Quincy Jones has gone on record - a while ago, (so this is old news for a lot of you) saying MJ asked Prince to be co-singer on what was initially supposed to be a duet with him for the song, Bad.

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Prince's infamous response in a Chris Rock interview, in his best sarcastic "Camille" type attitude was, "The first lyric in the song is 'Your butt is mine', who's saying that to whom? 'Cause I ain't singing that to you, and sure as hell ain't singing that to me!” *

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With his response, he (according to Susan Rogers) sent him a redone version of the song MJ sent to him, all funked out P style saying, "Now this is BAD", or something like that. Funny Quincy never said anything about that, though. I would love to know how Michael received that version of his song.

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My question is this - regardless of the lyric, wouldn't this have been an epic collab? It's too bad they never did anything artistically together - and props to MJ for reaching out, and on and on .... BUT DON'T YOU WANT TO HEAR THIS TRACK?! I think it would be amazing - perhaps that's one of the treasures in the vault.

Maybe one day we'll hear it ... hint, hint, Ms. Sharon L Nelson??

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*(paraphrasing - don't remember the actual quote - but it's pretty accurate)

Didn't Prince also say that they didn't need him for the track to be a hit, it would be a hit regardless.

I'd love to hear it, in my head it sounds like Shockadelica but who knows.

It's SO easy to imagine Camille singing that song. Just sing that first line in the pitched up Camille voice. I can hear it now

[Edited 1/7/19 5:02am]

If Prince did that I hope he said your ass is mine. That butt lyric is so middle school.

jaawwnn said:

I'd love to hear it, in my head it sounds like Shockadelica but who knows.

SAme rhythm, yeah, you could sing the lyrics to bad to the music of shockadelica. MASH-UP!

TheEnglishGent said:

Didn't Prince also say that they didn't need him for the track to be a hit, it would be a hit regardless.

That's really a nice way of declining the offer. Whether Prince recognized it as a hit or not, it's a nicer and politically correct way of saying "I'm gonna pass" without offending anyone. You decline and compliment what is already there.

NorthC said:

I really hope this is just a rumour, because remaking someone else's song, just to say hey, I'm better/badder than you, is a really bad idea. Such a waste of time. I'd like to think (and hope) Prince was above that. And the only good thing I can say about Bad is that it gave us a funny Weird Al Yankovic parody. [Edited 1/7/19 11:19am]

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Bad also gave us "shamone"

StrangeButTrue said:

NorthC said:

I really hope this is just a rumour, because remaking someone else's song, just to say hey, I'm better/badder than you, is a really bad idea. Such a waste of time. I'd like to think (and hope) Prince was above that. And the only good thing I can say about Bad is that it gave us a funny Weird Al Yankovic parody. [Edited 1/7/19 11:19am]

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Bad also gave us "shamone"

Actually that came from Mavis Staples, the original "shamone"

https://www.youtube.com/w...D7L-7zoIu0

[Edited 1/7/19 13:31pm]

feeluupp said:

StrangeButTrue said:

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Bad also gave us "shamone"

Actually that came from Mavis Staples, the original "shamone"

https://www.youtube.com/w...D7L-7zoIu0

[Edited 1/7/19 13:31pm]

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Oh ok, then yeah the Weird Al parody was funny. When he kept getting bigger n bigger, classic.

RODSERLING said:

I heard the multitrack 9 minute studio version of BAD, (not the maxi, not the music video versions a)and it s an epic funky track. No way could Prince make it funkier, that s beyond absurd. . That "butt story" is complete BS, cause MJ could just change this line into Something else such as "your cause is mine" or "your goAl is mine", etc. . Whoever thinks Prince really walked out because of that, and that MJ wasn't able in a minute to change a fucking word, is really naive and believes every BS made up by Quincy Jones. . Not only that, but if MJ really wanted a Prince collaboration on the album BAD, he could have asked Prince to play a guitar solo on Dirty Diana, or a funky bass on Speed Demon- for instance. . If there was such a version of Prince singing BAD lol would you really believe he would have sent it to MJ? Wouldn't he be in the interest of MJ and his publicist to leak the tape or an extract to turn Prince into an idiot? Can you picture Prince losing his time and reputation to do that joke? . One last important thing : what version supposedly Prince heard? In whAt year? Because the song evoluted during 2 years, and I heard another complete 3 rd unused verse. . [Edited 1/7/19 14:14pm]

