The long version of "Billie Jean":



I see what parts Quincy cut out from this song...

wanted to be sure he had room or 'The Girl Is Mine.'

Timmy84 said:

I think because it's pretty common these days. It's been released several times.

But he has 90 other mixes of Billie Jean sitting in his vaults, so he could've put those on Thriller 25

If they had let me compile the set it would've looked like this:

Disc 1
1. Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'
2. Baby Be Mine
3. The Girl Is Mine
4. Thriller
5. Beat It
6. Billie Jean
7. Human Nature
8. P.Y.T
9. The Lady In My Life
10.The Girl Is Mine (Original Demo)
11.The Lady In My Life (Original Mix)
12.Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' '08 (just with Michael's vocals)
13.P.Y.T. '08
14.The Girl Is Mine '08
15.Billie Jean (1981 studio demo)
16.P.Y.T. (demo) (maybe longer than the TUC version)
17.Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' (demo)
18.Beat It (demo)
19.Human Nature(Alternate Version)
20.Billie Jean(Alternate Mix)


Disc 2
1.Starlight
2.Behind The Mask
3.Got The Hots
4.Much Too Soon
5.Love Never Felt So Good
6.Rolling The Dice
7.Love Never So Good
8.The Sky Is The Limit
9.Carousel
10.Nightline

Disc 3- DVD
Beat It
Billie Jean
Thriller
Making of Thriller
Making of Beat It
Human Nature (Live)
Wanna Be Startin Somethin (Live)
Billie Jean (Live)
Making of The Girl Is Mine
Victory Tour Rehearsals
Thriller- The Album, The Videos, The Phenomenom (Documentary)

bboy87 said:

I like your track listing so much better. I'd also want the discs to have Michael's face on them, or something cooler. I was kinda disappointed with the gold discs. What was this HIStory? NO. So don't cop the gold discs.

The thing is that ALL the 08 stuff, be it with Fergie or Will or Akon, was a waste of space, and NEVER should have included, its not like it was the reason people were buying it. He should have taken a HINT from the remasters that Universal does on albums for artists like Lionel,marvine,Elton,Donna Summer,Diana etc....It always bothers me that one the biggest selling albums ever got this shitty treatment while other albums that werent as close to being on that level of success or influence, get the greatest input and thought.

I have it already on the 12 inch remixes import CD, and on the billie jean vinyl single

lastdecember said:

It's shockingly disappointing, ain't it? Maybe if MJ had been at a Universal-owned label, "Thriller" would've gotten the same treatment that, say, "Bad Girls" got.

lastdecember said:

It would've been okay if they had released them as promotional singles to promote the set, but not on the set itself

but I do like The Girl Is Mine 2008, PYT 2008, and Billie Jean 2008

this version makes you appreciate the song

it got played big time on black radio back in the day

the instrumental is just as tight

funkpill said:

WORD!

Timmy84 said:

It's on the iTunes version.

The coolest thing about Thriller 25 was that it got people exciting about MJ again. I had friends who would be like, "Michael is a freak." The week that album dropped, people had "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin' 2008" in their MySpace profiles and picked up the CD.

I don't care about how crummy the remixes were. In the big picture, this "celebration" album did exactly what it was meant to. It reached a
younger demographic. Or the "I think Michael is a freak and I will never like his music again" demographic.

His new album will be huge.....if it ever comes out. The fans want it. The trendy/and mostly shitty producers are working on it. The casual listener will like it because it will sound like the boring stale R&B they are use to and won't hold Michael to the same high standards as people were for 2001. It will sell good but it will probably be disappointing. Quality wise this album won't be Off The Wall, shit it probably won't even be HIStory, but it will serve its purpose. Be a big selling MJ album.

Once again..this is hangs on the thread of, "If Michael ever releases it.."

Best pop single of the 80s and this long version is fantastic!

Didn´t Quincy say that MJ wanted to relase it, but Quincy didn´t saying he could shave on the intro and asked him to shorten it. Although i am not sure if he talked about this particular version of the song.

dag said:

I have heard about a longer version of "Billie Jean" with a long,haunting intro.Michael was heartbroken when Quincy had to shorten it.

SoulAlive said:

They actually did 91 different mixes for it and we've only heard 2 of them

bboy87 said:

Dayum! He really IS a perfectionist,lol.

Billie Jean voted top dance song

Michael Jackson's song Billie Jean has been voted the greatest dance record of all time by BBC Radio 2 listeners.

Written by Jackson, and co-produced by Quincy Jones, the track won two Grammy awards and went to the top of the UK charts in 1983.

Donna Summer's I Feel Love, which topped the UK charts in 1977, took second place in the music poll.

In third place was soul legend James Brown with Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine.

Rhythim Is Rhythim's 1987 house track Strings Of Life featured at at number four, followed by Alison Limerick's Where Love Lives.

The poll, revealed in a three-part series presented by Zoe Ball, was part of a Radio 2 dance music season.

"I'm delighted that Billie Jean has been voted the greatest dance record ever made," said Ball.

"This is Jackson at his best. This track is way up there for me - Jacko's rendition of it at the Motown 25th anniversary show has got to be one of the great live performances of all time.

"The bassline is awesome, the production is killer. It's just perfect."

'Sonic personality'

The beginning of Jackson's Billie Jean is instantly recognisable because of the first few drum beats in the introduction.

Sound engineer Bruce Swedien said Jackson asked for the song to have "the greatest sonic personality that you can possibly put on a track - starting with the drums".

A panel of music experts, including DJs Trevor Nelson and Danny Rampling, drew up a shortlist of 20 records, which were then voted for by listeners online.

The songs, dated from 1966 to 2001, were selected for their "musical merit, and importance in the narrative of UK dance music".

TOP TEN DANCE SONGS OF ALL TIME:

1. Billie Jean
- Michael Jackson (1983)
2. I Feel Love
- Donna Summer (1977)
3. Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine
- James Brown (1970)
4. Strings Of Life
- Rhythim Is Rhythim (1987)
5. Where Love Lives
- Alison Limerick (1994)
6. Keep On Movin'
- Soul II Soul (1989)
7. Can You Feel It
- Fingers Inc. (1988)
8. Big Fun
-Inner City (1988)
9. Theme From S'Express
- S'Express (1988)
10. Key To My Happiness
- The Charades (1966)

SoulAlive said:

A song that gives it a run for its money, and I am biased, is 'When Doves Cry'

I go back and forth over which is better. Both are brilliant, but lyrically I give it to Prince, production- Prince easy, Billie Jean did rip Steely Dan's bassline so you have to subtract points there I think. Deleting 'Doves' was brilliance on Prince's part.

Top Dance Song? I like Billie Jean but always thought it was a tad slow.

JackieBlue said:

And it beat "I Feel Love"...

Personally the greatest dance song of all time to me was Martha and the Vandellas' "Dancing in the Street". "Billie Jean" music wise sounded a bit like modern hip-hop/R&B especially with the drum beat.

SUPRMAN said:

Yeah,I go back and forth with these two songs but there's just something about "Billie Jean" that moves me.It's such a haunting,paranoid,hypnotic song with an incredible bassline.