Blood On The Dance Floor (Album)

Will forever be the missed opportunity album in my head. 5 new songs, if he had just put a couple of weeks time in finishing up the likes of in the back, ghost from another lover, changes and added finished tracks like someone put your hand out, monkey business and for all time we would have had a far better album than HIStory

1991 Dangerous
1995 HIStory
1998 For All Time
2001 Invincible
2004 the album that wasn’t to be
2007 the final album
 
Monkey Business and In the Back would've complimented the album well
 
Will forever be the missed opportunity album in my head. 5 new songs, if he had just put a couple of weeks time in finishing up the likes of in the back, ghost from another lover, changes and added finished tracks like someone put your hand out, monkey business and for all time we would have had a far better album than HIStory

1991 Dangerous
1995 HIStory
1998 For All Time
2001 Invincible
2004 the album that wasn’t to be
2007 the final album
People would be complaining that he wasted a slot on Someone Put Your Hand Out then.
 
Will forever be the missed opportunity album in my head. 5 new songs, if he had just put a couple of weeks time in finishing up the likes of in the back, ghost from another lover, changes and added finished tracks like someone put your hand out, monkey business and for all time we would have had a far better album than HIStory

1991 Dangerous
1995 HIStory
1998 For All Time
2001 Invincible
2004 the album that wasn’t to be
2007 the final album
Author Lynton Guest (in his 'The Trials Of Michael Jackson' book) explains what happened.

Sony Music wanted a brand new studio album at that time (with at least 10 new songs), but Michael Jackson disagreed with them.

So, the 'Blood On The Dance Floor' album came as a result of a compromise between both parts, hence its hybrid form.
 
If certain songs were complete on time, I could see it being a full album of new material

1. Blood on the Dance Floor
2. Morphine
3. Superfly Sister
4. Ghosts
5. 2 Bad
6. Serious Effect
7. In the Back
8. Monkey Business
9. Man in Black
10. Ghost of Another Lover
11. For All Time
12. Slave to the Rhythm
13. Is It Scary
 
Knowing how much Michael loved Hot Street & Streetwalker, and considering both songs were completed and excluded from the respective albums, I wonder why these songs weren't released on Blood.
 
Knowing how much Michael loved Hot Street & Streetwalker, and considering both songs were completed and excluded from the respective albums, I wonder why these songs weren't released on Blood.
I don't know if those songs would've fit the vibe of the album. Streetwalker? Maybe. I posted a tracklist above of what I think could've worked
 
Last edited:
this would've been amazing:

1. Blood on the Dance Floor
2. Morphine
3. Superfly Sister
4. Ghosts
5. Is It Scary
6. Do You Know Where Your Children Are
7. Price of Fame
8. Slave to the Rhythm
9. Streetwalker
10. Throwing Your Life Away
 
Michael Jackson’s #1 Hit Single “Blood On The Dancefloor” Debuts on This Date in 1997
March 21, 2025

On this date in 1997, Michael’s “Blood on the Dancefloor” was released, and it became #1 hit in the United Kingdom, Spain, Denmark and New Zealand, and reached the Top 10 in another 12 countries, including France, Germany, Ireland and Italy.
 
This album was a huge disappointment when I bought it on release day in 1997.
BOTDF and MORPHINE are great, but the remixes are awful to this fan.
100% the remixes were awful when I listened to them on release day. The only ones that slightly passed were '2bad' and 'HIStory', other than they were terrible. 'Stranger in Moscow' and 'Earth Song' should have never been club mixed.

The 5 songs were fantastic, but on reflection, 'Superfly Sister' is very out of place on the album.

Back then though, the excitement of another MJ release was off the charts!
 
Funny enough most fans would have already been familiar with most remixes as they had already been released in various formats (CD and cassette singles, promo LPs etc)
That's true. Half of them were previously released as B-sides a year or two before.
 
This whole album was such a letdown for me at the time.. The 'scary' songs were too theatric and serious and out of place on a 'dance' album. 'Superfly Sister' was actually too modest, although it's a nice little track. And even the song BOTDF itself (a funky, well crafted MJ pop song the world was so desperate to hear after all that serious History stuff) sounded a bit too dated: like it was made during the Dangerous sessions (because it was)
Not even gonna mention the remixes..
 
My feelings again...first album I got and I love it endlessly, no matter what you all say 😅.

I really like the History - Remix, it makes the song very driving and powerful. The original sometimes doesn't really feel like a song to me...the whole album is such an important part of my childhood, I can't say anything bad about it. Maybe, yes, the remixes of the ballads are a little questionable. But I still like them. And most of the time I skip the ballads, except 4-5 songs, so 😶‍🌫️

Is it Scary is one of my favourite songs especially because of the lyrics.

Maybe it's different when you had all the other albums before. But for me, personally, I love it.
 
I don't get why Sony rushed BOTDF. I get it on the one hand - they exist to make money but Michael was still touring for History at this time. No way was he going to be ready to release a full, brand new album the way he would have wanted to.
 
Author Lynton Guest (in his 'The Trials Of Michael Jackson' book) explains what happened.

Sony Music wanted a brand new studio album at that time (with at least 10 new songs), but Michael Jackson disagreed with them.

