83magic
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this is a list compiled by screen rant that I came across yesterday. do you agree with it? what are your picks?
I personally think that ‘billie jean’ should have been number one. I don’t understand the absence of ‘thriller’ either..
screenrant.com
With a career that saw him dominate the charts for decades, Michael Jackson's albums are filled with more incredible songs than fill most artist's Greatest Hits albums. Picking the greatest of Michael Jackson's and ranking them is a fun exercise, but that is not what this list is about. Scanning Michael's entire back catalog, these are the artistic statements that make Michael the King Of Pop.
Showing multiple sides of his personality through his songwriting, vocals, and dancing, that is a very broad canvas. Pop music by its very nature changes with the times and trends of the day, but Michael Jackson was unapologetically himself as an artist. A unique and multifaceted force, Jackson used his songs to show you who he was and what he was capable of. In no particular order, these are the songs that best shape the musical chameleon he was, transcending the boundaries of culture with artistic expression.
It would be easy to point to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" as the song from Off The Wall that announced Michael's true arrival as a solo artist. Seven years on since he first topped the charts as a 14-year-old with "Ben", Michael's first album with Quincy Jones would be his first true statement as an artist. It was the culmination of the union of Jones's superhuman musicality and Jackson's personality, chops, and vision that would weave magic and sow the seeds of the Michael Jackson sound.
"Workin' Day And Night" was never released as a single, but was used as the B-side to Rock With You.
Of all the songs on Off The Wall, "Workin' Day And Night" contains all the signature elements of the Jones/Jackson partnership. While "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" carried the hallmarks of the still-hot-but-dying Disco scene, this was something new. Jackson began incorporating the exaggerated breaths and scatting that he would make his on subsequent hits and records. Jones' flourishes of horns throughout are signature sounds that would fuel the likes of "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Just Good Friends".
The first single lifted from 1991's Dangerous was the planet's biggest-selling song of that year, but that's not the only reason it's such an important song for Michael. Having navigated moving from the '70s to the '80s expertly on "Bad", "Black Or White" is the first song from Dangerous and his first single of the '90s. This is Jackson at his most artistically diverse, seamlessly blending a world-music beat and percussion, G-Funk bass, and rap, all powered by an enormous, iconic lead-guitar riff recorded on a giant Marshall stack.
As perfectly captured in the song's terrain-leaping video, "Black Or White" concentrated on Michael's global appeal in both its visual and audio aesthetic (once Macaulay Culkin had finished launching Norm from Cheers into outer space with his guitar, naturally).
Despite the producer's attempts to get Jackson to offer the part to LL Cool J, producer Bill Boterill's rap in the middle of the song was never going to trouble Method Man, but it's perfect for the song. And contrary to popular belief, Guns N Roses guitarist Slash can only be heard on the song's intro and not the song's lead riff too.
Of all of the many strings to Michael's bow, Jackson's humanitarianism is a huge part of who he is as an artist. Be it writing 1985's USA For Africa hit, "We Are The World", or his decades of charity work, Michael was an activist who put his messages on wax. There is simply no more devastating, powerful artistic statement in Michael's catalog than his performance on "Earth Song".
During its time at Number 1 in the UK, the song stopped Oasis's "Wonderwall" and The Beatles' first song in 25 years, "Free As A Bird", from claiming the top spot.
Masterfully commanding the song's tone, MJ runs the gauntlet of human emotion across the song's nearly seven-minute run time. From pleading for the listener's attention to demanding it, it is a tour de force enforcing the need to care for the planet we live on and its inhabitants. The majority of artists do not have the guts to make such a provocative statement, never mind the talent.
It is frankly outrageous that The King Of Pop was able to casually write one of the greatest rock songs in the genre's history. One of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs ever written, provided by Toto's Steve Lukather, Michael's performance straddles chin-jutting toughness and dancefloor cool to create something otherworldly. It showed Jackson had the ability to master any genre he chose.
RELATED
A true departure from the smooth R&B, funk, and disco of Off The Wall, MJ employed revolutionary guitarist Eddie Van Halen to provide the song's solo. A master of his craft who was in the middle of changing the way guitar was played forever, Van Halen was shocked to get the call from MJ to help on his new record.
"I listened to the song, and I immediately go, 'Can I change some parts?'," Van Halen told CNN back in 2012. "I turned to the engineer and I go, 'OK, from the breakdown, chop in this part, go to this piece, pre-chorus, to the chorus, out.' Took him maybe 10 minutes to put it together. And I proceeded to improvise two solos over it." The rest is HiStory.
