Bad - 2012 Remaster

Jackson wrote this song, which crafted a new image for the singer, who now wore leather and chains and acted tough. The title was hip with the times as well, as teenagers were using the word "bad" to mean "seriously cool." It was rebellious without being controversial, and it worked well for Jackson despite the ludicrous album cover. Barney Hoskyns may have written it best in his review of the album: "With his gossamer-delicate, surgically sculpted features, he looks like a beautiful Latin girl trapped inside an outfit from Mad Max II."

This song was conceived as a duet with Prince. As Jackson's producer Quincy Jones explained in an interview for the 2001 special edition of Bad, he liked the idea of drama between the two artists, and pictured them battling it out in the video. Jones, who helped organize the "We Are The World" project, may have been the only person alive who could arrange a meeting between the two superstars, and that's what he did. When Prince heard the song, he told Jones that it would be a hit without him, and turned down the project. Prince isn't big on collaborations he doesn't control, and appearing on Jackson's album would have been out of character for him.

Martin Scorsese directed the video, and Wesley Snipes played the rival gang leader. The long version runs 17 minutes. Not only did Martin Scorsese direct this music video, but many of his top collaborators also worked on the project, including cinematographer Michael Chapman (Raging Bull, Taxi Driver), writer Richard Price (The Color of Money), producer Barbara De Fina (The Color of Money) and Scorsese's lifelong editor Thelma Schoonmaker. Darryl (Michael Jackson)'s mom is played by singer Roberta Flack. Scorsese was working on The Color of Money when Jones called him and asked for four days of his time to shoot the video. Scorsese agreed, and took his crew around New York City to do the shoot during a break in filming.