Latest on MJJC

Do you consider leave me alone as a bonustrack or not?

filmandmusic

Proud Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2021
Messages
5,361
Points
113
I find it gets added seamlessly to the bad album most of the time as if it was always part of it. I’ve always seen it as an integral part of the album as I never had the LP in the first place.

Exactly how long after the LP version did the CD version with leave me alone get released? Did it result in a new spike of sales? The fact that it was a single release pretty much killed the idea of extra sales but maybe it had an effect in the US where it wasn’t a single.
In Europe it was a decent hit but you’d expect it to be bigger since it wasn’t on the LP version which at that time was most likely the most sold version of the album.

It’s also peculiar in hindsight that it still got chosen before streetwalker which had missed out on the tracklist at the very end for another part of me.

Do you think the song added extra fuel to his relationship with the press? Critics liked both the song and video, especially the video is a work of art imo.
 
1) I don't consider LMA a bonus track and 2) too answer your questions (which is down below) watch the video
filmandmusic said:
Exactly how long after the LP version did the CD version with leave me alone get released? Did it result in a new spike of sales?
Click to expand...
filmandmusic said:
Do you think the song added extra fuel to his relationship with the press?
Click to expand...
Hope this helps you : )
 
filmandmusic said:
Do you think the song added extra fuel to his relationship with the press? Critics liked both the song and video, especially the video is a work of art imo.
Click to expand...
filmandmusic said:
I’ve always seen it as an integral part of the album as I never had the LP in the first place.
Click to expand...
First time I bought BAD it was on CD. I bought it years after it was released, in the early 90s. I consider the track just part of BAD. I think it was an enticement to get people to buy CDs (which they were making more money on).

I can't comment on what Leave Me Alone did to his relationship with the press, but I am guessing it didn't do a thing. The video was easily one of his best and most creative, and it matched the song so well. Both the song and the video have aged very well.
 
I consider Leave Me Alone because it was originally released as a bonus track, therefore it is technically a bonus track.
 
It's an album track. And a single. Not a bonus to me. CD pretty quickly became the defacto, LP became depreciated to me.

Smooth Criminal is also a bad finale.
 
filmandmusic said:
Exactly how long after the LP version did the CD version with leave me alone get released? Did it result in a new spike of sales? The fact that it was a single release pretty much killed the idea of extra sales but maybe it had an effect in the US where it wasn’t a single.
In Europe it was a decent hit but you’d expect it to be bigger since it wasn’t on the LP version which at that time was most likely the most sold version of the album.
Click to expand...
LP and CD were released simultaneously. However, the CD format was still relatively new and they tried to attract more people to buy it by adding a bonus track.
I reckon the song is indeed an album track and was excluded from the original LP pressings for marketing purposes only.
 
MJbr2 said:
I reckon the song is indeed an album track and was excluded from the original LP pressings for marketing purposes only.
Click to expand...
Not really. It would have been too long for the record if Leave Me Alone was put on it. Technically it could fit, but the sound quality wouldn't be as good. Or they would have had to make it a 2 record set which would increase the price of the album. That's the same reason some of the songs on Thriller were shortened from the original versions. Leave Me Alone was not on the cassette version of the album either, nor the 8-tack tape. The running time wouldn't have made a difference there, since tapes could be made different lengths unlike a record. Sometimes the cassette versions of albums had extra tracks, before CDs were around. I remember some CDs in the 1990s had a hidden track, that was not listed and was sometimes part of the last track with a lot of blank space between them. You had to foward through it if you didn't want to wait for the several minutes of silence.
 
Leave me alone is a perfect ending for BAD album! I love it so much!!!! I consider it as a brilliand song and a good single! 😄
 
First time I listened to the Bad album was on cassette. I did know somebody with the vinyl, but it wasn't a major format by then.

But yeah, LMA was simply to get people to buy CD players (Sony invented the CD, and MJ was on Sony records...)

Don't forget a couple of other songs have slightly different versions on different formats of the album too. Different IJCSLY intro, different Bad solo, etc.
 
DuranDuran said:
Not really. It would have been too long for the record if Leave Me Alone was put on it. Technically it could fit, but the sound quality wouldn't be as good. Or they would have had to make it a 2 record set which would increase the price of the album. That's the same reason some of the songs on Thriller were shortened from the original versions. Leave Me Alone was not on the cassette version of the album either, nor the 8-tack tape. The running time wouldn't have made a difference there, since tapes could be made different lengths unlike a record. Sometimes the cassette versions of albums had extra tracks, before CDs were around. I remember some CDs in the 1990s had a hidden track, that was not listed and was sometimes part of the last track with a lot of blank space between them. You had to foward through it if you didn't want to wait for the several minutes of silence.
Click to expand...
I didn't want to get technical, but yes.

