Bad

Michael's got a great voice. And the hits are great. But I otherwise thought it was pretty forgettable. Maybe my expectations were too high

It has moments of greatness, but isn't great. Certainly it's no "Thriller" and not even an "Off The Wall".

Don’t know if I’ll revisit but really well produced album. The instruments were way too loud though and Michael’s voice was a lil low. Content wise: great album. Favorite song: Dirty Diana

One of the first records I bought as a kid. Haven't heard it in years. Not as cheesy as I thought it would be even though title track is cringe. So be good songs sounds very 80s. 6/10

Such a mix... greats like Smooth Criminal, Way You Make Me Feel, & Leave Me Alone... and then some awful awful tunes... Speed Demon?? Ugh...

When I see the album cover for Bad, I always think of the album cover for Weird Al's "Even Worse." Gives me a chuckle. For years I thought "Liberian Girl" was "Librarian Girl," which probably makes very little sense to me now. There were quite a few hits on this album, which is to be expected since Michael Jackson did nothing but write/sing hit songs. I have always been a Michael Jackson casual more than anything else, so the less ubiquitous tracks like Liberian Girl and Just Good Friends aren't necessarily my cup of tea. In fact, (hot take here) the album is very backloaded with tracks 7-11 all being really good songs...or at least tolerable songs. Take Michael Jackson's name off the album and tracks 3-6 are all fairly mediocre pop songs. Speed Demon is a stupid song. There is no way around that. Just Good Friends is notable because Stevie Wonder is on the track. Even on the good songs on the album suffer from Jackson's need to make the vocal grunts that make it sound like he is choking. It's pretty overused. I have always appreciated Jackson's work but never totally enjoyed it because it always felt hollow in some ways to me. Thriller was an album by Michael Jackson and this just seems like a Michael Jackson album where he is playing the role. This album deserves a place on the list because The Way You Make Me Feel, Dirty Diana, Leave Me Alone and Smooth Criminal are really great songs.

Some Iconic tunes but honestly most of the album felt like filler.

There are a handful of great, classic songs on here. It’s hard to follow up Thriller, though. But that’s not this album’s fault.

This has some classics on it, but they aren't what I was remembering them to be. Sounds really dated and some are just /// Bad.

So the hits are A+ killer pop tunes. It’s no wonder that Bad and Smooth Criminal are *still* jams to this day. The rest of the album though. It sounds like they recorded a the world's most incredible EP and then stuffed it with enough filler to charge full LP price. Some outstanding bass synths but also a lot of very 1987 synths. Crazy that it’s only two years out from Pretty Hate Machine and three years from Violator completely upending what everyone thought synth/sampler based music could sound like.

I was very excited for another BANGER from little Michael but I can’t help but feel a bit disappointed with this one after hearing thriller first. The highs of this one like Bad, Way you make me feel, and smooth criminal still stick out as absolute slappers, but some of the tracks that fill out this album range from forgettable to bad, with the highlight of what the fuck is this being “Liberian Girl”, or as I like to call it, “How to contract new and interesting diseases”. It would be interesting to plot how insane Michael was, and how fucked up he looked against the quality of his albums. Should have stopped with the surgeries after thriller.

I'm bad, I'm bad. Oh fuck I'm bad, so fucking bad. I'm bad bad. I'm a baddy little bad bad, bad boy. Ooh I'm a fucking bad boy who's so naughty bad. Bad bad bad. Mmm little baddy bad naughty bad boy. Fucking bad as fucking shit bad boy. Stinking fucking bad boy ughh, so fucking bad. Bad bad bad. I'm bad.

Didn't click for me nearly as much as Thriller, still a good album with some bangers Didn't really like some of the mixing felt that his voice was way too quiet on some tracks but that might be the version I listened too. Took a few listens for some tracks like Dirty Diana and the way you make me feel, to click and even after having it click, still weren't great imo. Not really a single bad track per se, just lots of alright to good tracks and only a couple which stuck out as great. 7/10

Some bangers obviously but some very 80s production value. Not ahead of its time but very good. 3.5

I'll always like Smooth Criminal, but the rest of Jackson's stuff has never really hooked me. It's a fine listen, but it never really drew me in.

Hmm. I like Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, and Smooth Criminal, but most of the other songs on this album are quite weak (and I've always hated Man in the Mirror). Michael can do better (well, not anymore).

I feel like this has not aged as well as Off the Wall and Thriller. Some good songs but a lot of it lacks the feeling of earlier albums.

i was 9 years old when this came out and we used to watch mtv pretty regularly so the hits on this one i've heard a million times i don't remember ever connecting much to the songs on this one except for man in the mirror that one reminds me of the optimism that i felt as a kid and the desire to help the less fortunate in the world.

Here’s the deal. I decided NOT to listen to this. Sure when some of the hits come on in a bar or background they feel good. But I remember this album is also full of nonsense filler. So subtracting one star for the fact I didn’t feel like actually listening to the album.

I was pretty excited when I saw this was today’s album and then I listened and was disappointed. Added a couple of the big hits to my faves list and the rest of the tracks really didn’t do it for me.

Some songs I did not know!?

Has some big hits as high points but not going to praise this or anything, it's fine.

Has some well known songs, but overall found the album a little stale. Not as fun as other MJ albums. 3/5 Probably won’t listen again

Not a bad listen but definitely some questionable tracks that have aged badly. Thriller is just better tbh. Although PYT from that one also aged badly.. (cough cough Leaving Neverland) Maybe MJ has just aged badly in general 😬 That aside I did really enjoy some tracks so he’s managed to snatch a 3. Favourites: Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man In The Mirror, Smooth Criminal

Shamone! Some bangers in here and some filler. Thought the drums and guitar work was solid, particularly on the faster tracks. I don’t have very strong feelings about this album, it’s just ‘good’.

It's a classic album that I'm really surprised to realize that I hadn't listened all the way through before today....

Better than expected, but I prefer the other two Quincy produced albums.

Pretty sick beats. Probably worth 4 or 5 stars. But I couldn't stop wondering whether the dude was a kiddy diddler.

Two outstanding tracks, two pretty good ones and the rest felt like filler or at least really underwhelming to me. By this point Jackson was more of a cultural phenomenon than a musical one, maybe.

Is it just me or MJ just isn't as good as people say? I mean, I like a couple of songs, but this album, except a few hits, is quite bad (pun intended).

I feel like this album progressed the opposite way Thriller did. On Thriller, a great majority of the tracks were so great, so iconic, so timeless, the one or two skippable tracks were completely overshadowed. A majority of great with a minority of "meh". But with Bad, I feel like it's the opposite. There definitely are a small amount of songs that are Michael Jackson's best work on here (Smooth Criminal, Bad, and I've always loved Dirty Diana). But the majority of the songs here are the skips, rather than the icons. Still some good times on here and in no way a bad album. But when you're following up one of the most impactful albums in popular music history, and you'd rather just skip a majority of the tracks, it's hard to want to come back to most of them.

mj

3.27

Mixed bag. 4 winners, 2 more strong, 5 mediocre songs filled in. That it was a big album for its day makes me want to give it a 4, and I would have if there were 2-3 fewer of the fillers which just dilute its overall strength too much.

this is good but kinda boring to me

Mixed feelings about this album. You have some great tracks like "Bad", "Man in the Mirror", "Dirty Diana", and the massive "Smooth Criminal", but the rest of the album I can live without.

