I was in my dorm room in college, maybe it was a Saturday evening around 7:30. I was taking a break from stuff, so I turned on the stereo, turned off the lights, and lied down for a while. It was dusk, so there was some ambient light in the room, the window was open, and there was a nice breeze of comfortable fresh air coming in. I was just relaxing, listening to the local college station. They had the usual commercials, then probably some Journey song, and then I heard a song I’d never heard before. It started with this hypnotic, quiet yet pulsating bass line. Strings and other orchestrations came in, and this singer started singing about this girl, Bille Jean, and the time he danced with her, and the after effects. The tone, mood, emotional direction, pervasive background, and overall sound of this song really took me to an altered state of consciousness. As I was listening to this for the first time, it didn’t register in my mind that I was listening to Michael Jackson, and this was a huge hit from a huge album from a rich and famous celebrity – I just heard the song for what it was. It was a rare experience of being enthralled and swept away by a song.
So many I absolutely love. I guess ‘Wanna Be Starting something’ is right up there, but it’s a really hard call. His music will never die.
There’s a pretty good argument to be made that “Billie Jean” is not just Michael Jackson’s best song, but anyone’s best song.
He had a lot of terrific songs, almost all of them already named; “Beat It,” “Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough,” “Smooth Criminal,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” “Rock With You,” so on and so forth. But IMHO, “Billie Jean” is the perfect popular music song. It’s fricking genius from the first beat to the last.
Oh, horse puckey.
His best song is almost certainly “Billie Jean.”
My favorite is probably “Rock With You.” I could still listen to every track of “Off the Wall” and “Thriller” and enjoy every second.
Crap, now I have “Off the Wall” in my head. “We’re the party people night and day…”
Lest we forget, Jackson was free to be me. Or you.
That sounds like the exact same experience I had. I think “The Girl is Mine” was already released in the UK, and it was a Michael Jackson/McCartney collabo, so it got attention… but it was pretty twee. And I think I had Radio 2 on one night, and Billie Jean came on. The drums first, with the echo. And that bass line, then the synths. Chills up my fucking spine, no hyperbole.
This is a very distant second, but the only thing even close to that was the first time I heard… don’t laugh… “Wham! Rap.” I knew that the guy singing that song was going to be huge.
I would go with the Jackson 5’s version of “Never Can Say Goodbye.”
Slacker Radio has a streaming tribute station for MJ - playing stuff from the J5 era to today.
For some reason, whenever I try to realize Want to be Starting Something in my head, it keeps fading in and out with Lionel Richie’s All Night Long.
“…got to be starting something. Woah jambo jambo!..”
On reflection, I really think he peaked with “Don’t Stop 'Til You Get Enough,” although my earworm for the past 24 hours has been “P.Y.T.”.
Well, MJ didn’t have much to do with it, but “I Want You Back” is the best song he’s performed. It’s got a rhythm track that can grab your spine and knot it around your shoulder blades …which may not sound like a good thing, but very definitely is.
It’s my favorite rhythm track of any pop song. There’s nothing I know that even comes close.
Same here, not a my cup of tea either, but he was definitely one of the most talented entertainers of the era, and the video you presented was pretty much the ideal iconic version of the entertainer, singing and dancing to one of his best songs that he created. Fifty years from now, it will be probably one of the most popular excerpts of his career, just like this this guy 50+ years ago.
The crowd reactions were pretty much identical.
There’s an awful lot to choose from, but I’ve got to say that Billie Jean is just one of the most perfect pop songs*, IMO. It’s danceable, sexy, slightly dark-edged, has an amazing hook and bassline, and MJ’s vocal performance is at its height. And I can’t separate the song from its video, which was so simple it’s almost laughable by today’s standards, but goddamn if it wasn’t hypnotic.
The song that makes me happiest to listen to is Don’t Stop Till you Get Enough. I cannot hear that without smiling and moving. It’s aural elation.
- The Beatles made many of the others. A Day in the Life and She’s Leaving Home among them. Not surprising that McCarney and Jackson teamed up a couple of times – they both knew how to put joy in a bottle.
There really isn’t much debate here. Billie Jean is the best MJ song, hands down. Personally, I always had a soft spot for The Way You Make Me Feel but its not in the same league. I read the wikipedia article on it today and it was interesting. It was mixed 91 times, because Quincy didn’t like it. The way the drum sounds were crafted is interesting as well. Billie Jean - Wikipedia
You’re welcome Shirley Ujest and NinetyWt. Yeah, Janet is adorable on that Carol Burnett show. And isn’t Randy the little firecracker?? That was a surprise!
I’ve been fascinated listening to the acapella versions. This one of “Rockin’ Robin” has a cute little stifled laugh at about 50 seconds, he was having a lot of fun.
Edit to add, yeah, with or without Randy as a judge, Michael would do very well on AI.
While I wouldn’t quibble that “Billie Jean” is his best song (I don’t know enough of his later music to give an opinion), and I do like the song and video, I found I didn’t particularly like the acapella version. For me it really needed the beat and the backing vocals and surrounding music. It was fascinating reading the Wikipedia page about the song, regarding the music:
What got me to listen was this:
And it’s true, I could hear everything, even the finger snaps, once it was pointed out to me. I was listening on headphones btw. I’m not generally that kind of music listener, listening for each instrument/sound effect/whatever, unless it’s something like Kate Bush’s The Dreaming, which is so sonically dense, everytime you listen you can hear something different (and I’ve heard it thousands of times). I never would have thought to listen to “Billie Jean” in this way if not for this thread and the Wikipedia page. Fascinating stuff. So to me, his vocals alone don’t do much for me on this particular song. It’s the whole package put together.
Maybe Tomorrow
Who’s Loving You?
Ben
The Love You Save
I Want You Back
Are some of favorite J5 songs. And although I kind of like
Beat It
Wanna Be Starting Something
The only post-J5 song of his I ever really liked was
She’s Out Of My Life
Great chord changes, great haunting electric piano sound and more emotion in his voice than in any other of his solo hits. Probably his best singing as an adult.
Ben.