Bad

Klasse Album, viele gute Banger drauf. Knapp vor 5 Sterne für mich.

Favourite songs: Smooth Criminal, Bad, Man in the Mirror, Dirty Diana, The Way You Make Me Feel, Leave Me Alone, I Just Can't Stop Loving You

Least favourite songs: Liberian Girl

5/5

This popped up and my first thought was "oh, here's a 5 star album!" The first two songs are Bad and The Way You Make Me Feel - excellent! Both songs are toe tapping legends and we're well on the way to that 5 stars. But then...Oh boy. Speed Demon is just kind of weird, but still kind of bouncy and fine. But Liberian Girl is cringey af and Just Good Friends is gross 80s schlock. Another Part of Me is kind of catchy after you get past the early 80s sound effects. But then we're back to business! Man in the Mirror is amazing (even if it does sound a bit dated),Dirty Diana is still a pretty good time, and Smooth Criminal is still a banger.

Overall, it sounds much more 80s than I remember. I'd give it a 3.5 but I'll bump it to a 4 because my brother-in-law was in the Smooth Criminal video.

I was sure that this was an easy 5, but I have to admit that while the hits are absolute bangers, the in between songs are very average at best.
This is an album that helped change music for a generation, but I'm not entirely convinced "Liberian Girl" played much of a part in driving that.

pedrada, hein. o mano não é rei do pop atoa não rapaziada.
bom album, só musicona, mas acho o Thriller melhor simplesmente pela sequência thriller>beat it>billie jean. PORTANTO, 4 estrelas.

The old saying of love the art, not the artist comes to mind here. I have a huge soft spot for this one, as it was one of the first non-kid music albums I loved while growing up. It's still great. If you weren't around when this was released, it might be hard to describe how this album took over pop culture for a while. Nine singles, seven of which made the top 20 on Billboard. Don't forget about the driving force behind MJ's best albums - Quincy Jones. I think this was their final collaboration, and it shows, as the quality dropped off in MJ's later albums. Stevie Wonder makes an appearance here too, which is never a bad thing.

Bad is consistently amazing throughout its entirety. It's outstanding. Compared to an album like Thriller, which is held up by its singles, and the huge dance choreography and music video of thriller itself.

Better than I remembered! Would be better ending on Smooth Criminal over Leave Me Alone tho

Such a mix... greats like Smooth Criminal, Way You Make Me Feel, & Leave Me Alone... and then some awful awful tunes... Speed Demon?? Ugh...

Iconic as fuck, What even else is there to say about it? It's Bad by Michael Fucking Jackson. You should know the best hits even if you weren't doing this album marathon.

Contrary to it's name, Bad is not a bad album, in fact its a really darn good one. This one had quite a lot of energy just like Off The Wall did but this one feels like it just has a little bit more magic than that one. The Sega Genesis sounding guitars and bass were also great and gave this album a whole lot of personality. Jackson's vocals also were great here too. It was also cool how this album could go from a somber soul album, to a dance banger, all the way to a rock-out style. Not every song here was great but the songs that were really were. This is definitely one of Michael Jackson's best works.
Best Song: Smooth Criminal
Worst Song: The Way You Make Me Feel

The song “bad” has never worked for me because, while it seems like MJ was bad, he was not this tough guy. And upon listening to this album, several other songs don’t work in the same way. I cannot see MJ as a bad boy or casa nova.

The album sounds dated but I do have to give it to “the way you make me feel.” That still slaps. And “smooth criminal.” So probably a 2.5, rounding down for how I feel about MJ these days.

Alright, first Michael Jackson album on this journey. I’ve already heard the title track, "Dirty Diana", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Smooth Criminal" before. Surprisingly, that's only half the singles.

After listening to the album as a whole, it’s apparent that Michael wanted to take certain elements from Thriller that worked and turn them up a notch - more rock, more R&B, more dance, and make the lyrics more about world issues while still including the romantic songs.

It’s ambitious and for what it’s worth the album is mostly good in what it sets out to do, as there are a lot of pop bangers which is why most of this album got the single treatment. The ones that didn’t become a single simply don’t work effectively - “Speed Demon” for its lyrics about going fast can’t get out of the mid-tempo range, and “We’re Good Friends” doesn’t leave much of an impression even with Stevie Wonder on board.

The other problem that does hold Bad back is the dated sound. You can tell it’s late 80s cheese with the digital synthesizers that fill up the room. I can tolerate it to an extent, but it does make the project feel fixed to a time.

Still overall, Bad is a solid album and a noble attempt at trying to follow up Thriller. Give it a chance.

