Has there ever been a more difficult album to make than Michael Jackson’s Bad? […] How the hell do you follow up Thriller? It’s like following up the Bible
Newsweek, 2017
Bad is Michael Jackson’s seventh studio album, and came out in 1987. The previous album is up to now the best selling album worldwide, ever. His grand ambition was to sell a hundred million copies of Bad (official sales for Thriller are now at 70 million). To do that he wanted a rockier sound and lots of duets with other superstars. For instance, the title song was to be a duet with Prince. The other superstar of the Eighties didn’t like the lyrics, so he declined. A counter offer from Prince to record a song by his own making was then declined by Michael Jackson. The duet of all duets never came to be.
Like Thriller, Jackson produced the album with Quincy Jones. Up to then Jones was best known for his jazz arrangements and film scores. In the past he worked with Frank Sinatra and Count Basie. Bad was to be the last of the three albums he did with Jackson. They are generally seen as the best he ever made.