Bad

Three songs and I was already over all his grunts and "hee-hee" vocal tics.

Oh Christ. Yes, nonce etc. Look, we all know. I was a kid when this came out so I already know what I'm in for here. Pre listen I think The Way You Make me Feel is going to be the only thing salvageable from this, and the aforementioned key change in Man in the Mirror. Ah no wait, Smooth Criminal is here too. And I just can't stop loving you, I remember that's a piece of pure pop goodness. There's definitely going to be high levels of cringe here the rest of the time. One to listen to on headphones because noone else must know what I am doing. Listening back I of course remember every song, Liberian Girl (onomatopoeia onomatopoeia, bend away), all the album tracks. They don't age well. Oh jeez, that run of tracks 3-7. And Man in the Mirror is Jackson cheese pop central. I remember thinking Dirty Diana was shit when I was 8 and I salute you 8 year old me, you had good taste. Apart from Steve Stevens guitar at the end. So yeah, 3 good songs that remain good. And a whole lot of arse to wade through, best left in the 80s.

I read that MJ wanted a harder, edgier sound and approached some Metal guitarists in that regard. In the end, he got Steve Stevens, but on only one song, "Dirty Diana", which is too bad, because it really changes the feel of the music, in a positive way, as Eddy VH did on Beat It. The song after "Smooth Criminal", I also like, but Bad's hits fall short of the bar he had set for himself on Thriller, and the ballads are lethal.

I know he sold a shit-ton of this record, but I don't think it comes close to Thriller. There are two decent songs here, the title track and Smooth Criminal, the rest is a slog to get thru.

Great name for the album

Not his best work.

Mulla on tämä ja en pidä! Paitsi onhan nää biisit tarttuvia

I've heard most of the songs on this album before, so I just went with those tracks that did not air on mainstream radio. Of those, the only one I liked was "Another Part of Me" ... otherwise I'd call the rest skip tracks. I still don't like "Dirty Diana" -- the chorus kinda pounds away at the senses. The best song here is "Smooth Criminal" ... by far the best music, best bass line, best lyrics, best singing.

Kiddy fidler

Aside from the popular songs off this album, I didn’t care for it much.

Eh 2.5

The production on this album isn't my favorite, which kept me from enjoying a lot of the songs. Shout out to "The Way You Make Me Feel"

Should have been called Filler.

incredibly mid. like one song that caught my attention

PREFS : Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Leave Me Alone MOINS PREF : Dirty Diana

i wasn't expecting the production to sound so dated i dunno it doesn't do it for me really "smooth criminal" is still pretty great tho

kinda fun. had heard the hits and they're pretty good. the rest wasn't as good. the style isn't really my thing in general but i don't mind it either

Gaap. MJ all time most overrated artiest.

Bad!! Nå nää men feela int

Ei paljoa sanottavaa

It’s very difficult to separate the music from the history. We all do it though. Who consciously refuses to use the font Gill Sans because Eric Gill abused his children? Very few of us. I consciously don’t listen to MJ, but before the scandal I’m kind of proud that I was never a fan. I’m not proud of the fact that I do find some of his songs quite fun. They’re inane and cloying, but it is very funny to keep punctuating song lines with ‘woo hoo’ and ‘Shamu’ and ‘whee-hee’. MJ could’ve been singing about himself with ‘Smooth Criminal’ and we all know “he’s bad, he’s bad, he is very very bad”. But he gets a score for his impact on the 1980s music scene.

If you like Michael Jackson it’s good. I don’t so it’s bad.

No, employing more production elements does not mean that it's "edgier". I don't really see it as a mover outward from the phenomenal "Thriller". Apart, of course, from the fact that it sounds like the filler tracks of "Thriller" being stretched into an album. As trite as it sounds, it's indeed bad. Basically the groovy "Smooth Criminal" and the rest is filler.

Reconheci dois hits, prefiro Smooth Criminal. Audição do álbum completo foi cansativo pra mim.

This is a good collection of Michael Jackson songs that are popular, but I don't like. Smooth Criminal is on this album, but it's not enough to save it.

Not my style, sound is good and you can tell the production is polished but... ooooof

I used to listen to this album a lot with my friends when I was a kid, but man, it's mostly annoying the crap out of me now. He went WAY too hard on all of his ow, hoo hoo, and hee hee vocalizations on this album. I do dig the bass lines in Bad and Smooth Criminal.

One has to admire the machine-tooled production and the rock solid choruses, but not my 80s at all.

This is brilliantly written but poorly produced music. It felt like a wall of sound.

