Thriller is the best selling album of all-time, Off The Wall seems to be the fan favourite, but I thought I'd start this thread to see what really is the best Michael Jackson album according to fans and general-music-listeners alike.

If you asked me a couple of days ago, I would've said Off The Wall without a doubt. If you asked me yesterday I would've told you Dangerous. But I've thought long and hard about this and I think Michael Jackson's best album is Bad.

He wrote 9 of the 11 tracks entirely by himself (the 2 he didn't write are Just Good Friend and Man in the Mirror), so it is probably the most Michaelish album of them all. The rest of his albums are either written by other people or only co-written by MJ. Just like Off The Wall and Thriller, Bad is co-produced by Michael. So this is an album that is mostly written by Michael and co-produced by Michael. It is a true Michael Jackson record. But the bottom line is, it's got great music. Bad is the funkiest shit. The Way You Make Me Feel is the catchiest shit. Speed Demon is edgy and funked out. Liberian Girl is creative and beautiful. Just Good Friends is fun. Another Part of Me is amazing. Man in the Mirror is one of the most uplifting and inspiring songs ever. I Just Can't Stop Loving You is lovely. Dirty Diana is sexy and intense. Smooth Criminal is cool and is accompanied by the best music video Michael Jackson ever made (it beats Thriller). Leave Me Alone is passionate and also has a very awesome video. I love every song, there is no doubt to me that is the best Michael Jackson record. Musically is it better and it is more personal (because Michael is so heavily involved). Michael was at the top of his game in terms of everything (songwriting, production, singing, dancing, peforming, videos). I even love the out-takes (Streetwalker, Fly Away, Cheater). It was originally a double-disc album with 32 tracks in total. One day I hope the remainding 18 tracks are released (or atleast leaked).

DarlingDiana said:

Great question. For me, my favorite MJ album (not counting compilations) is:
HIStory (Disc 2) Here is why: The opening "Scream" was full of passion, and while Janet was interesting to listen to, it was clearly Michael who owned that song. "They Don't Care About Us" was so full of anger and bitterness, I can't help but get angry along with Michael, when I play it. "Stranger In Moscow" is beautiful. The lyrics are chilling, a bit sad and reflective, and yet it conveys an emotion anyone can understand. "Earth Song" is a sequel to 'Heal The World" until, the "What About Us" part of the song kicks in, then it gets AMAZING. Listen to that part of the song and tell me, it isn't full of conviction. I dare you. "This Time Around" features some of the anger from, "They Don't Care About Us" but it is more refined. It is clear Michael was singing about Sneddon. Crystal Clear. "D.S." and "Money" are clearly Michael just expressing his thoughts about Sneddon and the 93 accusers. It is sad that Michael didn't learn his lesson till 2003, as far as, people being users, even if they seem with pure intentions. Either way, both of these songs means more to me around and after the trial, then they did back in 1995. "You Are Not Alone" is one of the most beatiful MJ songs EVER recorded. "Come Together" was one of the best tracks on Moonwalker and about time, it got released. (Beyond the rare Remember The Time Single.) "Childhood" is so sad and heartbreaking, and while I rarely listen to it, it is a reminder why MJ is so endearing to all his fans. "Tabloid Junkie" is my favorite song EVER, the lyrics are so interesting to disect, to think this is how MJ might actually view the world, is so fascinating. The musis is catchy and Michael's conviction in the song is GREAT. Love it. "2 Bad" is great and the music video was amazing on Ghosts. Loved it. And wow, the song is just so FUNKY. LOVE IT! "HIStory" is part "This Time Around" and part "Man In The Mirror." The lyrics really make you think and inspire you. "Little Susie" is a foreshadowing for "Morphine" on Blood On The Dance Floor, and creepy as hell. So chilling. And "Smile" is probably the most happy and heart felt song MJ has ever recorded, so good to see him seeming to uplift his fans, especially after some of the anger on this album.

I think the bottom line reason why this album appeals to me, because it really shows how interesting Michael is, and to the fans who study Michael like a class, and find him as fascinating a person, as performer, surely can learn a lot from this album. A lot.

Dangerous is my favorite. Thriller is his best.

Let's not be silly,guys 'Off The Wall' is his best album

Dangerous is the best Diana Ross album!

Off The Wall of course, followed by Thriller. Then it went all downhill, although if Dangerous was more focus, instead of all over the place trying to cater to every kind of genre out there, it would have quite a good album IMO.
[Edited 2/23/07 2:01am]

Dangerous right now. Jam, Why You Wanna Trip On Me, In The Closet, Remember The Time, She Drives Me Wild, Can't Let Her get Away, Who Is It and Dangerous are great, I love his voice with those cold beats. I don't care much any more about the Heal The World type songs and Black Or White sounds childish now but Keep The Faith is still great, positive and uplifting.

