Hot topic What unreleased demos and remixes do you think will be on Thriller 40 Disc 2?

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I doubt that he was actually going to retire after TII, reminder that he said that there was gonna be no tours after the Bad tour and look at how that turned out. Maybe he was gonna retire from touring but I think he'd be making albums and one time shows if he was alive nowadays.

According to Jermaine, he'd release an album, do the O2 shows, then start touring. Do a super bowl, and a J5 reunion show for their mother. And MJs overall intention was a classical album and to go into filmmaking and maybe acting. How much of that was just speculation and then actual scripting, who can say or know. I choose to believe all of it..and yet knowing MJ he could've tired out very easily, with all that obligation.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

I dunno, considering he was working on music, accepting submissions from songwriters for a new record, and was working on classical music, I think he'd probably have released something else.

I was very hopeful about it, and the chances were higher then then in 2005, 2006. It just would've been nice if the work had gotten farther along. MJ just liked to take his work crafting. But that's how you get quality. A bittersweet point as we consider his vault and what he left behind.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Anyway, very pleasantly surprised with the last song put out. I'm happy. Too bad for Rolling the Dice.

I have no more love for the bootleg/leak community. In fact I actively hate it. It's fun in the short term, but long term it is taking away the viability. Guess it almost pays to be a casual fan.

 

[mkgenie]

Why would someone in China be privvy to the information before the estate have announced it?

Until they say then i'm in denial.

Hi, I'm the someone in China. I have sources so I can know something and I'm grateful.
I'm president of MJ Chinese fanclub, and longtime member of MJJC.
I just share info with fans, that's all.
Great respect to you as you were there with MJ.
Thank you.

 

[mkgenie]

At least we have evidence that 2 out of the 3 videos have been done already.

I'm told there are 5 videos in the campaign. three are clearly Billie Jean, Beat It, and Thriller. Other two I don't know. Let's wait and see.

 

[Derek1984]

I'm told there are 5 videos in the campaign. three are clearly Billie Jean, Beat It, and Thriller. Other two I don't know. Let's wait and see.

The Girl Is Mine studio footage would be nice...

 

[luis98]

I'm told there are 5 videos in the campaign. three are clearly Billie Jean, Beat It, and Thriller. Other two I don't know. Let's wait and see.

Thank you for being a reliable source! 👍🏻

 

[AlwaysThere]

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think it’s possible that Rod Temperton’s estate might be standing in MJ’s estate’s way?

It’s very suspicious to me that the Temperton material simply isn’t being addressed at all, other than “Got the Hots” (which we’ve had for almost 15 years now). “Hot Street” and “Roll the Dice” weren’t chosen for T40, and “Groove of Midnight” mysteriously couldn’t be located for use on B25. I also recall hearing that Temperton asked for a hefty fee to allow “Thriller” to be used in This Is It, so there seems to be some bad blood there to begin with.

Perhaps we’re seeing another Steve Porcaro/will.i.am/Cory Rooney/RedOne situation, where the release is being blocked by the opposite party? Even for the estate, it seems odd that they’d say, “Rod is considered to be one of the best songwriters MJ ever worked with. Let’s just not use his stuff. Who needs it?”

Edit: there’s also “Starlight,” but the argument could be made that a demo of “Thriller” is an easier sell than a completely new track.

 

[luis98]

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think it’s possible that Rod Temperton’s estate might be standing in the estate’s way?

It’s very suspicious to me that the Temperton material simply isn’t being addressed at all, other than “Got the Hots” (which we’ve had for almost 15 years now). “Hot Street” and “Roll the Dice” weren’t chosen for T40, and “Groove of Midnight” mysteriously couldn’t be located for use on B25. I also recall hearing that Temperton asked for a hefty fee to allow “Thriller” to be used in This Is It, so there seems to be some bad blood there to begin with.

Perhaps we’re seeing another Steve Porcaro/will.i.am/Cory Rooney/RedOne situation, where the release is being blocked by the opposite party?

This could be possible

 

[Fuzball]

I think it's Q who's blocking all material he had produced at Westlake.

 

[filmandmusic]

And that is the downside of collaborating with other people. Once they’re dead all that is left are money hungry relatives.

 

[farlnd]

Michael gave us Thriller 25...