A song that is as '80s as a walkman, "Bad" best defines Michael's ability to be ahead of trends. Having just defined who he was as a contemporary adult artist on Off The Wall, "Bad" saw Quincy Jones and Jackson rip up their own playbook in the name of innovation. A hypnotic bassline and perhaps the most attitude Michael ever laid on a track, it is on the song's video that this forward-thinking approach was best applied.
Captured magnificently on Spike Lee's essential 25th anniversary Bad documentary, the singer was so impressed by the NYC body-popping movement, that Jackson let his chosen dancers choreograph the video's dance sections alongside him. The humility and vision in this outlook personified Michael's outlook, embracing the best of the day's artistic statements and adding it to his own immense palette.
Picking Michael Jackson's definitive ballad was perhaps the most hotly contested discussion point on this list. Ultimately, the vote went to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", a song so great that it was picked as the first single from the Bad album. Following legendary records is a thankless task, but the wholesome vibe of this ballad made the transition effortless.
Sharing the spotlight with "Man In The Mirror" songwriter Siedah Garrett, Quincy Jones's production job is crisp and bombastic. Masterfully building the drama and romantic sentiment in a way that means "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" tastefully avoids the cheese factor, in favor of letting the performances do their job elevate the song in a way that feels both cinematic in its scope and authentic in its delivery. We'll also heartily encourage arguments for "You Are Not Alone" and "Human Nature" for Best MJ Ballad in the comments section of this list.
Of all the emotions that he covered over the years, Michael Jackson had a real skill for conveying anger. No song captures Jackson's rage like "They Don't Care About Us", his furious single from 1996. Spitting with such force that the vocal punches out of the speakers, this is Jackson's response to the press's inherit racism and the disgusting police brutality broadcast around the world from the Rodney King beating and riots.
Perhaps most impressive of all, the percussive-lead canvas is perfect in letting Michael's message breathe. Citing how Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr would be ashamed of their country, it is a song that serves hostility and poignancy in equal amounts that was accused of overstepping the mark with antisemitism. After those accusations in 1995, Jackson acknowledged the fault by removing the lyrics in question.
The song comes into its own in the Spike Lee-directed video, Michael's performance through the streets of Brazil and in the faces of street cops gives this biting song an edge you could cut yourself on.
A timeless song that is still yet to lose one drop of its flavor, literally everything about "Billie Jean" is stamped on pop culture forever. How many songs can be named after a song's opening second that only includes drums? With a bass line that struts like a cheetah, "Billie Jean" is one of pop music's most definitive statements, let alone Jackson.
RELATED
Even taking in the water-tight guitar playing, flawless, immovable funk, and Jackson's once-in-a-lifetime vocal, "Billie Jean"'s music video and the Soul Train performance made the song iconic. The moonwalk is one of dance's most recognizable moves and it was born to this song. It is, quite simply, one of Planet Earth's best artistic statements in any medium.
Fueled by bassline that hits harder than a Tyson Fury uppercut, Michael Jackson was never cooler than he was on "Smooth Criminal". A slick and punchy anthem, "Smooth Criminal" is best characterized by Michael's vocal versatility and power as a performer. Michael asking Annie if she's OK may occur a full 22 times on the official lyric sheet (and a lot more on the track itself), but the refrain is one of pop music's all-time greatest hooks.
Much like "Thriller", it is impossible to hear "Smooth Criminal" without thinking of its video. Michael's white suit and fedora combination was written into legend as soon as his hand flicked a coin into the jukebox, and he lets out that first "ow!". Perhaps the best Michael has ever scatted on a song too, Jackson's seminal lean in the video is still one of the coolest visual tricks employed in a music video.
Much like how generations talk about John Lennon's Imagine, "Man In The Mirror" is one of art's most inspirational works. Perfect from its first second to its last, it is a song with a message that every human should aspire to, delivered with a conviction that sticks to the listener like glue, and played by an ensemble cast of unequaled quality.
Just so you know, writing about one of the greatest songs of all time and not being overly hyperbolic is almost impossible, so let's do this together. Michael Jackson is one of the most talented humans to have ever existed, and this is his masterpiece and the definition of flawless. "Man In The Mirror" is the sound of an all-star cast firing on ten, lead by a one-of-a-kind talent with a message that will never lose its poignancy. It can be argued that perhaps the world needs a little "Man In The Mirror" now more than ever.
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I personally think that ‘billie jean’ should have been number one. I don’t understand the absence of ‘thriller’ either..
