Bad (album)

"Bad album" redirects here. For albums considered bad, see List of music considered the worst.

Bad
A man in his late twenties stands and looks forward. His hair is curly and black. He is wearing a black jacket that has several buckles and pants. The background is white and beside him are the words "Michael Jackson" in black capital letters, and over them, "Bad" in red.
Studio album by
Michael Jackson
ReleasedAugust 31, 1987 (1987-08-31)
RecordedJanuary 1985 – July 1987[1]
StudioWestlake, Los Angeles, California[2]
Genre
Length
  • 43:59 (LP version)
  • 48:40 (CD version)
LabelEpic
Producer
Michael Jackson chronology
Anthology
(1986) 		Bad
(1987) 		The Original Soul of Michael Jackson
(1987)
Singles from Bad
  1. "I Just Can't Stop Loving You"
    Released: July 20, 1987
  2. "Bad"
    Released: September 7, 1987
  3. "The Way You Make Me Feel"
    Released: November 9, 1987
  4. "Man in the Mirror"
    Released: January 1988[3]
  5. "Dirty Diana"
    Released: April 18, 1988
  6. "Another Part of Me"
    Released: July 11, 1988
  7. "Smooth Criminal"
    Released: November 14, 1988
  8. "Leave Me Alone"
    Released: February 13, 1989[a]
  9. "Liberian Girl"
    Released: July 3, 1989[b][4]
  10. "Speed Demon"
    Released: September 4, 1989 (France)

Bad is the seventh studio album by the American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson. It was released on August 31, 1987, by Epic Records. Written and recorded between 1985 and 1987, Bad was Jackson's third and final collaboration with the producer Quincy Jones. Jackson co-produced and composed all but two tracks, and adopted an edgier image and sound, departing from his signature groove-based style and falsetto. Bad incorporates pop, rock, funk, R&B, dance, soul, and hard rock styles, and incorporated new recording technology, including digital synthesizers. The lyrical themes include media bias, paranoia, racial profiling, romance, self-improvement, and world peace. The album features appearances from Siedah Garrett and Stevie Wonder.

Nine singles were released to promote Bad, including the record-breaking five US number ones, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You", "Bad", "The Way You Make Me Feel", "Man in the Mirror" and "Dirty Diana", and the top-10 hit "Smooth Criminal". It was also promoted with the film Moonwalker (1988), which included the music videos for several Bad songs. The Bad tour, Jackson's first solo world tour, grossed $125 million (equivalent to $322 million in 2023), making it the highest-grossing concert tour ever at the time. Jackson performed 123 concerts in 15 countries to an audience of 4.4 million.

Released nearly five years after Jackson's previous album, Thriller (1982), anticipation for Bad was high. It was an enormous commercial success, selling more than 2.25 million copies in its first week in the US as it reached number one on the Billboard Top Pop Albums chart, and went on to be certified 11× platinum. It also reached number one in 24 other countries, including the UK, where it sold 350,000 copies in its first week and was the best-selling album of 1987. The album received positive reviews, particularly for Jackson's vocals and the rich, more polished production. It has since been considered a staple of 1980s pop music, solidifying Jackson's status as a global superstar and being an extension of Jackson's influence on popular music.

Bad is one of the best-selling albums of all time having sold over 35 million copies worldwide, and was the best-selling album globally of both 1987 and 1988. It has been named by several publications as one of the greatest albums of all time and was nominated for six Grammy Awards, including Album of the Year. It won Best Engineered Recording – Non Classical and Best Music Video (for "Leave Me Alone"). Jackson also received several special awards in recognition of the album's success. In 2012, the album's 25th anniversary, an expanded reissue album, Bad 25, and a documentary film also titled Bad 25 were released.

  1. ^ Smallcombe 2016, pp. 220–296.
  2. ^ Troupe, Quincy (June 25, 2014). "Michael Jackson's 1987 Cover Story: 'The Pressure to Beat It'". Spin. Archived from the original on November 16, 2015. Retrieved December 14, 2019.
  3. ^ Sullivan, Steve (2017). Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Vol. 3 & 4. Lanham, Maryland: Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 978-1-4422-5449-7. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved December 6, 2019.
  4. ^ a b Lecocq, Richard; Allard, François (2018). "Bad". Michael Jackson All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track. London, England: Cassell. ISBN 978-1-78840-057-2. Archived from the original on February 23, 2023. Retrieved May 31, 2020.


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