Ghosts

[Johnmcclark89]

Hey everyone, I have a question. The song Ghosts, I see was written by Michael and Teddy Riley. That had me wondering if it was written during the Dangerous or History sessions. Does anybody know the answer to this, thanks

 

[Dunk96]

(If memory serves me correctly,forgive me if this information is incorrect. I'm pretty positive this information is only partially true.)

Ghosts originally was the demo Family Thing written for Addams Family Values that Michael was scheduled to cameo in. Due to the 1993 allegations,Michael was pulled from the film and production on his part in the movie and the Family Thing song was scrapped,only now existing as an incomplete demo. The short film Ghosts actually started at this time as part of the cameo,with the filming of these scenes being exactly like how Ghosts would be in 1996. However the production was halted after the 1993 allegations came out and before Michael went into rehab for painkiller addiction. Family Thing would be reworked into Ghosts in 1996 for the short film and eventual inclusion on the Blood On The Dance Floor album in 1997,along with Is It Scary. 2 Bad already appeared on the HIStory album. Several different clips have leaked in the last couple years of the original concept of Ghosts in 1993,with a particular scene of Michael getting very aggressive and vulgar with the town citizens and a different mayor (not played by himself).

 

[Mogul]

(If memory serves me correctly,forgive me if this information is incorrect. I'm pretty positive this information is only partially true.)

Ghosts originally was the demo Family Thing written for Addams Family Values that Michael was scheduled to cameo in. Due to the 1993 allegations,Michael was pulled from the film and production on his part in the movie and the Family Thing song was scrapped,only now existing as an incomplete demo. The short film Ghosts actually started at this time as part of the cameo,with the filming of these scenes being exactly like how Ghosts would be in 1996. However the production was halted after the 1993 allegations came out and before Michael went into rehab for painkiller addiction. Family Thing would be reworked into Ghosts in 1996 for the short film and eventual inclusion on the Blood On The Dance Floor album in 1997,along with Is It Scary. 2 Bad already appeared on the HIStory album. Several different clips have leaked in the last couple years of the original concept of Ghosts in 1993,with a particular scene of Michael getting very aggressive and vulgar with the town citizens and a different mayor (not played by himself).

I always thought Ghosts was written in Dangerous era with Teddy Riley. But i guess i'm horribly wrong.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[JennieKim]

Three years ago, it was only a hope that the unfinished videos would see the light of the day. I remember watching the Addams Family movie and had been wondering if he wasn't pulled out from the project, we would've seen more of cameos of him in movies. Anyway, I really like Ghosts as a stand-alone film, and it's a shame that it is not known to the general public.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

I believe Teddy presented Michael the instrumental for Ghosts in early 1991, along with other ideas he had for MJ on that famous DAT tape, songs including Blood On The Dance Floor, Remember The Time and Joy along with others.
This was how they worked for the most part I'm told (aside from Michael bringing Teddy in to finish a track, like with Dangerous and Jam)
Teddy would bring ideas and instrumentals to Michael and Mike would do the majority of the song-writing with Teddy getting his due credit.
I forget where he said it, but Teddy once said he was shocked and excited by the lyrics for In The Closet and he said Mike wrote that one on his own.
Mike and Teddy was the ultimate dream team, they brought the best out of each other

Back to Ghosts, supposedly after working on the briefly in 91, coming up with a hook and backgrounds, Michael revisited the song in 1993 before the allegations I believe, he then began seriously rewriting the track in 1994/early 95 (along with Is It Scary as you can tell by the similarity in lyrics) for inclusion on HIStory album. Then it was released to coincide with Ghosts the short film and Blood On Dance Floor the album

Some of this I'm hazy on admittedly but that's the jist of the story of the song Ghosts

 

[OnirMJ]

The instrumental was presented to Michael in 1991 (DAT). Nothing was done for the Dangerous album.

There is a demo leaked on the internet from 1993 with Pavarotti sample as intro. No verses just hook and chorus lyrics. Incomplete. That was when Michael and Teddy worked for Addams Family soundtrack.

Then Michael probably worked more on it for HIStory album 1994-1995 recording the final vocals. And then mastering and mixing was done 1996/1997 for BOTDF album. I'm not positive if the vocals are from HIStory sessions (as Is It Scary which was mastered in 1995), or in 1997 (like Blood vocals that MJ recorded in Europe).

 

[mj_frenzy]

According to Matt Forger (his longtime collaborator), the ‘Ghosts’ song was actually developed after 1993.

The ‘Ghosts’ song was not worked during the ‘HIStory’ recording sessions (Hit Factory Studio), only some first elements of that song were apparently created (during those sessions) which were later used for that track.

“… He [MJ] worked on a track for the Addams Family movie at Larrabee in 1993 with Teddy, and others worked on ideas as well. I don't believe 'Ghosts' or 'Is It Scary' were developed yet, one of the ideas may have evolved into what became 'Ghosts' later... There may have been some elements [of the ‘Ghosts’ song] that were created at the Hit Factory that were later used in the track, but not the track itself…” (Matt Forger, Making Michael by Smallcombe)

Also, the final version of the ‘Ghosts’ song was not even complete when the ‘Ghosts’ short film was released in October (1996).

 

[OnirMJ]

Yeah, probably beats (instrumental) very rough is from 1991.
They worked on ideas in 1993 for Addams Family. Is the leaked demo with Pavarotti sample from 1993 then or is it later?
The final vocals are recorded after HIStory sessions then. Just like BOTDF.