Invincible (2001)

General Info
Invincible is the tenth and final studio album by American recording artist Michael Jackson and the last released in his lifetime. The album was released by Epic Records on October 30, 2001, six years after Jackson’s 1995 double disc studio album HIStory. The album art, an image of Jackson’s face, is available in five different colors – red, green, orange, blue and silver. To date, Invincible has sold around 10 million copies worldwide.

Production
The album was to be the first release featuring all new tracks since Blood On The Dance Floor in 1997.[2] In addition to production being handled by contemporary artists such as Rodney Jerkins, R. Kelly and former Jodeci member DeVante Swing. Hip Hop producer Dr. Dre was asked to produce, but declined.

Sony Music Issues
Jackson was waiting for the licenses to the masters of his albums to revert back to him, thus allowing him to promote his old material and preventing Sony from getting a cut of the profit. Jackson expected this to occur early in the new millennium, however, due to the fine print and various clauses in the contract, it never happened. Jackson began an investigation, and it emerged that the attorney who represented the singer in the deal was also representing Sony, creating a conflict of interest. Jackson was also concerned about another conflict of interest. For a number of years, Sony had been negotiating to buy Jackson’s music catalog. If Jackson’s career or financial situation were to deteriorate, it would be in Jackson’s financial interest to sell his catalog. Thus, Sony had something to gain from Jackson’s career failing. Jackson was able to use these conflicts as leverage to exit his contract early.

Just before the release of Invincible, Jackson informed the head of Sony Music Entertainment, Tommy Mottola he was leaving the record label. As a result, all singles releases, video shootings and promotions concerning the Invincible album were canceled. Jackson made allegations in July 2002 that Mottola was a “devil” and a “racist” who did not support his African-American artists, using them merely for his own personal gain. He charged that Mottola had called his colleague Irv Gotti a “fat nigger”. Sony disputed claims that they had failed to promote Invincible with sufficient energy, maintaining that Jackson refused to tour in the US.

The singer accused Sony and the record industry of racism, deliberately not promoting or actively working against promotion of his album.

Promotion and Singles
To help promote the album, a special 30th Anniversary celebration at Madison Square Garden occurred in September 2001 to mark the singer’s 30th year as a solo artist. Jackson appeared onstage alongside his brothers for the first time since 1984. The show also featured performances by Monica, Mýa, Usher, Whitney Houston, Britney Spears, ‘N Sync, and Slash, among other artists. In the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Jackson helped organize the United We Stand: What More Can I Give benefit concert at RFK Stadium in Washington D.C.. The concert was aired on October 21, 2001, and included performances from dozens of major artists, including Jackson, who performed his song “What More Can I Give” as the finale. The album spawned three singles, “You Rock My World”, “Cry” and “Butterflies”, the latter of which did not have a music video. “You Rock My World” peaked at #10 in its third week on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, and “Butterflies” later peaked at #14 on the same chart, and at #2 for 5 weeks on the R&B/Hip-Hop singles chart. “Heaven Can Wait” also charted at the bottom of the R&B/Hip-Hop charts due to radio airplay without an official release.

Commercial Reception
Being his first studio album in six years (after 1995′s HIStory), expectations were high. Invincible competed a race for the top of the Billboard 200 with some other big releases, Enrique Iglesias’s new album Escape being its biggest contender. In the end, Invincible won the top, selling 366,275 copies during its debut week, almost 100,000 copies more than the 267,000 sold by Escape. Jackson’s other big rival of the week, the first Backstreet Boys compilation (called The Hits: Chapter One), was number four. Invincible not only debuted at number 1 in the U.S., but also 12 other countries, and sold approximately 10 million copies worldwide. It received double-platinum certification in the US. However, the sales for Invincible were notably low compared to his previous releases, due in part to a diminishing pop music industry, the lack of promotion, no supporting world tour and the label dispute.

Commenting on the sales of Invincible back in late 2003, which were reportedly six or seven million then, Bernard Zuel of The Sydney Morning Herald stated, “Holly Valance or Delta Goodrem would think their Christmases had come at once if they sold five or six million copies of their albums worldwide. Michael Jackson did something similar in the past two years with his seventh solo album, Invincible, and he’s been branded a failure in the industry and the media. Unfair? Yes, of course, because his Invincible figures are better than those for 95 per cent of the thousands of artists released each year and would provide a healthy retirement fund for anyone. What’s more, that failure tag is consistently applied by comparisons with his 1982 album, Thriller which has sold about 110 million copies and its follow-up, Bad, that sold about 30 million copies. Anything after that is a failure in relative terms if you want”.