There are some incredible highs on this album, with the opening two tracks and Smooth Criminal being the obvious standouts, although do I think that about the latter because of the video? Maybe that is baked into the MJ experience, though. However, the ballads don’t do much for me and I think this is not on the level of Thriller.

Overproduced decent pop album. By this time I find his vocal tics/clichés a bit annoying. Som filled bit plenty of hits. Not got me.

It's getting 3 stars bc I know it's realistically good, I like what I'm hearing. I am also, however, on the second day of a hangover and Spotify will only supply me with the hour and seven minute version of this album. I just want the original, why is Spotify so shit? Deeply, deeply shit. Anyway, I only listened to the first half. Sorry, Michael, maybe I'll come back and reassess. Also, the whole pedophilia thing, yk.

I think he made some iconic tracks

I like Thriller better.

This was really cheesy and not in a good way. I'm only familiar with the singles on this one, and even of those, Smooth Criminal is the only one I'd say is any good.

Bad is worse than Thriller. There's like two songs I like. Smooth Criminal is a bop.

I remember back when this came out, it was so big as to be inescapable. I also remember most of us thinking of it as a joke - this effeminate man trying to act hard. With that said it's time to put old preconceived notions, and the knowledge of what Michael would later become behind, and listen to the album on its own merits. So, although horribly dated, this is a good pop album. The whole "Bad" character still comes off as disingenuous and silly though.

Say what you will about the man himself, but Michael Jackson could write some songs! The album as whole doesn't really feel like a cohesive piece though, more like a collection of singles, even if they are awesome singles. Bad, Man in the Mirror and Smooth Criminal are amazing but there is too much filler and not really a theme or feeling like the songs weren't just put on an album in the order in which they were written.

30% great; 30% meh; 40% uncomfortable

There are some standout tracks but it's even more banal, overproduced and disappointing than when it first came out.

It's Michael Jackson. What else needs to be said. I don't think that it has aged particularly well. 80's pop, with all the electronics and Jacksonisms that you would expect. The singles from the albums are still really good (Bad, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal), but the rest just don't seem to do much for me.

Fun

Fine

Tras el exitazo de Thriller Jackson decidió seguir por el mismo camino, dotando ahora a sus canciones de algo más de rock duro y AOR de calidad. Es el caso de tres de los grandes temas incluidos en el disco y extraídos como sencillos: "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel"(mi tema favorito de este disco) y "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". También me gusta "Smooth Criminal" (seguramente influido por el videoclip que acompañó a su lanzamiento). Para mi gusto, el resto del disco no llega a la altura de sus predecesores.

Cancelled king

Sadly, I've never been much of a Michael Jackson fan, so I fear this album is largely wasted on me. But it's hard to deny the reign of the undisputed King of Pop, and it's also hard to imagine that there are many of his albums other than Thriller as classic and complete as this one. I just wish he hadn't spent so much of his amazing career trying to sound and act like a manly man (on stage and in front of the camera, at least). But what an amazing performer and dancer!

I wanted to like this so much more than I did--I'm not a big Michael Jackson fan though I love a few of songs, just not the ones on this album (though Man in the Mirror is great)

Nah, I know it was massive but it’s far from his best. Speed Demon and Liberian Girl are kind of embarrassing tbh

2,5

Oh SHIT. I’ve never listened to this start to finish so let’s fuckin goooo! They call this guy the King Of Pop and I can see why. The album has tons of hits but it’s not an “all killer no filler” record. The real stars of this album were the music videos since MTV was at its peak in the lateish 80’s. The first two tracks were gigantic hits (Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel) but I am less familiar with the next couple tracks, Speed Demon and Liberian Girl. If they didn’t have videos, I definitely never heard them. My initial reaction is ok kinda funky, kinda silly, danceable but kinda meh. Liberian Girl is a corny love song that I didn’t love but it’s cute. Just Good Friends is another dance song which is kind of forgettable. Same with Another Part of Me. Like… it was 1987, so the pop sound makes sense but it’s really nothing particularly great. There’s a reason some of these were singles but most weren’t. If I was older when this came out I’d probably have more nostalgia about it but so far it’s not that impressive. The B side of this is actually WAY more impressive with gigantic hits like Man In The Mirror and Smooth Criminal- its a huge upswing. These songs are just better than the other ones lol. They are less pop nonsense and have a bit more meat? I dunno they just sound like they put more effort in. The last few tracks (minus the slog Can’t Stop Loving You) are MJ at his best IMO. The guy was under pressure to top Thriller and while as a whole the record is meh, the hits were what carries it into the Best Albums of All Time category. And Leave Me Alone is one of the best FUCK YOU songs ever haha. I think this record was definitely meant to appease the fans who waited 5 years after Thriller but it’s a bit boring. The videos were far more memorable than the songs.

More '80s pop I remember hating... great. Going to try to ignore that and give this an honest listen. One thing I did to stay interested was seek out an original mix version of this, learning that many of the songs on it were later remixed and/or replaced by their singles version. Glad I did. They sound like they are more stripped down, with flashier production elements either not yet inserted or left further back in the mix. Vocals also feel more balanced that own their singles where they are much too forward. It has much more of an electro vibe than I remember and I do have a better appreciation for that now vs. when this first came out. Musically I'm digging a lot of what sounds like nods to the original Motown sound. Not sure if that's all Michael or if it's Quincy's influence. Did I just hear Stevie Wonder? OK, I like that too. All in all I can say I have certainly more respect for this album than I previously did, but it's still not something that will ever be in regular rotation for my listening.

I love how you can tell which songs were singles by looking at the spotify play counts. Tracks 3-6 all have "only" double digit million plays vs the triple digit million for everything else. Once you listen to them you know why...they're not very radio friendly or, you know, good. There isn't much to say about this album that hasn't already been said. It's a pop music classic, if you were growing up or an adult in the 80's or 90's you've heard it whether you wanted to or not. I honestly don't know if this sound was invented or perfected by this album or rather, Jackson's army of producers. It does sound pretty dated though, either way. Like a really good midi file, intentionally or not. The computerized sounding basslines which were ultimately played by real bassists are impressive though. The triple slap runs in "Speed Demon" are sick. This didn't pull in the nostalgia like other radio music albums did for me. It's not bad it's just that I've heard most of this before and I don't really need to revisit it.

There are some songs on this album that warrant 5 stars but the rest is just meh.

Bad indeed Mr. Jackson, very bad indeed. Is this an overall better album than Thriller? Yeah, probably. Is Michael Jackson a disgusting and horrifying child predator who never faced true justice while he was still alive? Also yeah probably. He can fuck off. His music is good. I don't have a problem separating the art from the artist, but I've always been lukewarm when it comes to Jackson's music.

I will not be intimidated by the likes of this creep and his legacy; Bad is not Good, it’s Fine.

