Pitchfork's 200 best songs of the '80s (four MJ songs)

[HIStory]

The list has four MJ songs on it:

P.Y.T at #102
Human Nature at #36
Billie Jean at #13
Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' at #2

102 Michael Jackson“P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)”
EPIC; 1983
102
Listen on Apple Music


When it was released as Thriller’s penultimate single in the fall of '83, "P.Y.T." seemed fated for a life in Michael Jackson’s singles graveyard. Panned by the press as "fluff," the flirty pop-funk confection came at the tail end of the Thriller era and quickly became the lowest charting of the record’s seven singles (though, this being Michael Jackson, that still involves breaking into the Billboard Top 10). It never got the high-profile video treatment Jackson had gained a reputation for, and he didn’t even perform the song live in his lifetime, putting it in league with fellow Thriller back burner "The Lady in My Life". Even with a bit of star power, courtesy of Grammy-winning singer James Ingram who co-wrote alongside Quincy Jones, "P.Y.T." just couldn’t ever find the launching pad.


Even so, the single persisted as a fan favorite, for good reason: "P.Y.T." is one of Jackson’s most well-executed pop songs ever, from its irresistibly plush synth pads and rubbery bassline to the bridge’s famous call-and-response with a background chorus of P.Y.T.s (later revealed to be Jackson’s sisters, LaToya and Janet). It’s also the fastest song in Jackson’s catalog, perhaps providing a clue as to why he didn’t perform it, and other physically demanding songs, onstage. Yet in a 2009 interview with NPR, in which Ingram elaborated on the song’s recording sessions, he said Jackson danced furiously as he recorded, something he hadn’t seen an artist do before. "Michael came out of the studio sweating," he described. "There’s nobody that could do what he does." And he’s right: "P.Y.T." remains one of the best examples of Jackson’s irrepressible talent, capable of spinning even his filler tracks into gold. —Eric Torres

36 Michael Jackson“Human Nature”
EPIC; 1983
36
Listen on Apple Music


Though "Human Nature" has aged as well as anything from Thriller, it’s weird on numerous levels, one of which is likely to serve as an answer in bar trivia: It was co-written by the dude responsible for "Africa". Its weirdness is also contextual, because from this point forward, Michael Jackson’s blockbuster ballads were pleas to save the world or the children or the whales. And "Human Nature" wasn’t about a paternity suit or choreographing a gang truce or distrust of the media or being friends with Eddie Van Halen, Paul McCartney, or Vincent Price, which is what makes it such an outlier. It’s the rare song from Michael Jackson’s imperial phase that wasn’t explicitly about the experience of being Michael Jackson.


In fact, it’s impossible to picture Michael Jackson doing anything he sings about on "Human Nature"—being entranced by the skyline of New York City, seeing nothing but possibility in the future, having the wherewithal to make a casually cruel admittance to a one night stand while recognizing how it might serve as a greater truth about man’s biological impulses. But you get the sense that he wishes more than anything that this story could’ve been his and not that of a guy from Toto. While there’s no tawdry, tabloid subtext to "Human Nature", you can still understand why a song of such wonder and transparency feels so heartbreaking: Our everyday experiences were as alien to Michael Jackson as his were to us. —Ian Cohen

13 Michael Jackson“Billie Jean”
EPIC; 1983
13
Listen on Apple Music


We all know "Billie Jean", the song: Its insatiable hook and ribald bassline and Michael Jackson’s plaintive hics launched the pop star into a stratospheric realm of celebrity, decades ahead of reality TV stars and the 24-hour news cycle. Just as, if not more, important is "Billie Jean", the video. At the same time that Jackson’s gentle grin smiled out from magazine and newspaper covers all over the world, there were still racial barriers to breach at home in America. Directed by Steve Barron (who would go on to do A-Ha’s "Take on Me"), the video was among the first by a black musician to air on MTV. It’s absurd to imagine, 30 years on, at a time when videos by black artists set trends, help keep cable music channels afloat, and are the cache driving emerging digital platforms like Tidal and Apple Music. Jackson’s music united people all over the world in an unprecedented way, but it was his image—his smooth brown skin, the glossy Jheri curl and infamous toe stand—that made "Billie Jean" so crucial to the commodification of black artists in pop music, and a progenitor of a culture that thrives on "social media moments." —Anupa Mistry