Critical reception
Reviews of Invincible were generally favorable, but there was a consensus that it was one of Jackson’s least impressive records, mostly because it was too long; nearly 80 minutes. Allmusic gave the record three out of five stars saying, “Ultimately, the record runs too long, losing steam halfway through… not enough to make Invincible the comeback Jackson needed…but it does offer a reminder that he can really craft good pop”. NME gave the record six out of ten, stating, “Invincible is a relevant and rejuvenated comeback album made overlong”. Rolling Stone gave Invincible three out of five stars, believing that the early R&B tracks were good, but the later ballads made the record too long. Reviewer Robert Christgau gave the album an A-, saying, “His skills seem undiminished…his funk is steelier and his ballads are airier, both to disquieting effect. At 78 minutes this is too long.” This was the same grade he gave Jackson’s landmark album Thriller when originally released.

Jackson and his supporters maintain that reviews were unfair, often discussing the singer’s perceived eccentric image and past troubles, or making him the subject of ridicule. NME called him “Michael ‘Actually Quite Scary Now’ Jackson”. Allmusic brought up “[Jackson's] truly ugly public scandal, and swirling rumors about his diminishing finances”. Rolling Stone believed that “every song is full of grandiose desperation. It’s an excruciatingly self-referential place, worsened further by its namesake’s unmatched controversies and weirdnesses.” Robert Christgau believed Jackson had a “grotesque life magnified by his grotesque wealth”. He was also of the opinion that Jackson singing about helping children was “offensive”.

Dedication to Benjamin Hermansen
Invincible is dedicated to the 15 year old Afro-Norwegian boy Benjamin Hermansen who was stabbed to death by a group of neo-Nazis in Oslo on January 26, 2001. The reason for this tribute has partly to do with the fact that the Oslo boy Omar (or Omer) Bhatti and Jackson were close friends, and Bhatti was at the same time a good friend of Benjamin Hermansen. The album was also dedicated to Jackson’s own parents and grandmother. In the album’s booklet, next to the image of a rose, it reads:
Michael Jackson gives “special thanks”:
This album is dedicated to Benjamin “Benny” Hermansen. May we continue to remember not to judge man by the color of his skin, but the content of his Character. Benjamin … we love you … may you rest in peace.

Tracks
1. “Unbreakable” (Featuring The Notorious B.I.G.; background vocals by Brandy Norwood) Jackson, Daniels, Jerkis, Payne, Smith, Wallace 6:2
2. “Heartbreaker” Jackson, Jerkins, Jerkins III, Daniels, Mischke, Gregg 5:09
3. “Invincible” Jackson, Daniels, Gregg, Jerkins, Jerkins 4:46
4. “Break of Dawn” Jackson, Dr. Freeze 5:32
5. “Heaven Can Wait” Jackson, Riley, Heard, Smith, Beal, Laues, Quiller 4:49
6. “You Rock My World” (Introductory skit featuring Chris Tucker) Jackson, Daniels, Jerkins, Jerkins, Payne 5:39
7. “Butterflies” (Featuring Marsha Ambrosius) Harris, Ambrosius 4:40
8. “Speechless” Jackson 3:18
9. “2000 Watts” Jackson, Riley, Gibson, Henson 4:24
10. “You Are My Life” Jackson, Babyface, Sager, McClain 4:33
11. “Privacy” (Guitar solo by Slash) Jackson, Belle, Daniels, Jerkins, Jerkins 5:05
12. “Don’t Walk Away” Jackson, Riley, Stites, Vertelney 4:24
13. “Cry” (also titled Cry (We Can Change The World)) R. Kelly 5:00
14. “The Lost Children” Jackson 4:00
15. “Whatever Happens” (Guitar by Carlos Santana) Jackson, Riley, Quay, Williams 4:56
16. “Threatened” (contains snippets from Rod Serling) Jackson, Jerkins, Jerkins III, Daniels 4:18

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HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (1995)

General Info
HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I (in this article it is shortened to HIStory) is a double album by Michael Jackson, released on June 20, 1995, and is Jackson’s ninth album. The first disc, named “HIStory Begins” consists of a selection of Jackson’s greatest hits from the singer’s past fifteen years, while the second, named “HIStory Continues” features new songs, with the exception of “Come Together”, which was recorded in 1987.