It's pop

Its not bad (although it is Bad), but a bit of a disappointment overall. Slickly produced and some big singles, but comes across as calculated and artistically lacking. Rating: 3/5 Playlist track: The Way You Make Me Feel Date listened: 08/04/24

Good album, could see he had fun making this album.

It’s not bad it’s good!

I voted that Hookworms album one star cos the guy was a beast but this album is actually good

Not as good, throughout, as I expected.

I thought this would be Bad but it wasn't as Bad as I thought. One or two tracks on here are cool, never heard the Stevie feature before. But Man In The Mirror is pretty painful for me.

Michael Jackson was a very talented songwriter who could write music that appealed to all types of music fans, but Thriller this ain’t. While there are some strong tracks, particularly on the second half, much of it is forgettable pop filler.

very catchy pop album with some surprisingly complex percussive and bass elements mixed in.

Cha’mon

When I think back glorious singles like Billie Jean and Thriller, and the albums of the time, I think Bad is just not up there. It really suffers from the production values of the time, making it all sound rather samey and bland to my ears. It was a massive seller at the time, so I guess popularity counts for something.

The hits are great. But a few of the other tracks felt like boring filler.

A fun pop album, with so many enduringly well-known songs. Sometimes the album felt a little too earnest, dramatic, and cheesy, especially with songs like "Man in the Mirror". It's still damn catchy and I was 100% bopping along to it, but probably not an album I'll gravitate towards very often.

Still some bangers on there..

Is my favorite MJ song on this album? Yes. Is this the best MJ album I've listened to? Definitely not

A few classics but he is a tough hang for an album that isn’t thriller

If this was like 6 songs instead of 11 it would be 5 stars

Great album , really Nice singles from this one !

King of pop is bad Killer voice, solid hit tracks But uninspired hype

A pop icone.

decent enough record, overshadowed by his legacy.

Dirty Diana stendur upp úr. Restin er slök upp upp í ágæt.

Is it blasphemous to say that 'Bad' is just alright? Or is it a relief? It could be that the production sounds dated to my ears, or maybe that the hooks aren't as bulletproof as I'd expected. MJ's vocal tricks and runs get old by the middle of the album. But the hits are Hits, and undeniable ones. I'm sure there are other MJ albums on this list. Maybe those will stick. Highlights: The Way You Make Me Feel (a perfect pop song, lukewarm review aside), Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal

grew up with this so i could probably still remember it note by note, don't like it as much as i once did but still iconic

Wimp rocker Christopher Cross released one song trying to convince us he was a true bad-arse. Here, MJ sweats for about three or four tracks with the same aim - and, alas, with much the same outcome. What a peculiar album Bad is. Two stunners, a couple of good songs and a chunk of filler that seems to occupy much of the middle of the run time. The production is horribly dated - it sounds very plastic but also very soft, so the overall sonic mouthfeel is something akin to packaging peanuts. The great songs are 'Smooth Criminal' (elite stuff here, from the overlapping whispers in the bridge to the vocal surges as the chorus approaches) and 'The Way You Make Me Feel', which trips along with a lovely light swing to proceedings. Good - the slightly overheated 'Bad', its killer chorus giving the track buoyancy, and 'Dirty Diana'. I was once in a band that did a metal version (an original concept, eh?!) of 'Dirty Diana' and playing the chorus half-time with the drummer going nuts on the double bass pedal was a lot of fun. I guess all the Jacko vocal tics are present, and you can moonwalk in your bedroom to half these songs, so it's no disaster. It's just a little disappointing.

Iconic for it's time and it would be a crime not to enjoy Michael Jackson. It's classic and timeless. I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to him but I acknowledge what an icon he was at the time.

Haven’t listened to this album in about 20 years. Surprised by how many of the rifs I now recognise from being sampled or otherwise ripped off by more contemporary artists - and this wasn’t a good thing because it showed how boring a lot of this album is (I’d rather be listening to the newer songs the album tracks remind me of, than the original). A few stand out tracks tho - Dirty Diana is a boo even if it is misogynist af, Leave Me Alone is excellent, and Smooth Criminal is classic MJ. Even Stevie Wonder can’t save the mid portion tho. Jeez.

Can't deny his talent and influence. 8 year old me would have given this a 5

The hits are awesome but the rest is meh Also sounds a bit samey

Some killer, but no Thriller.

It was fine. No thriller, but fine

Bad (not)

Following up albums like Off the Wall and Thriller is an impossible task. Maybe I just don’t know these songs as well but I just don’t think this record reaches the same heights.

Eh. Surprised how many songs I knew Sounds dated.

I tried and had to skip through. The classics are solid. But don't like having the ear worm. The super hype synth sound is cool but doesn't resonate with me. MJ still the fucking man though

Good, solid album from MJ.

Not my favourite of his, but an important piece of music history

It's ok. Can be an enjoyable listen, pop album. Nothing I go crazy for or I'd listen on my own

could i write poetry to this? n

I really want to give this a 4, but it is more like a 3.5. Some awesome tracks on this album.

A lot more filler than I remember, but the best songs hit hard.

Ok so this album sounds about what I would expect Michael Jackson at peak fame would sound like. There are good grooves and head bops in here but it was kind of boring to get through. Like we get it you have a great voice HEE HEE. Wieners: Dirty Diana will always be a 10/10 for me. It's such a great song. Losers: Most were just...? Kind of boring. Liberian Girl was such a drag.

God pop-plade! Meget lidt filler selvom det ikke alt sammen lige er min stil. Smooth Criminal stadig en kæmpe banger.

Only a few songs I really like

They don’t call him the king of pop for nothing. Too bad he turned out to be awful human being. 3 stars

The quality of production is outstanding but overall I didn't like this album half as much as Thriller or Off the Wall. Bad, Smooth Criminal and Dirty Diana are great hits, but the rest of them are just average.

3/5

Some classics but overall an average album.

The singles/standout tracks are fantastic, the rest of the album is just fine. Highlights: The Way You Make Me Feel, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal.

Never found out if Annie was okay 3/5

Banging singles. The rest not so much.

Best Songs: The Way You Make Me Feel, Just Good Friends Listen Again: Maybe

Disappointing, to be honest. A lot of this era of Jackson seems to sum up the very worst of the 80s (musically, I'm glossing over the fact that he summed up the very worst of any generation away from the microphone). Over-produced, style-over-substance and far too slick. The singles are great in a way, because they take you to classic discos and it's hard not to enjoy that, but it's only really on songs like Dirty Diana and Leave Me Alone that he gets any kind of true feeling or grit into what's basically the pinnacle of corporate muzak.

