Well I finally finished it. Just. With a couple of half-hearted write-ups:



100 - Cinderella Stay Awhile

A sweet mid-tempo tune from MJ's final solo album for Motown 'Forever Michael' in 1975. There's not much to say about this one apart from the fact that whenever I hear it I simply can't stop humming it for the rest of the day. Michael sings it just perfectly to go with his "new" voice after struggling for a couple of years to adjust from his high pitched soulful shouting to a sweet tenor. This was one of the first songs I feel where he got it just right.


99 - Blame It On The Boogie

The much loved Disco classic floor-filler from 'Destiny'. A #8 hit in the UK in September 1978 but not so much in the USA where Shake Your Body (Down To The Ground) was the big hit from the album over there. Slightly annoying that the twattish Big Fun cover made #4 in 1989, but to tell the truth, that was the first version I heard and I loved it then. What the covers of this song lack is the best part though, the gorgeous little adlibs right at the end with Michael growling away.

This was also the first official music video Michael made with the [now] cheesy looking special effects, but I think others from same era have dated a lot more. I can't say I listen to this song all that often anymore though because of the overload on the radio, music channels and cheesy discos, but still a classic all the same. The live performances from the 1979 Destiny tour kick major ass too!


98 - Heaven Can Wait

The first appearance of a track from the ill-fated 'Invincible' album and a sweet R&B number sung from the POV of a dying man not wanting to leave his lover. Listen as he almost shouts at the end begging and pleading to fight death. Not a common theme amongst the sub-average R&B fluff in the charts these days. It seemed like a change of direction vocally for Michael as he never did much straight-up R&B before. The smoothness of the opening line of the first verse just kills me every time. This was mainly penned by Teddy Riley and was in line to be on the final Blackstreet album until Michael bagged it for himself and re-worked it a bit.


97 - Can't Let Her Get Away

What I once deemed as the worst track on 'Dangerous' seems to have weeded it's way into my Top 100 now. Quite shocking for me to say the least, but it's a 'love it or hate it' type of song and something about it has seriously grown on me recently. Extremely rhythmically driven and repetitive, but oh so funky. I love the quick changes to his falsetto voice and his then not-yet-perfected beatboxing. One would imagine this would be a stronger track on a Justin Timberlake record, only with digitally enhanced raspberry-blowing and cat squeals instead :-p


96 - I Just Can't Stop Loving You

A duet with singer/songwriter Siedah Garrett who co-wrote Man In The Mirror from the same album with Glen Ballard. She was unknown then apart from a couple of backing vocals for Madonna's True Blue album (along with Jackie Jackson), and unfortunately never seemed to make it as a soloist, even with a Rod Temperton/Quincy produced debut album to follow. POOR Siedah. I struggled to keep this one inside the list, but it shot up when listening to one of my new favourite MJ live performances, with this in Brunei in 1996 with an unknown [to me] female singer, beating rather dodgy ones on previous tours with Sheryl Crow and Siedah herself. Anyway, this was a transatlantic #1 hit to kick off 'Bad', one of the most highly anticipated follow-up albums ever. Strange that the "King of the Music Video" at the time didn't even bother making one for his lead single.

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95 - Mama's Pearl

Funky little number from the Jackson 5's 'Third Album' and a US #2 hit in 1971. Perfect vocal perfomance from a 12 year old Michael, and well, there's not much else to say about this one. I just love it. Watch out for the adlib right at the end which sounds rather like "find out what you've been missing scrubber", as Michael's Left Loafer once pointed out to me. Makes me chuckle every time.


94 - This Time Around

Let's all just hope he meant what he said in 1995 on this song. Only now everything is described as "conspiracy" instead of protection. Silly little freak should take his friend Steve Harvey's advice and re-name Neverland "Never Again". It's the production I like on this song more than anything else. It certainly doesn't sound nearly 10 years old to me. You'll probably hear that comment a lot from the rest of the appearances of 'HIStory' tracks. A fitting rap from Notorious BIG that beats the sampled old one used post-humously 6 years later on Unbreakable. This was tipped as a US radio single in mid 1996 but like all American promotion of the album post-1995, something or rather "someone" got in the way. Although I don't think this not being released was any major loss for the public compared to other tracks.


93 - Love's Gone Bad

Originally a hit for Chris Clark in 1966, this 1973 cover by the Jackson 5 emerged in 1979 when Motown released 'Boogie' as part of their regular schedule of J5 new/re-issues to ride off the back of any success The Jacksons were having with CBS at the time. Thus the title 'Boogie' to go with Blame It On The Boogie and no connection to the content of the album itself. 'Boogie' was part old hits but mostly unreleased material from the vaults. Lord knows why this little gem never appeared on an album while the group were still signed to the label. It beats the original hands down in my opinion as Michael puts far more character and zest into the performance than Clark.


92 - We've Had Enough

The very latest offering from MJ as the final previously unreleased track on the new box set, possibly making this list due to it being fresh in my mind. Maybe years from now it will be a lot higher, or it could go the opposite way. An 'Invincible' reject for some odd reason, because it beats the hell out of nearly half the album. It's reminiscent of Earth Song in theme and style, only this time dealing with war and not 'The Earth'. The distinct lack of a chorus is probably what would keep this from ever being a hit record (based on music alone), and I'm a tad tired of the infamous hiccups when they sound as consciously put in as they do here. Still, it's very powerful and I love Michael's vocals when he gets really passionate about something. The first few times I heard the song I felt like doing a sad twattish Tim Henman style air-punch. Lord help me.

Co-written by Rodney Jerkins and Carole Bayer Sager, it leaves sort of a bad taste in my mouth because a song like this really seems like it should be a solo effort, especially as those two were responsible for some of the utter tripe on 'Invincible' - CBS is however forgiven as her track record working with Michael is much better (It's The Falling In Love, Just Friends). Vocals and production for WHE were completed in 2004.


91 - Give It Up

Beautiful piano driven mid-tempo number from 'Triumph' all sung in falsetto by Michael and a fitting appearance from Randy which they wrote together. Randy does a better job here with his soft-pitched voice than he does on Can You Feel It.


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90 - Doctor My Eyes

Fan-daby-dozy cover of the Jackson Browne song and a #9 UK hit for the Jackson 5 in 1973 from the previous year's 'Lookin' Through The Windows' album. There's nothing to dislike about this cover in which Michael and Jermaine share vocals - a jumpy, catchy feel-good tune, although that seems to completely contradict the lyric about feeling lonely and having never been loved. Like a lot of mis-interpreted songs, it just doesn't seem to matter all that much.


89 - Speechless

One of the just two proper solo songs on 'Invincible' that Michael wrote and produced alone. Cheesy beyond belief, but it's so simple it just seems to work. Shame about the choir at the end which almost ruins it, and the cappella outtro isn't necessary, - it takes away from the intro. Dedicated to his kids, Michael says he wrote this when he climbed a tree after a water-fight with them. I'd presume that's the now infamous "giving tree" then Gawd bless 'im.


88 - She Drives Me Wild

Well it's just wicked, innit? Car horns in the intro and throughout (she "drives" me wild, geddit?), plus a rap from Aqil Davidson of Wreckx-N-Effect. When 'Dangerous' was first released, oddly this was the song I played for months over and over so much that my tape screwed up. For that I have fond memories of dancing round the garden with my headphones on in the summer of '92.


