Everyone knows Bad, the title track. And The Way You Make Me Feel is a great song. But the best dance song on the album is definitely Smooth Criminal. The tune, the beat, and the rhythm are awesome! Exciting, thrilling, and energetic. And those dance moves and the creativity in the music video are spectacular! The popping and locking, the slides, and that lean! It is the best dance music video ever. Ever!!!
Growing up, my brothers, our friends, and I copied and built upon those dance moves, showing off at parties or just having fun on the street corner with the song blasting a portable stereo. The video inspired us to come up with our own moves and create awesome routines that would eventually win us talent competitions and battles with other dance crews.
Smooth criminal has a sensational and amazing tune, but the song lyrics are terrible! Just awful! A criminal breaks into some unsuspecting woman named Annie's place. He strikes her down, leaving her unconscious in a pool of blood. Michael Jackson comes to find her, and keeps asking her that hook, "Annie are you okay? Are you okay Annie?", and keeps repeating it all throughout the song as he shows off his incredible dance moves.
And I'm like, 'Dude! If she hasn't responded by the second time you asked her, she's is not okay! She's lying in a pool of blood, staining the carpet! For gawd's sake, stop singing and dancing and call an ambulance!!! For crying out loud, needs help!!!'
There are quite a few good tunes on the album, but my favorite is definitely Man in the Mirror. It is one of two of my favorite Michael Jackson songs, the other being Human Nature. Man in the Mirror is unlike any other Michael Jackson song. It's inspiring, self aware, and uplifting. My friends and I used to sing out loud and dance everytime this song played on the radio. It's a karaoke favorite!
Man in the Mirror
It's a timeless classic.
Related Links
Thriller by Michael Jackson
At the risk of losing all of my Ella Fitzgerald and Andy Williams points, I'm afraid that I've never cared for Michael Jackson after the Jackson Five years. There was always something creepy about him to me. Well, at least I know who he was :)
ReplyDeleteDeedles, Michael Jackson was great in Jackson Five. I liked him much better back when he was black. After the Bad album, he was a different artist (musically and physically, like he got really white skinned!, and became very different, just seemed out of place, and the face mask was creepy). I just felt bad after learning about what a rough childhood he had, and how fame destroyed him, and continues to plague his children, long after he passed on.
DeleteYou've got a good heart, Eros. One of my sisters had a driver's license photo that made her look just like MJ during his white years. The picture looked nothing like her! We laughed at that for years until my photo came out. I look like a Samoan man, flowerdy shirt and all. Okay, my mind is now in pinball mode. Peace, out :)
DeleteDeedles! Ha! That's funny!
DeleteI have the slightest ides why, but I was never a huge Michael Jackson fan Search me. I was more in the Janet camp.
ReplyDeleteMaddie, Janet is my fave Jackson! She was our icon! My dance crew and I were inspired by her dance songs and dance moves.
DeleteMichael Jackson was one of those performers that was hit or miss for me. Maybe it was the timing of his immense popularity that caused that, I'm not sure. I guess "Thriller" will be the only one that really identifies him for me. xoxo
ReplyDeleteSavannah, So true. He was fantastic, the star of the Jackson Five. The Thriller song and video really did define him as a powerful solo artist. He set the bar for great dancing in music videos that only the best artists have reached with their own efforts.
DeleteWhen he started acting weird, with the oxygen tanks and face masks in public, I was confused. Then I later realized that it was his reaction to all the paparazzi and fame destroying his life. I hope he is at peace now.
I love The Way You Make Me Feel! To be honest I was never a huge Micheal Jackson fan, but he was always there, so he is part of my formative years, and yes, I do remember exactly where I was when I saw the Thriller video for the first time!
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Scarlet, I liked him as a singer better when he was a part of the Jackson Five. But it was his dance moves (and those epic music videos) that really got my attention. My friends in the neighborhood and I copied whatever moves he made as a base, then built up on that.
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