Not Thriller, not Off the Wall

Back when Michael Jackson released Bad and other albums before and after Bad, I wasn't sure what to think about Jackson. There are a lot of things I still don't understand about Jackson. There's some baggage that comes with Jackson, mixed in with a lot of cultural impact. This album is a pop-culture anchor. I knew and have seen the videos for all but three of the tracks off of this album before listening to the album as a whole. Even though I have heard several of these tracks multiple times, I must not have been listening too carefully. It took me a few years to realize that "toh tega nya-nya" = "Dirty Diana". I don't know what to think about Jackson and his music. I can't take seriously Jackson's bragging or hitting on the ladies in his lyrics. This album is full of his trademark "hee hee"s (e.g. "another pawt-uh me, hee hee hee"). And as I listened to this album, I kept wondering if there going to be any Weird Al on this list of recommended albums. Yes there are some tracks that I would and probably will listen to again. Scoring individual tracks, the album averages 3 stars, but there are three tracks in the middle that sink this album: "Speed Demon" (¿what's up with all of the "chop/chirp" in this track"?), "Liberian Girl" (please don't make me listen to this track again), "Just Good Friends" (a full dose of "hee hee"s, enough for the album alone). These three middle tracks feel so goofy and weird that I don't see myself listening to the whole album ever again. "chop" "chirp"? no doubt that I wouldn't listen to this track again "ah. ah., hee hee" "another pawt-uh me, hee hee hee" I forgot about this one "toh tega nya-nya" don't even want to put down what lyrics I didn't understand do I know this one

Some classics on here for sure, but the production is so dated (80's, for the most part, hasn't aged well). And, well, it's by the world's most musically revered pervert. Gotta lose points for THAT, ya sick fucko.

Liberian Girl habe ich gleich nochmal gehört, was sonst bei den Alben, die ich im Rahmen dieser Liste durchhöre, eher selten vorkommt. Auf dieser Platte sind ärgerlich viele Füllsel und sie hat mit eben Liberian Girl, Dirty Diana und Smooth Criminal dann auch ihr Pulver verschossen.

Only really 2 songs I liked and Jennifer them the remake is better. Between the oohs and woos, if you cut those out the album would be about 25 mins.

There’s something annoying about the synths used in bad. I do like the way you make me feel hee hee ooo go on girl Speed demon - hate it Liberian girl - weird intro weird lyrics weird vibe. Skipped after 2 mins. Just good friends - it’s becoming more apparent how often he hoos and he’s Another part of me - bad Gave up listening cause I heard rest of the songs before

Slitsomt. Groovy og alt, men orker ikke..

liberian girl is pretty cringe adlib GOAT? interesting that that is the influence i hear on more modern tunes another pwaaaaRT of me swings so nice man in mirror is wonderful, i can't imagine how many lives its changed for the better i know prince vs mj is played out buy some of this just feels like a slicker, less interesting purple rain (dirty diana vs darling nikki) uh is annie okay. mj really wants to know harmonization on leave me alone is perfect. trying to think of examples of equally impressive multitracked harmonies.

De bekende nummers ken je al, de rest is een beetje meh

I went into this only knowing the hits. I've never been a Michael Jackson fan, per se, though my kids went through an MJ period a few years ago and I came to appreciate a few of his hits. (Though Off the Wall has long been a fave.) Anyway, I was not prepared to dislike this album as much as I did. The title track is ridiculously fun. The Way You Make Me Feel is fine, I guess. The rest of it was terrible, I thought. Would be a 1-star review, but I'm giving it an extra because it's really fun to sing along to the song "Bad."

Listening to this album and trying to put aside all we now know, my resounding thought is "kill your darlings." Out of 11 tracks, there are only 3 songs that I consider a bop: (in order of preference)The Way You Make Me Feel, Bad, Leave Me Alone. I might toss Man in the Mirror in the bop category but if I'm following my own kill-your-darling-thought---that song along with all the others does not make the list.

This ain't no Thriller; the tracks aren't half as catchy. The whole album is outdated, from the "Bad" inscription on the cover to the music that didn't stand the test of time. P.S. Whenever I hear the track Bad, I can't help but reminisce on the vastly superior Fat by Weird Al Yankovic.

While some if his singles are decent never got into Micheal Jackson and this hasn't done it either.

I remember when this album came out and I remember the hype and the disappointment…… Of the 11 songs on the album there are just 3 tracks that today stand the test of time, the rest are just album fillers and from an artist like MJ that’s a poor performance. I appreciate that to create an album that follows thriller would always be a tough act to achieve but it looks like MJ didn’t even bother. It’s a 2 from me.

Aldri vært fan, fortsatt ikke.