It’s not bad (lol), but aside from a few standouts, I found the album kind of boring and repetitive. Kind of a tough one to rate - I enjoyed it more than several other albums I’ve given 3s to, but not quite enough to give it a 4… 3.5. Highlights: Smooth Criminal, Bad

I had this tape as a kid. Plus, I had "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" on vinyl. I loved this shit when I first got into music. But it's a bit bizarre listening to this album now. Obviously, the well known tracks are bangers. "Man in the Mirror" is a classic. "Bad" has a great beat. "The Way You Make Me Feel" is a cheesy 80s fun. And "Smooth Criminal" fucking slaps. But the rest of this record is almost embarrassingly shite. How can anybody listen to "Speed Demon" and not question the mental health of everybody involved? How did the creepiness of "Liberian Girl" not land MJ on the sex offenders register? How can anybody listen to the vocals in "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" and wonder if music might just be a net negative to society? Clearly, Michael Jackson's hits are worthy of recognition, even if they've all been played to death. But the tracks that fill out his albums are mostly bottom-of-the-barrel sludge. Plus, his trademark grunts & hiccups have aged like old milk.....mixed with cat piss. Does 4 great songs out of 11 give an album "classic" status? I'm not sure it does in my book. 🤔 ✌️❤️

Пчоу! Айу! Шамоуна! Апчехш! Уфф! Ау!! Хууу! Дах!

It's no Thriller

Pois un disco de Michael Jackson, a verdade gustoume máis do que esperaba

This album has a bunch of Michael’s Jackson’s staples. Besides that a lot of the other songs don’t really make the same impact even though they stick with the flow of the album. 3.33

inconsistant - some classic songs surrounded by filler

Smooth criminal is great. Speed demon was actually pretty cool - never heard that one. Not the best MJ record but has some classics.

The hits are hits for a reason. Others are just boring filler.

That was good, good enough for 4* ? Nope, high 3*

This has to be one of the most 80s sounding records ever -- every single noise on "The Way You Make Me Feel" is almost parody level. The drum machines, synthesizer sounds, bass tones, it's honestly pretty incredible how dated this sounds. Obviously knew the first two tracks pretty well -- absolutely massive hits. "Speed Demon" was kinda fun, kinda almost a novelty song. Don't know what to think about Liberian girl -- had an interesting groove to it. "Man in the Mirror" -- I vividly remember watching this music video in like a middle school gymnasium anti-bullying assembly. Song is fine. "Smooth Criminal" is the best song on the album. Annie are you ok? I admittedly don't know much about like Michael Jackson chronology, if you would have asked me I think I would have thought "Smooth Criminal" was an earlier song and "Man in the Mirror" was a later stage almost sympathy #1 hit like "oh yea, michael's still got it!" The amount of hits that I know every word to, without being particularly a Michael Jackson fan, is no doubt impressive. (And I don't really want to get into All That Other Stuff). And this album without a doubt deserves to be one of the 1001 Albums to listen to before you shed this mortal coil. But I don't think it has quite the timeless quality that "Thriller" has, of course a high bar. Can't really see myself throwing this one too often.

Some fun ones. Very Motown.

I don’t think I ever listened to this all the way through. Loved man in the mirror and thought Liberian girl was groovy. What a good voice and just great grooves.

What a classic album. I loved the songs; the way you make me feel and bad. I REALLY love man in the mirror. Such a good message and it always gets stuck in my head. I see why so many people like him but he isn’t a top artist for me. I’d go back to listen to those individual songs but I probably won’t ever listen to the album as a whole again

hard to record an album after Thriller. Not bad, ahah.

Bad is obviously iconic, it has some great beats. It’s more 80s synthy than I remembered. The middle of the album is weak but it picks up at the end. Jackson’s 2 best songs are Man in the Mirror and Smooth Criminal. Leave Me Alone is a good closer 6.7/10

How do you follow up an album like Thriller? Regardless of his musical ambitions, it's so hard to step out of the shadow of the cultural impact of an album like that (which I also feel is far from perfect despite having quite a few perfect songs). Bad is serviceable, but frequently kind of boring? I love the title track, The Way You Make Me Feel, and Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal, but a lot of the rest is underwhelming and kind of kitschy somehow (MITM works despite this fwiw). Influential sure, but a little light on the substance for me. Maybe MJ is a singles artist after all? Favourite tracks: Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Man in the Mirror, Smooth Criminal

listened 2x for first time for me. first couple of tracks are good, along with smooth criminal. besides that, not really a fan. 2.6/5 only because of smooth criminal

Some good tracks

It's still Michael Jackson, which means that it's impossible to be a bad album (yeah...yeah), but it's far from his best, and it's still a bit repetitive for my 2023 ears.

Lots of songs I'm familiar with, but it's not singing to me. I actually prefer the covers of songs like Smooth Criminal and Man in the Mirror than the originals on this LP.

the hits hit but the others feel a little dated :/

There’s three absolute bangers on this. But like other Michael Jackson albums there’s at least one that’s godawful. (For me that’s Liberian Girl.) The rest of the album is fun. But those great songs are phenomenal. 3.5/5

If “Thriller” felt inevitable, then “Bad” had to prove itself. How would/could Michael Jackson follow up what was already fast becoming not only a bestseller but THE bestseller? Jackson doubled down on the formula that made him a star since childhood—bright, danceable pop music with hooks for days. He sold us on his brand of mainstream pop music even while hinting at danger from the opening bars of the title track, a signature smash from first listen: “Your butt is mine…” Other flashes of darkness were also wrapped in expert R&B/Rock/Dance arrangements, namely soon-to-be-classics “Dirty Diana” and “Smooth Criminal.” Jackson remains a globally-embraced artist because, for all his ambition, he manages to succeed in delivering the goods. His career-defining philosophical statement, “Man in the Mirror,” is as sincerely moving 37 years later. Despite what we know about Jackson’s personal struggles and all the criticism we could level at him (including the irony of this track), “Mirror” continues to defy cynicism: the key change @ 2.52 lifts an already lifted melody; the celebratory whoops and “na-na-nas” @3.36 are like cheat-codes to levels we didn’t know was available. Jackson sang “Leave Me Alone,” and maybe we should’ve listened, but it’s too late for that now. Whatever you think about him or his music, nobody can deny he’s cast in bronze and his music is legend. “Bad,” the wildly impossible follow up to the impossibly successful “Thriller,” is a big reason why.

"Bad" and "Smooth Criminal" are by far the best songs on this album. By far.

Like Bad, Smooth Criminal; everything else’s okay.

His vocal styling and drama he puts into it is strong and carries the mediocre synth music.

Although this album has quite a number of Michael's hit singles, I found it less creative and interesting as previous albums, such as Thriller. Although I enjoyed listening to the album, I found it very much a product of pure commercial tracks aimed to maximise sales, rather than a creative album.

Probably MJs second best album after Thriller. Lots of great songs and beats. 3

man in the mirror and smooth criminal slap hard. others cannot be critically reviewed by me

This album is like a time capsule of pop music from the 80s. It reeks of its sound. Other than that, it’s mostly just a weird 80s pop record. Didn’t age too well.

Good album but totally over produced. MJ’s squeaks, gasps, woots and hee-hees wear thin quickly. I find it difficult to take his songs about women seriously given his reported proclivities and Speed Demon is just ridiculous. Still there are bunch of hits on this album, hence the score.

Man in the mirror seems to be relevant

Some classics, of course. Non-singles are generally a bit crap though.

