I am a huge Michael Jackson fan, in case you didn't know. He is one of my favorite artists of all time and a lot of people can agree with me. MJ is known for having pumped out great songs from his very successful albums like Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Bad, and Smooth Criminal, but there are a lot of songs that are just as good as others, hidden gems that are only known to the most hardcore of MJ fans who paid attention to the songs released from his albums other than the more commonly known ones, and I'm here today to tell you guys about some of my personal favorites It'll be hard, considering I pretty much like ALL of MJ's songs, lol, but I'll still try.
Let's get started. CHAMONE!
(Song links will be in spoiler tags to avoid making this post too long)
5. "Stranger In Moscow" (HIStory: Past, Present, & Future: Book I)
This track was released as the sixth and last single for MJ's fifth album, named above, on November 4, 1996. The song is about dealing with depression, loneliness, rejection, among other things. It is a very depressing song, and hits home in the feelings that Michael Jackson himself had in his life, his fame creating problems for him in the forms of all the media attacks against him being a weirdo and a child molester; it drove Jackson to abuse painkillers as well. Overall, this song is a dark reflection of Michael's inner demons. The melody is smooth and groovy, and Michael switching from soulfully churning out lyrics to belting them out at the end is very great to listen to. Overall, a very well made but very sad song.
4. "Give In To Me" (Dangerous)
Originally released as the seventh single for the Dangerous album on February 13th, 1993, "Give In To Me" is a rock ballad with Michael Jackson singing about a man who is an abusive relationship with a woman and is standing up to her by telling her to "give in to him". This can be taken in a number of ways really. lol This song features guitar by Slash of the band of Guns N Roses, and is one of the first times Slash worked with Jackson, among others. The song is powerful with Slash's riffs and Michael's vocals blending together in a great fashion to deliver some really emotional story telling and composition. Fun fact: This song was covered by Three Days Grace was released on their most recent album, Transit of Venus.
3. "Leave Me Alone" (Bad)
Going back in time about four years, Michael's Bad album, his third album overall, ended its singles releases with this track, "Leave Me Alone", released on the same date as "Give In To Me" in 1989. There's a description of this song that I personally enjoy: an angry inverted version of Michael's "The Way You Make Me Feel", another song and single from Bad. The song is one of very many attempts from Jackson to voice his feelings on how the media treats him and slanders his name. This is the song that is the most powerful in terms of pure intensity and true emotion on Bad, in my opinion. It really captures the outright animosity that Jackson carries as well as making him look all the more bad-ass while doing so.
2. "They Don't Care About Us" (HIStory: Past Present & Future: Book I)
This fourth single from HIStory was released on March 31, 1996. It's one of Jackson's most controversial songs, as it contains what appears to be antisemitic lyrics (the lyrics were changed/edited for radio and the music video version of the tracks). It's a rally-cry song, a sing-song melodic piece using simple guitar riffs and piano among other sounds about standing up to oppression, hatred, and overall rising up against those who look down on "us" and treat "us" like garbage. The "us" in the song obviously refers to the victims of this issue and it an extent, the listener of the track as it is supposed to relate to their life. This song is of Jackson's best IMO and is one of the most awesome, greatly composed and overall raw tracks he has made. It is pure emotion, and it takes you for a ride as you listen to MJ preach about standing up and speaking out against those who do others wrong; it's kind of like an angrier, more interactive version of "Man In The Mirror" really. lol It's also great to watch as a live piece; it was performed several times in the HIStory Tour and was planned to be apart of the This is It Tour.
1. "Jam" (Dangerous)
"Jam" gets my number one spot, being released as the fourth single from MJ's Dangerous album on July 13, 1992. This song is about addressing the problems of today (in 1992 that is) and letting loose with your inhibitions so you can live like its your last day on Earth. This is such a great song. It's got an addicting rhythm, great horns and trumpets work, great beats, great rap by Heavy D, and is atonishing to witness when seeing Jackson perform on stage for his Dangerous Tour shows, and is one of my favorite performances from the planned This Is It Tour. Plus, I'm actually surprised this song and the video for it aren't more popular, because after all, it's got Michael Jordan of all people, hanging out and playing basketball with Michael Jackson. And there's a Kriss Kross cameo too! I mean, it's not Thriller, but still, that's some good shit right there.
Anyways, there's my list. Feel free to comment on any of the songs here and if you can, give your own top 5 underrated MJ tracks, or just chat about MJ in general I guess.