Great hits but rest just sounds silly today

I was quite excited as this is the first MJ album I've been given, sadly that excitement died pretty early into the album, other than the breakout hits everything else in this album felts so basic, boring and a chore to listen through, with some songs like Liberian girl being actually dogshit to listen to. Even while separating the artist from the art, I still don't have many good things to say about this album other than the hits that became popular are obviously pretty good. Favourite Songs: Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal

The cover is all about that jacket. All those buckles and zippers. Fancy but ultimately pointless. Suggesting bondage but of course but actually pretty safe. I think you see where I am going. This album is <chef's kiss> as far as production. Goodness gracious it sounds good. And the hits are catchy, I can't deny it. But whereas Thriller was a breakthrough, Bad is just ... more. And a sad waste of Stevie Wonder, who should never be wasted, that's what's criminal. Anyway. It's fine. I'm not going to pretend I'm immune to Bad, Smooth Criminal, and especially the incredibly 80's appeal of The Way You Make Me Feel. Ow! Woo! But I *am* going to rate this album as if I have better taste than I actually do.

There’s not a lot I like about MJ. Not the music, not his singing.

Oh que j'ai trippé sur Michael Jackson quand j'étais enfant ! Je me rappelle d'avoir écouté en boucle cet album dans mon walkman, quand on s'en allait en Floride en auto, quand j'avais 9 ans. De beaux souvenir et de la bonne pop, mais un deux étoiles parce que plus du tout mon genre, haha !

det här var faktiskt inte så himla bra

It holds some of his most known songs and it is very well produced, but it's not for me.

Overrated.

Oh man, here we go. One of the sacred cows of pop music. I love Michael Jackson. He was my first concert, my first music video ("All I Wanna Say Is That They Don't Really Care About Us!"). Scandals and allegations aside, MJ was iconic, a cross genre visionary who could do RnB, funk and rock, all while sounding like himself. Bad, however, lives up to its name of being just that. While it has its strong tracks like Smooth Criminal, Man In The Mirror and the title track, the album lacks the sonic palette that one would be able to find in an album like Thriller. While Thriller flitted from tasty RnB basslines to a ripping guitar solo by Eddie Van Halen to a dance-y disco groove, Bad was the stylistic equivalent of a salad bar; sure you might find something you like, but it's really all the same thing, with little to no variance. While I want to write this review without making allusions to any specific time period, the album is chock full of the electric drum beats and synths that belie the 80s. Not that that is necessarily a bad thing, but one would be hard pressed to find bands that try to emulate that sound unironically. In conclusion, this writer posits that while Michael Jackson's place on this list is irrefutable, the album choice made for this list was, quite literally, bad.

no. just no. i drifted away from the 80's because i was sick of the synths and the cheesy love songs, and I wanted to like this. but no. ugh. why is this on here :/ Bad is a really catchy song, and I like listening to it if it comes my way for any reason. But it's not even that good now that I've carefully listened- God how I hate the ballads in here Dirty Diana was pretty good, I liked the guitar and the chorus. still wouldn't put it in a playlist. Smooth Criminal is the best song on the album, I kinda forgot that I liked it. But I just- It's not good enough for me to forgive the damage this album has done on me. After all, I gotta rate the album as a whole, and these songs are just better as fricking singles :')) why. is. this. album. here. Leave me alone tricked me in a really cruel way cus the beggining sounded like it was gonna be good but. yeah, no. literally had to listen to the glee version of smooth criminal to recover from this. it's better than the original. the GLEE VERSION. okay i'm done bye.

This is the first one I've had that I don't like. I've never been much of a Michael Jackson fan and separating the art from the artist is hard for me.

Some good riffs and some bops, but I only liked small snippets of a lot of the songs

Some of the songs are great but I just can't with MJ the person. Rating it 2/5 BAD

I mean, it's listenable... but the title of the album kind of says it all, Michael Jackson is just... bad

really not my style...

Am I the only guy to think Jackson was overrated, I didn't like this album when it came out and no amount of publicity or remixing can change that. It is still as bad today as it was then. Some of his other stuff is good but that isn't on this album.

Listen - MJ was a musical icon for good reason and the duo of "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" are deserving of accolades. I don't know how much percentage credit to give Quincy Jones for those, but it doesn't matter - those are great pop/soul/dance records with timeless songs (even the cheesy ones, I'd argue). But this is just.... ok honestly, if this wasn't "Michael Jackson™" would it have been so big? He probably could/would have released Metal Machine Music V2 and sold 15 million after people waited for the follow-up to Thriller. I like his voice, but despite the 1987-slick production this music is just so terribly weak overall - "Man In The Mirror" is kinda good I suppose. But call it as it is: this album is appropriately titled. Bad, indeed. 3/10 2 stars

Here I am with a bit of a dilemma. Michael Jackson is a problematic artist and I’ve not listened to his music in the last decade aside of what I’ve heard occasionally in the grocery store. But here goes… Somewhat familiar with this album, but never owned it. I have probably heard it all the way through before this, but not often enough that I remembered all of the songs. Bad, The Way You Make Me Feel, Another Part of Me, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, Smooth Criminal and Leave Me Alone are all understandable hits I remember well. Speed Demon and I Just Can’t Stop Loving You are up there too, but I can’t say the same for Liberian Girl and Just Good Friends which I didn’t think hold up against the rest. All that said, even this impressive assemblage of songs can’t overcome the terrible failings of Michael Jackson for me. At best I just end up feeling depressed listening to this. I doubt I’ll do so again.