Overall Off The Wall remains his best album, but I listened to it to much, like Thriller.
Bad has great singles but suffers to much from that typical 80's sound.
HIStory and Invincible has some of his best songs ever on it (Stranger, TDCAU, Scream, Butterflies, Break Of Dawn, Whatever Happens) but are not very strong as an album.

History isn't the greatest album on Earth, but it surely is the most interesting piece of work by Michael Jackson. Frankly speaking there's nothing like it out there, it's the product of a very unique individual and his most personal record (you really didn't think "Off The Wall" was the true Michael Jackson?). A product of a madman, a severely traumatized individual. It defies the logic of mundane boringness and people who look up to it as some kind of an intrinsic value. He becomes the man, the woman, the black, the white, the victor and the vanquished with this piece of work. There are no proper romantical love songs on the record either - because it's simply Michael Jackson being honest.

He is everything we desire without letting us have him to ourselves, and at the same time he is everything we despise without leaving a proper, satisfying chance for anyone to make fun of him. For he makes more efficient mockery of himself than any of his critics ever could. It's all out there in the songs of History, you can't find that on any of his other records.

Put Off the Wall, Thriller, and Dangerous in a hat and pick one.

HIStory Disc II

Bad is his worst album. It's dated very badly (with the exception of Man in the Mirror and The Way You Make Me Feel) and the production sounds clunky and sterile.

Thriller, and of course Off the Wall, sound organic and fresh in comparism largely because there's real musicianship on there rather than synths and programming.
[Edited 2/23/07 3:11am]

pjh1972 said:

I agree,the 'Bad' album didn't age well.These days,most of the songs on that album sound really dated.For the most part,I don't like alot of late-80s music.There were too many synths,too many drum machines and other production gimmicks.To me,'Off The Wall' still sounds fresh and invigorating.It's an album that has stood the test of time.

What I find so wonderful about Off The Wall, are the songs that weren't singles or were B-side i.e Get On the Floor, I can't Help it, It's the falling in Love. These songs are evergreen. Put Otw on and compared it with the mess of his latter albums, that tended to be all over the place and one couldn't enjoy them without an expensive video to accompany them, the contrast was very marked.

For me, it is "Off The Wall". While "Thriller" might have sold more, that does not mean it was his best work. "Off The Wall" is probably the only one of his albums where he seemed to be having fun, where it did not sound like "work". Unlike "Thriller", which always sounded like work to me. After 15plus years, I still listen to OTW on a weekly basis especially, "Get On The Floor". This to me is where he had the most fun. His albums after that, sounded like labor.
[Edited 2/23/07 11:04am]

shorttrini said:

There something about Bad, Dangerous etc that sounds so contrieved and calculated. With OTW it sounded so spontaneous and organic, to a certain agree the same applies to Thriller, although I do believe it was from Thriller that he decided to tone down the funk and soul in his music.

Bad is the best.

SoulAlive said:

Amen. Why must we endure these long descriptions of the Bad and HIStory album when all you have to do is listen to Off The Wall and autimatically puts a lid on this discussion.

jayaredee said:

Poll the fans and you'll usually find Dangerous at the top.

OTW and Vince are my faves.

Cloudbuster said:

it must be his younger fans who are doing these polls.I think most longtime fans would say that OTW is his best album.

SoulAlive said:

My list of favorites:

1. Off The Wall
2. HIStory
3. Bad
4. Dangerous
5. Blood on the dance floor
6. Thriller
7. Invincible

novabrkr said:

You got some of that directly from his 'The Dance' poem.

1. Off The Wall
2. Thriller
3. Dangerous
4. Bad
5. Invincible
6. HIStory

So, Off The Wall is his greatest album!

novabrkr said:

By this logic, Madonna's (most personal) best album would be American Life, which I have seen people argue.

My faves:

1) Off The Wall
2) Dangerous
3) Thriller
4) Bad
5) HIStory
6) Invincible

"Off The Wall" is at the top of the list because I can listen to the whole CD and never stop jamming and never skip a song except for "She's Out of My Life" because it's so sad. I will listen to it sometimes though. Mike seemed like he put much more feeling into those songs than on any other album. Like he gave it his all on each and every song.