Ah, the King! I don’t have much nostalgia for MJ, but can say I definitely enjoy a majority of the songs. Been looking for a way to get more familiar with some of his work. I’m surprised by how many I know but wasn’t aware they were from him. Easy to listen, many will put me in a good mood, no matter what kind of music I want to listen to. Favorite tracks: Bad and Smooth Criminal

well produced. not my style

Great pop album by a weird man.

Some good singles but a lot of the songs are forgettable.

its michael jackson what should i say babes extremely famous album with amazing songs on it

Michael Jackson. Doing MJ things. Couple of HUGE tunes on here, but also some absolute stinkers. And of course, the elephant in the room makes it hard to separate the art from the artist. But in general, it’s not a great album, it’s just ok. The classics stand up well as you would expect - Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Dirty Diana and Smooth Criminal but the rest feels an awful lot like very average filler tunes.

First time finding myself having a hard time separating the art from the artist. Not a bad album but what a mess of a human.

All the hits

Bad is weird. while it's not bad (even though it is), it really doesn't feel all that good either. it really doesn't shine very well in comparison to thriller, or even off the wall. smooth criminal is obviously the highlight and only song I'd call thriller-tier. Bad (song) actually isn't that bad (even though it also is). The rest is memorable (dirty diana, speed demon, man in the mirror) but it's just like. sure. this exists. I'd rather just listen to thriller. still not bad (even though it is?) I'd see why someone would call this bad. though I do also not see how you wouldn't call it bad. where am i

p580. 1987. 3 stars Well, there's no denying he could knock out a tune - this is packed with hits - and Man In The Mirror is possibly the best thing he did. Vocally he's on top form, but set against that is the dated production and an awful lot of filler. And I can't shake off the embarrassment of listening to music made by a child molester.

No while this album is Bad, I wouldn't say it's bad. But it definitely isn't great. The second half stands out for sure.

The hits are hits. The rest is meh. I did like "Librarian Girl".

The songs sound quite dated and there are a few pretty shite tracks. The hits are rather good however. Trying to seperate art from artist is always tough, especially when the album was released seemingly before he went 'bad'. 2.5/5

Good music overshadowed by a disgraced legacy. I knew eventually I'd have to encounter a review like this, and still not sure where I land on the whole thing. I considered not rating this at all, but I think I'll just try not to overthink it and give an honest rating. There are some great pop songs here. I do prefer the production on the two previous albums, but the hits are pretty strong. Three stars. Fave track: The Way You Make Me Feel

The hits are there! About three of the songs were unknown to me. Not bad but they weren't anything special.

I see why the hits were the hits

The songs "Bad" and "The Way You Make Me Feel" are okay. The rest I can live without. Overall, a very dated 80s sound. Far from a timeless sound like, for example, Simon & Garfunkel. 2.5-3 stars

There are absolutely great songs on here like Smooth Criminal, and I cannot deny that, but everything here feels incredibly aged, for mostly worse, and the fact that the best song (Leave Me Alone) isn't even on the original track listening is kind of the final straw that makes this album feel incredibly mediocre. 2.5, round up to a 3.

Bad was good. all the hits

I heard most of these songs as singled on the radio.

Top-notch production, top-notch pop, though much of it definitely sounds dated. Looking forward to some of his other works.

Not my favoirite of his but still je of his best

HEE HEE. Actually pretty good. Not great, but definitely not Bad. Talk about clickbait. Do better Michael Jackson, I know you're reading this. Yaddi-yadda, insert eight paragraphs here about Michael Jackson being a questionable guy. Who cares. I know all of you fuckers writing college essays in the reviews pull out the nastiest bop of all time when "Billie Jean" comes on at the club.

When you reach the heights that MJ did, even an album made after you’ve begun your downward slide is pretty great. This has some hits and some filler and some garbage, but it’s just past peak Michael Jackson.

It's not BAD but it's no Thriller.

Hit power gives way to star power on Bad. The tracklist feels a bit stretched, and there's less spectacle for Michael's ad-libs to hide behind. Perfectly controlled, perfectly unique, but one such record among many.

Good pop album with a lot of good songs

Well not being a great fan of Mr Jackson, I surprised myself that I enjoyed this. I prefer the earlier stuff but the production and gutsy sound are both clever and stimulating.

Yes

Not bad!

already heard it

Good but not my favorite MJ album. I think thriller and off the wall are better but it’s still solid

It’s alright

Not a Michael Jackson fan but I did like a few. Top Tracks: 1) Liberian girl 2) Smooth Criminal 3) I just can’t stop loving you

wore out the cassette of this when i was like 7; really struggled to listen to it straight through now, partly b/c of, you know, and partly because this is just very dated now; really, smooth criminal is the only one that really still stands up. leave me alone is ok too.

Not for me, I guess. MJ's talent is undoubtable, and his performance is super energetic. But there's just too many songs on the record, which are "just there". So Bad and Smooth Criminal remain the standouts.

Take a stick and smash it repeatedly on a metal garbage can. You've just nailed the recurring sound of Bad. It's bad. The songs are just weird and the producer appears to have just unboxed a new synthesiser. Every track, any moment of breathing space, is filled with a wacky sound effect or slice of novelty nonsense. I actually bought this in 1987 and thought I'd arrived as a serious cultural thought leader. Today, I'd like to apologise to that young man, 30 years too late.

If I liked this type of music more I would give it a 4.

Hard to ignore the cliche and connotations of these songs. Although some songs undeniably good.

I liked the sounds. There were some good song but won't be rushing back to listen anytime soon.

Honestly, this album did not age well. The synthesizers sound like a parody of themselves, with effects reminiscent of my 1990s childhood Casio's demo song. Many of the lyrics are cheesy beyond redemption, and the ballads are straight up unlistenable. And after relistening to the masterpiece that is Thriller, which truly stands the test of time, it's even worse. If it weren't for some classic hits, I'd rate this a little lower.

Bookended by two great songs, the rest of the album is.. okay. It's not my favorite MJ album, but still alright.

Fun album with amazing vocals

My appreciation for Michael Jackson's abilities as an artist has grown as I've gotten older. When he was alive, his music always seemed over-hyped and over-shadowed by his personal life—you know, things like allegations of assault and molestation against children. But, if I separate the art from the artist, it's difficult to deny how talented he and his bandmates were. I can't help but wonder what the scene would look like if he were still here creating music today. Standout track moments for me include: Bad's bass throughout, Liberian Girl's subtle Xylophone accompaniment and smooth bass progression, and Dirty Diana's powerful electric riffs and solos. The synthesizer and sampling throughout the album are also nothing short of classic. And then of course, there's his signature scats, vocal tics, and flourishes—they may have been overused at the time of release, but they're fun and bring a smile to my face now. I've listened to this album before, but there's several tracks I had no memory of—clearly a sign the entire album didn't make a huge impact on me. I'll probably listen to this again in a few years and think the same thing. While the aforementioned tracks stand out in their own way, the album seems to be a collection of independent songs, not anything cohesive.

If you can separate the art from the artist, some of these songs are pretty good. I mean, I prefer the Weird Al version whenever that's an option, but the originals ain't bad. 3.5. Apparently I hate whole numbers and refuse to acclimate to this 1-5 scale.