4.5

This is the first album where the artist doesn't actually "play" on any of the songs. I'm finding it hard to judge a solo artist who just sings (granted, I know he also wrote most of the songs) - but here I go. I've never listened to an entire MJ album top to bottom. I was excited to, and then disappointed. His songs are much easier to appreciate in single doses. I really enjoyed (and even sang along with) the tracks I knew (Bad, Smooth Criminal, The Way You Make Me Feel), but I hated almost everything else - which made me wonder if my enjoyment of the former was really more nostalgia than appreciation. Still - he is the King of Pop in the sense that he is the mold for how to build a pop star - catchy hooks, lots of energy, swagger/attitude, huge live productions. Clearly, many have followed in his footsteps (Justin Timberlake, Brittney Spears, Bruno Mars, and so on and so on). But, in retrospect, it's like McDonald's - game changing at the time, but then Ray Kroc comes in and makes it all about money - which leads to a shitty product and a million other shitty restaurants all out to make a buck. Does that make sense?

I've heard several of these before, and I think they're in the category of \"familiar\" vs. \"things I like\". Noting near as good as Thriller, and I like Alien Ant Farm's \"Smooth Criminal\" better...

Well seven songs in and the non hits are really quite BAD (sorry for the pun). The Man in the Mirror is also a good rung or two below the hits from Thriller and Off the Wall. Besides the title track and "The Way You Make me Feel" there's just not much else of interest... 2.5 🌟

I won't deny Michael Jackson's significance, and that he's got some damn catchy tunes. That said, this is not good music to listen to while writing emails.

The popular tracks on this album are flawless. Bad, Smooth Criminal, etc. However, the rest of the album just isn't worth listening to IMO.

Not bad! But it wasn’t great either. A lot of simpering shite songs.

Legendary album but I don't like pop that much. 1 too many "hee-hee!" 2 stars

Of Michael's "imperial" period, I think this is the worst? It's not as consistent as OTW, and doesn't have the highs of Thriller, but it's still solid. "Bad" is just okat, it's plodding and feels weightless. 4-7 are all trash, except "Man In The Mirror", and then three of MJ's best songs close it out. 3/5

Fun throwback album, good music, but bruh theres an abortion song

Pedophile

His legacy as a child molestor should remove him from all best lists.

Sorry, just not for me

I mean yep, bad is the word I would use!

Nope.

I don't patronise pedos

Didn’t listen but know all the songs … was never a big fan of this album to begin with and also can’t separate the man from the music. 1

not really my type

I hate Michael Jackson as a person so i couldn’t morally give this higher then a two- i also just didn’t like that many of the songs but i liked smooth criminal the most

I really can't bring myself to listen to this guy

BAD is Michael Jackson. Michael Jackson is BAD.

It’s bad You know it

Unable to separate the artist from the art.

It’s bad (although it’s actually good and I got given it for Christmas one year when santa swapped my sleeping beauty video with my sisters CD. My sister said we shouldn’t swap because it’s what Santa wanted. Pah. I guess I was the younger one

Bad

Nope, dated, horrible and very bad. Regardless of what he's done in his private life, this is not a good album.

i get it, but cmon, some of this sounds like stuff you'd hear at a 90s school disco

Making me listen to this should be a hate crime. I will never understand why this was popular.

it just doesn’t do it for me….. i hated this

Много ме дразни майкъл джексън

Not my fav artist

Not "bad" meaning "good". More like "bad" meaning "paedo"

Ronseal. (but I do still have a soft spot for Smooth Criminal)

FFS. I can’t believe there is something worse than Tears For Fears, physically unpleasant to listen to.

It’s Bad

Most underrated artist ever!

One of the best selling records of all time, if not the best It’s proof positive that sales are no reflection on quality and this remains an act of indescribable aural violence. Put another way there is no accounting for popular taste…

Bad. Not a fan. Too high pitched

No thank you

Not for me

This is just me a thing, but I haven't really been able to listen to Michael Jackson since that HBO documentary. Not judging anyone, but it really killed it for me.

