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Did MJ overwork himself during the BAD Tour and Era ?

Andymachine

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This is something I have often wondered . He did a lot of shows sometimes 3 shows back to back , he did this in Dangerous too but not as much. I always wondered because in the first leg of the BAD tour his voice was simply amazing and crystal clear . Then comes the 88 leg and suddenly he is sounding hoarse and struggling at times with songs apart from ones like Human Nature , She's Out of My Life ( which strangely imo sounded better in the 92 Dangerous tour) . However back to BAD he was making videos for his songs , touring , singing. Perhaps the tour could have been cut to maybe 60 shows? I don't know. I wonder also if it was to try to beat the Thriller record. Something just happened to his voice. I am one of those rare breed that prefered him as a singer than a dancer. However was he overworked by himself , the executives or both?
 
Michael Jackson overdid it during the 'BAD' era mainly because he wanted to sell more than 100 million copies of his 'BAD' album.

For this reason, the promotional campaign for that album had to be long-lasting and very aggressive (many released singles, many concerts, etc).

It is interesting that Michael Jackson was under constant medical advice and supervision throughout the entire BAD Tour because his doctors feared that all these consecutive concerts would seriously damage his health.

Eventually, this started to take its toll on his health because during the last concerts of that tour Michael Jackson had to sing live certain songs on a lower key, he had to signal to the crew when he could no longer continue a performance, etc, (as confirmed also by his vocal director, Kevin Dorsey).

The biggest adverse effect on his health was that (at the end of the BAD Tour) the singer was on the verge of permanently damaging his vocal cords.
 
He was lazy compared to B.B. King, James Brown & Prince. 🤣 James wasn't called "The Hardest Working Man In Show Business" for nothing. Mike also performed and recorded way more during the Jackson 5 days at Motown than anytime after Off The Wall. The J5 is said to have around 200 unreleased songs. Plus there's probably multiple takes of some songs that did get released. Mike had the luxury of being rich, so didn't have to do concerts all the time. But a lot of oldies acts have to constantly perform, maybe several months every year. Because many don't get any record royalties from getting ripped off by labels.
 
Richard76 said:
Wait, I thought History tour has more concerts than Bad? As far as i remember, there were 90 Dangerous performances, 120 bad and about 2000 history performances, no?
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Yes but in History he really did not sing he just moved his mouth to a CD track also they were slower paced .
 
mj_frenzy said:
Michael Jackson overdid it during the 'BAD' era mainly because he wanted to sell more than 100 million copies of his 'BAD' album.

For this reason, the promotional campaign for that album had to be long-lasting and very aggressive (many released singles, many concerts, etc).

It is interesting that Michael Jackson was under constant medical advice and supervision throughout the entire BAD Tour because his doctors feared that all these consecutive concerts would seriously damage his health.

Eventually, this started to take its toll on his health because during the last concerts of that tour Michael Jackson had to sing live certain songs on a lower key, he had to signal to the crew when he could no longer continue a performance, etc, (as confirmed also by his vocal director, Kevin Dorsey).

The biggest adverse effect on his health was that (at the end of the BAD Tour) the singer was on the verge of permanently damaging his vocal cords.
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I noticed that on the last few of that tour , WBSS he would not go for the higher note on the the "time hit the streets " and "telling lies and rubbing shoulders " became "lies and rubbing shoulders " the lies bit not at the note , this continued into Dangerous. Also those few last concerts felt slower but he did sing pretty well in some of the songs . Though i definetly think songs like Dirty Diana live must have taken a toll .
 
The Bad era is just magical in retrospect. Mike was in the peak of his powers in every aspect of his career. Thankfully he showcased his talent throughly in this point in his life.

Unfortunately what comes with that high, is the fact he did work none stop from late 1985 - mid 1989. But his reward was the Bad era cemented and immortalised his place in music history forever
 
I'm wondering what if there was a worldwide thriller tour launched in 1984. Would it have had an even bigger impact on the thriller album or not. We would probably have gotten 2 more single releases into 1985.
 
Andymachine said:
I noticed that on the last few of that tour , WBSS he would not go for the higher note on the the "time hit the streets " and "telling lies and rubbing shoulders " became "lies and rubbing shoulders " the lies bit not at the note , this continued into Dangerous. Also those few last concerts felt slower but he did sing pretty well in some of the songs . Though i definetly think songs like Dirty Diana live must have taken a toll .
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What concert/concerts do you think MJ sounded the best, during the european leg of the Bad tour? I always found it hard to tell with the amateur recordings we have. Sad that laryngitis plagued MJ during the 88 leg of the Bad tour, I can almost see the frustration in MJ in his opening concert in KC. Still he pulled through and made it his arguably best solo concert tour during his career.
 
flight85 said:
What concert/concerts do you think MJ sounded the best, during the european leg of the Bad tour? I always found it hard to tell with the amateur recordings we have. Sad that laryngitis plagued MJ during the 88 leg of the Bad tour, I can almost see the frustration in MJ in his opening concert in KC. Still he pulled through and made it his arguably best solo concert tour during his career.
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There is no proof that he had laryngitis in Kansas City. Nor did he have laryngitis for the majority of the 88 leg.
 
flight85 said:
So just a cold then? Either way he was struggling with his voice.
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His voice was a bit raspier than at the start of the Japan leg, but, to me, it doesn’t sound like he was struggling while singing at all or that he was sick.

I believe it was simply due to overusing his voice night after night, for so many shows. During the Brisbane show, e.g., you can already hear that his voice sounds more tired and rough and that he was developing that rasp. Way more than say during the September 12, 1987 concert.

Michael got ill after the MSG shows and he did have laryngitis in St. Louis. You can absolutely hear it in the snippets we have, as well. There, he is clearly struggling, missing notes, avoiding high notes and overall sounding sick. He seemed to struggle during the following shows and I believe he only made it worse by not resting, and by continuing to essentially “abuse” his vocal chords during these shows.

