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MJ songs that deserve more radio and critical attention in your opinion?

filmandmusic

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Despite the sales, awards and countless hits I have never been able to shake the feeling that MJ is an underrated artist, especially in the eyes of music critics. He is a great dancer, he is a song and dance man, an entertainer. As a true artist with artistic values he comes up short, at least that is the feeling that I get when I am busy reading about music. It got briefly better after his passing but it didn't last, probably the resurfacing of allegations had a hand in it but even without the controversies he is still not on the same pedestal as the likes of The Beatles, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen or Prince (not my opinion at all).

So I got into thinking which songs in his discography could possibly change that view, which songs deserve re-evaluation, history gets revised all the time so who is to say that some of his songs can't get the appreciation they deserve? We shouldn't be looking at Off the Wall, Bad or Thriller as these works get the critical attention and the radio play. Michael made "simpler" music then, very radio friendly and danceable. His music got less valued after he stopped working with Quincy Jones. This to me implies that critics see Quincy as the mastermind behind MJ and not MJ himself.

From Dangerous onwards only very few songs became "timeless" classics and most of them are just glossed over as non entities, forgotten by everyone (or not even known at all to begin with) but fans.

I personally can't see how any serious music connoisseur isn't able to see the brilliance in for example "who is it". This track is a masterpiece from the edgy beat with killer baseline to the pre chorus and chorus and Michael's completely immersive passionate vocals. The flute, choir and and string sections are heavenly melodic as the song builds to its end when Michael starts his ad libs over the constant repetition of the chorus. The lyrics as well are very interesting and ripe for interpretation and discussion. How this did not become a smash hit is beyond me but I think it was just too long to be a radio friendly song and the music is so sophisticated that it simply doesn't reach the full potential on an average sound system. If people would actually give this a chance (with headphones) I think it would find a huge reappraisal.

Other songs that deserve to be classics with rave reviews are: Is it Scary, Morphine, Liberian Girl, Give in to Me, In the Closet, Stranger in Moscow, Little Susie, Be not Always, Scared of the Moon, Money, Will You Be There, Push Me Away, Your Ways and possibly others!

If I had a way with words I would write beautiful reviews of these songs, discussing them in depth but I don't have those abilities nor knowledge so I hope others jump in and give it their best shot! Feel free to present other songs you feel should get more praise...

I feel for 100% that Michael was more than just a song and dance man. Many of his songs are so beautifully layered musically in his discography with weird structures (not just verse chorus verse) and meaningful lyrics.
 
Who Is It
Will You Be There
Keep The Faith
Tabloid Junkie
Little Susie
Stranger In Moscow
Morphine
Ghosts
Heartbreaker
Butterflies
Speechless
Whatever Happens
The entire Destiny Album
Time Waits For No One
 
Completely agree. He is recognised as a great dancer but his vocal abilities get overlooked. I would also add give into me as a very underrated track. Dangerous as a whole isnt looked at the same as the Quincy produced albums.
 
It's strange how Earth Song never gets played on UK radio now a days when it was one of Michael's biggest selling singles in the UK. And I'm pretty sure it was a Christmas number 1 too.
 
@analogue

I wanted to include earth song on my initial list but didn't as I thought it would still get airplay in the UK but considering this sin't the case it also belong on the list. Also in Belgium it never gets any spins, of the HIStory album only TDCAU gets airplay but nothing to the extent of the holy threesome of thriller. Basically only black or white gets regular spins on the radio here from Dangerous onwards and then remember the time but pretty far behind, that's it.
Maybe it will gain some newfound attention when the climate youth start to recognize its existence and use it for whatever it is they do.

I have noticed since Prince died a lot of his album tracks or B sides even get spins like "sometimes it snows in April or erotic city" this never happened with any of MJ's music. It bugs me, someone should explain me why a song like "I can't help it" isn't brilliant and worthy for airplay...

It's about time some of his lesser known tracks get used in films or commercials, he really deserves more recognition and not in terms of calling him Wacko Jacko.

I heard comments in local media that MJ was never considered artistic enough, he is seen as a ready made star (and ex singer of a boyband) not to be taken serious as a musician. I think this is very elitist and ignorant.

