Now, “Thriller” was Jackson’s biggest song, which turned him into a super star. It is a jam infested with disco, a groovy beat, and vocals that make Jackson take charge.
Remember The Time marked a turn for Jackson in this new jack swing style. It’s a romantic, sleek ballad that shows off his impressive vocals.
1. You Are Not Alone
Jackson caught a lot of flak for this sloppy, unfocused ballad on his 1995 greatest hits package HIStory. It’s a touching, thoughtful song, though, that he sang with a delicate and soothing voice—arguably his most relaxed and peaceful.
The lite midtempo pop song begins with one of Motown’s dorkily sweet little sonic fanfares. It’s a sloppy, aimless track, but Jackson, 14 at the time, turns it into something much more compelling. He’s just so talented. He really hits some high notes, too. It is interesting to hear how far he could stretch that young voice.
2. Smooth Criminal
Released in 1988 as the seventh single from Bad, Smooth Criminal features a crime-themed video that not only gave him a unique visual brand but really helped to showcase his skill as an iconic visual artist. At first, Jackson relates that Annie’s attack occurred in the third person, from an omniscient narrator, as he declares, “Then she ran into her bedroom / She was struck down, it was your doom.”
But when the chorus cuts in, he slips into direct address with Annie. Inspired by the Resusci Anne model doll that people learning CPR train on, Jackson repeatedly asks, “Are you okay?”.
3. The Girl Is Mine
This is one of Jackson’s more underrated songs—an extremely groovy, hypnotic number that has a much more sophisticated feel to pop music than he would give off in his later, cliché-ridden ecomiums. The beats on this are second-string, but they have that kind of clattering urgency that isn’t present in most of his work.
Timbaland and Jackson were probably tone-deaf in releasing this after credible child sexual-abuse allegations surfaced against him. More icky supersweet nonsense sung by an aging rock star bickering with a younger guy over dibs on the same girl.
4. Man In The Mirror
This was originally recorded for the 1988 album Bad, and it was the first non-Quincy Jones song he had accepted in two years. Lyrically, it was written by Siedah Garrett, with music by Glen Ballard—also the writer and producer of Thriller.
Clattering beats and lulling strings lead Jackson into harder territory than his usual fare. He sings of tabloid rumors and of his own celebrity. Of course, the message is one of self-improvement. It’s an incredibly powerful track. Definitely one of the best off Bad.
5. In The Closet
It’s only a graceful, powerful ballad due to Jackson’s ability to croon. Rod Temperton’s horn arrangements help a lot, too, and the song has an entirely different feel of drama that just does not find a fitting spot in his later work.
Quincy Jones might talk about tough choices having to be made when it came time for Thriller and Bad, but this wan concoction is a complete waste of time. The whole thing does sound like some lost ’70s soul classic. And Heavy D’s rap is just embarrassing. More bathetic nonsense from the second side of Dangerous.
6. Got To Be There
This is a very Latin-tinged, simple—some would say bland—message song, but it is just stunning in its maturity and sophistication for a Jackson song. He was just 14 when it was recorded, but he sings from an adult perspective.
This isn’t as good as Holland-Dozier-Holland’s hits for the Supremes, and the song is done to respond to tabloid rumors about Michael, including, yep, his plastic surgery. It’s more than a little overwrought, and the lyrics really aren’t all that interesting. Still, it’s a pretty good song. The beats are groove-olicious. It really shows how Jackson was able to take even the most mediocre songs and make them interesting.
7. She’s Out Of My Life
It comes across as a surprisingly touching ballad that surveys heartbreak and loss after the demise of the love affair. Although the song did not reach the expected position in the charts, it maintained an important place in Jackson’s live performance. Using sweeping strings, as Quincy Jones does, raises this to another emotional level that the singer, aged 14 at the time, surveys in his emotional journey swimmingly.
The unsubtle backing track and busy string arrangement give this lite midtempo song an annoyingly quirky feel. Quirky, however, often turns out to be just another term for tedium trying too hard. This is one such occasion. A waste of a good singer.
8. Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough
Yet another groovy Teddy Riley song with some quite impressive vocal flights from the then 13- or 14-year-old Jackson. It is an attempt at being a Man in the Mirror anthem, but it somehow works out bathetic.
Its lead topic is a tabloid story that seems to have been mixed up with several perhaps apocryphal ones. It’s a drone-y mess that didn’t make the cut for Thriller. Jackson was obviously getting a bit tired by this point. He needed a time-out from all the relentless funkification. It didn’t arrive soon enough.
9. Leave Me Alone
More ginned-up drama, this time pinned to probably the most cliched of Jackson’s childish themes. With a rap by Heavy D that is at times scarily like someone trying to be, this is probably one of the most unlistenable tracks on an otherwise classic album.
It’s hard to really take this song seriously given credible child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson. It tries to be dramatic with synth noises and ululations, but fails at every level. A real outtake from Bad. A shame. It deserves better.
10. Invincible
Another phony-sounding rock song tacked to a generically ginned-up scenario, this time about a groupie who’s come to seduce the singer, the piece has two rather workmanlike hooks — but it all feels second-stringer.
It also features an anonymous rapper named Fats who delivers a slavering rap that’s part of the Jackson formula. Still, the song has a lulling melody and a veneer of sophistication that’s missing from most of his later work. It was a hit single, but not a big one. It came from the HIStory album that was half greatest hits and half new material.