What's absurd is you believing Prince "walked out of the studio" during this. He was never in a studio with Michael. He was sent the track. You are under the impession that Michael was granted any artist he wanted because he was Michael Jackson. Also not true, and naive. Michael wanted Barbra Striesand to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" - but, as you are aware, that ain't Barbra singing on that song. Your snide and attempted demeaning post is just that. Attempted. Chill out and think before you post.

Didn't you see the interview with Prince and Chris Rock in 1997?

RODSERLING said:

I heard the multitrack 9 minute studio version of BAD, (not the maxi, not the music video versions a)and it s an epic funky track. No way could Prince make it funkier, that s beyond absurd. . That "butt story" is complete BS, cause MJ could just change this line into Something else such as "your cause is mine" or "your goAl is mine", etc. . Whoever thinks Prince really walked out because of that, and that MJ wasn't able in a minute to change a fucking word, is really naive and believes every BS made up by Quincy Jones. . Not only that, but if MJ really wanted a Prince collaboration on the album BAD, he could have asked Prince to play a guitar solo on Dirty Diana, or a funky bass on Speed Demon- for instance. . If there was such a version of Prince singing BAD lol would you really believe he would have sent it to MJ? Wouldn't he be in the interest of MJ and his publicist to leak the tape or an extract to turn Prince into an idiot? Can you picture Prince losing his time and reputation to do that joke? . One last important thing : what version supposedly Prince heard? In whAt year? Because the song evoluted during 2 years, and I heard another complete 3 rd unused verse. . [Edited 1/7/19 14:14pm]

June7 said:

RODSERLING said:

June7 said:

What's absurd is you believing Prince "walked out of the studio" during this. He was never in a studio with Michael. He was sent the track. You are under the impession that Michael was granted any artist he wanted because he was Michael Jackson. Also not true, and naive. Michael wanted Barbra Striesand to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" - but, as you are aware, that ain't Barbra singing on that song. Your snide and attempted demeaning post is just that. Attempted. Chill out and think before you post.

I never said or implied what you are pretending I m saying or implying. I never said he walked out of the studio for instance, you are talking BS. . I never said Prince or Streisand were supposed to lick MJ's butt neither. . So take a deep breath and look closely at my post. . The whole story smells BS and that was my point. [Edited 1/7/19 14:42pm]

You said "walked out". Walked out of where?

You also said, "Michael wasn't able, in a minute, to change a fucking word" implying that they were perhaps recording, and he couldn't change something to save the .... recording session, perhaps?

So, tell me again to take a deep breath ... go ahead.

June7 said:

jcurley said:

RODSERLING said:

June7 said:

What's absurd is you believing Prince "walked out of the studio" during this. He was never in a studio with Michael. He was sent the track. You are under the impession that Michael was granted any artist he wanted because he was Michael Jackson. Also not true, and naive. Michael wanted Barbra Striesand to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" - but, as you are aware, that ain't Barbra singing on that song. Your snide and attempted demeaning post is just that. Attempted. Chill out and think before you post.

I never said or implied what you are pretending I m saying or implying. I never said he walked out of the studio for instance, you are talking BS. . I never said Prince or Streisand were supposed to lick MJ's butt neither. . So take a deep breath and look closely at my post. . The whole story smells BS and that was my point. [Edited 1/7/19 14:42pm]

You said "walked out". Walked out of where?

You also said, "Michael wasn't able, in a minute, to change a fucking word" implying that they were perhaps recording, and he couldn't change something to save the .... recording session, perhaps?