I am a huge Michael Jackson fan, in case you didn't know. He is one of my favorite artists of all time and a lot of people can agree with me. MJ is known for having pumped out great songs from his very successful albums like Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean, Bad, and Smooth Criminal, but there are a lot of songs that are just as good as others, hidden gems that are only known to the most hardcore of MJ fans who paid attention to the songs released from his albums other than the more commonly known ones, and I'm here today to tell you guys about some of my personal favorites
It'll be hard, considering I pretty much like ALL of MJ's songs, lol, but I'll still try.
Let's get started. CHAMONE!
(Song links will be in spoiler tags to avoid making this post too long)
5. "Stranger In Moscow" (HIStory: Past, Present, & Future: Book I)
This track was released as the sixth and last single for MJ's fifth album, named above, on November 4, 1996. The song is about dealing with depression, loneliness, rejection, among other things. It is a very depressing song, and hits home in the feelings that Michael Jackson himself had in his life, his fame creating problems for him in the forms of all the media attacks against him being a weirdo and a child molester; it drove Jackson to abuse painkillers as well. Overall, this song is a dark reflection of Michael's inner demons. The melody is smooth and groovy, and Michael switching from soulfully churning out lyrics to belting them out at the end is very great to listen to. Overall, a very well made but very sad song.
4. "Give In To Me" (Dangerous)
Originally released as the seventh single for the Dangerous album on February 13th, 1993, "Give In To Me" is a rock ballad with Michael Jackson singing about a man who is an abusive relationship with a woman and is standing up to her by telling her to "give in to him". This can be taken in a number of ways really. lol This song features guitar by Slash of the band of Guns N Roses, and is one of the first times Slash worked with Jackson, among others. The song is powerful with Slash's riffs and Michael's vocals blending together in a great fashion to deliver some really emotional story telling and composition. Fun fact: This song was covered by Three Days Grace was released on their most recent album, Transit of Venus.
3. "Leave Me Alone" (Bad)
Going back in time about four years, Michael's Bad album, his third album overall, ended its singles releases with this track, "Leave Me Alone", released on the same date as "Give In To Me" in 1989. There's a description of this song that I personally enjoy: an angry inverted version of Michael's "The Way You Make Me Feel", another song and single from Bad. The song is one of very many attempts from Jackson to voice his feelings on how the media treats him and slanders his name. This is the song that is the most powerful in terms of pure intensity and true emotion on Bad, in my opinion. It really captures the outright animosity that Jackson carries as well as making him look all the more bad-ass while doing so.
2. "They Don't Care About Us" (HIStory: Past Present & Future: Book I)
This fourth single from HIStory was released on March 31, 1996. It's one of Jackson's most controversial songs, as it contains what appears to be antisemitic lyrics (the lyrics were changed/edited for radio and the music video version of the tracks). It's a rally-cry song, a sing-song melodic piece using simple guitar riffs and piano among other sounds about standing up to oppression, hatred, and overall rising up against those who look down on "us" and treat "us" like garbage. The "us" in the song obviously refers to the victims of this issue and it an extent, the listener of the track as it is supposed to relate to their life. This song is of Jackson's best IMO and is one of the most awesome, greatly composed and overall raw tracks he has made. It is pure emotion, and it takes you for a ride as you listen to MJ preach about standing up and speaking out against those who do others wrong; it's kind of like an angrier, more interactive version of "Man In The Mirror" really. lol It's also great to watch as a live piece; it was performed several times in the HIStory Tour and was planned to be apart of the This is It Tour.
1. "Jam" (Dangerous)
"Jam" gets my number one spot, being released as the fourth single from MJ's Dangerous album on July 13, 1992. This song is about addressing the problems of today (in 1992 that is) and letting loose with your inhibitions so you can live like its your last day on Earth. This is such a great song. It's got an addicting rhythm, great horns and trumpets work, great beats, great rap by Heavy D, and is atonishing to witness when seeing Jackson perform on stage for his Dangerous Tour shows, and is one of my favorite performances from the planned This Is It Tour. Plus, I'm actually surprised this song and the video for it aren't more popular, because after all, it's got Michael Jordan of all people, hanging out and playing basketball with Michael Jackson. And there's a Kriss Kross cameo too! I mean, it's not Thriller, but still, that's some good shit right there.
Anyways, there's my list. Feel free to comment on any of the songs here and if you can, give your own top 5 underrated MJ tracks, or just chat about MJ in general I guess.