I haven't listened to this album in a long while. But I popped it in a few days ago. And I am amazed by the sound quality of it. It sounds incredibly cheap. Like it was made with a 10 dollar casio keyboard. What is even more shocking is that Quincy Jones produced it. Thriller came out in the early 80's and sounds amazing. How come this album sounds so lifeless and and 2 dimensional? Could it be bad mastering or engineering? Or maybe they were going for a type of sound? There is no bass going on in anything on this record. The lyrics and melodies are top notch though. It is just the actual sound quality that keeps me from listening to this album very often.

I don't like this album very much,either.Something about it just doesn't "click" with me.It's hard to explain.I only like three songs...

"Man In The Mirror"
"Another Part Of Me"
"Liberian Girl"


I don't think the album has aged very well,either.That's a problem with many albums that came out in the late 80s.The music sounds sterile and over-produced.

henree said:

If I'm not mistaken, that album was technically advanced for 1987. It was one of the first full digital recordings using Monster technology. It even won a Grammy for best engineering.

If you think it sounds horrible today, try listening to Stevie Wonder's Characters or Woman In Red. Some of those trax didn't age well at all.

daPrettyman said:

You are correct.Stevie's 'Characters' sounds just as horribly dated as 'Bad'.Around this time period,I really appreciated Prince's music.While everyone else was using all these synths and drum programming,he was bringing back horns and real instruments ('SOTT' and 'Lovesexy').

I think Bad is MJs most dated album, but it doesn't sound cheap.

The Way You Make Me Feel, Dirty Diana, Liberian Girl

You are just hearing one of the most dated albums of the 80's. Doesn't make it bad, just a product of its time.

There's nothing wrong with synths. What's wrong is when someone who's not a real musician, meaning a talentless clown or some studio musician, picks one up they make dated disposable music. P's synth heavy stuff has held up and so has the music of a few others.

Um, but Bad kicks all kinds of ass(you know you're still trying to perfect your curl juice application to get that look), so I don't know what you're talking about. I'm about to dust off my Moonwalker video, my cheap keyboard, and my Bad book and jam.

Bad is probably the MJ album that gets the least replay from me if any at all. Even when it dropped it was a bit of a force fit for me.

I'm not sure I agree. 'Bad' sounds awesome when I play it on my system. And I don't even have that crazy of a system. Try listening to 'Purple Rain' then put on 'Bad' & U tell me which sounds worst....

I'll wait.

SoulAlive said:

Bad and especially Characters sound fine to me. I like that they sound like they came from 1987... they did.

Stevie's 80s shit is

Dance said:

There's nothing wrong with the lyrics on his 80s albums,it's the production.Like almost everyone else from that era,he was using too many synths and drum programming....a total departure from his 70s work.I often wonder how an album like 'Characters' would sound if he had used real instruments,real drums,piano,harmonica,etc.

I love Bad, it was my 1st album from MJ. It the was 1s soundtrack to my life in the 80s.

I don't mind the dated sound, as long as there is substance to back it up(which there is) its fine by me.

There're plenty of ROUGH musicians in there, but like VoiceCarry said, it is a product of its time.

But to me, its dated sound is really the part of its charm.

SoulAlive said:

Now that you've mentioned it.

I heard that alot of his 80's hits were re-recorded to fit the 80's sound, like "I Just Called To Say I Love You"(Which was originally an outtake from SOTKOL).

henree said:

Not a full QJ production... Michael made a lot of changes without Q's input. You are right about the cheezy sooud though.

I wonder how it would've done if it had been a double album like Michael wanted it to be.....

Harlepolis said:

yeah,"I Just Called To Say I Love You" was written in 1976.I bet the original version (if it really exists) sounds much,much better than the released 1984 version.

Harlepolis said:

That's exactly how I feel about Characters. I see no need to even consider changing great songs like "Skeletons," "My Eyes Don't Cry," "Free," "You Will Know," and "In Your Corner." I love that album just the way it is.

Michael Jackson should have retired after Thriller. Everything he's done since then has sucked donkey balls.

Bad is my favourite album

johnnyreeferseed said:

You are just clueless , No doubt about that

Dangerous murders Bad , production and melodies-wise.

henree said:

Are you kidding?!? The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, & Leave Me Alone have two of the most memorable basslines ever, especially if we're talking synth bass.

johnnyreeferseed said:

You're kidding me right?

DANGEROUSx said:

Don't take what he said seriously , this is a typical prince fan who believes that Mj is over after thriller ,which is a laugh of course.

seeingvoices12 said:

The one advantage Dangerous has over Bad is actually the MIDI production side of things. The Teddy Riley-produced tracks (Jam, Why You Wanna Trip On Me, Remember The Time) had THE tightest music sequences of anything Michael had done up to that point.

TonyVanDam said:

you forgot to mention " In the closet" , Production-wise its insane, Incredibly clean flawless production.....I love both albums tho.....

seeingvoices12 said:

Some of the tracks from Dangerous could be released as singles today and sound hotter than Timbaland's beats from a few minutes ago.

The same ISN'T true for Bad.

seeingvoices12 said:

basically

The title of this thread is just horrible more like

To me Bad is one of the best pop albums made and flows really well. Not many albums can boast so many good songs on one album. Its success speaks for itself. Even now I listen to songs like Smooth Criminal, Dirty Diana, Bad, IJCSLY TWYMMF, MITM, over today’s pop. I'd say its as close to a perfect pop album that it could have been.