87 - Greatest Show On Earth

Michael allegedly (OK, according to wacked out biographer Taraborrelli) once slammed down a biography of P.T. Barnum on a table in front of his manager and said "This is how I want my life to be" (i.e. "The Greatest Show On Earth"). Well he's certainly fulfilled that little ambition if it's true, although I don't really buy it. This little gem however (from Michael's sophomore album 'Ben'), has nothing to do with the famed circus dude. Just a happy little mid-tempo song about being in love being a circus-like fantasy. It's just the "Oh, everyday is a holiday, Get your tickets right away" line that grabs me, the perfectly pitched 13 year old Michael delivers as usual.


86 - This Had To Be

I'm not sure this should be in this list. It's not a Michael Jackson, Jackson 5 or Jacksons song. He doesn't even have a lead vocal. This is a Quincy Jones produced album track from The Brothers Johnson's 1980 'Light Up The Night' album which spawned the hit Stomp for them. Michael co-wrote this with George and Louis Johnson and does distinct backing vocals throughout the whole song. Louis Johnson of course, co-wrote Get On The Floor with Michael and played bass on the 'Off The Wall' album. This song though? It's just wonderful mid-tempo Disco-Funk and I bloody love it.


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85 - Euphoria

"E-U-P-H-O-R-I-A, that's the new word for todaaaay" - Ooh, another ABC-alike spelling lesson or possibly the first ever "E" song? Nah, neither, it's about being high on life innit? "Knowing no ills, needing no pills" blah de blah, living clean and happy etc. - This is perhaps one of the last instances of Michael using that Celine Dion-esque ultra-sonic voice on his 1973 'Music & Me' album, and a jolly good one too.


84 - Come Together

This is a rather strange choice for me. I never knew I rated it that high to be honest, especially as someone who strongly dislikes The Beatles' late-60s material. I've heard several versions of this song from the likes of Aerosmith, Bee Gees, Ike & Tina Turner, Robin Williams, and *smirks* that hideous Paul Weller/McCartney version from 1995. Beatles purists and music snobs generally seem to scoff at Michael's 1989 re-working of the song, but you've got to admit, it's probably the one that's the most different from the original, and surely that's the best reason to cover a song. This is faster and funkier than the others, and dare I say it, sexy (shiny black tight rubber trousers and an open shirt, oh yes!). Lord knows why this ended up on 'HIStory' though after appearing in Moonwalker and then charting at #3 in the UK in 1992 as a Double-A side with Remember The Time. What does it for me though is that "Aaaaow, come together baby" part, and the extra twiddly bits at the end in the single version.


83 - You Can't Win

Michael as The Scarecrow duets with a bunch of crows in 1978's 'The Wiz' - the Motown produced movie version of the Broadway show of the all black cast re-working of 'The Wizard Of Oz'. This is the original soundtrack version I'm talking about, not the 1979 re-recorded Disco Mix. If only those damn crows would shut up, because the song is fuckin' cool, especially that low note at the end. The lyric aswell, well it was the story of Michael's life really as he spent the whole of the 70s fighting to get his face on a teen magazine cover while the rhythmically-challenged Osmonds with their rubbish songs were plastered everywhere.

This song also marks the first collaboration between Michael and Quincy Jones who produced the music for the film and properly met Michael for the first time on set. Michael was living in New York with LaToya at the time and finally getting independent, writing songs alone and ready to branch out properly as a solo artist. Defying CBS's insistence of Maurice White producing the album, he fought to pair up with Quincy and the rest is history.


82 - Wait

The last song in the list that probably shouldn't be anywhere near it. Looking at it now I think I may have placed it a tad too high. Jackie takes lead vocals on this album track on the brothers' final album that included Michael, 'Victory'. Michael and Jermaine sing back-up, and when they come in at the end the song really comes alive. It's a cute little pop song about a girl playing hard-to-get, but it's just all round 80s synth fabulousness.


81 - Heartbreak Hotel

The prequel to Billie Jean perhaps? Or even Thriller? It's sort of a combination of the two with the horror movie type atmosphere. A US #22 hit in 1981 and one of the first of Michael's femme-fatale paranoia songs. He wrote this alone and gave LaToya her recording debut as she provides the scream at the beginning. This song really comes alive in concert though. It's far too slow on the recording but live it is transformed into a high energy dance/rock number, peaking on the Bad tour of course. For some strange reason, the song's title was changed in the mid-80s - a few years after the album and song was a hit - to "This Place Hotel". Totally pointless in my opinion, it was apparently to avoid confusion with the Elvis Presley song of the same name, as if anyone would ever be confused, and as if there was any point in doing this so late after release. I wish it had been changed back


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80 - Superfly Sister

Fab Funk-Pop with a message - erm, stop shagging people you don't love. Michael seems to be a sort of calling out to his promiscuous siblings, what with Jermaine marrying the mother of Randy's child, various other brothers having extra marital affairs (hey, Paula Abdul may never have become famous otherwise) and specifically LaToya's highly abusive marriage that finally came to an end in 1997 - "sister's married to a hood, sayin' that she got it good". This was originally a 'Dangerous' outtake though, but I'm not sure what year. Also the final appearance of Michael's favourite slutty female, "Susie". Anyway, stop lying Michael, now we know that lardass Debbie was pregnant for the first time while you were still married to that scowling hag Lisa-Marie :-p You're no better than your father and brothers.

I like the way he sings the verses in a staccato voice, and I just love the end. Old Mikey invented the "Moley moley moley" line from 'Austin Powers: Goldmember', ya know! Strangely enough this was the first track that jumped out at me when the 'Blood On The Dancefloor' remix album was first released. It seems to be the easiest to catch on to, but now it's nowhere near my favourite from the 5 "new" songs. I've just been listening to it a lot recently.


79 - Thriller

Do I REALLY have to comment on this?


78 - Time Waits For No-one

Gorgeous gorgeous love ballad written by Randy and Jackie, and the only one on 'Triumph'. Sort of the sequel to She's Out Of My Life dealing with the exact same theme - recently deserted lover pining for them to return. I prefer it to SOOML by a country mile just because of the line "and I'm scared there's someone sleeping by her side..."


77 - Get It Together

Funk-Disco-Soul 1973 album title track and it's always been one of my favourites from J5. Made up mainly of the same few lines being repeated, it's the funky adlibs that make this song great and one of the last times you hear Michael in his proper James Brown imitation mode, only with smoother vocals. Could have easily been an old Commodores hit.


76 - Earth Song

Michael's biggest ever hit in the UK, finally taking that feat from One Day In Your Life. This was my instant favourite track from 'HIStory' the first day I heard it. That has changed over time and the vast overplay of the hideous radio edit it got at the tail end of 1995 seems to have put all Jacko fans off ever listening to it in private by choice. That and the rather lame OTT "live" performances of it in concert - the only decent one was Brunei 1996 and the actual live parts are astounding. Anyway, forget the video, the Brits, the "he thinks he's God" preachy bastards rabbiting away (stand up Mr. Sting you self-righteous veggie twat) - musically this is just a great song with great production and a great vocal performance, end of.


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75 - Maria (You Were The Only One)

The B-side to Michael's first solo single Got To Be There, this is almost as good. Another "she's left me, please come back" song but with one of the most astounding vocal performances from Michael from his time at Motown. The change in tempo near the end; the screams of "you keep on running AWAY", sublime.