Struggled to find any redeeming features in this awful mess, maybe the hook in Smooth criminal? The man was already damaged by the time of this and his decline would only get worse. Standard paedo tax applies to the marking.

I don't listen to abusers.

dnf

MJ was a bad man!

First album I just didn't want to listen to. Awful. Gasping and wooping and oh god just no.

As the title says, bad. It’s really a horrible album. There’s no Billie Jean. It’s filled with Michael’s quirky squeaky sounds and quivering whispery vocals. Man in the Mirror is almost as bad as Ebony and Ivory.

Still shit. Sorry Michael. Go with Madonna.

I got so sick of an ex listening to this back in the day, just looking at the cover invokes PTSD.

Disturbing album cover for a start. We didn’t know it at the time but maybe Jackson was trying to tell us something with the menacing look, a nonce jacket and his right hand in a wank grip. Anyway back to this record. So it took him 5 years to follow up Thriller and this was the best he could do. A couple of reasonable songs, Bad and Smooth Criminal, but the rest is forgettable formulaic trash. My main issue with the whole album is the annoying Tourettes-like ticks throughout. Heee-Hee! Hah! Ah-hhhea! Uh! Shaaamon! For fuck’s sake give it a rest. It gets so tedious. And I’m sorry I can’t listen to this without thinking of the comedy nose jobs, the strange skin whitening and the dangling of babies over 5th floor balconies. The behaviour was whacko enough before we even knew what he used to get up to with young boys and a chimp.

I hate Michael Jackson.

Nah

One star for predators

Pedo

nope

King of pop? Or monkey-bothering king of pop nonce? Whichever, I just can't be bothered.

Just can't with the Shamone.

My thoughts on MJ have been made clear in other reviews. Do you think he wrote ‘man in the mirror’ after molesting someone? Like this was his ‘no more molesting’ pump up speech to himself? Obviously a known molester like MJ can’t sing a lyric like ‘ see the kids in the street with not enough to eat Who am I to be blind, pretending not to see their needs?‘ without a little evil smile to himself about what those needs might be. If you want to make a the world a better place, take a look at yourself and make a change. Indeed. Unless that means stop molesting people, cuz I’m definitely not gonna do that lol.

1,3/5

Woo

Nah. Never a fan of Jacko, this is just weak sounding 80's synth pop

Massive, over-bloated pop music that's not for me at my time in life - can't be arsed to listen Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ❌️ Revisit ❌️ 3/10

Despite his legacy in music and the fact that many still enjoy his music, I just can't support a pedophile.

pedo

Grossly overrated nonce, even without his private life. 0 if I could.

I was 14 when this album came out and I hated it then and after forcing myself to listen to it now I realized I still hate it. Songs are boring and his voice annoys me. I never liked his music and I still don't. The only songs I didn't hate were the final three. Dirty Diana is a banger so that at least gives the album one star.

I meannnnnnnnn...(part 2)

Nothing could persuade me to listen to this oddball

So many classics but not something I would listen to. 1/5

Meh

Sugary, saccharin pop too much yelps vocals. Won’t get a second listen.

Yeah, to oldschool

Not a fan

The album title says enough. I just can’t stand Michael Jackson and his hoo-ha’s for more than two song on end, so no surprise the rating here. I hate Speed Demon and Liberian Girl and the ever-present 80s drum groove throughout the album drives me insane. I also never realised how awful Man In The Mirror actually is and the two songs that follow make up the worst three song run I have ever heard. The fact that I quite liked the first two songs cannot save this album, probably because after those the amount of Michael Jackson I can handle was exceeded. hee hee 1/5

Worse

Artiste connu et détesté, impossible d'y échapper à l'époque, le matraquage était insupportable. Dans l'album 'Thriller' le morceau 'Beat it' était plutôt sympa avec son riff et solo de guitare mémorable. Ici rien ne sauve l'album de la note minimale, même pas 'Dirty Diana' et sa guitare électrique malheureusement noyée dans les synthés. =>1/5

I always had problems with Michael Jackson. There was a lot of hype about him in my day. I always found his attitude a bit annoying. It got really gross and tacky when the subject of his desire to have children came up - barf -, this strange marriage with little Presley, which seemed like a fig leaf to cover his true desires - gag - and this rather creepy Neverland Farm. In the end, Jackson (also optical) almost seemed like a horror clown. The Earth Song was really disgusting, when the multimillionaire dances through the tidy streets of a favela with the objects of his desire and sings about the misery of the world. So I find Michael Jackson disgusting and I could never really get into his music. I always found his sharp cries annoying when he grabbed his balls while dancing. The squealing is also used a lot on this album. I like to switch off the radio from time to time. I really tried to listen to the whole album. At "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" it was over. I couldn't take it anymore. The best thing about the title song "Bad" is the parody "Fat" by Weird Al Yankovic. I really had fun with that. I only just found out that Jackson gave Yankovic permission to produce the parody and use the same setting. I wouldn't have believed him capable of so much humor. But maybe there was something else behind it. I suspect that "Fat" has also boosted sales of "Bad" again. Conclusion: For me, Bad is an unjustly hyped album that I definitely switch off the radio when it is played. 1/5

Over-polished pop. Not for me.

