Did Michael Jackson really like the music he was making after the Thriller album?

[ABlackMan]

Idk what it is but he look a little disturbed in videos and the image got strange after Thriller. I read during the years leading up to BAD that he was going through it with media and feeling alone.

Was he depressed? Is it documented that he didn’t really like his image or the music he was making?

 

[Ziggiy]

You should watch the Bad documentary that Spike Lee directed. Phenomenal doc

 

[28 Gramz]

Bad is classic af not sure why he wouldn't like it. He seemed to be going through his roughest patch in life during the Dangerous era.

 

[Mike the Executioner]

He liked the music he was making, but he went through a lot between Thriller and Bad. The Victory tour ended up causing multiple problems with the Jackson 5, his hair caught on fire which led to lifelong health issues, he was getting into conflicts the Jehovah's Witnesses, and his vitiligo started becoming more noticeable.

Also, Bad was taking a long time to make. Michael wanted it to be bigger than Thriller. His dream was for the album to sell 100 million copies. There are artists who go their entire careers without selling ten million, and Quincy would try to tell him that he's never going to have another Thriller. How do you top the biggest album of all-time? Where do you go after that? Bad took almost two years and there was a lot of starting and stopping. Michael had the idea of a triple album, but Quincy shot it down. Prince, Whitney, Aretha, and Streisand were all potential features that didn't happen. The music video for "Bad" was done almost a year before the album came out. The idea was that it would be released in early 1987 (around Grammy season), but it still wasn't ready yet.

Every album that Michael made after Off the Wall seemed to cause him a lot of stress, self-inflicted or otherwise. But the pressure was the biggest with Bad, because it was a question of how successful it would be. If it didn't top Thriller, was it still worth all the hype?

 

[En Sabah Nur]

Yeah a lot of things changed for the worse after Thriller, and he changed himself(Janet said she remembers the exact night things changed between the two of them), and seemed to become more detached from reality and happiness...but his music was something he definitely continued to have joy and confidence in.

He made the more songs for Bad & Dangerous than all his other solos and fully expected Bad to have the success Thriller did. He was really disappointed when he came up empty at the Grammys

 

[Bar Razor]

He liked the music he was making, but he went through a lot between Thriller and Bad. The Victory tour ended up causing multiple problems with the Jackson 5, his hair caught on fire which led to lifelong health issues, he left the Jehovah's Witnesses, and his vitiligo started becoming more noticeable.

Also, Bad was taking a long time to make. Michael wanted it to be bigger than Thriller. His dream was for the album to sell 100 million copies. There are artists who go their entire careers without selling ten million, and Quincy would try to tell him that he's never going to have another Thriller. How do you top the biggest album of all-time? Where do you go after that? Bad took almost two years and there was a lot of starting and stopping. Michael had the idea of a triple album, but Quincy shot it down. Prince, Whitney, Aretha, and Streisand were all potential features that didn't happen. The music video for "Bad" was done almost a year before the album came out. The idea was that it would be released in early 1987 (around Grammy season), but it still wasn't ready yet.

Every album that Michael made after Off the Wall seemed to cause him a lot of stress, self-inflicted or otherwise. But the pressure was the biggest with Bad, because it was a question of how successful it would be. If it didn't top Thriller, was it still worth all the hype?

Well put. I understand that he was a perfectionist and Bad was great (a lot of people say it's his best album), but he should have realized that it wasn't only that Thriller is a great, music changing record, but it was also a lightning strike and would be impossible to reproduce sales wise. Just make the best album you can and let the chips fall where they may sales wise. but what made him so great is that I guess he couldn't think like that.

 

[MushroomX]

Pink Floyd had a identity crisis when they made Wish You Were Here, having to make a followup to Darkside of the Moon. For a guy of Michael's creativity... passion... style... perfectionism... making Bad must have been fun to make, but a tremendous mental strain of trying to make something as good as Thriller.

As said earlier in this thread though, more stuff started to happen to Michael... Thriller didn't just top the chart, but it put a spotlight on Michael and it began to really force himself away from the public.

It was getting to the point of Celebrity, where you lose all privacy no matter how much you try.

So yes, Michael was still liking to make music... but a ton of forces were pressing down on Michael, distracting him from his work.

 

[ABlackMan]

How much did the machine play a part in any of this?

Does MJ have an album that follows a theme ala TPAB? I find in his music, his albums, he makes hits but they’re not just hit singles like a Travis Scott album.

But the albums don’t quite flow like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” for example…I could be wrong. His music follows a single theme or point but his hits and songs will have a different sound on each one yet still stick to the theme. I hope this makes sense lol

I’ve only listened to Michael Jackson never really dove into the person or the artist. I remember the trial and the day he passed man real eerie shyt.


I’m 30 so I was looking at how old he was during these album runs and he was what 19-30 during the span of these 3 albums (OTW THLLR BAD) so now at this age myself I think about the internal thoughts and emotions he might’ve been going through being a black man that just didn’t appear as himself anymore. The hair changes and all. Idk maybe it’s just me kinda placing my thoughts on it him but outside looking in I can see pain on him in videos and just the vibe.

Yes I get all of that through a screen

 

[ABlackMan]

I know this shyt random I just love music and hate how shyt went for him so I’m interested in the behind the scenes…as an artist going through life shyt kills my creativity nearly as much as it inspires it so I’m trying to understand just how he kept keeping on

 

[MushroomX]

I’m trying to understand just how he kept keeping on

It's kind of sad, but, Michael really never had a true childhood; his life was all about entertaining at a young age... it was his life, and really the only thing he knew how to do.

That's where the problems came from... Michael only knew how to make music, but he wanted to have a life... have friends, do fun stuff, etc.; but Michael just never got to really have that... at least in my opinion.

 

[RaspberryFitted]

Bad really had no skips

 

[En Sabah Nur]

How much did the machine play a part in any of this?

Does MJ have an album that follows a theme ala TPAB? I find in his music, his albums, he makes hits but they’re not just hit singles like a Travis Scott album.

But the albums don’t quite flow like Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On” for example…I could be wrong. His music follows a single theme or point but his hits and songs will have a different sound on each one yet still stick to the theme. I hope this makes sense lol

I’ve only listened to Michael Jackson never really dove into the person or the artist. I remember the trial and the day he passed man real eerie shyt.


I’m 30 so I was looking at how old he was during these album runs and he was what 19-30 during the span of these 3 albums (OTW THLLR BAD) so now at this age myself I think about the internal thoughts and emotions he might’ve been going through being a black man that just didn’t appear as himself anymore. The hair changes and all. Idk maybe it’s just me kinda placing my thoughts on it him but outside looking in I can see pain on him in videos and just the vibe.

Yes I get all of that through a screen

The most theme oriented album would probably be HIStory. A lot of the songs on there he expresses his frustrations on the media, tabloids and people turning their back on him and chasing his money during the first molestation allegation.

 

[HipHopStan]

Sometimes I wonder if he liked the music he was making for Thriller. I remember he did an interview where he said he was pissed off that Off the Wall only won 1 Grammy Award after all of the hard work he put into that album and then he kind of let on that was his favorite album of his own.

 

[RaspberryFitted]

I wish the organ (piano, don’t have a solid ear for instruments) solo in the music video was on the actual single on Spotify

2:50

 

[010101]

the quality of the work depends on the quality of collaborators

it's a team effort

mike took his work very serious but ultimately he was not in complete control & that would stress him out i am sure

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