10 Songs That Define Michael Jackson's Career
The 10 songs that define Michael Jackson as an artist
screenrant.com
Showing multiple sides of his personality through his songwriting, vocals, and dancing, that is a very broad canvas. Pop music by its very nature changes with the times and trends of the day, but Michael Jackson was unapologetically himself as an artist. A unique and multifaceted force, Jackson used his songs to show you who he was and what he was capable of. In no particular order, these are the songs that best shape the musical chameleon he was, transcending the boundaries of culture with artistic expression.
10 Workin' Day And Night
Off The Wall (1979)
It would be easy to point to "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough" as the song from Off The Wall that announced Michael's true arrival as a solo artist. Seven years on since he first topped the charts as a 14-year-old with "Ben", Michael's first album with Quincy Jones would be his first true statement as an artist. It was the culmination of the union of Jones's superhuman musicality and Jackson's personality, chops, and vision that would weave magic and sow the seeds of the Michael Jackson sound.
"Workin' Day And Night" was never released as a single, but was used as the B-side to Rock With You.
Of all the songs on Off The Wall, "Workin' Day And Night" contains all the signature elements of the Jones/Jackson partnership. While "Rock With You" and "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough" carried the hallmarks of the still-hot-but-dying Disco scene, this was something new. Jackson began incorporating the exaggerated breaths and scatting that he would make his on subsequent hits and records. Jones' flourishes of horns throughout are signature sounds that would fuel the likes of "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Just Good Friends".
9 Black Or White
Dangerous (1991)
The first single lifted from 1991's Dangerous was the planet's biggest-selling song of that year, but that's not the only reason it's such an important song for Michael. Having navigated moving from the '70s to the '80s expertly on "Bad", "Black Or White" is the first song from Dangerous and his first single of the '90s. This is Jackson at his most artistically diverse, seamlessly blending a world-music beat and percussion, G-Funk bass, and rap, all powered by an enormous, iconic lead-guitar riff recorded on a giant Marshall stack.
As perfectly captured in the song's terrain-leaping video, "Black Or White" concentrated on Michael's global appeal in both its visual and audio aesthetic (once Macaulay Culkin had finished launching Norm from Cheers into outer space with his guitar, naturally).
Despite the producer's attempts to get Jackson to offer the part to LL Cool J, producer Bill Boterill's rap in the middle of the song was never going to trouble Method Man, but it's perfect for the song. And contrary to popular belief, Guns N Roses guitarist Slash can only be heard on the song's intro and not the song's lead riff too.
8 Earth Song
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
Of all of the many strings to Michael's bow, Jackson's humanitarianism is a huge part of who he is as an artist. Be it writing 1985's USA For Africa hit, "We Are The World", or his decades of charity work, Michael was an activist who put his messages on wax. There is simply no more devastating, powerful artistic statement in Michael's catalog than his performance on "Earth Song".
During its time at Number 1 in the UK, the song stopped Oasis's "Wonderwall" and The Beatles' first song in 25 years, "Free As A Bird", from claiming the top spot.
Masterfully commanding the song's tone, MJ runs the gauntlet of human emotion across the song's nearly seven-minute run time. From pleading for the listener's attention to demanding it, it is a tour de force enforcing the need to care for the planet we live on and its inhabitants. The majority of artists do not have the guts to make such a provocative statement, never mind the talent.
7 Beat It
Thriller (1982)
It is frankly outrageous that The King Of Pop was able to casually write one of the greatest rock songs in the genre's history. One of the most instantly recognizable guitar riffs ever written, provided by Toto's Steve Lukather, Michael's performance straddles chin-jutting toughness and dancefloor cool to create something otherworldly. It showed Jackson had the ability to master any genre he chose.
RELATED
10 Underrated Michael Jackson Songs You've Probably Never Heard Before
28A true departure from the smooth R&B, funk, and disco of Off The Wall, MJ employed revolutionary guitarist Eddie Van Halen to provide the song's solo. A master of his craft who was in the middle of changing the way guitar was played forever, Van Halen was shocked to get the call from MJ to help on his new record.
"I listened to the song, and I immediately go, 'Can I change some parts?'," Van Halen told CNN back in 2012. "I turned to the engineer and I go, 'OK, from the breakdown, chop in this part, go to this piece, pre-chorus, to the chorus, out.' Took him maybe 10 minutes to put it together. And I proceeded to improvise two solos over it." The rest is HiStory.
6 Bad
Bad (1987)
A song that is as '80s as a walkman, "Bad" best defines Michael's ability to be ahead of trends. Having just defined who he was as a contemporary adult artist on Off The Wall, "Bad" saw Quincy Jones and Jackson rip up their own playbook in the name of innovation. A hypnotic bassline and perhaps the most attitude Michael ever laid on a track, it is on the song's video that this forward-thinking approach was best applied.