74 - Why You Wanna Trip On Me

One of the two songs Michael didn't write on 'Dangerous', personally I don't think this has dated a day. The lyric in general is a bit too simple, but the message is as plain as day - there are more important things going on in the world, so fuck off and leave me alone. It's the funky guitar lick that I love so much, obviously an inspiration for the recent popularised sound of The Neptunes (Pharrell Williams being a Teddy Riley protegé to begin with) but just more raw sounding.


73 - Style Of Life

One of the first in a series of prophetic songs in The Jacksons era, where it seems that the Michael of today could learn a thing or two from his teenage self. Although this is before the group got their teeth into writing and producing alone, Michael and Tito wrote this one together. Taken from their debut self-titled album for CBS in 1976, the 70s mid-tempos seem to be very popular with me. Best part of the song by far in the first verse: "You know, and I know nobody wants you with your, wishy, washy ways" - wonderful delivery.


72 - That's What You Get (For Being Polite)

Yet another prophetic Jacksons song. Written by Michael and Randy, Michael sings about "Jack", a sensitive young soul who feels inhibited by society, unloved and unappreciated - [sarcasm]I wonder who that is.[/sarcasm] This finishes off the 'Destiny' album very nicely and leaves you wanting more with the same "begging" style adlibs that have been used on later tracks such as The Lady In My Life.

This seems to be a firm favourite with the old skool fans. I've heard from a handful of people that they've heard it playing in several clubs and bars recently and even sung on open mic nights in Soul clubs.


71 - Destiny

A UK #39 in February 1979, not a big hit by any means. In fact, the singles from 'The Jacksons' and 'Goin' Places' did better than this. Quite strange considering the group were touring in the UK in this month and put in a live performance for TOTP too - the last time Michael would ever appear in the TOTP studio.

Anyway, this is a lovely little ballad about choosing "the simple life" over material riches. Yeah right, Michael. I love the false ending when it just swoops into a guitar solo from Tito complete with those classic disco horns that are present through the whole album.


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70 - Speed Demon

One of the two songs from 'Bad' that didn't make it as a single, yet it still has that wonderfully wacky video as part of 'Moonwalker' with Michael in disguise as a claymation rabbit running away from crazy fans and the press. Apart from the wicked little dance breakdown at the end, forget the video. That bassline is so funky, that falsetto in the bridge is so clean, that low sort of grunt in the verses is so tuneful.


69 - One Day In Your Life

Michael's first UK #1 and until 1995 it was his biggest hit in this country. He may have been king of the 80s but it was the 1981 re-issue of this low key ballad recorded in 1975 from the 'Forever, Michael' album that was bigger than anything else he did that decade. As things went often in that era, this song was recorded by a lot of artists before a definitive version was found worthy enough to release. Johnny Mathis released it the same year, but the then 17 year old Michael's version outshone it by far.


68 - Dancing Machine

So good, the Jackson 5 released it on two albums back-to-back. Originally the closing song on 1973's 'Get It Together', it became the title track and lead single to the follow-up album the following year. This was the Jackson 5's renaissance hit at Motown, when despite the quality of the music staying consistent, they didn't have the same fresh appeal as when they first burst onto the scene, and little Michael had become a tall spotty adolescent. This reached #2 in the US and also spawned 'The Robot' as a new dance craze that didn't even fully catch on until the breakdance phenomenon of the early 80s. Michael gets far too much credit for the 'Moonwalk' when he wasn't the first nor the best at that at the time of Billie Jean. People forget that he was the first to bring 'The Robot' to the attention of the public.

Personally I prefer the original version of this song from 'Get It Together' with the intro featuring the sound effects of a penny being dropped into a machine.


67 - Show You The Way To Go

The Jacksons' first and only UK #1 single in the summer of 1977. The live versions of this totally make up for any tedium of the studio recording from overplay. Lovely little optimistic race-relations friendly mid-tempo song about living "together underneath the sun". Dannii Minogue also reached #30 with her cover in 1992.


66 - Smooth Criminal

Possibly my favourite Michael Jackson music video (or should I say "short film") ever, inexplicably ruined by the sped-up version music channels seem to show all too often. The seventh of the nine 'Bad' singles, it reached UK #8 in the summer of 1988, and criminally the Alien Ant Farm version made #3 in 2001.

Useless trivia: That's actually his heartbeat in the intro.


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65 - Never Can Say Goodbye

Probably best known for the Disco cover versions by Gloria Gaynor and The Communards among others, but the Jackson 5 recorded the original of this Clifton Davis penned hit. A US #2 in 1971 but still one of the biggest sellers of the year. Lovely ballad, always great when performed live.


64 - Love Is The Thing You Need

A track from the vaults released in 1976 on the 'Joyful Jukebox Music' album. Another hidden up-tempo gem from 1973. Loomer once pointed out that it sounds a bit like Moloko's 'Bring It Back'. Other than that, not much to say about this one.


63 - Gone Too Soon

The ninth and final single from 'Dangerous', a UK #33 in December 1993. Dedicated to AIDS victim Ryan White, the video is entirely a tribute to him. A gorgeous song for anyone who has died young, it also appeared on the Princess Diana tribute album. Michael has only performed this live once, at the inaugural gala for Bill Clinton in early 1993. Babyface and Stevie Wonder also covered this as a duet for the former's MTV Unplugged show in 1997.


62 - Baby Be Mine

First of the two non-singles from 'Thriller', how much of a feel good pop tune is this? Effortlessly smooth vocals, they don't make pop this good anymore. Apparently Michael isn't too fond of this one though.


61 - Push Me Away

Gorgeous simple melancholy love song from the 'Destiny' album. Ugh, I've run out of comments. Just listen to it.


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60 - Shoo-Be-Doo-Be-Doo-Da-Day

One of the better songs on 'Ben', personally I think this one wipes the floor with the Stevie Wonder original. No surprise that it was Michael's version of the line in the song that got looped for the Fatboy Slim production of 'Because of You' by Scanty Sandwich which reached #3 in the UK in 2000.


59 - Music's Takin' Over

The opening track on 1977's 'Goin' Places' and almost the best track. Criminally ignored fantastic Disco tune with top notch vocals from Michael. I especially love the breakdown near the end where Michael fades in with the build-up of "da da da das". Glorious fun.


58 - It's Your Thing

One of the very first recordings the Jackson 5 made on Motown, it never made an album though but ended up on the Soulsation box set. A cover of The Isley Brothers' classic and equally as good with what I'd say is definitely up there as one of Michael's best vocal performances ever.


57 - I Want You Back

Originally intended for Gladys Knight & The Pips, Berry Gordy decided to re-work the lyric a bit and use this to launch the Jackson 5. That infamous swooping piano intro, the Ed Sullivan Show performance, that purple hat, Michael and Jermaine's trading off on eachother at the end. An absolute classic in every sense. Released in the US in November 1969, it finally reached #1 by January and not long after became a UK #2.


56 - Even Though You're Gone

A UK #31 in February 1978 and the last single from 'Goin Places' before the brothers decided to take a stand and write & produce a whole album. Sort of a more optimistic version of She's Out Of My Life, but better.