2 Michael Jackson“Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'”
EPIC; 1983
2
Listen on Apple Music


"Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’" supports the weight of Michael Jackson’s transition from funky boy wonder to Thriller's omnivorous pop demi-god, builds a bridge between his precocious past and troubled future. Off the Wall had sealed Jackson’s solo stardom three years earlier, but it’s music for the end of adolescence rather than the beginning of adulthood. He stumbles over words, trips over his own two feet, floats on the vestiges of disco like he’s drifting through an amusement park lazy river; "She’s Out of My Life" is heartbreak as rendered by someone who’s experiencing it for the very first time. Fast forward to 1982: "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’" is paranoid, sharp, angry, and cluttered, and it’s a window into both the righteous martyrdom and broad platitudes Jackson would come to lean on as his career progressed.


The song takes on a lot of musical heft too, mostly because it sounds like everything: lithe funk and disco like the kind Jackson made on Off the Wall, aggressive, mathy rock, African pop, experimental music. (Take a minute to listen to Jackson’s array of bizarre backing vocals and sounds—it’s more Laurie Anderson than "The Lady in My Life".) This extreme breadth is enabled by one of the greatest rhythms in pop history and one of its most agile vocalists, flitting in and around the song like a hummingbird. There’s a reason Kanye West, perhaps Jackson’s foremost contemporary disciple, chose to reference this song at the height of his foray into maximalism: Jackson had drawn up a blueprint for him almost 30 years earlier. That sheer size—that cavernous, yawning quality—is the ultimate legacy of "Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’". If you’re going to become the biggest star in the world, it helps to make the biggest song. —Jamieson Cox

http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9700-the-200-best-songs-of-the-1980s/10/

I was a bit surprised that this time Billie Jean wasn't ranked as MJ's best as usual, but I do not complain because I think WBSS is a genius song that is often overlooked compared to Billie Jean or Beat It. It's such a uniquely MJ song in my opinion.

Number one is Purple Rain by Prince. I like Prince, but I think it's a bit disappointing choice for #1. It's not even Prince's best song IMO and to be honest I think it is a pretty generic power pop ballad, but oh well, each to their own.

I am also a bit disappointed that no song from Bad was selected. Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal at the very least.

But then we should never take such lists and rankings too seriously.

 

[MAQ]

Weird as it may sound, I'm not surprised they haven't included even one song from Bad. But that doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off.

According to these sold out, biased critics, Man In the Mirror or Dirty Diana or Leave Me Alone is shit in front of some ballad as frikkin generic as "Purple Rain".

I never understood how these critics' minds work and I hope I never would.

 

[Themidwestcowboy]

Cool to see WBBS at nr #2. Not a single song from Bad I see, how shocking (sarcasm).

 

[analogue]

Surprised to see ''Wanna Be Startin Somethin'' so high on the list. I'm not complaining, but I would have expected ''Billie Jean'' to be ranked higher

 

[analogue]

Number one is Purple Rain by Prince. I like Prince, but I think it's a bit disappointing choice for #1. It's not even Prince's best song IMO and to be honest I think it is a pretty generic power pop ballad, but oh well, each to their own.

I often find that people tend to take ballads more seriously than uptempo songs. I guess people think that ballads have ''more meaning'' behind them.

 

[TinnyandOdd]

I think that's the first time I've seen someone mention the 80's and Michael Jackson and not mention Thriller in the same sentence

 

[Prince Of Pop]

Not surprised that the Bad album got shit on for this list....a bit surprised that Beat It didn't make the list.

 

[Spaceship]

I highly disagree with "PYT" being on that list. It's one of the weakest tracks on Thriller, IMO.

I'm disappointed that neither "Beat It" nor "Man In The Mirror" are on that list; I definitely think they should have been included.

 

[AtlasAir]

Weird as it may sound, I'm not surprised they haven't included even one song from Bad. But that doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off.

According to these sold out, biased critics, Man In the Mirror or Dirty Diana or Leave Me Alone is shit in front of some ballad as frikkin generic as "Purple Rain".

I never understood how these critics' minds work and I hope I never would.