Captured magnificently on Spike Lee's essential 25th anniversary Bad documentary, the singer was so impressed by the NYC body-popping movement, that Jackson let his chosen dancers choreograph the video's dance sections alongside him. The humility and vision in this outlook personified Michael's outlook, embracing the best of the day's artistic statements and adding it to his own immense palette.
5 I Just Can't Stop Loving You
Bad (1987)
Picking Michael Jackson's definitive ballad was perhaps the most hotly contested discussion point on this list. Ultimately, the vote went to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", a song so great that it was picked as the first single from the Bad album. Following legendary records is a thankless task, but the wholesome vibe of this ballad made the transition effortless.
Sharing the spotlight with "Man In The Mirror" songwriter Siedah Garrett, Quincy Jones's production job is crisp and bombastic. Masterfully building the drama and romantic sentiment in a way that means "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" tastefully avoids the cheese factor, in favor of letting the performances do their job elevate the song in a way that feels both cinematic in its scope and authentic in its delivery. We'll also heartily encourage arguments for "You Are Not Alone" and "Human Nature" for Best MJ Ballad in the comments section of this list.
4 They Don't Care About Us
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)
Of all the emotions that he covered over the years, Michael Jackson had a real skill for conveying anger. No song captures Jackson's rage like "They Don't Care About Us", his furious single from 1996. Spitting with such force that the vocal punches out of the speakers, this is Jackson's response to the press's inherit racism and the disgusting police brutality broadcast around the world from the Rodney King beating and riots.
Perhaps most impressive of all, the percussive-lead canvas is perfect in letting Michael's message breathe. Citing how Roosevelt and Martin Luther King Jr would be ashamed of their country, it is a song that serves hostility and poignancy in equal amounts that was accused of overstepping the mark with antisemitism. After those accusations in 1995, Jackson acknowledged the fault by removing the lyrics in question.
The song comes into its own in the Spike Lee-directed video, Michael's performance through the streets of Brazil and in the faces of street cops gives this biting song an edge you could cut yourself on.
3 Bille Jean
Thriller (1982)
A timeless song that is still yet to lose one drop of its flavor, literally everything about "Billie Jean" is stamped on pop culture forever. How many songs can be named after a song's opening second that only includes drums? With a bass line that struts like a cheetah, "Billie Jean" is one of pop music's most definitive statements, let alone Jackson.
RELATED
Michael Jackson's 10 Best "Short Film" Music Videos, Ranked
4Even taking in the water-tight guitar playing, flawless, immovable funk, and Jackson's once-in-a-lifetime vocal, "Billie Jean"'s music video and the Soul Train performance made the song iconic. The moonwalk is one of dance's most recognizable moves and it was born to this song. It is, quite simply, one of Planet Earth's best artistic statements in any medium.
2 Smooth Criminal
Bad (1987)
Fueled by bassline that hits harder than a Tyson Fury uppercut, Michael Jackson was never cooler than he was on "Smooth Criminal". A slick and punchy anthem, "Smooth Criminal" is best characterized by Michael's vocal versatility and power as a performer. Michael asking Annie if she's OK may occur a full 22 times on the official lyric sheet (and a lot more on the track itself), but the refrain is one of pop music's all-time greatest hooks.
Much like "Thriller", it is impossible to hear "Smooth Criminal" without thinking of its video. Michael's white suit and fedora combination was written into legend as soon as his hand flicked a coin into the jukebox, and he lets out that first "ow!". Perhaps the best Michael has ever scatted on a song too, Jackson's seminal lean in the video is still one of the coolest visual tricks employed in a music video.
1 Man In The Mirror
Bad (1987)
Much like how generations talk about John Lennon's Imagine, "Man In The Mirror" is one of art's most inspirational works. Perfect from its first second to its last, it is a song with a message that every human should aspire to, delivered with a conviction that sticks to the listener like glue, and played by an ensemble cast of unequaled quality.
Just so you know, writing about one of the greatest songs of all time and not being overly hyperbolic is almost impossible, so let's do this together. Michael Jackson is one of the most talented humans to have ever existed, and this is his masterpiece and the definition of flawless. "Man In The Mirror" is the sound of an all-star cast firing on ten, lead by a one-of-a-kind talent with a message that will never lose its poignancy. It can be argued that perhaps the world needs a little "Man In The Mirror" now more than ever.
Follow
Like
Share