HIStory has been cited as the best-selling multiple disc album ever released, with worldwide sales of 20 million (40 million in terms of units). It is the top grossing album of Jackson’s career behind Thriller. The album won one Grammy for Best Music Video — Short Form for Scream. The first disc of greatest hits was reissued in 2001 as a single disc under the name Greatest Hits: HIStory, Vol. 1.

Recording
Recording started in September 1994 and would carry through the early spring of 1995. Jackson wrote the majority of the songs attacking the press for “scandalizing” him and gave messages to fans to not “feed into the tabloids”. One of the songs included “Scream”, a duet between Michael and sister Janet, who had agreed to do a duet with her brother after she felt that she “had made it to the top” and she didn’t fear that she’d “had to ride Michael’s coattails”. Other songs that attacked the tabloids included “Tabloid Junkie” and “This Time Around”. The Michael and Janet duet was the first of several tunes Jackson produced with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (“2 Bad”, “HIStory”, “Tabloid Junkie”) but not without additional help from the likes of Dallas Austin (“This Time Around”), R. Kelly (the lone ballad, “You Are Not Alone”), Charles Chaplin (“Smile”) and Jackson himself (“They Don’t Care About Us”, “Earth Song”, “Stranger in Moscow”, “D.S.”, “Money”, “Little Susie” with Jackson-arranged variation of Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem as prelude). Jackson, in fact, dominated the production of the album though not fully incorporating serious issues into his music including racism, the ecology and his own personal travails (“D.S.”, in particular, was an attack on the district attorney of Jackson’s case, Thomas Sneddon, in which he is heard singing in the chorus despite the lyrics reading “Dom Sheldon”, possibly used to escape a lawsuit). Like on previous albums, Jackson wanted to feature guest stars. Other than his sister Janet, rapper The Notorious B.I.G. put down a rap verse in “This Time Around”, soul group Boyz II Men sung background vocals on “Money” and basketball star and sometime rapper Shaquille O’Neal put down a verse on “2 Bad”. While fourteen of the songs were new recordings, Jackson included an older recording of his cover of The Beatles’ “Come Together”, which he had recorded during the Bad era. The version included on the album is an early fade of the original version.

HIStory was originally to be called “Decade”, which would include several previous Jackson hits and several new songs from the later part of his career. This was shelved and HIStory was eventually expanded into a two-disc set.

Promotion
To promote the album, Jackson embarked on the successful HIStory World Tour,[2] which was attended by more than four and a half million people. Jackson also made a promotional “teaser” music video showing him marching with thousands of military personnel as well as shipping statues of himself on boats around Europe[3] and $30 million was spent on its promotion by Sony.

Controversy
HIStory remains Jackson’s most controversial album as seen by a number of events.

The music video for “You Are Not Alone” was controversial in that it featured an almost nude Jackson and his then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. Additionally, two Belgian songwriters, brothers Eddy and Danny Van Passel, claimed to have written the melody in 1993. In September of 2007 a Belgian judge ruled the song was plagiarized from the Van Passel brothers and the song was subsequently banned from airwaves in Belgium.

Controversy arose when a verse in “They Don’t Care About Us” (“Jew me/sue me/everybody do me/kick me, kike me/don’t you black or white me”) raised suspicion that the singer was anti-Semitic, charges Jackson denied. To make up for it, he edited the verse on later issues of the album.

HIStory and Blood on the Dance Floor are the only albums by Jackson using vulgar lyrics in some parts of several songs, such as “Scream” and “This Time Around.” Blood on the Dance Floor did not have as much swearing, but some songs were more sexually suggestive.

The original music video for “They Don’t Care About Us” showed Jackson singing the song in a prison. MTV took the video off its playlist because it showed scenes of violence. Jackson and video director Spike Lee released another version of the video set in Dona Marta, a shanty town in Brazil, which was actually shot before the “prison version”. However, because of the filming location, one Brazilian politician accused Jackson of exploiting poverty to make money. The politician also alleged that Jackson needed and was given permission by drug traffickers to shoot the video.

At the BRIT Awards in 1996, Jackson was given a special “Artist of a Generation” award. At the ceremony he performed “Earth Song” with a grandiose stage show, with Jackson portrayed as a Christ-like figure surrounded by adoring children. Pulp frontman Jarvis Cocker mounted the stage in protest at the act. Cocker ran across the stage, lifting his shirt and pointing his (clothed) bottom in Jackson’s direction. Cocker was subsequently questioned by the police on suspicion of causing injury towards three of the children in Jackson’s performance, although no criminal proceedings followed. The performance saw the song and album rise back up the charts.