Purple Rain is generic to you? Oh honey, no. It's not. Just because your favorite Bad cut didn't make a list of 200 songs spanning 10 years doesn't mean... Well, it doesn't really mean anything. It's just a list. Just because you're a Michael Jackson fanboy doesn't mean every list like this has to make sure to include his discography. Again, this particular list is spanning 10 years of music.
And sold out, biased critics? This is pitchfork we're talking about. It's essentially a hipster website, but ok. If them not including all 11 cuts from Bad makes them sold out and biased...


With that said, yes, man in the mirror and/or dirty Diana should have made this list.

 

[MAQ]

Purple Rain is generic to you? Oh honey, no. It's not. Just because your favorite Bad cut didn't make a list of 200 songs spanning 10 years doesn't mean... Well, it doesn't really mean anything. It's just a list. Just because you're a Michael Jackson fanboy doesn't mean every list like this has to make sure to include his discography. Again, this particular list is spanning 10 years of music.
And sold out, biased critics? This is pitchfork we're talking about. It's essentially a hipster website, but ok. If them not including all 11 cuts from Bad makes them sold out and biased...


With that said, yes, man in the mirror and/or dirty Diana should have made this list.

Purple Rain is pretty generic, the lyrics are some of the most repeated lyrics ever. The production and quality are pretty cheap. The only thing people could admire about it would be I think the raw emotions or something - or maybe they'd just be telling us that songs with low production budget are better than songs which age well and are listened to by millions of people in the 21st Century.

And where have I said that every track from Bad should be listed? I don't like Bad as much as some people in this forum. However, ignoring songs which have possibly set trends all over the world and instead adding a bunch of unheard songs and pretending that their influence actually went across the boundaries of the USA and the UK is a pretty lame method for judgement.

You don't know how much Bad and Thriller had actually dominated the music scene in the 80's because you possibly never considered that in places even as backward and isolated (from the western world) as South East Asia or North Africa people were wearing blatantly obvious red jackets and buckles and belts and singing Billie Jean and Beat It and Bad and Smooth Criminal at the top of their voices. Prince might have been toppling MJ in the US for the critics, but outside those boundaries, he barely reached "B-list" stardom or influence (D-list or even lower in the region where I live).

 

[mjprince1976]

Good to see 4 MJ tracks on the list. Amazed that all are Thriller though, you could add at elast 15 great MJ tracks on this list. Glad Purple Rain is #1, all u haters on the internet and Mamma Jammas in an alligator shirt behind a typewriter there is no more candy 4 U are all Princisms aimed at the critics.:chillin:. Purple Rain is an EPIC song, have you ever listened to it in its entirety, the music the lyrics and Novi Novog playing the violins to end the epic track.

Purple Rain is God like, but where is When Doves Cry at #11. Prince fans on Peach and Black podcast voted that the #1 Prince song and Purple Rain #2. I am glad that Prince appears a bit, but where is the other MJ songs, MJ wrote so many amazing songs in the 80s and they have just touched the surface. Where is Smooth Criminal, Bad, Man in The Mirror?

I am glad they respect my man Prince, but Michael needs the love too.

 

[MAQ]

Good to see 4 MJ tracks on the list. Amazed that all are Thriller though, you could add at elast 15 great MJ tracks on this list. Glad Purple Rain is #1, all u haters on the internet and Mamma Jammas in an alligator shirt behind a typewriter there is no more candy 4 U are all Princisms aimed at the critics.:chillin:. Purple Rain is an EPIC song, have you ever listened to it in its entirety, the music the lyrics and Novi Novog playing the violins to end the epic track.

Purple Rain is God like, but where is When Doves Cry at #11. Prince fans on Peach and Black podcast voted that the #1 Prince song and Purple Rain #2. I am glad that Prince appears a bit, but where is the other MJ songs, MJ wrote so many amazing songs in the 80s and they have just touched the surface. Where is Smooth Criminal, Bad, Man in The Mirror?

I am glad they respect my man Prince, but Michael needs the love too.

I like Prince lol! Don't get me wrong! But I might be the only one who knows anything about him in my whole city . I could understand "Darling Nikki" or "Kiss" in the top ten since DN might have been the primary inspiration (this is just my opinion) for Dirty Diana and Kiss is just one of the freshest songs of the 80s and has aged very very well - in fact, my sister guessed it was from the mid 2000s when I made her listen to it .

However, songs like Smooth Criminal, and Dirty Diana and Man In the Mirror and Bad were much more monumental than Purple Rain and they have aged much better too. You have to understand the global impact they had to be able to judge them.