But partly it is also because he became affiliated with the likes of Britney Spears, Will I am, Usher and Nsync which is of his own doing. You will never get credit that way. I probably give this too much gravity, MJ probably didn't give a single "peep" about this. But I can't help it he deserves as much praise as Bowie, Prince or Springsteen, Lennon or McCartney.
 
filmandmusic said:
@analogue

I wanted to include earth song on my initial list but didn't as I thought it would still get airplay in the UK but considering this sin't the case it also belong on the list. Also in Belgium it never gets any spins, of the HIStory album only TDCAU gets airplay but nothing to the extent of the holy threesome of thriller. Basically only black or white gets regular spins on the radio here from Dangerous onwards and then remember the time but pretty far behind, that's it.
Maybe it will gain some newfound attention when the climate youth start to recognize its existence and use it for whatever it is they do.

I have noticed since Prince died a lot of his album tracks or B sides even get spins like "sometimes it snows in April or erotic city" this never happened with any of MJ's music. It bugs me, someone should explain me why a song like "I can't help it" isn't brilliant and worthy for airplay...

It's about time some of his lesser known tracks get used in films or commercials, he really deserves more recognition and not in terms of calling him Wacko Jacko.

I heard comments in local media that MJ was never considered artistic enough, he is seen as a ready made star (and ex singer of a boyband) not to be taken serious as a musician. I think this is very elitist and ignorant.

But partly it is also because he became affiliated with the likes of Britney Spears, Will I am, Usher and Nsync which is of his own doing. You will never get credit that way. I probably give this too much gravity, MJ probably didn't give a single "peep" about this. But I can't help it he deserves as much praise as Bowie, Prince or Springsteen, Lennon or McCartney.
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MJ dose not need praise or recognition from anyone. His popularity and sales speak for themselves. The media machine chooses who’s ass they want to kiss and whom they will make the most money off. Prince is not in the same category as the artists you mentioned. His impact is not the same.
 
@Smooth72

You misunderstand me I want MJ to get more recognition from the music critics, this includes radios. It takes the form of for example all time lists where Michael is undervalued in comparison with his “rivals”of the 80s and 90s.
Specifically I want certain songs which I have listed to get critical acclaim and notbjust billie jean or beat it.

When invincible got panned by critics it was fully deserved imo but when dangerous and HIStory get average reviews it baffles me as there is some creative and thought provoking music on there.

Michael is not called an artistic genius he is a song and dance man. His contemporaries are called geniuses.
I think it is an undeserved undervaluation of his work, in a way he gets lumped together with the likes of britney spears, backstreet boys or justin bieber as a mere pop artist for he masses while he was much more than just that. Again imo…
 
filmandmusic said:
But partly it is also because he became affiliated with the likes of Britney Spears, Will I am, Usher and Nsync which is of his own doing. You will never get credit that way. I probably give this too much gravity, MJ probably didn't give a single "peep" about this. But I can't help it he deserves as much praise as Bowie, Prince or Springsteen, Lennon or McCartney.
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I'm not sure what that has to do with anything. Prince produced a record for Carmen Electra. :p Sting & Jimmy Page (from Led Zeppelin) both did songs with Puff Daddy. Paul McCartney put out Mary Had A Little Lamb as a single and did a collabo with Rihanna/Kanye West. Mick Jagger did songs with will.i.am. Ozzy Osbourne did a duet with Miss Piggy. Stevie Wonder has worked with all kinds of acts including NSYNC. Critics tend to praise The Beatles as a group, not their solo stuff as much especially not Wings or John putting Yoko Ono on his records. There's only certain solo stuff that is hignly rated like Band On The Run, Imagine, or All Things Must Pass. Go see what critics think of songs like Wonderful Christmastime, Ebony And Ivory, or Silly Love Songs. With Prince, it's mostly the 1980s and not that much after he changed his name into the symbol in the 1990s and fell off the mainstream audience radar. Also what critics like and what is commercially successful is not usually the same thing. I don't think they care much about KISS, Journey, Pitbull, or Garth Brooks.

