Leaving aside the controversy surrounding his death, and the controversy that plagued his life off-stage, this list is a pure celebration of Jackson''s music.
With that, narrowing to his solo work, here is my list of Michael Jackson's 10 best songs.
10. "Liberian Girl"
From Jackson's album, Bad, "Liberian Girl" is noteworthy for the celebrity-laden video that accompanied it.
9. "Smooth Criminal"
Later re-made by Alien Ant Farm, "Smooth Criminal" was also on Bad. The video might be the best on a long list of notable ones for Jackson, even without the huge budget he had for a lot of his music videos.
8. "Who Is It"
Jackson took a darker, melancholy turn with his song writing in the early 90's, and "Who Is It", from the 1991 album Dangerous fits that bill.
7. "Thriller"
The movie-style production of the music video was ground-breaking at the time, it still stands as one the best and most memorable videos ever made. But "Thriller'" also stands as a Halloween anthem and the title track to one of the best-selling albums of all-time.
6. "Man In the Mirror"
Another track off Bad, "Man In The Mirror" is self-reflective and an easy message to the masses.
5. "You Rock My World"
From his final studio album Invincible, "You Rock My World" would be Jackson's last top-10 single in the United States ("Love Never Felt So Good" with Justin Timberlake came posthumously in 2014).
4. "Leave Me Alone"
The message in the title and the lyrics to "Leave Me Alone" is clear, and put to an appropriate accompanying visual in the video. But it's still a good song, even if it's a bit heavy and serves as a glimpse into the mind of a troubled man.
3. "Dirty Diana"
Jackson clearly reflected on adoration from groupies with "Dirty Diana." There's not much more to say, other than the song is a little underappreciated as a piece of his musical resume.
2. "Beat It"
Here's a bit of trivia. Do you know the famous rock guitarist who played on "Beat It"?
It's Eddie Van Halen.
1. "Billy Jean"
A personal situation for Jackson, as a woman claimed he was the father of one of her twins, yielded "Billy Jean". And a later performance gave us the moonwalk.
No comments:
Post a Comment