Critical Response
The album received 5 Grammy Award nominations and won one, these were:
“Album of the Year” – HIStory – Nomination
“Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals” – “Scream” – Nomination
“Best Male Pop Vocal Performance” – “You Are Not Alone” – Nomination
“Best Music Video, Short Form” – “Earth Song” – Nomination
“Best Music Video, Short Form” – “Scream” – Won

HIStory, arguably Jackson’s most conflicting album, revealed a “furious” pop icon worn by years of superstardom, with Jon Pareles of the The New York Times writing that “It has been a long time since Michael Jackson was simply a performer. He’s the main asset of his own corporation, which is a profitable subsidiary of Sony”. Some reviewers commented on the unusual format of a new studio album being accompanied by a “greatest hits” collection, with Q magazine saying “from the new songs’ point of view, it’s like taking your dad with you into a fight.”

In relation to “This Time Around”, James Hunter of Rolling Stone described it as a “dynamite jam…done with Atlanta R&B hotshot Dallas Austin that’s ripe for remixes”. Jon Pareles of The New York Times believed that Jackson “muttered” lyrics such as “They thought they really had control of me”. Chris Willman of the Los Angeles Times said of “This Time Around”, “a tough, rhythm-guitar-driven track co-written and co-produced by hit-maker Dallas Austin that sports one of the album’s better grooves”. Fred Shuster of the Daily News of Los Angeles described “This Time Around”, “Money” and “D.S.” as “superb slices of organic funk that will fuel many of the summer’s busiest dance floors”.

Singles
Sales of HIStory were down from his previous albums Dangerous and Bad (although unit sales were higher). This has been attributed to the high purchase cost of HIStory and critics believe that the public purchased the singles over the album. The single sales of HIStory were collectively 10.45 million units, which was higher than those of Dangerous at 8.36 million units and Bad at 10.03 million units, even though the latter albums had more singles released from their track lists (eight and nine releases respectively, against the five from HIStory). Only the singles from the Thriller at 19.55 million units sold better than those released from HIStory.

“Scream/Childhood” – Released as a double A-side the first single released from HIStory was “Scream”, sung and performed with his sister Janet Jackson. The single had the best ever debut at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and had a Grammy nomination for “Best Pop Collaboration With Vocals”. The music video for “Scream” is one of his most critically acclaimed winning three MTV awards in 1995 and a Grammy in 1996. “Scream” is currently the most expensive music video ever made. It sold 2 million copies worldwide.

“You Are Not Alone” – was the second single released from HIStory and would become the first song ever to debut at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, (beating his previous single “Scream”). It reached #1 in various international markets, including Britain. It was seen as a major artistic and commercial success and received a Grammy nomination for “Best Pop Vocal Performance”. It sold 3 million copies worldwide.

“Earth Song” – was the third single released from HIStory, and was accompanied by a well received expensive music video that was nominated for a Grammy Award in 1996 but lost to his earlier video “Scream”. The song topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks over Christmas in 1995 and sold one million copies there, making it his most successful UK single, surpassing the success of “Billie Jean”. It sold 3.15 million copies worldwide.

“They Don’t Care About Us” – It sold 1.75 million copies worldwide.

“Stranger in Moscow” – was a success in Europe, reaching the top of the charts in Spain and Italy, #4 in the UK, #5 in Switzerland, #6 in New Zealand and #9 in Denmark. It sold 540,000 copies worldwide.

“This Time Around”, a U.S. only radio release, peak at #23 on the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart and #18 on the Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart purely off radio airplay.

Chart Performance
“HIStory” debuted at number-one on the Billboard 200 and Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts selling over 391,000 copies in its first week. The album was certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America on October 22, 1999 in recognition of 3.5 million shipments in the United States. Multi-disc albums are counted once for each disc within the album if it is over 100 minutes in length, in this case “HIStory” is 148:50 minutes long. It is counted twice meaning each album was certified platinum after 500,000 copies were shipped. The Canadian Recording Industry Association certified it 5× platinum after shipping in excess of 500,000 units.

In Europe, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry certified “HIStory” six times platinum, denoting six million shipments within the continent. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number-one on the official albums chart and was certified four times platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of 1.2 million copies. In France, “HIStory” became Jackson’s fourth diamond-seller album after Dangerous (1991), Bad (1987) and Thriller (1982), denoting sales of over one million units. In addition, Germany was the European country where the double-disc set sold the most, over 1.5 million copies, being certified three times platinum by the IFPI.

“HIStory” has sold over twenty million copies worldwide and, according to Access Hollywood, is the best-selling multiple-disc album of all-time.