Michael chose remixes over unreleased music. He gave us remixes and one song, that wasn’t even a Thriller outtake. He rejected an early version of Thriller 25 with outtakes and went with remixes instead. The concept artwork is out there with the sequences.

If he was still with us, we wouldn’t get what we are getting now. The terrible thing is he is gone, but we are fortunate enough to be blessed with new music.

 

[farlnd]

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think it’s possible that Rod Temperton’s estate might be standing in MJ’s estate’s way?

It’s very suspicious to me that the Temperton material simply isn’t being addressed at all, other than “Got the Hots” (which we’ve had for almost 15 years now). “Hot Street” and “Roll the Dice” weren’t chosen for T40, and “Groove of Midnight” mysteriously couldn’t be located for use on B25. I also recall hearing that Temperton asked for a hefty fee to allow “Thriller” to be used in This Is It, so there seems to be some bad blood there to begin with.

Perhaps we’re seeing another Steve Porcaro/will.i.am/Cory Rooney/RedOne situation, where the release is being blocked by the opposite party? Even for the estate, it seems odd that they’d say, “Rod is considered to be one of the best songwriters MJ ever worked with. Let’s just not use his stuff. Who needs it?”

Edit: there’s also “Starlight,” but the argument could be made that a demo of “Thriller” is an easier sell than a completely new track.

That is quite possible. There could have been some legal issues with Rod’s estate over the vaulted material. It could be something like certain conditions that had to be contractually made. An example is if they did not sign off on Hot Street and Spice of Life. Maybe they wanted a bigger share of the publishing. Could be anything.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

That is quite possible. There could have been some legal issues with Rod’s estate over the vaulted material. It could be something like certain conditions that had to be contractually made. An example is if they did not sign off on Hot Street and Spice of Life. Maybe they wanted a bigger share of the publishing. Could be anything.

Why was Maxwell able to cover Rod's song The Lady in my Life then?

 

[Derek1984]

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think it’s possible that Rod Temperton’s estate might be standing in MJ’s estate’s way?

It’s very suspicious to me that the Temperton material simply isn’t being addressed at all, other than “Got the Hots” (which we’ve had for almost 15 years now). “Hot Street” and “Roll the Dice” weren’t chosen for T40, and “Groove of Midnight” mysteriously couldn’t be located for use on B25. I also recall hearing that Temperton asked for a hefty fee to allow “Thriller” to be used in This Is It, so there seems to be some bad blood there to begin with.

Perhaps we’re seeing another Steve Porcaro/will.i.am/Cory Rooney/RedOne situation, where the release is being blocked by the opposite party? Even for the estate, it seems odd that they’d say, “Rod is considered to be one of the best songwriters MJ ever worked with. Let’s just not use his stuff. Who needs it?”

Edit: there’s also “Starlight,” but the argument could be made that a demo of “Thriller” is an easier sell than a completely new track.

Roll The Dice might be a very rough demo that might not really be releasable. All we know is that it was supposedly done in a day. Typically Rod would recycle songs that never made it so I'm surprised it never resurfaced with another artist.

 

[KOPV]

Let's allow ourselves to be happy about the unheard music. It's been what, 8 years since we got a new track released?

Michael chose remixes over unreleased music. He gave us remixes and one song, that wasn’t even a Thriller outtake. He rejected an early version of Thriller 25 with outtakes and went with remixes instead. The concept artwork is out there with the sequences.

If he was still with us, we wouldn’t get what we are getting now. The terrible thing is he is gone, but we are fortunate enough to be blessed with new music.

Well we should thank Billy Bush for that one. lol

 

[Derek1984]

Going back to Who Do You Know, I wonder if that was started during the Triumph sessions.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Michael chose remixes over unreleased music. He gave us remixes and one song, that wasn’t even a Thriller outtake. He rejected an early version of Thriller 25 with outtakes and went with remixes instead. The concept artwork is out there with the sequences.

If he was still with us, we wouldn’t get what we are getting now. The terrible thing is he is gone, but we are fortunate enough to be blessed with new music.

The Girl is Mine' Solo Demo was released on the remix single instead of on the album too. Why do that?

 

[AlwaysThere]

Why was Maxwell able to cover Rod's song The Lady in my Life then?