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55 - Man In The Mirror

A US #1 and UK #21 (I KNOW!), this is a firm favourite amongst fans and non-fans alike. Written by Glen Ballard and Siedah Garrett, this along with Just Good Friends are the only songs on 'Bad' which Michael didn't write. Really, this is mainly only here because of the live performances, from the 1988 Grammy Awards performance to the Bad and Dangerous tour versions. Michael always seems to mime the start of the song and then break out into hysterics when the mic turns on. It's always an absolute joy to watch. Such a shame the official video is so dull and wasn't replaced by the live montage opening from 'Moonwalker'.


54 - Don't Know Why I Love You

An album track from the Jackson 5's second album 'ABC', this Stevie Wonder cover is yet another one which I find far superior to the original. The tempo is slowed down and there's more of a focus on the vocal with much cleaner production. A perfect example of the common "old soul" description of young Michael.


53 - Blues Away

The first released song that Michael ever wrote alone and the B-side to Show You The Way To Go from The Jacksons' self titled debut album on CBS. Lovely melancholy mid-tempo tune (again), and at the end possibly one of the first instances of 'beatboxing' along with Stevie Wonder's Boogie On Reggae Woman.


52 - I'll Be There

The Jackson 5's fourth and final US #1, although a lot of following singles came close. This undeniable classic was also their biggest selling hit. It became a #1 for the second time in 1992 when Mariah Carey sang it on her MTV Unplugged EP - bless her, she has to mention J5 every time she introduces it I particularly like Michael's 1992 Pepsi commercial when he harmonises with himself as an adult and child (with him scarily imitating his old voice).


51 - With A Child's Heart

ANOTHER superior Stevie Wonder remake, and oh so poignant even today thinking about the man's ideals. Taken from the 'Music & Me' album from 1973. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

50 - P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)

Quincy Jones' only written contribution to Michael's catalogue, co-written with James Ingram. It's actually an uptempo re-working of a demo Michael wrote which sounds totally different and can be heard on the new box set 'The Ultimate Collection'. It's just one of the ultimate feel-good catchy pop tunes for me. A US #10 and UK #11, it was the 6th and final single from 'Thriller' over here (Human Nature failed to get a release). LaToya and Janet provided backing vocals along with Becky Lopez and Bunny Hull as 'The PYTs'. This was also sampled by Rodney Jerkins on Monica's doomed 'All Eyez On Me' along with brief extra adlibs of Michael's from the original master tapes.


49 - Corner Of The Sky

Taken from the Broadway musical 'Pippin', the Jackson 5 recorded this for their 1973 album 'Skywriter' and this even ended up as an extra track on the original Broadway cast album of the show along with Michael's solo rendition of Morning Glow. Each brother shares equal time for lead vocals here, and surprisingly Michael's parts are my least favourite. An uplifiting forgotten gem. I really don't see why this song isn't better known and hasn't had that many cover versions.

48 - Lookin' Through The Windows

The title track from the Jackson 5's sixth studio album and a UK #9 in 1972.


47 - Can You Feel It

Not a big hit in the US, but a UK #6. Composed by Michael and Jackie, we all know this much sampled/covered hit with the famous special effects laden video - probably the first of it's kind. In fact the brothers got all pretentious for it and decided to label the *ahem* short film "The Triumph" to go with the album title instead of the song.

Almost ruined by the fact of putting Randy on lead vocals for the verses, you can barely hear him at all, and it's the same for all live performances of the song on the 1981 'Triumph' tour when Michael literally has to leap up from behind and grab the microphone from his hand and let the audience hear something! It almost doesn't look planned. It looks like he's saving his brother.

46 - Beat It

A classic in every sense of the word. Odd really, because it was so obviously contrived purposely for the "crossover" into the Rock market. Upset at only ever being grouped in R&B categories at awards ceremonies, Michael really did set out to release 'Thriller' for it to become The Biggest Selling Album Of All Time *pukes* No-one believed him, not even Quincy Jones. Thus came Beat It with the infamous Eddie Van Halen guitar solo and West Side Story inspired Bob Giraldi directed video with the first sequence of group choreography - a formula that any pop artist with any sense of rhythm has continued to do to this day.

With Billie Jean getting a few spins on MTV (previously the only black videos played were by Reggae acts Musical Youth and Eddie Grant), it was never really in rotation on a playlist. It was with Beat It that CBS had to fight for, threatening to pull all of their artists' videos unless Michael Jackson was put on. They had their "Rock" video, so no excuses about not being an R&B/Dance network. And away it went, becoming a US #1 and UK #3 and winning every Grammy it was up for.


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45 - Whatever You Got I Want

Funky little number from the 'Dancing Machine' album in 1974. I love the James Brown style "Ha!" noises.


44 - Is It Scary?

I have a love/hate relationship with this song. It makes it so high because when I love it, I looooove it. The last of the "new" songs on 1997's 'Blood On The Dancefloor', I remember this song being talked about in 1993 and was reportedly going to be the theme to the 'Addams Family Values' film. Of course other events that year postponed all musical plans and the film was stuck with MC Hammer. So the song was shelved and re-worked and tweaked by Jam & Lewis for this release. I feel that it is their doing that is that part which bugs me about the song - it's too loud and messy at the end and Michael's vocals are drowned out. Fine and dandy when you're working with Janet and her thin voice, but over-producing to disguise something raw and powerful is very frustrating to sit through.

Anyway, it's the lyric of the song that I love so much. It gives you a small glimpse of understanding why the "Wacko Jacko" persona even exists.


43 - It's The Falling In Love

Duet with Patti Austin. Lovely mid-tempo tune worthy of being a single.

42 - Butterflies

Written by Andre Harris and Marsha Ambrosius, the latter is one half of British R&B/Soul duo Floetry, who co-produced this with Michael. Their original demo has since been released on their debut album 'Floetic' and doesn't sound all that different to Michael's rendition here. The world release of this song was cancelled after the Sony troubles in 2002, but promo pressings were all around Europe for months. It was the radio release in the USA that was a huge success reaching #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, #2 on the R&B/Hip Hop chart and finishing at #12 in the R&B/Hip Hop chart of the year, despite much of the run being at the tail end of 2001. You could put that down to the brilliant Trackmasters mix featuring Eve, but it didn't differ much from the original.

41 - (Come 'Round Here) I'm The One You Need

Probably better known for the version by Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, I don't care 'cos the Jackson 5's 1970 recording from the 'ABC' album beats all others hands down. Opposed to Smokey's sweet falsetto, Michael screams out in full on funk style with attitude. One of the best examples of Michael's famous scarily mature delivery as a child.


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40 - Keep The Faith

This one has dated a little now, but honestly, it doesn't take anything away from the amazing vocal performance. Michael himself is allegedly unhappy with the turnout of this song, apparently struggling somewhat with it and like a handful of others over the years, not turning out how he imagined. I was pretty bummed when it wasn't a single as I was holding out for this one more than any of them at the time.


39 - Bad

Well here it is. Possibly MJ's cheesiest hit song. A few years ago I'd listened to those wanky critics and hailed this as average, embarassing and dated. Fuck 'em. The extended mix is just glorious; the Martin Scorsese directed video is hysterical; LaToya's sample in He's My Brother, everything! Originally meant to be a duet with Prince with differing comedy stories of why he turned it down, I just can't imagine it somehow. I knew 'Thriller' and that song was what made me a fan, but I was too young for that when it was happening so I jumped on a couple of years later. Bad was US #1 and UK #3 and this was the first MJ video I remember being an "event" with everyone talking about it, so it holds special memories for me.