Michael Jackson-Bad I thought i knew all the songs but I was surprised I didn’t know/ remember a couple. Great album but I didn’t love every song.

Not really an MJ fan but I get why people like it.

A strange listen - I'd loved this album as a kid, but had forgotten half of it. Some parts - like the speed metal kick drums on Speed Demon and the funk stabs on just another part of me, were fun, and it almost reminded me of Zappa in terms of orchestration, but it also felt quite bloodless. Smooth Criminal and Bad and pop anthems, but elsewhere you see the signs of boredom and paranoia. I can't listen to Man in the Mirror without thinking of Patrick Bateman. By the end of the album I'm a bit tired of the same adlibs and hiccups on every song. I can't say it's a great album, but it's very unusual to listen to in retrospect. I feel like everyone should listen once, but I can't say I'm itching to go back to it.

I've never been a big fan of Michael's music, but I've never hated it either. If I was going to listen to one of his albums, I think this is the one. It's very polished and has some great grooves. Parts of it reminded my of Stevie Wonder, who I love, and then I was pleasantly surprised to hear a song featuring Stevie. Overall pretty good listen. 3 stars.

Politics aside, this is really a mixed album. The singles are massive and still stand up very well now. However, some of the album tracks really drag down the overall rating. The highs are really high, but the lows really low.

Dont really like michael jackson but its fine

Clearly doesn't hold up as well as Off The Wall or Thriller. I suspected as such. It was loaded with hits that basically rode the magic residue leftover from the Thriller era, but in hindsight sound dated. ”Hey pretty baby with the high heels on" doesn't work as a pickup line, especially from an alleged child molester. MJ protests a little too much with songs like" Leave Me Alone", and he clearly had no intention of taking his own advice singing" Man In The Mirror". It's fitting that the one solid legacy track from the album is "Smooth Criminal", a song that's built around what CPR students say to the Resusci Annie, which makes me suspect MJ didn't take a CPR class until he was in his 30's, and he probably only took a class to hang out with young boys. Smooth Criminal is the one truly solid banger here. Anything Michael released as a follow up to Thriller was going to be huge. This is where his weirdness finally started catching up with him. It's sad for many reasons. But I can still listen to Off The Wall and Thriller repeatedly without a concern for MJ's extra curricular activities. Those albums are that great. This album is where you start to hear all the whispers that would eventually become too loud to ignore.

I was never the biggest MJ fan, and have never listened to Bad in full before. When it started I thought, yeah these first two tracks are great if this carries on I'm going to love this. But it didn't really carry on and after a while, all of Jacko's vocal ticks and affectations started to annoy me.

Following Thriller, a timeless classic wasn’t easy. Listening back Bad sounds dated now. The title track borders on comical, sounding like a cartoon soundtrack.

I like the hits on this one

This definitely has a different sound than Thriller, which I like in some of the songs, but I generally prefer the style of Thriller. Still some good songs, but I am indifferent to too many of them to give this a four. My favourite songs were Leave Me Alone and Smooth Criminal.

One of the greatest songs of all time is on this album. I'll let you guess what one I'm referring to.

It has some undoubted tunes on it, but MJ's schtick hasnt aged as well as some others of this era

Memorable primary school joke - Q. "Why did Michael Jackson call his album Bad" A. "Because he couldn't spell terrible" Clearly, it's not terrible, but for one of the biggest selling albums of all time, it's not amazing either. Smooth Criminal is a banger, but that aside, there's a lot of over-engineered generic 80s pop here.

I liked Thriller better than Bad, but neither were my type of music. I recognize the significance of this album and it's influence on music and culture.

If this album had been put out by Michael Johnson, not Michael Jackson, I don't think it would have got nearly as much airplay. That's not to say that it's bad. It's not. But it's not great either. At most it's 4 stars. But I think it's really closer to 3.5, and given the "overhype", I'm rounding down.

3 Stars This is so thriller but it's also no dangerous.

Not fly bag, but not bad. Smooth Criminal is pretty awesome

Incredible and unique voice, he was truly a Master of his craft. The music is just too profoundly 80s for me.

They were ok and catchy but not the genre I like listening to.

TBH it's really really bad. Okay pun out of the way - I think it falls short of Thriller by quite a bit. A lot of the songs just aren't all that catchy or just have a very strange subject it's written about. 6/10

its good but not much more the highs are high and the lows are low the album is very dated and just doesnt have the hits to back it up with.

Favourite song: The Way You Make Me Feel

Difficult to review this one. Half of the album is made up of big hits that I can appreciate the quality of. The other half of the album is made up of what could only be described as filler, nothing stands out as anything other than that. It made me wonder if the bad tracks on Bad are there simply to make up the running time, maybe they're not as bad as I thought and just haven't had the airplay that the other tracks get, or maybe it's part of the whole MJ song writing. Maybe there's always going to be failures to sit alongside the huge hits?

there’s some real shit on here and even the best songs are fucked up by bad choices but it’s still a pretty impressive late Empire artifact

Almost forgot it was playing for the first half. It's not bad, though.

Not bad actually. Pretty good. Maybe like 3.5ish.

plástico. no tiene la misma onda que sus discos anteriores.

Michael Jackson put some great effort in his albums, more than we tend to think, but he'll mostly be remembered for this powerful singles. He's a singles artist, whether he liked it or not. And so it goes for 'Bad' which might be one of his best albums. But I only really care for Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel and Smooth Criminal - three powerful singles, accompanied by more mediocre tracks. Hence I give Bad as an album an average rating.

I don't think it's ever been a particularly great album, just 'good', and it's not really aged any better than that

There are lots of good hits on this album. Past those hits though, I was reminded why I don't listen to too many of his songs in a row. Lots of vocal tics. Now I know he is an amazing writer and performer. He has more talent than so many. Still.

Four of the tracks on this album were featured on Glee (Bad, Man In The Mirror, Smooth Criminal, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You) And two of the Glee versions were better (Bad and Smooth Criminal) The great tracks on this album are excellent pop songs, and hits for a reason. The rest just feels like weak filler. Best tracks: The Way You Make Me Feel, Man In The Mirror, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You, Dirty Diana Worst tracks: Liberian Girl (wtf), Just Good Friends, Another Part of Me

I was surprised that this wasn't better. A lot of the non-singles aren't that great. Speed Demon in particular made my eyebrow raise. The title track and Man In The Mirror are pop gold. The other big single, The Way You Make Me Feel is one of my least favorite MJ singles. I don't get the appeal. Not terrible by any means but not nearly on the level of Thriller or even Off The Wall.

classic Mike.

Hooooooo, Sha moon, cha. Shot da bita.

This is supposed to be the album where he moves away from the high pitched vocals but there are still a few too many high pitched “woo”s for my taste.