This is what David Lee Roth once said about critics: "Music critics like Elvis Costello because they look like Elvis Costello". 😅
 
@DuranDuran

Well okay you got a point there :p

What do you think yourself, do tracks like who is it or is it scary deserve more praise for their artistry or do you view them as mere forgettable tunes?
 
When it comes to working with other artists Michael as said that he was pretty much open to working with anyone. I think at one point he even said he'd take suggestions from the janitor down the hallway if it was a good idea.
 
The 'HIStory' album got average reviews from music critics also because of the whole feel of extravaganza, egoism, and self-absorption on the singer's part that surrounded the HIStory era.

HIStory statues, egotistical and costly promotional videos (like the HIStory teaser shot in Hungary), messianic Jesus-like performances of 'Earth Song' but also other things such as an even more feminine look, all of these were factors that backfired to him and unavoidably they distracted critical attention and appreciation from his newly-released music.

Music critics also remarked that there is also a very serious, inherent flaw in the 'HIStory' album.

The decision of putting the second disc of new songs together with the first disc of his classic hits, this inevitably made the new songs from the second disc sound weaker and pale in comparison to the classic ones from the first disc.
 
analogue said:
It's strange how Earth Song never gets played on UK radio now a days when it was one of Michael's biggest selling singles in the UK. And I'm pretty sure it was a Christmas number 1 too.
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It was mate, it was number 1 the day I was born

As for the question, Liberian Girl, Who Is It, Give In To Me, Is It Scary and Whatever Happens
 
  • I Can't Help It
  • Who Is It
  • Give In To Me
  • Stranger In Moscow
  • Come Together
  • 2Bad
  • Break Of Dawn
  • Don't Walk Away
  • Whatever Happens
 
The bottomline is these so-called “critics” have never liked Michael because he doesn’t fit into their rock sensibilities. They like Prince. Because plays guitar. You can bet they wouldn’t be kissing up to him if he didn’t. These rock critics have never forgiven Michael for succeeding and becoming the biggest, most successful, most influential and cultural artist EVER, despite them and their agenda to tear him down. Michael never ALLOWED these so-called critics to deter or stop him. Every single album he released, they focused on his personal life instead of his music. They have done everything to diminish his artistry and genius. They have failed. Most people don’t give a damn what these rock “critics” say. Every AWARE Michael Jackson fan has known what their AGENDA is for 40 years. I think of these rock critics as insignificant. They mean NOTHING in the grand scheme of things. They will never give Michael the credit he deserves. His fans know that and Michael damn well knew that. It did t stop him then and it won’t stop him NOW.💁🏻‍
 
filmandmusic said:
@Smooth72


When invincible got panned by critics it was fully deserved imo but when dangerous and HIStory get average reviews it baffles me as there is some creative and thought provoking music on there.
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I don't think Dangerous gets average reviews. When it was released, it was critically acclaimed and is widely considered as Michael's last great album. Sure it isn't as well known today as the three albums that came before it, but Dangerous is seen as a great album by most critics.
 
filmandmusic said:
@DuranDuran

Well okay you got a point there :p

What do you think yourself, do tracks like who is it or is it scary deserve more praise for their artistry or do you view them as mere forgettable tunes?
Click to expand...
I like them. But I don't think Is It Scary got radio airplay, at least I've never heard it on the radio. I don't think the music magazines like Rolling Stone or Spin think of Mike, Whitney Houston, or Madonna as album artists like they do with say Pink Floyd or The Beatles. So of course they're not generally going to talk about Mike's album tracks, especially not ones on a remix album. The people who buy remix albums & remix 12" singles are usually dance music fans who want longer songs to dance to, which is not the main audience that buys Rolling Stone. RS primarily focused on rock music until the early 2000s, when hip hop started to become the most popular genre. Notice that The Rock n Roll Hall Of Fame started to induct hip hop acts in recent years. The founders of Rolling Stone magazine created the Hall. Jann Wenner, the main founder of RS and the Rock Hall, is said to not care much for dance music, disco, progressive rock, & heavy metal. Which there are not that many of those types of artists inducted.
 
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