38 - Ghosts

Released as a Double A side with the HIStory remix, this reached #5 in the Summer of 1997 but wasn't played as often as the other. Anyway, what GENIUS! The backbeat sounds like rattling chains, or some kind of metal thrashing against eachother. It just builds and builds to a climax perfectly for me, and it's SUCH a grower. Is It Scary? was my instant favourite from the EP when it was first released, and to this day still gets the most praise from people, but that has changed over time. A collaboration with Teddy Riley, I really think they bring out the best in eachother. Unlike Is It Scary? the vocals aren't drowned out at all - the production is much cleaner and perfected and at 8 years old (or more) I don't think it's dated a bit.


37 - Jam

Ah, the opening track to 'Dangerous' and a different sound from what we were used to hearing from Michael. It starts out with a crash with the sound of breaking glass and ends with all those wonderful horns, in what I like to think of as an ode to Quincy before truly moving on. It's a repetetive big jam [no pun intended] about living your life, finding your niche to do good and live in peace together and just sort of getting on with it... jamming


36 - Got To Be There

Ah, where it all began, Michael's first ever solo single. Also the title track to the album and a UK #5 in February 1972. I went through a period in my teens when I would put this song on whenever I was feeling down and it would bring me to tears but I'd feel all better afterwards. Chaka Khan also covered this in 1982 on her self titled album, and although she belted the end out just as well as Michael, she doesn't quite capture his sincerity.


=====


35 - Dangerous

"DAN-GER-OUS, the girl is so DAN-GER-OUS", Wooooo, what a cool closing. Ya know for the first year or so of the album's life I thought the verses were being recited by some mystery rapper. Nope, that's just Michael using his proper voice, or as Janet Arvizo would say while furiously pointing in her usual demented manner, "a normal, male voice" Woah, how sinister!

Anyway, it's femme fatale time again. Meh, fine by me, with the lyric drawing inspiration from dialogue in the very scene from [the Fred Astaire movie] 'The Band Wagon' that inspired the Smooth Criminal video. And OMG at the concert/award show performances of this, perfected by 1995 with a couple of Janet's old interludes incorporated into it and a break into the theme from 'The Good, The Bad & The Ugly'. It got really old by 2002 when Michael was STILL performing the song at random occasions, which was never even a single in the first place!


34 - Shout

Rejected track from 'Invincible' and better than almost everything that did make the album. This was the B-Side to 'Cry' and about a hundred billion times better - although the first time I heard it I didn't know what the fuck I was listening to. People only really appreciate this after reading the lyric several times over until it all magically becomes clear when hearing them. Then there's the end when the first verse is repeated and a mysetrous female voice is talking along with Michael... and yes, when asked by a fan he did confirm that it was Janet, as we suspected.


33 - Walk Right Now

A UK #7 in 1981, it's amazing how this seems to have been forgotten over time. Can You Feel It seems to have taken away it's thunder, but I prefer this, particularly the extended version. Recently covered by unknown and probably now defunct girlband Ellements, it's a shame it wasn't a hit as it was pretty good. Anyway, lyrically it's just a run of the mill "go away, we've broken up" song, but it's damn funky!


32 - Another Part Of Me

One of the first songs recorded for 'Bad' due to it featuring in the Disney 3D ride/movie 'Captain EO'. Michael favoured Streetwalker but Quincy wanted this - as he told in the interviews on the special edition of the album, they sat down with Frank Dileo and played the songs back to back, and Frank just burst out dancing to this thus making the decision for them. I feel it was the right choice. Only making #15 in September 1988 after the tour had just passed through the UK, the video was just a live performance [I think from Wembley Stadium].


31 - Who's Lovin' You

The B-Side to I Want You Back and a Smokey Robinson cover - once again, easily superior to the original since all subsequent cover versions tend to imitate Michael's interpretation and not Smokey's.


=====


30 - I Wanna Be Where You Are

Up-tempo classic from 'Got To Be There', it remains a firm favourite with most people. I've also recently been introduced to a new cover version by Carleen Anderson and Paul Weller (thanks Cwej), which is just brilliant.


29 - Burn This Disco Out

The closing track to 'Off The Wall' and a pure JOY to listen to. Those opening horns always put a huge grin on my face, along with the first line "There's a STEEEAM BEEEAAT". Fun fun fun fun fun!


28 - Little Susie

Quite frankly I can't be arsed to find out what the choir at the beginning is singing, but how scary is this? Don't ever listen to it in the dark - well OK, I did once when I was 14 and got freaked out. After the choir comes some freaky little girl la la'ing a lullaby along to a music box. The actual song doesn't even kick in until nearly 3 minutes into the track. This tale of the death of a neglected little girl is probably the most uncommercial song Michael Jackson has ever done alone with Morphine, but I think it's absolutely beautiful.


27 - You Rock My World

How utterly unremarkable was this to most people when this premiered? Myself included. I thought it was the most bland piece of juvenile rubbish. Juvenile still, maybe - I do cringe at a 43 year old man still singing "girl" so many times in a song like a 21 year old boyband member. The video is utter drivel too, but those piano chords and the dodgy electronic violins take all that away. It's one of the few MJ songs I ever regularly get stuck in my head, and the Tag Team remix is brilliant.


26 - Billie Jean

Possibly the "perfect" pop song. Regularly Top 5 and even sometimes #1 in the all time polls. The video is legendary (although I'm not a big fan), that Motown 25 performance, that moonwalk. Blah blah blah, we all know it. This would be much much higher if I didn't involuntarily hear it several times a week on the radio, in shops, on TV etc. 23 years on and it's still here, ALL THE TIME. Probably a testament to it's brilliance, but please - sad MJ impersonator fans, stop it. Stop it NOW!


=====


25 - Will You Be There

Forget the Free Willy rubbish it got latched on to a good 2 years after 'Dangerous' was released. He'd already semi shot the video anyway at the MTV 10th Anniversary show in 1991. Being released as a single right before the whole allegations scandal was a bit of a fluke, reaching #9 in July 1993 as the 8th of 9 singles. It starts off with a the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus singing Beethoven's Symphony #9 in D-Minor: Opus 125 (had to look that one up!). The song clocks in at 7:40, but the actual song doesn't even start until nearly 2 minutes in, but personally I think it's utter perfection throughout. On the occasion he bothers to sing it live it's utterly astounding, and I can't think of any pop male soloist around who can emote that well. Sends shivers down my spine on the right occasion - and with the clarity of the video on the DVD you can even see Michael crying at the end, and not those on cue She's Out Of My Life crocodile "tears" either.


24 - In The Closet

Princess Stephanie of Monaco takes the voice of the "Mystery Girl" here, originally meant to be Madonna. I'm not sure I even buy that silly Taraborrelli story about her being scrapped after saying she'd only do it if they both dressed in drag for the video and Janet advising Michael against it. I just think she didn't like the song and declined. I think Stephanie does a better job anyway since her spoken voice is more "feminine", and you need that when Michael has a spoken part too. MJ sexes up for the video here that he co-directed with Herb Ritts, starring Naomi Campbell (who re-recorded the female spoken parts for it). I don't care what all you "it was embarassing" people say. I think it's HOT.