Sorry - No nonces. Pass. Got any Rolf Harris Albums? How about Gary Glitter?

Childmolester

Can’t do this

Is it morally okay to like Michael Jackson's music? Don't care, I despise it. I'll never understand why people like this so much.

1 Star. No joy. Overplayed. 2 death. Never liked this music. Sorry Michael, you deserve more respect.

Not my thing

It’s not bad. Minus 2 stars for questionable personal history.

No I’m not listening to MJ, at least not a whole album.

No.

BAD

I was 18 when this came out and into thrash meta. So I looked on the noncing King of Pop with disdain. In later years I've realised just how talented he was. Off the Wall is incredible. So in the spirit of this enterprise I did listen to this as an album. It's horrible. The electronic sound is plastic and grating. The bass is especially awful. The songs are surprisngly poor quality too. Bad could be a decent pop song but Michael's affected vocals ruin it, IMO. Smooth Criminal is the best song on here, but we've all heard better covers of it. I think it can still be done better, it's a top song. Dirty Diana is the only song that stands up, for me. If we remove the not insignificant issue of his personal life, it's still just a 2-3 star album. The songs are average (apart from Liberian Girl which should be wiped from the face of the earth and would remove stars from any album). And the production, weirdly, is incredibly dated. It's sad to look back and think he only got worse from this point on.

Pedoooooooooo

paedophiles get ones.

I hated the production and the hee-ing and woo-ing and screeching. I liked Dirty Diana.

At the start of the Spotify era, didn't we already knew most of what we now know about MJ? How does this have so many Spotify plays?

More ballady shite with shit drum sounds and his whisky voice and hiccups.

I bought this on tape cassette at the time. No idea why because it’s not very good.

No

No thanks

It’s really difficult to come at this with an open mind. I tried, but even the couple of times I absentmindedly started tapping my toes, it was only for a couple of seconds because I would remember who I was listening to. Those woos and eeheeeees and chh-chamonnnahs are ridiculous. Why did he do that? The synths and drum machine sounds exemplify everything I hate about 80s pop music. The love songs are trite and trying really hard to sound sexy. That style of love song always gives me the creeps, even without the context here. There’s a growing list of artists of all types whose art is no longer accessible to me because I can’t get past what they did. It’s impossible to view their lyrics, jokes, and movies through an untainted lens anymore. Even if he truly wasn’t a pedophile, he was definitely a guy with severe mental illness who had weird, creepy, ill-advised sleepovers with prepubescent children. All that said, Smooth Criminal is really hard to not like, even if I can’t fully enjoy it. And Thriller, depending on the mood I’m in when it comes up, may get a slightly more generous rating than this one, but Bad, in my opinion, is just not good or deserving of a list like this.

Sorry, I can't do MJ.

I just can’t separate the music from the man and his life here. I grew up with Jackson 5 and the rise of Michael Jackson. He was talented, yes, and he shaped or captured the essence of an era with this one, but I think of the totality of his music, the places he could have gone, and I’m just saddened for him and repulsed all at once. I generally skip his music when given a choice…

I remember lots of things from 1987. It was the year I finished school and went off to university; the year I worked in the US over the summer; the year it was Very Windy. I remember The Joshua Tree, Solitude Standing, Appetite for Destruction, Hold Your Fire, The People Who Grinned Themselves to Death, Cluthing at Straws, and even Hysteria. But I honestly wouldn't have placed this in 1987 - it seems earlier than that. Certainly no one I knew was playing it and it seems kinda dated in the context of the other albums produced that year. As I vaguely recall, this is Jackson in his crotch grabbing, staccato, most affected, whoa shouting period. Maybe moon walking - I don't know, this shite all merges into one really. I tried to listen to this. It might not be quite as bad as Thriller in total, but it gets repetitive with those "whoa!s" and so on, and I struggled to listen to any complete songs after the first couple. Maybe I just don't like Jackson. This is a 1 or 2 star album for me - I just don't like it I'm afraid and if you love it then I'm sorry; I'm sure you're right. Jackson being an utter twunt drops it to 1.