So, the 'Blood On The Dance Floor' album came as a result of a compromise between both parts, hence its hybrid form.

If I remember correctly, Brad Buxer or Matt Forger said the Blood project came about because MJ or Kenny Ortega wanted the History tour to sell more tickets. He originally wanted to just do a 5 song EP, but Sony didn't think it would sell, so they made him include the remixes.
 
If I remember correctly, Brad Buxer or Matt Forger said the Blood project came about because MJ or Kenny Ortega wanted the History tour to sell more tickets. He originally wanted to just do a 5 song EP, but Sony didn't think it would sell, so they made him include the remixes.
Michael Jackson and Sony Music both wanted a brand new studio album (with at least 10 new songs).

The reason of their disagreement was the time of the release of that brand new studio album.

Michael Jackson did not want to release it during the HIStory Tour but in few years later, whereas Sony Music wanted to release it during the HIStory Tour because the tour would help sales of that album also to increase.

So, in the end they had to compromise: an hybrid form would get a release during the HIStory Tour, including 5 only new songs and the rest songs would be 'HIStory' album remixes.
 
Michael Jackson and Sony Music both wanted a brand new studio album (with at least 10 new songs).

The reason of their disagreement was the time of the release of that brand new studio album.

Michael Jackson did not want to release it during the HIStory Tour but in few years later, whereas Sony Music wanted to release it during the HIStory Tour because the tour would help sales of that album also to increase.

So, in the end they had to compromise: an hybrid form would get a release during the HIStory Tour, including 5 only new songs and the rest songs would be 'HIStory' album remixes.

Nah, I'm pretty sure someone on MJ's team said it was intended to help the History tour. Maybe it was Brad Buxer if not Forger or Ortega.
 
It could have made a great album those 5 songs are great specially IIS and Morphine, In The Back sounds like a great instrumental maybe Fall Again y On The Line could complete the album and including Scream Louder a great remix.
 
Happy 28th anniversary!
Michael Jackson’s “Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix”: What’s Your Favorite Track?
May 20, 2025
On this date in 1997, the album “Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix” was released; it included 8 remixes of tracks from the HIStory album + 5 new songs including the title track. Which is your favorite + is it an original or a remix?
 
some quotes on BOTDF from Matt Forger at the MJCast special from 2 years back, answears some earlier replies from here. I think this does indicate MJ just wanted these 5 songs out, so an EP is likely.
Matt also mentioned it's possible there have been some contractual obligation for the remixes to be included.
That was an interesting time. Michael took that time between the two halves of the HIStory tour to accomplish a lot of studio work. [...] We did some of that work in Montreux, we went to Switzerland and worked for a while in the studio there, and we came back to Los Angeles and worked at the Record Plant to finish that up. [...] The Blood on the Dance Floor album was really- part of the motivation for that, was that was really helping support the tour, because Michael was touring a lot of the world, and there was a big push for that overseas. It saw very little if any promotion in the United States, but it was kind of the accompanying release to partner up with the HIStory Tour.
Michael did not have anything to do with remixes, so Sony put me in charge of the remix portion of it. Not that I was having to do it or oversee it, I was having to interface in such a fashion with all of the parties that were doing the remixing, and supplying them with what they needed, and then getting their results back. [...] After Michael completed the work that he was required to do in Los Angeles, Michael went to France, and he became a little bit more difficult to communicate a lot of details on completing mixes, so I had to step up, and take on a slightly larger role in the process. [...] I was having to, in the middle of some portion of the project, fly to Paris and play things for Michael, and then he got on the phone and gave the people back in LA notes as to what he wanted done. [...] In the mastering phase, I got to be the person supervising that, and then I was supposed to fly back to Paris and visit Michael again, but at the same time there was a deadline for the mastering of the album, and I decided I'd let someone else go in my place to Paris. [...] I think it might've been Brad Sundberg, and there was some kind of a glitch in the technology, and all the stuff that I had organized so well, they encountered some problems that I felt terrible about, but at least the album was delivered to Sony in time for them to make the release, so I completed what I was supposed to do.
There was definitely the feeling that "this one has to be done", and there was most definitely pressure being put on from the label, which was the thing that I felt in terms of having to take over, being in the uncomfortable place of knowing how much Michael disliked remixes, and having that kind of fall in my lap [...]. All of the remixers submitted anywhere from five, six, maybe up to ten different versions of remixes. I got all of those, and then it was someone at Sony who actually chose which were the tracks that were going to go onto the album. I said something to Michael at some point in time, and Michael kind of indicated to me something to the effect of "don't even talk to me about the remixes, because there's nothing I want to know or hear or care about." So I did get to review them, and while there were a couple that had some interesting things going on in them, I really had the understanding; the company wanted this, this really filled out to make the album complete in terms of a sellable product [...].
 
Last edited:

Sound Museum​

Michael Jackson: Blood on the Dancefloor, Remixes & Ghosts​

Season 4, Ep. 17

Sunday, June 22, 2025
In this special bonus & last episode for season 4, mega Michael Jackson fan & friend Adrian & myself take a look at the Blood On The Dancefloor - History In The Mix album, along with the various remixes from the era & the short film Ghosts.
We also take a look at various releases during the era, including CDs, videos, DVDs & we look back on the HISTORY tour.
 
Back
Top