23 - Off The Wall

My recurring adjective for the whole album - JOY JOY JOY! This begins with some weird intro that sounds like a Disco Horror movie or something - Michael even does that funny witch's cackle. Nothing like the rest of the song at all. This was performed on the Triumph, Victory and Bad [first leg] tours. It's probably best on Victory from what I've seen. It's never been that remarkable live, probably because everyone is just pissing about on stage having a laugh. Everybody sing along: "Cos toniiight, gotta leave that 9 to 5 upon the shelf, and just enjooooy yourseeelf"... It made #7 in November 1979.


22 - 2 Bad

Never a single, but it's got the most complete video of all the songs performed in 'Ghosts' with what is just the most amazing dance routine. An arrogant answer to his critics with the whole "I'm standing though you're kicking me... Too bad, too bad about it" - my God, his voice is powerful and grainy on this. Personally, I hated it at first thinking it was just loud and repetitive, but the sincerity in his voice won me over, the excellent production and the subtle use of Boyz II Men's backing vocals. Then Shaquille O'Neal comes in with a pretty good rap for his standards (that gets cut out for the video).

The first time I read the album's tracklisting I thought this would be some weird cheesy sequel to Bad or something. Wrong - although he does steal the line "Throwing rocks to hide your hands" [formerly "stones"]. Then there's the Refugee Camp Remix on 'Blood On The Dancefloor' that has Wyclef on guitar twanging away at the Beat It riff throughout.


21 - Whatever Happens

Un-fucking-doubtedly the best song on 'Invincible', and a last minute addition too. These days I think Michael is most effective singing songs in a third person narrative. Sort of a latino style Livin' On A Prayer type story of two lovers having sacrificed everything to be together and struggling to make ends meet. Mainly written by British songwriter Geoffrey Williams, it seems that everybody and their Grandma wanted to take some credit for the song with 5 ( ) people credited - Teddy Riley even still insists that it was his composition. Carlos Santana's cameo is just lovely, and he even loved it so much that he performed it solo in concert in 2002. But the real magic is with Michael's shouty desperate adlibs at the end.


=====


20 - The Lady In My Life

The song Michael was allegedly so embarassed to sing he had to do it in the dark. Too romantic and sexy for words! Quincy likes to take credit for being responsible for the "begging" type vocals at the end, but Michael had already done that sort of song with That's What You Get (For Being Polite), although never as smooth and gorgeous as this. Mya's re-worked cover of it doesn't really deliver, but I did like LL Cool J's sample on Hey Lover.


19 - Liberian Girl

The intro reads as: "Nakupenda pia, nakutaka pia, mpenzi we" which is "I love you too, I want you too, my love" in Swahili. Is there another mainstream love ballad written about a girl from Liberia? I'm sure I'm not the only one who read the title as "Librarian Girl" as a child. Isn't that xylophone in the background just lovely?

This reached #13 in July 1989 and was the final single from 'Bad' nearly 2 years after the album's release. Michael had performed this a couple of times in concert on the tour but it was never officially on the set-list, and the video is just a big WTF moment of randomness - for every "look at all my celebrity friends" A-list star popping up there are 3 C-listers to go with them. Utter madness.


18 - All Night Dancin'

If there's one way I'd like Michael to be remembered it's like this. There really was nothing to keep him still back then. An album track from 'Destiny', this was never a single but often performed on tour. It's a 6 minute piece of dancing Disco glory complete with fun hand claps and chanting, it's impossible not to move when it's played. I long for some DJ to dig this one out one day and for it to become the floor-filling classic it so deserves to be.


17 - Human Nature

So good, even Miles Davis covered it in instrumental form! Boyz II Men recently dared to cover it to disastrous results, but thankfully I'm not aware of any others apart from the SWV Right Here sample and remix with both songs integrated within eachother. There's so much more Michael has been able to do with his voice post-Thriller, but here I'm thankful he was still pulling off those ever so soft smooth vocals. This is just a work of perfection, and I recommend anyone to lay down, close their eyes and have it on with their head close to the speakers. Sublime.


16 - Leave Me Alone

The "bonus" track on the CD edition of 'Bad', most people didn't have it back then, thus why it reached #2 so late in the album's run. Basically it's an updated version of Walk Right Now, aimed at a dumped ex-girlfriend still bugging him... ooh, how prophetic *cough*Lisa Marie Presley circa 1997-1999*cough*. The Grammy winning video just played on the dodgy tabloid stories in a tongue in cheek fashion, turning it into the first of a handful of "Fuck The Press" songs. Meh, I don't care, his voice on the chorus is amazing - check the acappella version - and the extended remix just makes it even better. The line "There's a time when you're right, and you know you must fight" has been particularly satisfying for me these past 2 years aswell.


=====


15 - Workin' Day And Night

WHY was this not a single? One of the best songs Michael has ever done, he's performed it live on every single tour bar HIStory too. Far more worthy than the likes of Girlfriend. Hi energy pop brilliance at it's best! Best version by far is the live performance on the Dangerous tour rehearsal footage, unfortunately without the subsequent bum slapping!


14 - Morphine

ART! Oh yes. Who said it's just noise? GET OUT! It's about his addiction to drugs, innit? Reminds me of the story some doctor told about his stint in rehab in London in 1993 when old Michael was mopping the floors. The majority of the song is this grinding guitar (either Slash or Michael himself - they both played on the track) with him screaming this utter nonsense over the track before the really weird break into some kind of soft and reaaallly sinister lullaby - "close your eyes and drift away... don't cry, I won't convert you...", following by a gross "EWWWW" leading you back into the paaaainnn again, and all the while dialogue from 'The Elephant Man' of "You heard what the doctor said" keeps being repeated. I particularly like the delivery of the line: "You make me SICK baby, YOU ARE A LIAAARRR"


13 - I Can't Help It

BEAUTIFUL Stevie Wonder penned mid-tempo song. Absolutely gorgeous understated vocals from Michael. I didn't quite get this as a child, but I don't think I was really meant to at that age, so I left it alone for fuck knows how long until it finally hit me one day. Stevie Wonder has performed this a few times by himself too, and it's just in his classic 70s style from his run of genius albums I know and love.


12 - Give In To Me

The 7th single from 'Dangerous' and a UK #2 in February 1993 following the video premiere on the Oprah interview, only held off the top by the mega selling No Limit by 2 Unlimited, so I don't know why this song is so forgotten. Maybe the foul injustice of it having never been included on any of the overload of MJ compilations in the last 5 years, but it was ignored well before they started too. People just went "Oh, it's the standard MJ Rock song for the album". So what? It fucking ROCKS, he's fucking hot in the video, Slash's guitar solo is better than Steve Stevens' and Eddie Van Halen's (at least in my opinion), and the demo version is hilarious - oh I do love those demos when the lyrics haven't quite been finalised yet and he's just making up shit as he goes along: "Love is a doughnut!". Indeed.


11 - Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

This song apparently came to Michael in a dream - all that "channeled through the galaxy by God" shite he used to harp on about I suppose *gags* His first solo video with all those coloured psychadelic balls floating about in the background, and the triple cloned dancing MJ at the end - fabulous, dated, cheesy, but how gorgeous was he? Ahem, back to the song. I read an anecdote from a DJ at the time talking about not believing the falsetto was real until seeing Michael perform it live on The Jacksons' Triumph tour. Shame he hasn't really done it since, unless you count parts in Shake Your Body on the Bad tour.