I swore I'd listen to every one of these 1000 albums, and some have tested me for sure, especially ones where i have a moral objection. Some of the best songs ever sang by one of the worst kinds of person, I can't separate music from life. Sorry. 1/5

First LP I ever owned as a kid. It definitely fell out of favor as I grew older. Not as good as Thriller. IMO, this album begins the decline of Michael as an artist. For a pop album it's alright.

Reading the top rated review, I waited in horror for 2:45 to come up. The dreaded unnoticed synth riff. ‘My God,’ I thought to myself as it played drearily on in the background. ‘This is bad.’ Little did I know, my horror had only just begun. For when I was reading through the personnel on Wikipedia, a familiar name stood out to me. No, surely not. But as my heart began to beat faster and faster, I knew I was not mistaken. For the name with which I was so acquainted was… Jimmy Smith! One of the great Jazz organ players, one of the greatest improvisers of all time, and they got him in to do 20 seconds of trite sounding rubbish on a badly programmed synth. There are three big problems with most of the songs on Bad. The first is that they go on for too damn long. The Way You Make Me Feel is a prime example. Jackson gets to the point where he’s ad-libbing, the point where the great Soul songs of the 60’s and 70’s would fade out, and the song goes on for another two fucking minutes! It’s fucking arrogance is what it is, oh of course you want to listen to two minutes of Jackson and the band cooking because he sold 32 million copies. The second problem is that they are often unintentionally hilarious. The best example comes from the very first line of the album. ‘Your butt is mine,’ is not a badass line. Instead it’s overtly homoerotic, and exhibits a clear misunderstanding of the sort of character that Jackson’s supposed to be portraying. What makes this EVEN MORE ironic is that there’s some pretty compelling evidence that Jackson was involved with the LA Crips! He was a gangster who couldn’t write gangster characters. Mario Puzo he ain’t. Liberian Girl’s Wikipedia page has a section about the reaction in Liberia whose only source is a Washington Post article that only let me read three paragraphs before sending me to a spam page, so please forgive me if I don’t think that it is the best argument to be made that ‘women from the country foun[d] the song empowering.’ I find this particularly hilarious considering the non-English vocals are sung by a South African woman in Swahili. If we were to put this into a European context, imagine a fabulously wealthy entertainer wrote a song called British Boy, and had an Italian bloke singing a few words in Russian. I’m not sure I’d feel particularly empowered by that. Just Good Friends is also hilarious. ‘Oh, I know she loves me, but if you ask her she’ll deny it.’ You’re either getting strung along, or cucked mate. This is not romantic. Also, it was the only song not released as a single anywhere. This is a running theme in Jackson’s albums, why release the album as an album in the first fucking place? What’s the point? But also, I feel bad for Stevie Wonder, just for his 80’s output in general, but specifically because the song that he duetted on was the ONLY ONE not released as a single. Damn, gotta feel bad man. The third problem with Bad is that is incredibly fucking boring. They are dreary sentimental ballads, they’re repetitive, they’re really annoying at times. Jackson’s vocal tics are so overdone that by the end of a full album in his company they become grating. My theory about Thriller and Bad and the reason why they’re so critically acclaimed is two fold. Nostalgia and circular thinking. Most of the people who have reviewed this positively have mentioned specifically fond memories of listening as children. They have good memories and so cannot think of it badly. I admit that I’m guilty of this as well, I wrote a whole thousand words justifying why I like an Arctic Monkeys album that I first listened to when I was 7. But I think that there’s something more interesting going on with the professional reviews. A fallacy of because it’s popular, it must be good, and therefore I must give it a good review. I think it’s popular, not because it’s good, but because it was well promoted. It sold well, because it was well promoted, and therefore it’s popularity must be justified. There are too many instances when critics get things wrong, when we tell the public they’re stupid for liking something, and for the most popular artist of all time, well we can’t let a large amount of the public think that we think they’re stupid. So what does this all add up to? Well in my opinion, a series of fantastically dull, gratingly long and hilariously underwritten slabs of dated 80’s cheese, that was, of course, the second highest selling album of all time at some point. I’ll never understand people. But, what I really wanted to do was to prove that there is stuff to be talked about on this album, and that the conversation can be more than just repeating that he was either the GOAT or a nonce. Those who don’t like his music can have reasons for disliking it other than his personal life. I’ve spent the full review outline quite a few of them. And you’re at perfect liberty to like the album if you do. But I’d love to know why you think he’s so good, why you think he’s worth having the best selling album of all time. Let’s have a conversation. Because that’s what being a critic is all about. P.S. Do you want to know what the real kicker is? I still like this album more than I like Thriller

This album is everything I hate about the 80s. Over-inflated ego of the lyrist. Bass replaced with synth. False depth. It's bad.

Not my style. Only like smooth criminal

bad. music: hated. (⌐■_■)

Poopoo

I’ve never purposefully listened to Michael Jackson, because I thought I’d hate it. Turns out I was right.

