Surprised how fresh Michael Jackons "Bad" still sounds

tylercheribini

Just pulled this album out of the downloads and surprised how undated it still sounds. Obviously still routed in the 80's sound but no where near as cringeworthy as most music of that decade. Classic album...

SilverScreen

If you want an album that sounds undated listen to Violent Femmes' debut instead.

Dark Artist

Michael Jackson's stuff is amazing, but the fact that it doesn't sound dated is partially due to the fact that the 80's sound has made a huge comeback in a lot of popular music. You hear the influence of MJ and other 80's artists in all kinds of stuff nowadays.

SilverScreen

Dark Artist wrote: »

Michael Jackson's stuff is amazing, but the fact that it doesn't sound dated is partially due to the fact that the 80's sound has made a huge comeback in a lot of popular music. You hear the influence of MJ and other 80's artists in all kinds of stuff nowadays.

I hear more of a 90's influence in music these days, particularly in indie, alternative and some electronic music. The whole 80's thing caught on ten years ago and has seemed to have peltered out now.

I still think songs like 'Beat It' sound very 80's. It hasn't aged too badly compared to other early-80's music, but there's a hell of a lot more music from that time period that sounds timeless.

poundhound

The production on "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" was fantastic.
Theres a very warm bass and synth driven feel to almost every song.

The "warmth" of these albums was lost on "Bad", which is interesting as Quincy Jones produced all 3.

Again this production value was weakened on "Dangerous" and "History" and completely disappeared on "Invincible".

Im sure it had an effect on his album sales plummeting (in addition to the circus surrounding his private life).

Interesting that the bass/synth driven grove of the late 70's and early 80's was replaced by the mechanical beats that resembled the sound of a transformer emm... transforming.

tylercheribini

poundhound wrote: »

The production on "Off the Wall" and "Thriller" was fantastic.
Theres a very warm bass and synth driven feel to almost every song.

The "warmth" of these albums was lost on "Bad", which is interesting as Quincy Jones produced all 3.

Again this production value was weakened on "Dangerous" and "History" and completely disappeared on "Invincible".

Im sure it had an effect on his album sales plummeting (in addition to the circus surrounding his private life).

Interesting that the bass/synth driven grove of the late 70's and early 80's was replaced by the mechanical beats that resembled the sound of a transformer emm... transforming.

ah to stay current though quincy jones had to move with what was a popular sound at the time on "Bad". I agree as soon as he left the fold though the quality of the following albums nosedived into a totally generic sound of the time. Very lazy and un imaginative production/writing that could have come from countless other artists. Its true of all the greats though, they are lucky to have two truely great classic albums in their career

notnumber

Zero1986 wrote: »

I hear more of a 90's influence in music these days, particularly in indie, alternative and some electronic music. The whole 80's thing caught on ten years ago and has seemed to have peltered out now.

I still think songs like 'Beat It' sound very 80's. It hasn't aged too badly compared to other early-80's music, but there's a hell of a lot more music from that time period that sounds timeless.

The whole 80's thing caught on ten years ago and has seemed to have peltered out now

Naw wouldnt agree with that bands like lebannon hanover and Trust and others draw heavily on 80's gothic ..throw crystal crystal castles and others

but there's a hell of a lot more music from that time period that sounds timeless

Thats also true ,,I would say moving a few years forward its grunge thats really redunant..soundgarden comeback yawn..breeders yawn.

Blisterman

I would say the opposite, I find Bad really dated in terms of its production, whereas the sound of Thriller is timeless. No other album from the time sounds like it.

Dangerous is probably the most dated of any of his albums, being rooted in the New Jack Swing sound, which was popular at the time, but for some reason I prefer it to Bad.

Dark Artist

Call me mental but HIStory disc 2 is my favourite album of his.

They Don't Care About Us, Stranger In Moscow, Earth Song etc. There's a lot to be said for songs like those. Fair enough, the production wasn't very warm on that album - it was quite mechanical at times but there was a reason for it. It's dark compared to his other albums.

Also this tune from Blood On the Dance Floor is unreal.