I'm pissed off that the spoken intro has been cut from the new compilations, it's a great way to kick off the album with that classic "Wooooo". He said he was quite nervous doing that as he felt a bit embarassed about his soft speaking voice back then, but later felt more at ease with stuff like PYT. Anyway, how frickin' amazing is that production? I love the demo on the special edition showing that the arrangement had pretty much already been worked out at home [with milk bottles and a keyboard] before even stepping into the studio.


=====


10 - Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

What is this? Funk/Pop/Dance/Rock. It was all part of the universal crossover plan designed to make 'Thriller' as successful as it was. With the old moral theme of "don't start something if you can't face the consequences", there are a series of short circumstances laid out in the verses in a quirky staccato style. "You're Just A Buffet, You're A Vegetable" used to absolutely crack me up. And then there's that fantastic 1995 Brothers In Rhythm remix that adds even more life to it. Classic.

Oddly, as energetic as the song is, and as fond Michael has become to miming in concert over the years, it's one of the handful of songs he always sings and always sings fully live - albeit sometimes not very well!


9 - Music & Me

Perfect example of simple brilliance, why in the hell is this not better known? The title track to Michael's third solo album from 1973 and one of the last instances of him singing in his "child" voice. Pretty much every huge MJ fan adores this song and would literally lick his arsehole clean to hear him sing it live as an adult. It's once been documented that it was Michael's first ever writing credit on a song, but I've never seen his name listed by it before. The most recognition it's got before was briefly appearing in the beginning segment of 'Moonwalker', so someone out there must be fond of it.


8 - Dirty Diana

Here we have one of the best performances on the Bad tour, I wonder why it was never done again. Just standing by the microphone gyrating up and down *swoons* Famously removed from the setlist on one date at Wembley because Princess Diana was in the audience, despite it being her favourite song and asking for it to be played - that's Michael's favourite little "anecdote" anyway. So, it's the groupie song with Steve Stevens on the guitar - Slash has since said that he wanted to do it. Both the instrumental and acappella versions are amazing. I just think it's utter pop/rock perfection.




7 - They Don't Care About Us

Supposedly controversial song and video. I have no idea why since you've got to be a complete retard to take offence to any of it. I just love the conviction in his voice here as well as the rhythm of the drums and the choir gradually building up over it before the guitar thrashes in. A cry against the persecution of racial minorities, personally I think it was quite just after the public lynching and humiliation he'd just been through. It was the start of MJ's now long running animosity towards the USA. Favourite lines: "I’m tired of bein’ the victim of hate", "Am I invisible ’cause you ignore me". I do love both videos and I think the first "Prison" one should eventually be released. There's nothing on it that hasn't been broadcast on the news before and it's very powerful to watch.


6 - Bless His Soul

Unfairly forgotten classic. Most "old skool" fans are always raving on about That's What You Get (For Being Polite), but as much as I love it, I find the "message" in it too obvious. This however is just Michael Jackson all over. A gorgeous ballad, 20 years old and he's singing to himself 25 years in the future - just stop pretending to be something to please the masses when you have no idea what they even want from you in the first place, "Try to please all, and you've pleased none", living for and trying to do good for other people without catering for your own needs. And then it suddenly breaks into the harsh realisation, "The life you're leading is dangerous", repeated a good five times to bang it into his head.


=====


5 - Ain't No Sunshine

The Bill Withers original seems to get the most play these days, but Michael's cover just a year later was the first to chart, reaching #8 in August 1972. 13 years old and singing with the passion of someone 4 times his age, the music arrangement is quite haunting and full opposed to the almost acoustic original, and he sounds like he's in more pain than the quite subdued vocal from Withers. Really putting some proper emphasis on the repeated "I know I know I know..." line. Some people find it hard generally listening to child singers with any sort of seriousness - I do too, but with Michael it's easy to forget just how old he was at the time by the level of emotion he delivers into his performances.


4 - Who Is It

A few years ago this would have been my favourite, but it suffered from a lot of overplay throughout my teens that a few others have crawled above it. This six and a half minute masterpiece is pretty much flawless to me. Starting off with the choir, that pounding bassline along with that electronic drum imitating Michael's original vocal beatbox and then the strings. It's like a Billie Jean of the 90s. Various people have always said that a proper hit song always has a great hook, but Billie Jean had a good 4 all perfectly syncing over one another - I say the same applies for Who Is It. The verses are sung in a kind of self-pitying whimper and the chorus sounds more desperate, with loud and angry adlibs at the end to finish it off. It's like a paranoid Time Waits For No-one, constantly asking why the woman has left him.

This got to #10 in July 1992 in the UK but hadn't yet had a US release. Give In To Me was set to be the next worldwide single in early 1993 when that video premiered on the Oprah Winfrey interview, but it was Michael's unplanned acappella performance of Who Is It that caused for it to be released there instead, complete with an official mix of the song with that very performance as the intro. Perhaps if it had been released here post-Oprah it may have performed better.


3 - Money

This may be so high out of guilt because for years I shrugged it off as average. Here Michael is preaching about the moral-free backstabbers who would "do anything for money". He almost raps the verses and is extremely harsh as he starts out saying with complete venom, "Lie for it, Spy for it, Kill for it, Die for it", while his voice in the chorus is quite soft, sweet and inviting, a bit like the call of cash luring in the weak. The repeated line at the end of "Money makes the world go round" is quite subtle, you don't quite catch what the words are at first, but when you do it's hard to ignore and you're just totally drawn into the song, before Michael says under his breath "If you want it, earn it with dignity", and then hammering in the names of famous philanthopists; Vanderbilt; Morgan; Rothschild; Rockefeller; Carnegie; Getty, with Jean Paul Getty's name repeated 6 times pounding it into your brain.

This was supposed to be a single sometime in 1997 before the 'Blood On The Dancefloor' project was released instead to promote the tour. I remember hearing of a video being made but I guess we'll never get to see that.


2 - Get On The Floor

Again - JOY!! How amazing does this record make you feel? From the opening horns and Louis Johnson's bassline it just kicks in straight away and you just HAVE to get up and dance, and if you can't dance just jump around with absolute JOY! I'd never be able to sing this because I'd end up screaming with happiness halfway through. Michael's regular studio buddies always talk about him being unable not to dance while he's recording and I can just imagine him totally getting down in the booth here as he hollers the whole song, perhaps having to catch his breath to delve into the deep "why don't you just daaaance across the floor". And then... THEN, it's just the best, most joyous line ever in a Michael Jackson song: "Get up, won't you go'n get down, shake your body won't you go'n get down" repeated over and over again becoming less decipherable each time before bursting out with an AAAOOOWWW, and that spontaneous laugh as he slides back into the chorus again. I wish it never had to end!


1 - Stranger In Moscow

Since release, Michael has always said this was his most personal song. Written in a hotel room in Moscow in September 1993 while the child abuse allegation was peaking in the tabloids, yet he still had no legal obligations to return to the US until December, so just carried on with the 3rd leg of the Dangerous tour whilst seriously addicted to painkillers.