Ow gyashhhh what a confusion. I have really connected with some of these songs in the past like Man in the Mirror still even, but some of them just sound super creepy now I know more about Jacko's disgusting behaviour later in his life. Liberian girl I found really scary for some reason! I can't enjoy most of the songs any more and the ones I can enjoy are the more energetic poppy dancy songs like Bad etc but just ew it's not the same any more. Also thinking of where all of the money is still going for those listens I just gave it, to the complicit people hiding grim information...

I’m happy to live without the entirety of MJ’s catalog from here on out. Yes, the songs are often good (if not great). However, the accusations are unignorable and largely undisputed. No stars. Goodbye forever, MJ.

You know, I tried. I'm just not an MJ person.

The title says it all, this album is Bad in the real sense of the word. I'd never listen to this album by choice in the first place and found no enjoyment from it. It needs to stay in the past.

bad is right

Non quero oir un pederasta

Vile.

Nope.

Nope.

cero. le tengo manía y creo que trae mala suerte escucharlo.

Just plain horrible. This is my *first* album in this "one album a day" generator thing, and I can't believe I have to start with that cheesy so-called blockbuster filled to the brim with saccharine-tasting manure "Bad"? As in "Hey look how bad-ass I look"? Er... What? That cringefest of boring ballads and mid-temp snoozers? Really??? This is a record without a shred of true soul in it. And even if it's not "soul" you're looking for, there should always be something *human* in music. Or monstrous, on the contrary. Or extraordinary. Or humble. Unfortunately, Bad is none of those things. It tells nothing. It *is* nothing. One can argue that "Dirty Diana" is kind of arresting, or that, at least, it's an interesting track towards the end of the album, since that's the only song that expresses something even remotely heartfelt (as ugly as the feelings actually expressed against Diana Ross are). I guess that after all the dumb schmooze that precedes, the aggro atmosphere in that song is a welcome (bad) breath of fresh air, and that we can all be grateful for that last-minute addition somehow. Thank you Slash for that electric guitar. You might not be very alert yourself, but I guess a tiny drop of whiskey in all that kool-aid does have a semblance of... taste (even though the subtle rock intrusions in Thriller were far more compelling and smartly executed than this still quite clunky shit here). As for the bouncy, hectic and hiccupy "Smooth Criminal", it *is* a killer dancefloor track and an instant classic. It would be foolish arguing about that... But everything else is just lame. Synth basses sound hollow. Horns are an imitation of their synth conterparts. Same with backing vocals. And the writing (both the lyrics *and* the music) is just... irrelevant. If not downright annoying. Case(s) in point,: "Liberian Girl" and "Man On The Mirror". Lyrics, since we must also talk about them, are just ridiculous. And they're made all the more ridiculous by the unmusical and rigid way they are displayed in these songs (just as in almost every other track). Telling the world is in danger, Michael's inapt and disconnected choice of words are no comfort for us. "And-if-you-want-to-o-make-it... a-bet-ter-place", well, just please shut up, Michael, please. And let us die in peace, at least. Admittedly, Thriller's successor could have gone other ways, and you can almost suspect the ghost of more "interesting" work under the surface from time to time--even though "Bad", probably Jackson's worst lead single ever, tells the lamentable story of the album that bears its name from its very first obnoxious seconds. It's true that this single *does* have something catchy. But embarrassing stuff can *also* catch your attention, and never let it go, unfortunately. And if you can't even tolerate a lead single on those sorts of grand commercial pop albums, how on earth will you find any redeeming features after it? How? The true problem of the album however, is that it doesn't even hold "Bad"'s promise of at least having a somewhat awkward laugh. From "Speed Demon" (the *awfully clunky* voice placement and delivery on that one, jeeze!!!) to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", this is an album almost exclusively made of boring *fillers*, which is sort of an extraordinary feat in itself. Reminds a little of a visit to the dentist's (that clinical white backdrop behind Michael on the cover speaks tons about the surgical atmosphere here!!!). But you're going there with a set of teeth already punctured by a record amount of cavities, so the drilling takes an age AND the next one. Plus, it's painful. *Very* painful. Bad indeed. [Why, oh why, couldn't I review "Thriller" first? Now *that* was a Michael Jackson album that deserved its commercial success, thanks to its sophisticated production and the quality of most of its pop songs. Hope that one comes up soon... Number of albums I listened to: 1 Albums left to listen to: 1000 Number of albums I've found genuinely relevant: 0 Number of different albums you should listen to before you die: 1 ]

Historisch aber gecancelt. Ich glaube Er war es

Just don't like his music

éclaté sa mère

mala la wea.

Yea it was ok