So, tell me again to take a deep breath ... go ahead.

RODSERLING said:

June7 said:

I never said or implied what you are pretending I m saying or implying. I never said he walked out of the studio for instance, you are talking BS. . I never said Prince or Streisand were supposed to lick MJ's butt neither. . So take a deep breath and look closely at my post. . The whole story smells BS and that was my point. [Edited 1/7/19 14:42pm]

You said "walked out". Walked out of where?

You also said, "Michael wasn't able, in a minute, to change a fucking word" implying that they were perhaps recording, and he couldn't change something to save the .... recording session, perhaps?

So, tell me again to take a deep breath ... go ahead.

[/quoamateurs Walked out of the situation of him having to record that song . "In a minute", cause yes, changing a word doesn't take more than a minute. Like Prince calling MJ and saying " I don't like that line". . Once again, that story is BS. Completely made up by Quincy Jones. . 1) The overprotective and paranoiac MJ, sending a tape to Prince, of one of his composition of his overhyped album...And if Prince stole that song, or was inspired by that, etc.? . 2) Prince re recording that song ? Like he didn't have other things to do in his most creative period... . 3) In a funkier way? No way the original studio version is funky as hell. . 4) Sending that tape to MJ ? One leak and Prince would pass for an idiot obsessed by MJ songs . 5) The reason Prince didn't want that song was because of the butt story? Really ? One word was impossible to change, between MJ, Prince and Quincy Jones? . People believing that story take MJ and Prince for two unprofessionals amateurs. This is too out of characters for both of them. . And once again, an ideal collaboration would have been Prince doing a guitar solo for an MJ track. That wasn't too much asking. . The problem was that MJ was unable to give to a Prince album a musical collaboration apart from his voice

The thing about the whole "your butt is mine" situation is true, Prince himself talked about it

No, probably not, Prince said that they called the album Bad because Pathetic wouldn't fit on the sleeve, he was sort of wrong because there is some good work on it but the title track is indeed woeful, to this day I skip it immediately, P found the lyrics cringe-worthy and I feel secondhand embarrasment when I am forced to sit through the MV. That said, his collabs with other big stars usually turned out pretty lacklustre (Kate Bush, Gwen Stefani, Madonna, etc) but you could hear his influence and motifs strongly throughout the tracks, Q and MJ were a different beast entirely, so the lack of control might have been the main impediment.

June7 said:

ThatWhiteDude said:

RODSERLING said:

June7 said:

You said "walked out". Walked out of where?

You also said, "Michael wasn't able, in a minute, to change a fucking word" implying that they were perhaps recording, and he couldn't change something to save the .... recording session, perhaps?

So, tell me again to take a deep breath ... go ahead.

[/quoamateurs Walked out of the situation of him having to record that song . "In a minute", cause yes, changing a word doesn't take more than a minute. Like Prince calling MJ and saying " I don't like that line". . Once again, that story is BS. Completely made up by Quincy Jones. . 1) The overprotective and paranoiac MJ, sending a tape to Prince, of one of his composition of his overhyped album...And if Prince stole that song, or was inspired by that, etc.? . 2) Prince re recording that song ? Like he didn't have other things to do in his most creative period... . 3) In a funkier way? No way the original studio version is funky as hell. . 4) Sending that tape to MJ ? One leak and Prince would pass for an idiot obsessed by MJ songs . 5) The reason Prince didn't want that song was because of the butt story? Really ? One word was impossible to change, between MJ, Prince and Quincy Jones? . People believing that story take MJ and Prince for two unprofessionals amateurs. This is too out of characters for both of them. . And once again, an ideal collaboration would have been Prince doing a guitar solo for an MJ track. That wasn't too much asking. . The problem was that MJ was unable to give to a Prince album a musical collaboration apart from his voice

The thing about the whole "your butt is mine" situation is true, Prince himself talked about it

There's some well-timed editing going on in this version of the interview (in fact, in most of the versions I've seen online). I seem to remember Chris being a little more savage during the Prince vs Mr Disney part (hence Prince pretending to walk out).

