’s other albums do.

Hate Rolling Stone, but I’m with them on this one.
 
StarlightXX said:
So Rolling Stones have ranked Lady In My Life the worst song on Thriller. But I disagree. I think it’s one of Michael’s finest ballads in his solo career. His soothing and tender vocals and whimsical melody are gorgeous. This also reminds me that For All Time (a similar-sounding ballad) should have been included on the album.
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It's a beautiful song and my second favorite ballad by Michael. I was pleased to see how many people, including music artists and bloggers, stood up and called out "(T)Rolling Stone" on social media. They clearly didn’t read the room! Casual MJ fans are always raving about how much they love "The Lady In My Life." Trust me, many babies have been conceived to that song, and it’s played at a lot of weddings. Most recently, a guy created an incredible AI video of the song on YouTube, which has received over 14,000 likes! However, I’m not surprised by Rolling Stone's stance; they are known for their criticism and seem to lack an understanding of R&B music.
 
Derek1984 said:
Lady In My Life was the perfect way to close out the masterpiece album. There is not one weak track on that album and every track should've been released as a single. The Rolling Stone is a joke and I could care less what they say lol.
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The Rolling Stones were reliable for decades, then they had Justin Bieber on their cover like he was some sort of genius, lol.
 
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Samsonite said:

My favourite version of this song is this extended mix. You can just feel the emotions in this song. Love it so much. To hell with RS 😂
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Cool hearing this version, but it rightfully didn't belong on the album. The song just drags out too long. I liken it to a stick of bubble gum. The album version has just enough flavor. This version just loses it's flavor. It's too long. But very cool to hear nontheless.
 
It is a nice song , just feels quite out of place and a pretty boring song . Though great ad libs at the end. He seemed to prefer to perform She's Out Of my life which on the album again i find quite boring but incredible live . So it would have been interesting to hear how lady in my life sounded live. Ballad wise i think I just can't Stop loving you is by a country mile his best ever.
 
StarlightXX said:
The Rolling Stones magazine
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There's no The. There's no s. It's just Rolling Stone magazine. If you'd said that people might have known what you meant.

SmoothCriminal1995 said:
Who cares what any critics think, Lady In My Life is a truly special song, it's one of Michael's greatest vocal performances in my opinion
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^ This.

Guys, THIS.

Everything is just opinion. If you like a song, great. You go ahead and like it. You shouldn't keep asking for validation from others. It doesn't matter what people think. Just like what you like.

BlackAnon said:
RS been taking shots at Michael since the 70's. Their opinion doesn't matter
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Meaning what? If they loved MJ then the magazine would be important?

Samsonite said:
To hell with RS 😂
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But again, you know, tolerance. No need to trash a person or company just because they don't share your opinion.

Andymachine said:
He seemed to prefer to perform She's Out Of my life which on the album again i find quite boring but incredible live
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I'm the exact opposite. I love the album version of SOOML, but every live performance just makes me cringe. It's so fake and so formulaic and so drawn out that I can't listen to it.
 
R1chard said:
There's no The. There's no s. It's just Rolling Stone magazine. If you'd said that people might have known what you meant.


^ This.

Guys, THIS.

Everything is just opinion. If you like a song, great. You go ahead and like it. You shouldn't keep asking for validation from others. It doesn't matter what people think. Just like what you like.


Meaning what? If they loved MJ then the magazine would be important?


But again, you know, tolerance. No need to trash a person or company just because they don't share your opinion.


I'm the exact opposite. I love the album version of SOOML, but every live performance just makes me cringe. It's so fake and so formulaic and so drawn out that I can't listen to it.
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Yeah i get that. It is just the incredible power he sings the song live especially during Dangerous Tour which i thought was far superior to BAD tour and the meek vocals on the studio version.
 
it goes without saying that ‘thriller’ is my favourite everything 💜
however, I think that the core brilliance of the album is;

‘billie jean’
‘beat it’
‘wanna be startin somethin’💜
‘human nature’
‘thriller’

the above songs would have honestly made the perfect ep or mini album. these were also the songs that received visuals and were performed live. lyrically and musically, they were intriguing and unique. chances were taken and ground was broken.

by comparison, the remaining love songs were ordinary and even break the flow of the album. I usually skip the tracks 2 & 3, and turn off after ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing) when listening to the album.

it’s solely michael’s beautiful vocals (prior to the end in my opinion) that make ‘the lady in my life’ worth listening to. I agree that it’s not a strong way to end an album that contains such legendary work. especially since there seems to be a lingering sadness about it..
 
Maybe 'The Lady In My Life 'wasn't the best fit for the Thriller album, but it's definitely one of my favourite MJ songs: it has soul, tenderness and even funk!
 
The Lady In My Life gets played on R&B radio (also on the Quiet Storm radio show) to this day, so does Butterflies. R&B is not the focus of Rolling Stone or the mainstream US audience. Rolling Stone is mainly a rock n roll magazine, or it was when it was created, maybe not as much today. Most R&B artists & songs did not crossover to Top 40 pop radio. Notice that the easy listening style track She's Out Of My Life made it to #10 on the Hot 100 & #4 on the Adult Contemporary charts (primarily white audience radio formats), but only reached #43 on the R&B chart (majority Black audience). The Jacksons were generally more successful on R&B radio than pop in the US & so were Jermaine & Rebbie. Even with white artists, blues influenced ones like The Rolling Stones (the band), Eric Clapton, & Led Zeppelin are mentioned way more in Rolling Stone (the magazine) than R&B based ones like Teena Marie, Hall & Oates, or Gino Vannelli.
 
Victorious said:
Maybe 'The Lady In My Life 'wasn't the best fit for the Thriller album, but it's definitely one of my favourite MJ songs: it has soul, tenderness and even funk!
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That's the point. You can on one hand rate the technical aspects - meaning the composition, lyrics, whatever - you can rate if it fits a certain style but the most important point is how does it make you feel, where does it take you. If it touches you, it's a fantastic song. Maybe not for everyone, but for you.
 
Victorious said:
Maybe 'The Lady In My Life 'wasn't the best fit for the Thriller album, but it's definitely one of my favourite MJ songs: it has soul, tenderness and even funk!
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someplace_else said:
That's the point. You can on one hand rate the technical aspects - meaning the composition, lyrics, whatever - you can rate if it fits a certain style but the most important point is how does it make you feel, where does it take you. If it touches you, it's a fantastic song. Maybe not for everyone, but for you.
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The 'Thriller' album was not meant to have a certain overall style/cohesion.

They created that album as a collection of songs of different musical styles in order for it to reach a wider (in terms of demographics) audience.

That is why, they also included on the album an old-school soul song (i.e., 'The Lady In My Life').
 
mj_frenzy said:
The 'Thriller' album was not meant to have a certain overall style/cohesion.

They created that album as a collection of songs of different musical styles in order for it to reach a wider (in terms of demographics) audience.

That is why, they also included on the album an old-school soul song (i.e., 'The Lady In My Life').
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I agree!
Also I am not sure if it didn't fit on Thriller at all, but maybe something more upbeat as a closing track could have worked better. Anyway, amazing song, a real pity he never performed it live
 
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