By May 1988, in Minneapolis, he sounded as energetic as ever. His voice was indeed much raspier, but he was not sick anymore. At the end of May however, during the Rome shows he seemed to be sick again. I’m not sure what he had, but he sounded off on that night, for many numbers.

During June and July he sounded really good. No signs of an illness, to my ears. August was also great for the most part (the Wembley show is a favorite of mine).
In September, although I don’t think he was sick, you can hear the effects of what being on tour for a year does to your voice. Although Milton Keynes is incredible and Liverpool is also great, he clearly sounds like he overused his voice by that point, and it only got worse during the upcoming U.S. shows (although there are, as always, some highlights).
 
dethorro said:
His voice was a bit raspier than at the start of the Japan leg, but, to me, it doesn’t sound like he was struggling while singing at all or that he was sick.

I believe it was simply due to overusing his voice night after night, for so many shows. During the Brisbane show, e.g., you can already hear that his voice sounds more tired and rough and that he was developing that rasp. Way more than say during the September 12, 1987 concert.

Michael got ill after the MSG shows and he did have laryngitis in St. Louis. You can absolutely hear it in the snippets we have, as well. There, he is clearly struggling, missing notes, avoiding high notes and overall sounding sick. He seemed to struggle during the following shows and I believe he only made it worse by not resting, and by continuing to essentially “abuse” his vocal chords during these shows.

By May 1988, in Minneapolis, he sounded as energetic as ever. His voice was indeed much raspier, but he was not sick anymore. At the end of May however, during the Rome shows he seemed to be sick again. I’m not sure what he had, but he sounded off on that night, for many numbers.

During June and July he sounded really good. No signs of an illness, to my ears. August was also great for the most part (the Wembley show is a favorite of mine).
In September, although I don’t think he was sick, you can hear the effects of what being on tour for a year does to your voice. Although Milton Keynes is incredible and Liverpool is also great, he clearly sounds like he overused his voice by that point, and it only got worse during the upcoming U.S. shows (although there are, as always, some highlights).
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Funny you bring this up but the australian leg is like the perfect hybrid of his 87 and 88-89 voice. It's somewhat raspier but he's still hitting all the notes and singing all the songs live.

Regarding the actual topic, I do believe he overworked himself during this period. We have captain EO 85/86, in between that writing a dozen songs. Then we have the Bad sessions and the album, the muliple videos, singles, moonwalker, moonwalk book, grammy performance, performing three back to back shows, photoshoots, etc.

I just think he took on too much during this time.
 
Sorry to derail the thread somewhat, but I read they cut one of the St Louis shows short because Michael was too sick. Is that true?
 
dethorro said:
His voice was a bit raspier than at the start of the Japan leg, but, to me, it doesn’t sound like he was struggling while singing at all or that he was sick.

I believe it was simply due to overusing his voice night after night, for so many shows. During the Brisbane show, e.g., you can already hear that his voice sounds more tired and rough and that he was developing that rasp. Way more than say during the September 12, 1987 concert.

Michael got ill after the MSG shows and he did have laryngitis in St. Louis. You can absolutely hear it in the snippets we have, as well. There, he is clearly struggling, missing notes, avoiding high notes and overall sounding sick. He seemed to struggle during the following shows and I believe he only made it worse by not resting, and by continuing to essentially “abuse” his vocal chords during these shows.

By May 1988, in Minneapolis, he sounded as energetic as ever. His voice was indeed much raspier, but he was not sick anymore. At the end of May however, during the Rome shows he seemed to be sick again. I’m not sure what he had, but he sounded off on that night, for many numbers.

During June and July he sounded really good. No signs of an illness, to my ears. August was also great for the most part (the Wembley show is a favorite of mine).
In September, although I don’t think he was sick, you can hear the effects of what being on tour for a year does to your voice. Although Milton Keynes is incredible and Liverpool is also great, he clearly sounds like he overused his voice by that point, and it only got worse during the upcoming U.S. shows (although there are, as always, some highlights).
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I agree with most of what you wrote, fascinating that you find aug 26 concert so good, never gave it much thought partly because of the poor sound quality and the problem with the tape being potentially too slow or too fast, giving the wrong impression of the concert, but I will have to listen to it more now.

The thing I struggle with the mid of august beginning of september concerts is not only that he sounds hoarse but also the tempo seems somewhat slower, then again I love the Montpellier concert because MJ seemed really happy from the snippets we have and rarely have I heard MJ sing the J5 medley with such speed and intensity.
To give support to mid-late aug being a high point of the tour, during an interview with Rory Kaplan he mentions the Wurzburg concert being something truly special, according to him MJ did some unique moves during BJ, after the concert he asked MJ about it and MJ just laughed, now I know he might be misremembering, still quite fascinating to me.

Sorry if I came across as slighty rude and unclear with what I meant about MJ struggling in KC, I suppose it's mostly from him singing so much during rehearsals.
 
flight85 said:
Sorry if I came across as slighty rude and unclear with what I meant about MJ struggling in KC, I suppose it's mostly from him singing so much during rehearsals.
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Oh no, not at all. Yeah, the rehearsals likely also had an effect on his vocal cords.
 
flight85 said:
The thing I struggle with the mid of august beginning of september concerts is not only that he sounds hoarse but also the tempo seems somewhat slower, then again I love the Montpellier concert because MJ seemed really happy from the snippets we have and rarely have I heard MJ sing the J5 medley with such speed and intensity.
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By the way, I remembered something. The Pittsburgh concert on September 26, might very well be one of the very best from the entire tour. From the snippets we have, Michael appears to be very energetic and in top form.
 
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