R1chard said:
Don't forget a couple of other songs have slightly different versions on different formats of the album too. Different IJCSLY intro, different Bad solo, etc.
Click to expand...
Not different versions, different pressings, on CD only. Vinyl and cassette were all the same.
Iirc, by the end of 1988, there were 3 different versions of the CD already. They kept changing the mixes due to the single versions. There are like 3 different album mixes of Smooth Criminal, for example.

(Btw, Bad didn't get a different solo, that was the video version, which they replaced Greg's with an organ solo by Jimmy Smith that's still unreleased btw. For later pressings (second or third onwards), they removed the horns.)
 
Thank God, leave me alone was on it. It's one of his best songs, period.
Perfect theme, superb instrumental and harmonies, great lyrics alongside an original and visually creative short film.
Can't imagine the Bad album without Leave me alone.
 
I don't consider it a bonus track even though it was added later but I also don't think it blends with the album. One of my favorites though.
 
BAD was my first MJ album I ever bought in September 2001 , just before Vince came out the following month.

It's a brilliant album and I had always assumed Leave Me Alone was track 11 on the album. (wasn't aware it was later added)

The fact that all future BAD releases include Leave me alone I think it's safe to say that MJ and his team thought so too.

Great track and video!
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
At risk of sounding like DuranDuran, albums don't have to be cohesive.
Click to expand...

Don’t have to be cohesive at all but it’s a definite mood change.

Same thing with Carousel. Imagine listening to Thriller and Carousel comes on instead of Human Nature…it just sticks out
 
I count it like album song. he added in all before releases for something
 
BlackAnon said:
Don’t have to be cohesive at all but it’s a definite mood change.

Same thing with Carousel. Imagine listening to Thriller and Carousel comes on instead of Human Nature…it just sticks out
Click to expand...
Well it's a closer. Kinda an epilogue really.

Funny you mention Carousel, I just decided to listen to it again for the first time in a while. It is catchy, it'd be considered underrated. Which is nice, but it's not Human Nature, which is basically all time greatest of all time. Both would fit but one definitely outpaces the other.

Leave Me Alone definitely came later than many of the other tracks, and also sounds less polished by Quincy than the others. Which is a nice choice, most of the songs had that early on.
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Well it's a closer. Kinda an epilogue really.

Funny you mention Carousel, I just decided to listen to it again for the first time in a while. It is catchy, it'd be considered underrated. Which is nice, but it's not Human Nature, which is basically all time greatest of all time. Both would fit but one definitely outpaces the other.

Leave Me Alone definitely came later than many of the other tracks, and also sounds less polished by Quincy than the others. Which is a nice choice, most of the songs had that early on.
Click to expand...

Carousel has always been a solid track to me but just not for the version of Thriller we have and would’ve worked better on the early version before songs were replaced.

I agree on Leave Me Alone. It doesn’t have a Quincy feel to it.
 
BlackAnon said:
Carousel has always been a solid track to me but just not for the version of Thriller we have and would’ve worked better on the early version before songs were replaced.

I agree on Leave Me Alone. It doesn’t have a Quincy feel to it.
Click to expand...
Agreed on that. It definitely was outgrown. The only Thriller outtake I think deserved to make it was Behind The Mask. Something about it, is so incandescent. Yet I'm ok with how it turned out.
 
The vinyl didn't have any space left to fit Leave Me Alone hence why it wasn't included.
The CD that was available at the time, always had leave me alone in it simply because it fitted.
He also filmed the video of leave me alone before the album was released.
therefore the song was always intended to be part of the album.
 
lounisp said:
The vinyl didn't have any space left to fit Leave Me Alone hence why it wasn't included.
The CD that was available at the time, always had leave me alone in it simply because it fitted.
He also filmed the video of leave me alone before the album was released.
therefore the song was always intended to be part of the album.
Click to expand...

Wasn't Leave Me Alone filmed at the beginning of 1988?
 
Back in the 80's yes but today no. The Bad vinyl really needs to be updated with Leave Me Alone included on there. I know it's on the Bad 25 Vinyl but I want just the Bad album with LMA on it.
 
BlackAnon said:
Carousel has always been a solid track to me but just not for the version of Thriller we have and would’ve worked better on the early version before songs were replaced.

I agree on Leave Me Alone. It doesn’t have a Quincy feel to it.
Click to expand...
Maybe but you can’t justify shelving a great song like carousel. We’re lucky we got it eventually imo
 
wonderouzmj said:
87
Click to expand...

I see the slate shows end of December 1987. I haven't came across anything that shows it was filmed earlier than the BAD album release. I do think the song worked out when it came to the short film


michael-jackson-filming-the-leave-me-alone-sequence-for-his-v0-7902m37pkqba1-png.webp
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top