Other than myself Bogoljub Karic, my old college roomie, is the biggest Michael Jackson fan that I know. In fact we both had tickets to go and see MJ on his This Is It tour, which of course he never actually made happen, passing away a month before it was due to start. Bogoljub and I will often spend evenings listening to MJ and we have very differing views about which were his best albums. I am convinced of which 3 make up my list and when I put this together I didn’t do it based on the success of the albums or the legacy which they have, I have based them purely on how much I enjoy them and what I get out of them, have a look and see if you agree.
Off The Wall
Coming in at number 3 was Michael’s first solo adult album, a disco-based masterpiece which saw him break out of the young singer who we all knew and loved from his Jackson 5 days. From the opening song of Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough you get a sense that this is a different artist, one who is ready to take on the world, and how he was! There isn’t a bad track on the album and from Off The Wall to Working Day and Night, not to mention Rock With You, it is a succinct and high quality album which deserves all of the plaudits it gets.
Thriller
Second position for me was a straight toss up between Thriller and Bad and the only reason for picking Thriller is that this was the album when we saw Michael become a real musician. What I mean by that is that no longer was he making music of the genres which he liked, now he was investing his very own genres. Billie Jean sounds like nothing you have ever heard, the cinematic Thriller cannot be compared to anything else and the album follows in this vein. We also see Michael’s first forays into rock music with Beat It, enlisting the support of Eddie Van Halen to create an absolutely iconic and monster riff and solo. Thriller’s sales just speak for themselves, and that is because of the quality and originality of the music.
Dangerous
Michael clearly wanted to be the voice of social change and that is why I love Dangerous, it is also his most accomplished musical album to date in my mind. Dangerous features rock, pop, funk, RnB and everything in-between, it is a showcase of the fact that Michael could tuns his hand to anything and for me, it was MJ at his absolute peak. From singles like Remember the Time and Black or White to uplifting songs such as Heal the World and will you be there. Michael had a message to bring and he used his musicianship to bring it to us in this perfectly packaged album.
What does your top 3 look like?
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