The whole song just depicts the feeling of loneliness, starting off with the sound of rain and then Michael's enhanced beatbox, the guitar and that haunting whistle. He solely wrote, produced and arranged this - it's just Michael Jackson through and through. Reaching #4 in November 1996, it almost doesn't seem fit for single material when all those fucking hideous remixes take all the soul out of the entire thing. I honestly can't even pick out any stand out lines because it's all so good:

I was wandering in the rain
Mask of life, feelin' insane
Swift and sudden fall from grace
Sunny days seem far away
Kremlin's shadow belittlin' me
Stalin's tomb won't let me be
On and on and on it came
Wish the rain would just let me be

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

Here abandoned in my fame
Armageddon of the brain
KGB was doggin' me
Take my name and just let me be
Then a begger boy called my name
Happy days will drown the pain
On and on and on it came
And again, and again, and again...
Take my name and just let me be

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel (How does it feel now)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

How does it feel (How does it feel)
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel
How does it feel (How does it feel now)
How does it feel
How does it feel
When you're alone
And you're cold inside

Like stranger in Moscow
Like stranger in Moscow
We're talkin' danger
We're talkin' danger, baby
Like stranger in Moscow
We're talkin' danger
We're talkin' danger, baby
Like stranger in Moscow
I'm live in lonely
I'm live in lonely, baby
Stranger in Moscow

[KGB interrogator - Russian to English Translation]
"Why have you come from the West?
Confess! To steal the great achievments of
the people, the accomplishments of the workers..."

[Edited 10/6/05 13:38pm]

totally agree with your #1 pick...SIM is by far the best song he ever recorded.

Ellie said:

PANDURITO said:

You should start a similar thread with your top 200 Barbra songs with comments!!!

.
[Edited 10/6/05 4:33am]

Good list, I especially like that Push Me Away and Wanna Be Startin Something is in the top 10. Dont agree with your #1 though.
[Edited 10/6/05 4:38am]

All my favourite Michaéla songs are in your Top 20:

Get On The Floor
Human Nature
Liberian Girl
Who Is It

That's nice!

43-It's The Falling In Love

Duet with Patti Austin/Lovely midtempo tune worthy of being a single.






I'm glad to see that this song is getting the props it deserves.Definitely could have been a single.Hell,every song on 'Off The Wall' is single-worthy.

DavidEye said:

Yeah, apart from Girlfriend, which actually was a single
[Edited 10/6/05 4:58am]

Nice work, Ellie.

My list would be very different, tho'.

I didn't know anything about "shout", let alone about Janet
being on it. wow.

I must have missed out on that entirely at the time. dang..

Can you give this song the TTD "Turn The Page" treatment
for me?

puuhleeeeazzzze

Ellie said:

I was thinking that.

OK, but I'll warn you, you might not like it. Not many people do

Here's the lyric:


SHOUT

Verse
Ignorance of people purchasing diamonds and necklaces,
And barely able to keep the payments up on their lessons,
And enrolled in a class and don?t know who the professor is,
How low people go for the dough and make a mess of things,
Kids are murdering other kids for the fun of it,
Instead of using their mind or their fist, they put a gun in it
Wanna be a part of a clique, don?t know who?s running it,
Tragedy on top of tragedy you know it?s killing me.
So many people in agony, this shouldn?t have to be,
Too busy focusing on ourselves and not His Majesty,
There has to be some type of change for this day and age,
We gotta rearrange and flip the page,
Living encaged like animals and cannibals,
Eating each other alive just to survive the nine to five,
Every single day is trouble while we struggle and strive
Peace of mind?s so hard to find.

Chorus
I wanna shout, throw my hands up and shout
What?s this madness all about
All this makes me wanna shout
You know it makes me wanna shout,
Throw my hands up and shout
What?s this madness all about
All this makes me wanna shout, c?mon now

Verse 2
Problems, complications and accusations
Dividing the nations and races of empty faces
A war is taking place.
No substitution for restitution, the only solution for peace
Is increasing the height of your spirituality.
Masses of minds are shrouded, clouded visions
Deceptions and indecision, no faith or religion, how we?re living.
The clock is ticking, the end is coming, there?ll be no warning,
But we live to see the dawn.

Bridge
How can we preach, when all we make this world to be
Is a living hell torturing our minds.
We all must unite, to turn darkness to light,
And the love in our hearts will shine.

Verse 3
We're disconnected from love, we?re disrespecting each other
Whatever happened to protecting each other
Poisoned your body and your soul for a minute of pleasure,
But the damage that you?ve done is gonna last forever.
Babies being born in the world already drug addicted and afflicted,
Family values are contradicted.
Ashes to ashes and dust to dust, the pressure is building and I've had enough.

Chorus...

Ellie said:

It's okay. I don't agree with you saying it's better than most of Invincible, tho'. But it should've replaced The Lost Children.

Ellie said:

ooh I love it. great song.

Really, already? It took me quite a while to warm to it, but then I got the sense of it being a sort of countdown to armageddon, and it clicked.

Ellie said:

I think it's always a good idea to read the lyrics
when you first listen to a song so that you get an
overall idea of what it's about.

especially with this song, where it's kinda hard to
make out what he's saying without the lyrics.

It reminds me of something but I can't put my finger
on it just yet. The verses, that is.

And I want to ask you if you considered Xscape for
your top 100. It's a cool track imo. Haven't heard
it in quite a while but from what I remember it was
a nice outtake.

Oh wow! You put a ton of work into this. Marking this for later so I can come back and read.

Nice!
I can't say that I agree with the order, but I like the commentary.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've ever considered "100 songs" by any artist, not at one time anyway. Heck, top 20 is too much for me to try and organize. My top 2, on the other hand, will always be:

2. Billie Jean
1. This Place Hotel

I'd been at this for ages at the Moopy.co.uk forums. We all do our little personal charts when we're bored over there.

Xscape? Never really considered it for the Top 100. When I charted them all initially to compile it came in somewhere just over halfway at #153

GangstaFam said:

it's a good read

i love these kind of posts. it makes you want to check out
so many songs that you haven't heard in a while or don't
yet know of!

~bookmarkingthread~

I agree with every choice except Ghosts shoud be 39 and Bad 38.

Actually that's quite an undertaking.

I aint heard any jacko for ages, but i might dig up that track again. Awesome track. So much better then "ben".

Mind u, "ben" does have one of the most famous openings to a song ever.

If i did a top 10, i'd have both "serious effect" and "for all time" up there. Infact, "for all time" is proberly my all time fav jacko song. I still hear them 2 sometimes.

I need to hear jacko again.

Good to see "keep the faith" up there. it sounds like mariahs "all in your mind" (rhett lawrence plays on both i think?). Love both tracks. Yes the keyboard have dated.

Does anyone know "in our small way" by Michael?


I remember it being a good track. Gotta hear that again too.


And "touch the one you love" whcih credits george clinton I think? Cute track.

Am I the only one that just went on an emotional joyride remembering all of these awesome songs? This should help people to remember why they fell in love with MJ in the first place.

51 - With A Child's Heart

ANOTHER superior Stevie Wonder remake, and oh so poignant even today thinking about the man's ideals. Taken from the 'Music & Me' album from 1973. Gorgeous, just gorgeous.

This is possibly my all time favorite MJ song ever.

I just picked up Joyful Jukebox Music...I hope 2 hear some really rare stuff

THIS IS AWESOME MAN!!! saved on my computer

thesexofit said:

Yeah, and it was on the first TWO solo albums aswell. I like it but it's one I always tend to skip.

No "Farewell My Summer Love"??? That was my CUT...

Thanks for PERFECTLY capturing what I feel about Get on the Floor! Boy, does that kick ass!
[Edited 10/7/05 7:51am]