Tracks
HIStory Begins (Disc 1)

1. “Billie Jean” 4:54
2. “The Way You Make Me Feel” 4:57
3. “Black or White” Jackson; Bill Bottrell 4:15
4. “Rock with You” Rod Temperton 3:40
5. “She’s out of My Life” Tom Bahler 3:38
6. “Bad” 4:07
7. “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” duet with Siedah Garrett 4:12
8. “Man in the Mirror” Glen Ballard; Siedah Garrett 5:19
9. “Thriller” Temperton 5:57
10. “Beat It” 4:18
11. “The Girl is Mine” duet with Paul McCartney 3:41
12. “Remember the Time” Teddy Riley; Jackson; Bernard Belle 4:00
13. “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” 6:02
14. “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’” 6:02
15. “Heal the World” 6:24

HIStory Continues (Disc 2)
1. “Scream” Harris; Lewis; Jackson; Jackson; Giancarlo Dittamo duet with Janet Jackson 4:38
2. “They Don’t Care About Us” 4:44
3. “Stranger in Moscow” 5:44
4. “This Time Around” René Moore; Dallas Austin; Bruce Swedien; Jackson; Wallace rap by The Notorious B.I.G. 4:20
5. “Earth Song” 6:46
6. “D.S.” Guitar solo by Slash 4:49
7. “Money” 4:41
8. “Come Together” Lennon/McCartney 4:02
9. “You Are Not Alone” R. Kelly 5:45
10. “Childhood (Theme from “Free Willy 2″)” 4:28
11. “Tabloid Junkie” Harris; Lewis; Jackson 4:32
12. “2 Bad” Harris; Lewis; Jackson; O’Neal Rap by Shaquille O’Neal 4:49
13. “HIStory” Harris; Lewis; Jackson 6:37
14. “Little Susie” 6:13
15. “Smile” Chaplin 4:56

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Bad (1987)

General Info
Bad is the seventh studio album by the late American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987 by Epic/CBS Records. The record was released nearly five years after his last studio album. Twenty years after its release, the album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and shipped 8 million units in the United States. Bad is the first, and currently only, album ever to feature five Billboard Hot 100 #1 singles.

This album also saw Jackson have even more freedom over his album than he did with the two previous albums, Off the Wall and the world’s best selling album of all time, Thriller, as he wrote and composed 9 of the album’s 11 tracks, and co-wrote and produced another, “Man in the Mirror”. This album also saw the squeaky clean pop idol turn “Bad” as he went through a surprising new image change.

The album continued its success in the late ’80s and won 2 Grammys, one for Best Music Video – Short Form for Leave Me Alone and one for Best Engineered Album – Non Classical won by Bruce Swedien & Humberto Gatica. Bad was also ranked number 43 in the 100 Greatest Albums of All Time of the MTV Generation in 2009 listed by VH1. It was ranked number 202 on the Rolling Stone magazine 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Recording
Jackson began recording demos for the anticipated follow-up to Thriller a few months after the 1984 Victory Tour with The Jacksons. Recording took place between November 1986 and July 9, 1987[7] (except for “Another Part of Me” which was recorded for Captain EO in 1986). Jackson wrote a reported sixty songs for the new album and recorded thirty, wanting to use them all on a three-disc set. Longtime producer Quincy Jones cut these down to a ten-track single LP. The CD release also contained a bonus 11th track, “Leave Me Alone”.

Jackson wrote nine of the eleven tracks himself. Terry Britten (writer of Tina Turner’s “What’s Love Got to Do With It”) and Graham Lyle wrote “Just Good Friends”. Siedah Garrett and Glen Ballard wrote “Man in the Mirror”. Stevie Wonder sings co-lead vocal on “Just Good Friends”, and Steve Stevens contributes the guitar solo for “Dirty Diana”.

However while recording the tracks for Bad, there was some debate between Jackson and Jones on which songs would be put on the album. For example, they both had a hard time deciding on either “Streetwalker” or Another Part of Me (which was recorded for Captain EO in 1986) to be put on the album. Jackson wanted “Streetwalker”, wheras Jones wanted “Another Part of Me”. Ultimately, it was decided by Michael’s manager Frank Dileo. According to Quincy Jones from “Bad: Special Edition”, there was a meeting between the three. In the meeting, Jackson played “Streetwalker” first, and Dileo was not impressed. But Dileo started to dance when “Another Part of Me” came on. This is what eventually put “Another Part of Me” onto the album.

