Which was the better album?
List your reasons here and why.

Just wanted to start a musical discussion here.

Album or song?

lol dray, reread that first sentence.

Personally I am not a fan the MJ but a would say Thriller just for the sake of how it took over the eighties.

I understand. No album had sold that many copies at the time.

I just find Bad more enjoyable. The songs feel richer.

I mean when I think of "album", I think of a bunch of songs collected together with one particular song being the main attraction.

You know, as a WHOLE album, I believe Bad is probably the superior album. But the thing is, Thiller had the trifecta of Billie Jean, Beat It and its eponymous track that Bad doesn't have, which is why people cite that much more than Bad. Bad has more fantastic songs than Thriller, but Thriller had three LEGENDARY tracks on the same album.

Don't forget about Wanna be Startin' Something as one of the major hits from Thriller. It just didn't have a music video.

I guess I wonder why anyone would even suggest that the album Bad could be in the same class as the album Thriller (and I do like the album Bad don't get me wrong) and then I figure maybe it all comes down to when you were born.

If you are going to compare the albums you have to make sure to include all the songs from the album. To me, the album Bad may have more 'musicality' (in some ways it may even be more original) but lets be honest, relatively speaking, it's a pretty boring album except for 'Bad' and 'Smooth Criminal' which I do admit is my favorite song from either album.

If you were born earlier you might have included Off the Wall in this topic and if later than you might have included Dangerous. All four of these albums have marquis hits and great filler songs. It's just that nothing was the phenomenon that was Thriller.

I can understand where you're coming from Ixz. Thriller does have that trifecta, but I find myself skipping through fillers such as "Baby Be Mine," "The Girl is Mine," and "Lady in My Life" just to get to these songs. Many albums have filler, and I believe depending on the quality of that filler, it can either add or detract to the album's full enjoyability.

As for you, Bo, I disagree with the notion that Bad is a boring musical project. Thriller displays Michael still displaying some of the bubble gum flavor he had with Off the Wall, but feeling more at ease and just starting to branch out. With Bad, the tone throughout it felt so gritty, so fresh. This was before it got to a point where I could hardly understand what the man was saying (having to look at a lyrics sheet at times, and only for certain songs). If you want to put it into classes, yes, people are always going to say Thriller tops Bad, but from an overall enjoyability factor, that distinction belongs to Bad.

Bad is very original in that it has the grit you speak of combined with Michael Jackson-esque soulfulness. I really haven't seen anything else like it except for some of his later songs that have the same spirit. However the reason I said it was pretty boring is because it lost a tremendous amount of black soulfoulness and danceability. You mention passing songs on Thriller and I could include songs to pass on Bad but when you include a song like "Baby Be Mine" then I know we are looking at it from two different perspectives. "Baby be Mine" along with for example PYT are songs that keep you in the spirit to move. "Baby Be Mine" is SO pure and is tremendously underrated, but maybe my opinion reflects when I was born. This was a great song to listen to in the car. These songs along with the rest of the album represent the HIGHEST achievement of black soulful dance music. Bad is more original. It is a real beginning, a real exposition of greater dimensions of his musicality, but the problem with Bad is that the music is more a lecture. It is one sided. Thriller on the other hand is more an environment that, greater than any album before it, drew everybody in and kept them there, together.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thriller_%28album%29
Thriller:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bad_%28album%29
Bad:


The question was which was the better album. Question answered.

/thread