I try to keep these reviews focused only on the album and the artist and the music they made and not bring in any kind of personal issues they may have had. It's not always easy.

That said, as far as the music goes, this album has a lot to offer. It's soooo 80s. It's a really interesting record as a follow up to Thriller, lots in common but it definitely goes in a different, more 80s direction. I've always really liked the title track and The Way You Make Me Feel. That's a great way to open a record. I think the problem that this album has is that it's almost so over-produced and saturated with 'new technology' that his voice sort of gets swallowed by it all a bit. Not that you can't hear the vocals or anything, but just that he had such an amazing voice (one of the best ever, really) but it sounds a little artificial or like it's going through too many effects filters and takes away from how naturally strong it is. Not for the whole album but definitely in parts. Not as bad as Autotune, thankfully, but I felt myself thinking "that's too bad" a few times.

All in all I think this is a really strong record, definitely more modern sounding that what he did before it. I think I like Thriller better though. I'd rate this one at like a 3.9/5.

3.27

Say what you will about his music, but boy oh boy did the man ever know how to accurately title an album.

Als kleuter ging ik er al goed voor zitten als er op tv een nummer van MJ voorbij kwam. Ik kon die hits van Thriller achter elkaar zien. Toen ik 7 was, kwam Bad uit. Ook die nummers wilde elke keer weer horen en zien. Dus tipten mijn ouders mij dat ik ook een bandje ervan kon kopen. Wellicht ook, zodat ik het lekker op mijn kamer luisterde in plaats van in de huiskamer op de tv. Zo werd Bad het eerste album dat ik kocht. Ik heb het ontzettend vaak afgespeeld. Niet alleen omdat het eerst het enige bandje was dat ik had. Want ruim 35 jaar later kan ik het nog steeds met plezier opzetten.

Michael doet alles wat bij anderen de muziek zou verpesten. Met name de valse lucht en rare kreten zijn opvallend. Toch weet hij dit zo te doen dat het niet stoort, maar zelfs versterkt. Samen met zijn muzikale handtekeningen zorgt dit ervoor dat hij een volledig eigen geluid heeft. En dat weet hij dan nog op allerlei manieren te versterken eens te versterken. Muzikaal met bijvoorbeeld soms zijn krachtige intro’s. Maar hij versterkt de muziek ook door visueel spektakel. Want dat is bij hem nauwelijks los te knippen. Zijn dansen en clips zijn misschien nog wel creatiever dan zijn muziek.

Bad begint met de hit Bad. Een voorbeeld van een nummer met zo’n sterk begin. Dan kan het eigenlijk al niet meer mis. Een lekker MJ-ritme erbij, vol geluid, een sterk refrein, variatie in de zang en ergens nog een goed intermezzo. Zo zet hij gelijk zijn handtekening. En dan is Bad niet eens het fijnste nummer. Het volume ging pas omhoog bij Dirty Diana. Dit had muzikaal zo’n kracht dat dat gewoon niet anders kon. En dan volgt daarna nog eens Smooth Criminal. (Als kind zong ik altijd “Annie, Are you Walking”. Ik kan kan dat nog steeds niet meer on-horen). Dirty Diana en Smooth Crinimal hebben beide nog eens een sterker intro, een sterker ritme, een voller geluid, een sterkere afwisseling en een sterker intermezzo. Zo krijgt hij het voor elkaar dat hij de knaller Bad gewoon als opwarmertje voor zijn album kan gebruiken. En dan ben je gewoon terecht de King of Pop.

5 sterren, maar op afstand van vele andere platen met die score.

More '80s pop I remember hating... great. Going to try to ignore that and give this an honest listen. One thing I did to stay interested was seek out an original mix version of this, learning that many of the songs on it were later remixed and/or replaced by their singles version. Glad I did. They sound like they are more stripped down, with flashier production elements either not yet inserted or left further back in the mix. Vocals also feel more balanced that own their singles where they are much too forward. It has much more of an electro vibe than I remember and I do have a better appreciation for that now vs. when this first came out. Musically I'm digging a lot of what sounds like nods to the original Motown sound. Not sure if that's all Michael or if it's Quincy's influence. Did I just hear Stevie Wonder? OK, I like that too. All in all I can say I have certainly more respect for this album than I previously did, but it's still not something that will ever be in regular rotation for my listening.

Contrary to the title, this album is quite good! Pretty much on par with Thriller, it has several real standout tracks and a couple of lacluster ballads too. Glad I finally listened to this one the whole way through. Did we ever find out if Annie was ok? It sounds pretty serious.

The hits are awesome but the rest is meh
Also sounds a bit samey