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Did Rod Temperton really say Stranger In Moscow was MJ's best song?
- Thread starter Spaceship
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Themidwestcowboy
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I've never heard this before but I agree with this sentiment nonetheless.
Lord Jackson
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but the demo is better
filmandmusic
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The piano version is real?
ChanceToDance
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Lord Jackson
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dethorro
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The only source for this is a 2014 article by NME titled Michael Jackson: The Stories Behind 35 Of His Greatest Songs.
Here is the exact quote:
"‘Stranger In Moscow’ Rod Temperton has said he thinks this is Jackson’s best song – quite the accolade from the writer of ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Rock With You’, and probably quite wrong."
Did they make it up? Unlikely. Did they interview Rod Temperton and did he say this? Possible.
Here is the exact quote:
"‘Stranger In Moscow’ Rod Temperton has said he thinks this is Jackson’s best song – quite the accolade from the writer of ‘Off The Wall’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Rock With You’, and probably quite wrong."
Did they make it up? Unlikely. Did they interview Rod Temperton and did he say this? Possible.
filmandmusic
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“and probably quite wrong”. I consider that offensive. If the writing credits were “Rod Temperton“ the reviews would be totally different.
Michael has never shook his song and dance man status. He was never taken seriously as a songwriter and composer by music writers but imo it is not a surprise that many of his most iconic songs are indeed MJ compositions.
The wider audience though often don’t know that, I heard it a lot that MJ didn’t write his own songs and this is because music critics don’t acknowledge that, they only give credit in reviews to the songs that were not written by MJ.
I challenge everyone to find album reviews that state about the genius of Michael, you won’t find one but you will find other names namechecked regularly like Temperton, Steve Porcaro or Quincy Jones Inside those reviews. As a result Michael’s input is merely limited to being “the vocalist”.
It is also no coincidence that album reviews gotten poor once Michael ditched Quincy, proving further that critics see Quincy being behind Michael’s success again limiting Michael’s own substantial input.
Michael has never shook his song and dance man status. He was never taken seriously as a songwriter and composer by music writers but imo it is not a surprise that many of his most iconic songs are indeed MJ compositions.
The wider audience though often don’t know that, I heard it a lot that MJ didn’t write his own songs and this is because music critics don’t acknowledge that, they only give credit in reviews to the songs that were not written by MJ.
I challenge everyone to find album reviews that state about the genius of Michael, you won’t find one but you will find other names namechecked regularly like Temperton, Steve Porcaro or Quincy Jones Inside those reviews. As a result Michael’s input is merely limited to being “the vocalist”.
It is also no coincidence that album reviews gotten poor once Michael ditched Quincy, proving further that critics see Quincy being behind Michael’s success again limiting Michael’s own substantial input.