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Michael Jackson Songs with the greatest Basslines!

Themidwestcowboy

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You know what it is! Go ahead and name em!

Billie Jean - Obviously!

Shake Your Body Down - Now this one makes me wanna go down!

Another Part Of Me - This bass is jamming! Especially the Captain EO version

Superfly Sister - Such an underrated song with a killer bass line!

Get On The Floor - I can imagine this one must have been hard to play! Impeccable and groovy!

Who Is It - Ominous, callous and unapologetically sinister. Not a hard bassline to play I imagine, but the simplicity in the structure of this bassline is what makes this one of Michael's finest works.
 
The ones you listed are amazing, I would add:
Jam
WYWTOM
Remember The Time
Give In To Me
Dangerous
Stranger In Moscow
This Time Around
Tabloid Junkie
Blood On The Dance Floor
and many more I'm forgetting
 
I really like the bass lines of the Dangerous and Thriller albums. It was imo one of the things which made those two albums really timeless.

Other than that, I love it in Superfly Sister, Streetwalker, Bad, TWYMMF, Ghosts, Is It Scary, DSTYGE, Threatened (I don't know if it was the bass line or not, but it does seem to pound nicely through the speakers) This Time Around, and Money.
 
MAQ said:
I really like the bass lines of the Dangerous and Thriller albums. It was imo one of the things which made those two albums really timeless.

Other than that, I love it in Superfly Sister, Streetwalker, Bad, TWYMMF, Ghosts, Is It Scary, DSTYGE, Threatened (I don't know if it was the bass line or not, but it does seem to pound nicely through the speakers) This Time Around, and Money.
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How could I have forgotten Streetwalker! Def in my top 5.

I agree with your deduction about the Thriller and Dangerous albums, I would also like to add Bad in that category. I think that was MJ's secret weapon. MJ's success formula if you will. Create a killer bass line and you'll have a number one hit

Oh and the Bass line from Speed Demon is wicked!
 
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Funny - I never noticed how many of Michael's songs had killer bass lines until I started putting this list together. My God, this man was truly the king of piecing together simple structures to make excellent music.

"Billie Jean" - Who can knock this one? The greatest bass line ever created.
"Bad" - A classic from the ground up.
"The Way You Make Me Feel" - So simple yet hard to decipher - I still don't know the exact notes!
"Smooth Criminal" - Another classic!
"Who Is It" - Couldn't say it any better than the OP did - unapologetically sinister.
"Money" - The double layered bass harmonies should see more praise than they do!
"Blood on the Dance Floor" - Very under recognized. So incredibly smooth and groove-inducing.
"Unbreakable" - Perfectly sets the stage for its subject matter - driving and blunt.
"Hollywood Tonight" - Probably the best bass since "Who Is It". Damn, this one is irresistible.
"Al Capone" - I would dare to say that this is a slight step up from "Smooth Criminal"!
 
AlwaysThere said:
"Blood on the Dance Floor" - Very under recognized. So incredibly smooth and groove-inducing.
"Unbreakable" - Perfectly sets the stage for its subject matter - driving and blunt.
"Hollywood Tonight" - Probably the best bass since "Who Is It". Damn, this one is irresistible.
"Al Capone" - I would dare to say that this is a slight step up from "Smooth Criminal"!
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Oh yeah! Unbreakable is perfect! What a driving Bass line. Yes, yes and yes to Hollywood tonight being the best bass since Who Is It. I completely agree with you!
 
Some that come to mind in no partivular order:

Get on the floor - absolutely killer.
Working Day and Night - great catchy start/stop bassline. Great track to jam to for bass players as you can fill all those pauses up with cool licks.
I Can't Help It - great smooth, jazzy bassline. Really carries the verses.
Burn This Disco Out - great bassline throughout, especially in the chorus. Especially during the last minute or so (I hope we get the original mix of this one day, as it fades out too early!)
Earth Song - it might be a bit overshadowed by the arrangement but the bass work on this track is killer.
Who Is It - carries the entire song.
Billie Jean - same.
Thriller - same.
Bad - same.
Smooth Criminal - same.
Can You Feel It - same.
APOM - primarily shines on the extended dub mix.
Threatened - not a fan of the way it sounds on the record, but the TII band really brought this to life.
Music's Takin Over - nice bassline, underrated track in general imo
All Night Dancin - Michael loved him some slap bass in this era. (Think Sunset Driver too).

I left out the Motown material but that's full of great bass work too.
 
Earth Song is amazing, too and the incomparable I Want You Back, of course.
 
^^Don't forget that he plays the bass on Who Is It also.
 
barbee0715 said:
I do love Billie Jean's bass line, but you're right-"Get On the Floor" is fantastic. Here's a cool video of Louis Johnson demonstration of "Billie Jean" thumbs slapping the bass.

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:punk: :girl_dance: I LOVE that clip!! Louis was one of the funkiest bass players EVER (and I love his work with his brother, George in their band, The Brothers Johnson). Had me chair dancing while listening to the clip, lol!
 
^^Thanks, Dewey! Love listening and watching this especially when reading about it in Moonwalk. . I'll bet they had so much fun in the studio just creating stuff.
Makes it come to life.
 
dewey said:
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I know this is slightly off topic but there is nothing that can give that internal feeling of your insides shaking cuz the base in your car or surround sound is overloaded like the beginning of Dirty Diana... lol!

You sit there and you will FEEL it for sure.. that rumbling of the opening would make any car shake no matter the quality of the sound system lol
 
A lot of Michael's song have a really nice Bassline, the two I enjoy the most being Bad and Who Is It. They're even better on a nice sound system!
 
KOPV said:
I know this is slightly off topic but there is nothing that can give that internal feeling of your insides shaking cuz the base in your car or surround sound is overloaded like the beginning of Dirty Diana... lol!

You sit there and you will FEEL it for sure.. that rumbling of the opening would make any car shake no matter the quality of the sound system lol
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This! Dirty Diana is another great one
 
P.Y.T., Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' and Workin' Day and Night hands down!
 
Speaking of Louis Johnson and GOTF, check this girl out! I'm impressed that she handled it as well as she did, because that isn't a simple bass line. You GO, girl (and had to laugh at how the animals photobombed her clip)! :punk:

 
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