ThatWhiteDude said:

RODSERLING said:

RODSERLING said:

Quincy made up stories like the one where MJ tried to kill PRINCE with a car, the one where he stole Billie Jean to Donna Summer...He is full of shit and anger towards MJ since he was fired.

Wasn't it Prince who tried to kill MJ with the car? probably in a jokey way.

June7 said:

RODSERLING said:

I heard the multitrack 9 minute studio version of BAD, (not the maxi, not the music video versions a)and it s an epic funky track. No way could Prince make it funkier, that s beyond absurd. . That "butt story" is complete BS, cause MJ could just change this line into Something else such as "your cause is mine" or "your goAl is mine", etc. . Whoever thinks Prince really walked out because of that, and that MJ wasn't able in a minute to change a fucking word, is really naive and believes every BS made up by Quincy Jones. . Not only that, but if MJ really wanted a Prince collaboration on the album BAD, he could have asked Prince to play a guitar solo on Dirty Diana, or a funky bass on Speed Demon- for instance. . If there was such a version of Prince singing BAD lol would you really believe he would have sent it to MJ? Wouldn't he be in the interest of MJ and his publicist to leak the tape or an extract to turn Prince into an idiot? Can you picture Prince losing his time and reputation to do that joke? . One last important thing : what version supposedly Prince heard? In whAt year? Because the song evoluted during 2 years, and I heard another complete 3 rd unused verse. . [Edited 1/7/19 14:14pm]

What's absurd is you believing Prince "walked out of the studio" during this. He was never in a studio with Michael. He was sent the track. You are under the impession that Michael was granted any artist he wanted because he was Michael Jackson. Also not true, and naive. Michael wanted Barbra Striesand to duet with him on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" - but, as you are aware, that ain't Barbra singing on that song. Your snide and attempted demeaning post is just that. Attempted. Chill out and think before you post.

Quincy's interview last year, he said he, Prince, and Michael met and they played the song for him at the dinner at Hayvenhurst. I'm sure that's where Rod got it from

and wasn't it Susannah who said it, not Susan Rogers?

[Edited 1/8/19 3:24am]

Brad Sundberg, who worked on the song, wasn't there when Prince heard it, posted this on Facebook

The word "Duet" was all over the original track sheets and tape boxes. In fact, it sort of became known as the "Pee Duet". No, that is not a mis-spelling; some of the work tapes and early mixes were called "Pee Duet".

I seem to remember that as part of our security measures very few people were to know that Michael was talking with Prince about doing the duet, so spelling it "Pee" might really throw a curious guest into a quandary. Hey, this was way before Twitter and smart-phones, so our security measures were a bit more unorthodox.

Anyway, the tracks were prepped, and Prince finally came to listen to the song. (Again - I am working on a Taco Bell commercial or eating an In-N-Out burger this particular day.) I'm sure Michael played it for him at 122db spl, and I'm sure the room was rocking. I'm sure they got along swimmingly and I'm sure it was a very memorable day for everyone there.

I can say that when I finally did get back into the studio later that day everyone was very excited about Prince's visit, and how cool he was to be around.

from Bruce Swedien

I was there for a couple of the meetings with Prince and Michael, Quincy and all. Personaly I think that after meeting with Michael, Quincy, Fredy DeMann and his team, Prince realized that he couldn't win this duet/duel with MJ, artistically or other wise... And pulled out... He left the building, so to speak...

As far as I am concerned. I want to say that I love Prince's music...

It was mainly at Quincy's request that MJ came up with Bad and try to make it a duet with Prince

Michael DID reach out to Prince over the years to collaborate on the HIStory album and to help on the cancelled Hurricane Katrina charity single

jcurley said:

God can you imagine the man who wrote when doves cry and if i was your girlfriend singing such puerile lyrics as Bad.

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Are you seriously claiming Prince never sang puerile lyrics?

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The nonsense you famz invent to defend your precious hero...