“Bad” was originally intended as a duet between Jackson and Prince. A rivalry had developed between the two over the years, and Jackson’s plan was to leak stories to the media about rising tensions between himself and Prince, culminating in the release of the song. Prince turned down the project, explaining to Jones that the song “would be a hit without (him) on it”. Years later, Prince (jokingly) explained his reason for declining was over either artist singing the song’s “your butt is mine” lyric.

“I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” was supposed to feature a famous female singer. Reportedly Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston all turned down the offer, before Jones chose R&B singer-songwriter Siedah Garrett.

Reception
By the time Jackson released this album, sales of its predecessor, Thriller, had already reached forty million, raising expectations for Bad. Bad became the first of Jackson’s albums to debut at number-one on the Billboard 200 where it remained for the next six consecutive weeks. The RIAA certified Bad for having sold eight million copies in the U.S. alone. In the U.K, the album sold 500,000 copies in just five days and is currently certified 13x platinum, for sales of 3.9 million making it Jackson’s biggest-selling album in the UK. Globally, it’s Jackson’s overall third best-selling recording, behind “Thriller” and “Dangerous”, with 30 million copies sold.

Jackson set another record with this album, becoming the first, and currently only, artist to have five songs to hit number-one from one album. In July 2006, it was announced by the The Official UK Charts Company that Bad was the ninth biggest selling album in British history. It turned out to be the last collaborative effort by Jackson and Jones, as Jackson moved on to write and produce more of his own records, particularly with Teddy Riley, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis and Rodney Jerkins.

Rolling Stone stated that “even without a milestone recording like “Billie Jean”, Bad is still a better record than Thriller.” The magazine further went on to say that the “filler” content in Bad – including songs such as “Speed Demon”, “Dirty Diana” and “Liberian Girl” – is written by Jackson himself, making Bad “richer, sexier and better than Thriller’s forgettables.”

Despite the records success, in a poll of 23,000 US citizens, released by Rolling Stone, Jackson won “worst album” for Bad and “worst single” for “Bad”. TIME gave the opinion that the singer was suffering a backlash in certain parts of the US. The publication suggested that the singer’s media image was triggering the poll, not the music.

In 2001, a special edition was released with three new songs and a new booklet containing lyrics and never-before-seen photos. In 2003, the album was ranked number 202 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

Marketing
During the Bad period was one of the first times Jackson used marketing to his advantage, more so than he had with Thriller. A year before Bad, Jackson used several tactics to get the media interested in his short film, Captain EO, during the recording of Bad. Jackson played a space captain in the mini-film, which was produced by George Lucas. By the time Jackson released Bad, he produced a commemorative special on his life, “The Magic Returns”, which aired on CBS. At the end of the documentary, the channel debuted Jackson’s “Bad” short film, which featured then up-and-coming actor Wesley Snipes. Jackson’s marketing strategy, mastered by Frank DiLeo among others, also included Jackson producing another mini-movie around the time of the Bad World Tour. That film, Moonwalker, included performances of songs from “Bad” including “Speed Demon”, “Leave Me Alone” and “Smooth Criminal”, the latter two released as sole videos at the end of the film. Jackson also used the opportunity to write about his life up until that point releasing 1988′s Moonwalk. Jackson’s tour for Bad did well grossing $125 million by the end of its tenure. Though Jackson furthered his stance as a global pop superstar, in America, he failed to match to the sales of Thriller, the greatest selling album of all time, having some in the media calling it a “disappointment” compared to Thriller.

Tracks
1. “Bad” 4:07
2. “The Way You Make Me Feel” 4:58
3. “Speed Demon” 4:03
4. “Liberian Girl” 3:53
5. “Just Good Friends” (Terry Britten, Graham Lyle, duet with Stevie Wonder) 4:08
6. “Another Part of Me” 3:54
7. “Man in the Mirror” (Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett) 5:19
8. “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” (duet with Siedah Garrett) 4:13
9. “Dirty Diana” 4:40
10. “Smooth Criminal” 4:17
1988 CD issue
11. “Leave Me Alone” 4:38

2001 Special Edition
12. “Interview with Quincy Jones” 4:03
13. “Streetwalker (previously unreleased)” 5:49
14. “Interview with Quincy Jones” 2:53
15. “Todo Mi Amor Eres Tu (spanish version of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”) (previously unavailable)” (Jackson, Rubén Blades) 4:05
16. “Interview with Quincy Jones #3″ 2:30
17. “Spoken intro to “Fly Away”" 0:08
18. “Fly Away (previously unreleased)” 3:26

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