Average

Bad is great, Man in the Mirror is kinda lame but still good, Smooth Criminal is awesome, the only track I wasn’t already familiar with that struck me was Dirty Diana, which was also kinda lame but at least it was interesting. Everything else here is kinda just meh or just straight up bad. Liberian Girl was awful, Just Can’t Stop Loving you was boring trash. This is the second MJ album I’ve been served up in the last week and I’m starting to think it was more about the live acts than the albums, though I haven’t got to Thriller yet. This was whatever 2.5 rounded to a generous 3 stars

grand

Heee-heeeee! My overriding memory of this album is from listening to it as a (roughly) 6-7 year old. My brother had it on cassette, and I remember us playing it while jumping up and down on our beds together. Fun times! A lot of these songs do sound dated now, but you can't deny MJ is a really talented song-writer. There's some great songs on here and the hit ratio is really high. 3.5 / 5 rounded down.

I have never listened to a Michael Jackson album. Ok, I knew most of the songs on this album. Good but I would almost never pick this album to listen to. 3/5

It’s all fine, the hits are about as good (which is not to say great) as they were back in the day, but this still feels massively over-engineered, as perhaps befits a mega-star for the masses. The stompy/chompy synths and breathless vocals on nearly every song really mark the long-gone-by moment, as do the squelchy-screechy guitars (and don’t forget the occasional laser beam, in case there wasn’t enough going on for you). The problem is that so many of the songs are either mediocre or lame. Steve Wonder can’t save “Just Good Friends.” And do “Liberian Girl” and “Dirty Diana” need trigger warnings for our day and age? Give me Off the Wall and Thriller (and in that order) if MJ is required listening.

How to rate the album I loved most in the world aged 8 now we’re in 2026 Well it sounds incredibly dated in places But it does still contain some incredible songs (Smooth Criminal probably stands the test of time best of all) But it’s really impossible to enjoy an MJ album anymore now we know he was at best guilty of inappropriate relationships with young boys, and at worst guilty of unspeakable acts Probably just best to leave it as 8 year old me loved it as much as MJ would have loved 8 year old me

I forgot how many duds were on this one

"Bad" by Michael Jackson is a decent album, but it falls short of the brilliance of "Thriller." While there are some standout tracks on the album, overall I would give it a 3 out of 5 rating. To be fair, "Bad" had some big shoes to fill, coming on the heels of one of the best-selling albums of all time. While there are moments of brilliance, like the funky title track and the uplifting "Man in the Mirror," there are also a few forgettable tracks that don't quite measure up. The production on the album is solid, with Quincy Jones once again lending his talents to create a polished, radio-friendly sound. The instrumentation is tight, with a mix of synths, guitars, and horns that gives the album a distinctive '80s pop sound. Despite these strengths, there are a few things that hold "Bad" back. For one thing, the album is a bit bloated, with 11 tracks that feel a bit repetitive at times. Additionally, while Jackson's vocals are as impressive as ever, there's a certain sameness to his delivery that can make some of the songs blur together. Comparing "Bad" to "Thriller" is inevitable, and unfortunately, "Bad" falls short in a few key areas. While "Thriller" was a masterpiece of pop craftsmanship, "Bad" feels more like a collection of catchy but forgettable singles. That being said, for fans of Michael Jackson or '80s pop in general, "Bad" is still worth a listen - just don't expect it to live up to the hype of its predecessor.

extremely 80s with some legendary songs. cool to see who The Weeknd modeled after. Kind of a lot of MJ for a single sitting. 3.5/5

Thriller this is not. Definitely an uneven outing to my ears. A few classic songs that are great, but the overall vibe and feel of this album is peaks and valleys. Not for me by any means.

Skipped. RRKW

phew. there are like 10/12 songs on here that i would consider formative pop hits for me. i can sing most of them from heart. i don't know what michael jackson actually did. the things i have read and seen are damning. i can't ever listen to michael jackson the same way.

Can't separate the art from the artist with this guy anymore.

Mid michael

Ei sisällä mitään Thrillerin tavalla maata järisyttävää, mutta tämä on joko melko tasainen kokonaisuus, tai sitten hitit on ripoteltu juuri oikeisiin kohtiin. Ja esim. Man in the Mirror on biisi, jonka kertosäe vaikuttaa ensi kierrolla yhdentekevältä, mutta jo toisella kerralla saa laulamaan mukana. En edes anna tällä kertaa miinusta kasarituotannosta, joka ärsyttävästi jopa toimii.

There are some catchy pop songs in here along with Dirty Diana (my favourite MJ song), but the everything else is garbage. Scrapes a 3.

The hits are great but the songs that were new to me were just kinda, well.... Standout Track: Dirty Diana

A good album, not great. For all the famous songs, the other stuff in between is a waste of time and nothing but filler, so probably a 3, because even the best tracks aren't Jackson's best.

I don't quite know what to think of this... on one hand it's got some of my favourite MJ songs on it (Dirty Diana, Man In The Mirror, and Smooth Criminal), on the other it flips between so many different styles that it feels almost more like a greatest hits album with the lack of coherence. Plus, outside the songs I already knew (which tbf is half the album), it's not great - there's this horrible run from Speed Demon through to Another Part of Me which was really not good. And Leave Me Alone at the end was pretty bad too. 3/5, feels a bit harsh but the bad bits were really bad.

Nothing to really write home about in regards to this album. Actually a pretty boring listen if I’m being brutally honest. This project was released 5 years after Thriller and it takes a step back. There’s little to no musical expansion in comparison to Thriller, just Quincy Jones and his redundant drum machines that begin to fall out of touch in this musical time period. I understand the perception of Michael Jackson, however this is not the first album I’m showing people if they’re new to him. I will say it’s nice you can dance to this album!

Pretty good album just a bit dramatic.

It was... okay, a few good song but most of them I didn't enjoy.

I'll be honest, the first time I listened near in full was in high school and I was probably about 14 or 15. My parents were never really big fans and because of a horrible group project, I can never listen to Billie Jean ever again. I'd say the album is fine, it doesn't have Billie Jean on it so it makes it okay in my book.

You feel the Quincy Jones production throughout. Liberian Girl is my favourite, not keen on some of the backing vocals.

Good

Classic Michael Jackson.

For 80s some of it wasn’t horrible

Some of the first half is comically bad. Bad itself sounds hilariously ironic because it's so twee and preppy - and librarian girl is just baffling. But the second half picks it up a lot, with some seriously good catchy pop hits. A weird one

The hits still bang but it's hard to separate the art from the artist

Terror inducing flashbacks to high school choir singing Man in the Mirror. Otherwise a great album.

Obviously this album's singles are some of the defining songs of the 80s but the deep cuts are extremely cookie cutter and I'm just not an MJ gal at heart

Best songs: Bad, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, Leave me alone

A decent Jackson LP that suffers a tad from the track ordering. Putting the uptempo heavy hitters (especially the title track) up first before stacking all the ballad-pace songs in the middle means the energy seems to peter out. Luckily the instrumentals don’t suffer from datedness, and Michael’s killer vocals do save even the slowest track from being too boring.

As always, I am torn. Great album, but sheesh.

Flipping heck this is like getting punched in the face by pop. The vocal ticks and staccato verge on the disturbing at some points. Whole thing was unnerving

Overall this one was a mixed bag. The best songs were really catchy and had memorable choruses, but there were a handful of songs that were very boring in comparison and felt like filler. Would've enjoyed the whole album much more if they trimmed some of that down. Also there were a couple of songs where it almost seemed like the vocals were being drowned out by everything else, which is weird considering they should be the focal point of the album

Hard to listen to a pedophile

Still wondering if annie is okay. Conflicted because what’s good is good and what’s not good is bad (ba dum tss). 3.25

Happy to listen to something I mostly know. Classic MJ.