Covers don’t require the approval of a songwriter or a record label, unless it’s released on streaming services.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

seems like it did not fit Thriller, but was also not strong enough for Victory - an album much weaker than Thriller. So the song might not be one that plays in the same league as Hot Street or Streetwalker. My assumption is it will be better than Got the hots, weaker than HS and overall maybe as good as Niteline is.

Anyway, thats just my assumption. I am excited and hope its not a ballad.

Or it could be very good, and MJ wanted only the most miserable vomit he could find for Victory. And he explicitly wanted Jermaine to be the laughing stock in all music.

Mostly kidding. But it oughta be okay, just not there for  Bad and the late 80s/90s.

 

[farlnd]

Why was Maxwell able to cover Rod's song The Lady in my Life then?

The lady in my life is already released. Paperwork is already done. We are talking about previously unreleased material, which has to be cleared in order to be released.

 

[Mister_Jay_Tee]

Covers don’t require the approval of a songwriter or a record label, unless it’s released on streaming services.

Fair enough. Figured it's something like that, thank you.

 

[farlnd]

Or it could be very good, and MJ wanted only the most miserable vomit he could find for Victory. And he explicitly wanted Jermaine to be the laughing stock in all music.

Mostly kidding. But it oughta be okay, just not there for  Bad and the late 80s/90s.

If he held that song back then i wonder if he thought it was too good for a Jacksons record.

 

[Derek1984]

If he held that song back then i wonder if he thought it was too good for a Jacksons record.

Well then he should've held back Heartbreak Hotel.

 

[Nite Line]

If I am grading each of the track reveals out of 5:

Starlight - 4.25/5
Got The Hots - 2/5
Who Do You Know - 5/5
Carousel - 4/5
Behind The Mask (Mike's Mix) - 4.75/5
Can't Get Out Of The Rain - 0/5
The Toy - 4.75/5
Sunset Driver - 3.75/5
What A Lovely Way To Go - 5/5
She's Trouble - 4.75/5.

Despite being unhappy with the inclusion of CGOTTR and Got The Hots, I am overall quite happy with the track list. Sure, I would have liked to have seen songs like Nite Line, Hot Street, Rolling The Dice but maybe, we get them on Thriller 50.

 

[filmandmusic]

MJ dropping mediocre songs for Victory is bullshit. Be not always is one of his best ever songs and state of shock with Mick Jagger screams hit material (which it was going top 5 in the US).

Also someone here said he rehearsed be not always for the victory tour so I’m sure he held it in high regard himself

 

[Sensual visionary]

Michael chose remixes over unreleased music. He gave us remixes and one song, that wasn’t even a Thriller outtake. He rejected an early version of Thriller 25 with outtakes and went with remixes instead. The concept artwork is out there with the sequences.

If he was still with us, we wouldn’t get what we are getting now. The terrible thing is he is gone, but we are fortunate enough to be blessed with new music.

I thought Michael didn't want to stay with sony so he did the least project that could still be respected. Or did they sign a new deal before Thriller 25? If he was to get all his master licenses back from them in 2009-10, why would he share too many of his assets with a company he wanted independence from?

Not to be a conspiracy theorist, but does anyone else think it’s possible that Rod Temperton’s estate might be standing in MJ’s estate’s way?

It's unsure whether one party is more to blame than another in this situation. As this involves major deals between estates (and lawyers), it seems plausible they agreed to 'test the waters' with Starlight & Got the Hots (Demo) before they can negotiate further songs.

 

[Derek1984]

MJ dropping mediocre songs for Victory is bullshit. Be not always is one of his best ever songs and state of shock with Mick Jagger screams hit material (which it was going top 5 in the US).

Also someone here said he rehearsed be not always for the victory tour so I’m sure he held it in high regard himself

His vocals are superb on Be Not Always. But the song itself is boring and depressing.

 

[filmandmusic]

His vocals are superb on Be Not Always. But the song itself is boring and depressing.

Depressing you say, that is true, it is also why I love it lol
You should hear some of the other shit I listen to 😅

 

[SmoothGangsta]

I love Be Not Always, the Mick Jagger version of State Of Shock I am not a fan of though, their voices do not blend at all and it sounds pretty bad as a result in my opinion.