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Speed Demon - A sign of things to come?

analogue

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I was on a New Jack Swing forum a few years back and someone made a thread on there praising Speed Demon and said that it was very New Jack Swing-Esque type of song, and listening to again i can kind of see that. Do you all think that Speed Demon was an early sign that Michael would try New Jack Swing for the Dangerous album? Speed Demon isn't a new Jack Swing song but it's kind of going in that direction, and when you hear Speed Demon it's understandable why Michael would be attracted to New Jack Swing
 
I love Speed Demon. Never thought of it like a prelude to Michael's NJS era. Interesting. It's certainly percussion driven.
 
respect77 said:
I love Speed Demon. Never thought of it like a prelude to Michael's NJS era. Interesting. It's certainly percussion driven.
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I don't think that Michael was thinking New Jack Swing when he wrote it. I think that Speed Demon was written long before New Jack Swing even existed but i think you can see Speed Demon going in that direction. Maybe MJ was subconsciously creating a new style of music? I'm not saying that MJ invented New Jack Swing by the way. I'm saying that maybe he was subconsciously going in that dirrection
 
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I can't see what you mean. I also think this is the weakest song on the Bad album
 
respect77 said:
Idk. I think Bad is great from start to finish and Speed Demon is one of my fave tracks on it. I always loved its playfulness and the fun of it.
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I too I think it was his best album but if I had to choose one that stood out the least to me it would be that.
 
Interesting point. I think there are more songs where MJ seemed to make music which sound similar to some genres of music that were made after the songs' creation. Another example of one of these could be Heartbreaker, it's been said that some of the sounds have similar features to dubstep.
 
analogue said:
I love the Bad album and i think there's no weak songs on there. The whole album is great from start to finish in my opinion.
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I disagree, Leave Me Alone (its melody) seems it was done in a hurry. Liberian Girl is lyrically beautiful but it isn't particularly strong and Just Good Friends is lame for the caliber of Michael and Stevie.

I love Speed Demon, it kinda sounds like NJS.
 
Hmm, I do not really see it. New Jack Swing has a smoother, poppy-R&B sound, with that typical programmed hip-hop type beat and soulful rather than gritty vocals. Speed Demon to me is more funk than anything else. An electronic funk track with the polished production style that was used on Bad. The last minute and a half especially exemplify this. Love it.

I always felt this is one of those songs that would really come to life if played with live instruments.
With drums like this (guy is overplaying it of course, but you get the idea):


Bass like this:

And a horn section to play those cool horn lines at the end of the song. The guitar work is already there. Wow, would be so funky.
 
Snow White luvs Peter Pan said:
I disagree, Leave Me Alone (its melody) seems it was done in a hurry. Liberian Girl is lyrically beautiful but it isn't particularly strong and Just Good Friends is lame for the caliber of Michael and Stevie.

I love Speed Demon, it kinda sounds like NJS.
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I have to greatly disagree there, Leave Me Alone is one of my absolute favourite songs on the album and sounds like a lot of effort was put into it imo. To support that would be the music video, which had animated effects far, far beyond its time. If little effort was put into the melody, I doubt MJ would spend so much time perfecting the music video.
 
Speed Demon is pure industrial funk. Certainly somewhat inspired by James Brown, but with a new age MJ twist on it. I think it's the kind of thing that really made Michael want to dance. Something with a lot of intricate rhythms. And yes he would return to that type of thing again and again in his career.
 
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DangerousSC said:
I have to greatly disagree there, Leave Me Alone is one of my absolute favourite songs on the album and sounds like a lot of effort was put into it imo. To support that would be the music video, which had animated effects far, far beyond its time. If little effort was put into the melody, I doubt MJ would spend so much time perfecting the music video.
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I didn't critique neither the lyrics, nor its short film which was groundbreaking at the time. The music seems it was done in a hurry.
 
Snow White luvs Peter Pan said:
I disagree, Leave Me Alone (its melody) seems it was done in a hurry. Liberian Girl is lyrically beautiful but it isn't particularly strong and Just Good Friends is lame for the caliber of Michael and Stevie.

I love Speed Demon, it kinda sounds like NJS.
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I wouldn't say Leave Me Alone was done in a hurry. That chorus melody is beautiful with Mikes harmonies and I love Gregs unortodox keyboard pattern in the verses. I always wondered why it didn't end up on the album in the first place thou. Does anyone have any info on that? Was the plan to always make it an exclusive for the CD print or was the song one of the last things he did during those sessions?

Anyways, Speed Demon has always been a favorite, wouldn't necessarily call it NJS thou (it doesn't follow much of a shuffle or a swing signature). It's more of a funk track, but I can see what you guys are aiming at. I just think Mike really enjoyed anything with interesting percussion and rhythm patterns..
 
Nighty said:
I always wondered why it didn't end up on the album in the first place thou. Does anyone have any info on that? Was the plan to always make it an exclusive for the CD print or was the song one of the last things he did during those sessions?
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Maybe because LPs had less space on them?
 
respect77 said:
Maybe because LPs had less space on them?
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You know what, that actually makes perfect sense.. Have no idea why that has never crossed my mind, they maxed out the play time on vinyl with 48 minutes.. Feeling slightly stupid.. well... getting older..
 
Speed Demon is pretty groovy. The demo makes it even groovier tbh.

It was not like Dangerous at all. It was pretty much of sync with everything happening in the 90s actually, tbh. But the 90s didn't want anything from the past so that's by design really.
 
I don’t think “Speed Demon” is a predecessor to the new jack swing style as much as the industrial sound that was prominent through Dangerous. You can hear a lot of those textures in “Dangerous,” “She Drives Me Wild,” and “Jam.”
 
AlwaysThere said:
I don’t think “Speed Demon” is a predecessor to the new jack swing style as much as the industrial sound that was prominent through Dangerous. You can hear a lot of those textures in “Dangerous,” “She Drives Me Wild,” and “Jam.”
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Yeah, though I mean, Streetwalker, to Dangerous Early Version, to Dangerous produced by Teddy Riley.
 
I always Speed Demon as a subtle callback to Mike's love of James Brown , rather than a precursor to New Jack Swing but it's an interesting thought

I think Leave Me Alone sounds closer to NJS if I'm honest
 
I can't identify "new jack swing" if my life depended on it, even though I owned the Guy album. I do not know what I need to be looking for. But I do love Speed Demon. Lots of interesting sounds.
 
I think MJs sense of melody and rhythm were both at their highest heights during the latest 80s and Bad era. Some of the most interesting ways of composing music.
 
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