Bad Is Decent, But Not Great
Bad by Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson could have followed up Thriller with the best-sounding album in the world and people would have carped that it wasn't as good. The fact of the matter is, though, that Bad is NOT as good as Thriller. However, that's not to say that Bad is a bad album (have I confused you yet?). It turned out to be a fairly decent slice of pop/soul, in line for the most part with the sound of the time. Besides, even an adequate piece of work would have been jazzed up by Michael's voice, which was still a pretty awesome instrument with the added confident boost of having created the biggest selling album in history (or is it HIStory?).
However, the downside of the enjoyment of this album is listening to Michael's ego flying WAY out of control. The vocal idiosyncrasies that set him apart from other singers are amplified tenfold here (with the added annoyance of having to read every "uh", "ah" and "hee hee" on the lyric sheet). There's also the sense of trying too hard to match or copy Thriller, with every song focus-grouped down to a science. There's the seductive love song (Liberian Girl), the lite-FM ballad (I Just Can't Stop Loving You), the almost-metal song (Dirty Diana) and the superstar duet (Just Good Friends with Stevie Wonder). It would all be kind of annoying if the songs weren't pretty damn decent. Well, most of 'em are anyway (I Just Can't Stop Loving You is pleasant enough but bland as hell).
Bad signified that MJ was in the process of leaving the planet Earth, but he hadn't taken full flight yet. He does a pretty good job of mining a James Brown-styled funk groove (updated for the Eighties of course) with the title track, and The Way You Make Me Feel has got to be one of the late Eighties' most awesome dance jams. Meanwhile, Man in the Mirror was the last "change the world" song Michael recorded before succumbing to a serious Messiah complex.
In order to enjoy this album, you're gonna have to do something that's probably quite difficult — you almost have to FORGET about Thriller. If you don't, Bad is just gonna seem like a poor substitute. But on its own laurels, Bad turns out to be a pretty decent piece of work. Mike's sense of rhythm thankfully remains intact even as the rest of him starts to go a little wacky.
