Michael Jackson Music Discussion

[Eric83]

With the anniversary of his death just passing, I am back to having Michael Jackson fever watching old videos and performances and such. I wanted to discuss his music, most people I know only know his singles and such and have never really listened to his albums? Any other big MJ fans on this board?

I will start it off:

Well first of all, Thriller is the most overrated album of all time. I much prefer Off the Wall and Dangerous. I love 90's Michael as opposed to the 80's.

My fave album of his is Dangerous. It is his most versatile album IMO. Black or White, Remember the Time, In the Closet, and Jam are immediate favorites. I love New Jack Swing music so Dangerous coming from that era is another reason I loved that album.

My fave video is Scream, the whole look and feel of the video just hooked me in. I was a big fan of Janet at this time, so their duet was a huge deal to me. I love the lyrics of the song, and how he lashed out at the press. As a whole, the album it came from HIStory was way too angry and dealt too much about the press.

I hate how the same 5 videos get pimped out when MJ is brought up when great videos like Remember the Time, Earth Song, and They Dont Care About Us get the shaft.

I will discuss more thoughts on hia singles/albums/videos later....

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Well, his only studio album in the 90's was Dangerous, unless you count the other disc to HIStory and the primarily remix album Blood On The Dancefloor. He wasn't very active in the 90's at all, though certainly more active than he was in the 00's.

While I agree Thriller is overrated, it does still hold it pretty well for a pop album from that era. I hated Dangerous, I thought he was creatively past his peak by that point, and that album has AGED HORRIBLY IMO. Well, it was really influenced by early 90's New Jack Swing, which is probably why it hasn't aged too well. The album doesn't seem to flow that well either or havea clear idea in what direction it wanted to go in.

I prefer Bad over Dangerous, and Bad probably was his strongest album from a singles standpoint. Though, artistically, even though a lot of the production is dated, Off The Wall is probably his strongest work.

I think, sadly, he spent the remainder if his career trying to top Thriller and it just never worked. Thriller was his commercial peak, he should have realized that it was going to be impossible to top, and this really hurt him artistically for the remainder of his career.

[Eric83]

Yes, I count History's second disc as a studio album. I preferred him in the 90's because I love most of the videos from that era. Especially once his relevancy in America started to fade away while his popularity abroad grew.

I thought Dangerous was his last relatively good album. Dangerous is kind of all over the place, but I still loved the versatility of it. It seemed that he was trying to please two different audiences: mainstream Middle America while trying to remain fresh and in with the hip hop crowd.

Just looking at singles, Bad is the strongest. The only single I didn't like was I Just Can't Stop Loving You.

I love Off the Wall, much, much better album than Thriller, yet it always gets overlooked.

I agree with this.

HIStory Disk 2 was his worst album IMO, Invincible was pretty bad, but I dont think alot of people give it credit because it didn't sell as much as you would expect from an MJ album. I never considered it a flop considering by the time this album was released, unless you were a pop tart or a boy band you werent selling much albums, and You Rock My World was the only worldwide single released.

[Eric83]

An underrated fave of mine:

[Y&RWorldTurner]

I think the problem with the Invincible album as him trying too hard to be relevant again. The album is too generic and doesn't flow properly. The production was something you could have found on any pop/R&B album at the time. It just didn't have the magic that he once had. The album isn't very good overall, though there were some standouts on it.

HIStory Disk 2 is just all over the place. I think by this point he had given up trying and became more of a media obsession than a music artist. Whether any of his fans or he himself admitted it or not, he intentionally manipulated the media and fed into his own frenzy.

[Eric83]

I agree with this as well, over half of the album was him lashing out at the media over the sensationalism of the 93 child molestation allegations. I didnt mind some of the tracks like Scream and They Don't Care About Us, but others such as Money, Tabloid Junkie, and the horrible D.S. was just overdoing it.

The album lacked the fun and gentle Michael fwe had all come to know and love, and instead had an angry Michael that turned alot of people off. I can't even get throught that CD anymore, full of filler, lackluster tracks like Come Together and Childhood. It was just horrible.

The only tracks I enjoyed were the singles. Scream and Earth Song are two of my favorite MJ singles and You Are Not Alone is my fave ballad from him.

I never believed the first set of allegations hurt his career as bad as it ended up hurting, it was the music.