"Dangerous" is number 2 because I just got it 2 weeks ago (I had to beg for 3 years), and because it's got a whole bunch of jams that you never really hear on the radio. I like to look for a song that wasn't a single that the radio plays to death, but is also some bomb ass shit. My faves from Dangerous are, "She Drives Me Wild" (my all time fave from that album), "Can't Let Her Get Away", "Dangerous", "Jam", "Remember The Time", "In The Closet", and "Who Is It".

Even though "Thriller was the best selling album and had the most singles, it's not the best to me, simply because they played the hell outta those songs on the radio. The only one that I still absolutely love no matter how much they play it is "Billie Jean", because that song is the reason I became an MJ fan at 3 years old. That bassline, the melody, the instruments, just everything! It all captivated me and I just fell in love. I also love, "The Lady In My Life" and "Baby Be Mine" because they are beautiful and jammin even though they weren't mega hits.

I love Bad cuz, it's better than HIStory and Invincible to me, but not as good as the above 3. "Liberian Girl" is the most beautiful song ever. I keep that on repeat 4 sho! I also love "Streetwalker" and think they should have had that on the album instead of "Just Good Friends.

I like HIStory cuz of "Scream" and "2Bad"

I like Invincible cuz of "Heaven Can Wait", and "Break of Dawn"

MLHJ said:

That's what I'm talking about. Dangerous is some of the most underrated shit ever! I love the sucker for its irrestible dance-floor fillers. You can tell MJ made this album for dancing.

The title track is incredibly irrestible. And MJ's dance routine for it is the most brilliant thing on earth. In The Closet is another irrestible dance tune. I get chills at the "something about you baby" part. Then you've got Jam. Jam is danceable as a muthafucka. But at the same time, it's got some very intense lyrics. I just love the sucker. Remember the Time is danceable too. And it's such a classic R&B groove. Awesome song. One of the King's best. Can't Let Her Get Away and She Drives Me Wild are similiar songs. Both very danceable and catchy. I love "she's got the look... wanna know perfection" in She Drives Me Wild.

But there's another side of Dangerous which isn't all jammin' and everything. You've got Why You Wanna Trip On Me, Who Is It and Give In To Me which are full of intensity. Who Is It comes close to being Michael Jackson's best song. It's a very high contender. I like it more than Billie Jean (his most critically acclaimed song). The you've got Will You Be There which I really love. It's uplifting and inspiring. It's a bit creepy that the song would come to mean so much to his fans two years later.

Then the rest of the album is wish-washy. Black or White is alright, but it's way too overplayed. Heal the World is just crap. Very cheesy, same old thing he's done before. Keep the Faith is good but I see it as just an attempt to remake Man in the Mirror (same songwriters and everything). And Gone Too Soon which is supposed to hold some sort of sentimental value, but I always skip over. It's alright, but only for the occasional listen.

Sorry for the long ass description, but I hate that the album is so under-rated. People say it's all over the place. I disagree. If you listen to it from start to finish (which is hard to do because it's 70 mins long) each track flows nicely into the next. The only out of place songs are HTW. If that song was left the album would flow perfectly because Black or White would be a good transition from Remember the Time to Who Is It. The first 6 songs all go together nicely and all the songs from Who Is It to Gone Too Soon work well together. Dangerous at the end sort of brings the album into a full circle and finishes it off where it started. Alternatively you could put Dangerous in the first half of the album and instead of cutting it out, put Heal The World last. Heal the World would work well as an album closer IMO.
[Edited 2/23/07 9:37am]

the album i have listened to the most is Thriller... but then i also like his dangerous album... I LOVE THAT ALBUM

Thriller is his best album!!, Off the wall comes pretty close, but Thriller is better crafted, OTW has some tracks that are just plain silly or pleasant filler, like Girlfriend (i hate that song ), I can't help it and It's the fallin' in love; Bad is a great singles-disc LP but it's not a very strong album (too many filler and dated production). Dangerous sounds fresh and invigorating, though the Bad classics are much better than the classics of Dangerous. History2, in my opinion, is too irregular and paranoid, and Invincible is his worst album ever!

1.Thriller
2.Off the wall:eyepopping:
3.Dangerous
4.Bad
5.History vol.2
6.Invincible

IMO:

1) Thriller-Great childhood memories with this one! MJ was the BIGGEST thing on Earth at this time. Solid from beginning to end

1b)Off the Wall-The most organic MJ album. It just seemed so fluid.

2) Dangerous-Very, very good album. Heal the World was "Man in the Mirror" all over again, so it was the only weakspot.

2b) Bad

4) History

5) Invincible