Heard it before. Many iconic songs.

This is pretty standard Michael Jackson. The hooks for a lot of the songs were pretty good, but what was in between got a bit dull, with the background (particularly the percussion) leaving something to be desired. Bad and Smooth Criminal were songs I already knew and liked. Dirty Diana was the standout of songs I didn't already know. MJ is a talented singer of course, I didn't care for some of his weird vocal stuff, but the harmonies were pretty good in general.

it's crazy how dated this sounds compared to thriller. also, he didn't fuck those kids, no matter how much you losers wish he did.

Sämre än hans annat

Good pop as expected but the production has not aged as gracefully and the album as a whole is not as strong as his previous two

Honestly? It's only okay, MJ was a hit maker but overall I think he had more duds than good songs, still a decent album though

Épico tema.. a Megamente le gusta mucho.

A mislim meni je okej album, ne bi si pustio sad ovako. Ali ima hitova i to je najjače na albumu.

its closer to a 4, but the slower songs drag it down. liberian girl is boring, but leave me alone kicks like a lions mane. i dont know, he sings good. he also sits around on his hands on these slow tracks. bops only please.

Obviously a classic and it keeps the energy going all the way through, even with the slower songs which is commendable. I've never considered myself much of a Michael Jackson fan and I don't go out of my way to listen to his music but I admit I found this album enjoyable, especially to listen to while I'm working. My personal favourite tracks (in no particular order): Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, and Leave Me Alone. 3.5

Nolan are you okay, are you okay, are you okay Nolan? Nolan: Yuh

i think thriller is the superior MJ album but this one has a lot of good singles. never listened to the album all the way through. nothing stood out besides the popular ones we all already know.

Michael still is a great performer and talented singer, but the album itself is held back by some really questionable instrumentation/recording decisions. In particular, I don't like the way the synth bass sounds at all. Sometimes it can fit well on certain tracks (Another Part of Me almost sounds chiptune-esque and works well with it), but on others it sounds so out of place (The Way You Make Me Feel and Liberian Girl. The constant thunk of the snare on 2 and 4 also gets old quickly. It's not bad overall though and has some classics even if they sound dated today. Smooth Criminal single handedly bumps it up a star.

Don’t care for this albumsmusic but the supporting videos are very interesting

I mean, the hits are the hits and you can't really argue with them. But the deep cuts are forgotten for a reason. They're not great. They're not even good, really. You might even say they're... Bad. But the album, as a whole, isn't bad. I mean, it's "Bad" but it's not bad... You know what I'm saying.

+thumpy bass +classics +lot of texture +vocal range of mj -dated sounding at points -front half sounds too similar -sonic music? Fav - smooth criminal Least - Liberian girl

This is an album that represents the launch of an entire era of music. It is highly significant in that context and some songs were a massive departure from everything before and landed solidly in the late 80's-- particularly Bad, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal, and Leave me Alone exemplify this. Off the Wall and of course Thriller had set these wheels in motion, and in many ways, it is Thriller that is the standout for originality and shapeshifting music thinking. But it's also really important to remember that by the time this album had come out, a lot of the 80's sounds had already been codified. And Michael Jackson had been playing quite a long time and had witnessed firsthand the role of the black American musician that started in RnB and rock and roll in the 50's push into these new areas-- and Jackson was able to move with it transcending the chorus of voices of his siblings into the rockstar and international pop sensation-- something unparalleled in black music at the time. Bad is a solid album although it is not as pleasing to hear now that so many years have passed and styles have frayed.

Dirty Diana! Can I get a high-pitched 'He! He!'? Wondering if Librarian Girl and Dirty Diana are the same person. You know, librarian by day, moonlighting as dirty Diana when the lights are turned out? Dirty Diana is Bad, and is probably also the Smooth Criminal. Oh, wait. Hold on, That's Liberian Girl, so I guess she's a staunch devotee of Rand Paul, then? Not sure what politics has to do with this album, but whatevvs. This album Bad, is uhh, badly showing its age. Thankfully there's some songs on this that have been immortalized by youth and still makes for an interesting drive down memory lane. "He! He!"

Y’all have captured all of my feelings in your reviews. Nothing more to add.

4-star album (too much unremarkable filler like Speed Demon, Liberian Girl, Another Part of Me and MJs ballads like I Just Can't Stop Loving You are really not my thing), but the real question is do I give it 4 stars when I can't hear a Michael Jackson song without thinking about the allegations of abuse? My ability to listen to his music is tainted. Lose a star.

This album has some classics and sounds dated at the same time. I remember Casey Casem telling the story on American Top 40 behind MJ’s dedication of Man In The Mirror to a 5 year old Japanese boy, Yoshiaki Hagiwara, who was kidnapped and eventually murdered. See, MJ cared for children. Wait…you say the next liner note is “I will always love you. Michael Jackson.” Well yes…that is a bit forward of MJ for having never met young Yoshiaki. I feel like that is a bit creepy, but maybe MJ was just super empathetic…🤷🏽‍♀️ Ummm…I told myself I was going to avoid the MJ/children angle and focus on the music. But then I remembered Casey Casem telling the Yoshiaki story. How in the hell do I remember that?!? Back to the music… Man In The Mirror is a great song. Other highlights include The Way You Make Me Feel, Dirty Diana, and Smooth Criminal. However, along with the highs are flat numbers like Just Good Friends and Liberian Girl. I still can’t figure LG out. It’s strange.

In my opinion, there are three really good songs in this album, and the rest are decent to... bad.

The hits were good, but I didn’t really like every track on this album

Not too bad, though a few too many slow and sappy songs for me to enjoy the whole thing. Bad and Smooth Criminal are both groovy classics though. Favourite: Bad

I'm listening to the 2012 remaster and what in the parted buttocks has been done to this? The levels are dismal. His backing vocals are more prominent. The hi-hat synths are uncomfortably prominent and genuinely, I'm afraid I almost can't listen to it. What on earth was the producer thinking? The way you make me feel isn't quite as bad as Bad. But it still reeks of terrible remastering. Thinking it couldn't possibly be such inept remixing, I checked out the video on YouTube, and it actually is terrible. The album - well. It's Michael Jackson. He done had problems. He was insanely talented in ways that very, very few people could hope to match. But he had problems, and the resolutions of which were insulated from him by vast amounts of money. Album has to get a 3.

3.5 stars. Not my favorite era of MJ. Honestly would be 3 stars if not for Smooth Criminal

Good album, but not the best MJ album. So many tracks that I would skip if I had this playing outside of this list.

Could have just been my mood, but this effort sounds really dated to me and not MJ's best work. Even the hits were not his best. I can't see myself reaching for this album ever again. He was an amazing musician so feels wrong to go below a 3 but I'm genuinely inclined to go 2 on it.

I don't get it

Pretty much peak 80’s.