1st off the song I always heard Michael singing around the Studio was "Black Dog" by Led Zep truely amazing to witness 1st hand.
Once I was out at Michael's Studio on Havenhurt in Encino, and I was going through a stack of vinyl records sitting by the console. One of the records I came across was Grace Jones "Nightclubbing" I picked it up to look at it front and back and Michael got kind of excited about it too. He took the record from me and asked if I'd like to hear a song that was very influential to him, and I thought are you kidding, YES please. He put on a song called "Feel Up" from that record and I about fell over !!! All the little inflections Michael creates with his voice on his records, are present on this Grace Jones track from 1981. Please check this song out, anyone reading this thread will be glad they did.
OK here's MY pie in the face funny story:
One fear of mine was that I knew there’d come a day that it would be just Michael and I in the same room one on one. I’d rehearsed it in the mirror over and over, just what was I going to say to this guy??? Well that day came, and what was probably seconds, seemed like a very long time. Catering had arrived at the Studio and here Michael and I were standing by ourselves. I was looking at the floor and said to myself, “this is it, this is what I‘ve been afraid of, I’m going to have to break the ice.” I took a big deep breath and raised my head to speak and … wham .. I got hit with a handful of corn, I thought, “oh no this is going to be war” … I picked up some pickles and threw them at Michael, then he threw something else and it went back and forth for a while. We were laughing so hard (I had to clean it all up later of coarse) but for three weeks we couldn’t look at each other without laughing. What a great way for him to make me feel at ease. Michael really has a great sense of humor, he just loves seeing people do a 3 stooges act and fumble all over themselves. I wish there were more people in the world exactly like Michael Jackson, he is truly one amazing human being.
How's that for a funny pie in the face story???
THIS IS OTHER STUFF HE SAID BUT ITS KINDA TECH ORIENTED
* Lyrics were pretty much together by the time recording began, however Michael's demo's tend to be 8:00 long and very groove oriented.
* In between takes, most singers will try to stay in character in order to prevent the mood from changing, Michael included. At Westlake Michael had his own little private room upstairs with a window that looked out into the tracking room. If he needed to get away during times he really wasn't needed, he often went to this room, where he would trash it with pop corn all over the place, he was really quite messy, as he probably is used to having someone pick up after him, this was usually me !!!
* "Smooth Criminal" .vs "Street Walker" this was toward the end of the record, as Epic was putting pressure on us to finish, we were using Westlake Studio "C" for "Street Walker" and Studio "D" for "Smooth Criminal" it was like a big shoot out which song would make the winning spot on the album. Smooth Criminal won, and was the most complex song on the record, requiring 2-Mitsubishi X-850 32 trk machines to be also locked w/ a Studer 800 and a MCI 2"-16trk machine.
* Re Recording in bed under the sheets: we did have a twin bed set up against the wall of the main tracking room the duration of BAD. During recording the room was dark, we don't know what Michael did in that bed, but I don't remember any recording in it. Well maybe I do, I think the spoken intro to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" may have been recorded there??? I never cared for the spoken intro, and I'm glad it was taken off for the Special Edition version.
* "Just Good Friends" is one of my fondest memories. I was standing in the control room right next to Stevie as he laid down the most ripping keyboard solo, and watched Stevie tell Bruce to burn the 1st take, that he'd give him a better one, and that's what happened. How could Bruce go wrong with Stevie Wonder at the keys to make him look good.
When we recorded the vocals, it was duet style w/ Michael & Stevie singing together facing each other. This was the one song on the album that was recorded with the lights ON, I'm sure that was more for Michael, than for Stevie's benefit. However right in the middle of a take, we noticed that a homeless guy had heard music coming from a Studio cartage door which had apparently be left unlocked, and he wandered into the tracking room, crapped his pants probably, but remained quiet up against the wall. I remember this like yesterday, once he was discovered and escorted back outside. How's that for a story ???
* BAD was the 1st song started on the album and the video was being shot before we were finished working on the song, the last song recorded ...hmmm might be "Another Part of Me" ??? Bruce ???
* "Hot Fever" was a working title for "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Groove of Midnight" was another working title, which one, I don't remember (don't tell Bruce I lost my notes on that one). As far as other out takes, it's already been discussed on previous pages, there really weren't that many out takes, only songs discarded by Quincy during pre-production.
Once I was out at Michael's Studio on Havenhurt in Encino, and I was going through a stack of vinyl records sitting by the console. One of the records I came across was Grace Jones "Nightclubbing" I picked it up to look at it front and back and Michael got kind of excited about it too. He took the record from me and asked if I'd like to hear a song that was very influential to him, and I thought are you kidding, YES please. He put on a song called "Feel Up" from that record and I about fell over !!! All the little inflections Michael creates with his voice on his records, are present on this Grace Jones track from 1981. Please check this song out, anyone reading this thread will be glad they did.
OK here's MY pie in the face funny story:
One fear of mine was that I knew there’d come a day that it would be just Michael and I in the same room one on one. I’d rehearsed it in the mirror over and over, just what was I going to say to this guy??? Well that day came, and what was probably seconds, seemed like a very long time. Catering had arrived at the Studio and here Michael and I were standing by ourselves. I was looking at the floor and said to myself, “this is it, this is what I‘ve been afraid of, I’m going to have to break the ice.” I took a big deep breath and raised my head to speak and … wham .. I got hit with a handful of corn, I thought, “oh no this is going to be war” … I picked up some pickles and threw them at Michael, then he threw something else and it went back and forth for a while. We were laughing so hard (I had to clean it all up later of coarse) but for three weeks we couldn’t look at each other without laughing. What a great way for him to make me feel at ease. Michael really has a great sense of humor, he just loves seeing people do a 3 stooges act and fumble all over themselves. I wish there were more people in the world exactly like Michael Jackson, he is truly one amazing human being.
How's that for a funny pie in the face story???
THIS IS OTHER STUFF HE SAID BUT ITS KINDA TECH ORIENTED
* Lyrics were pretty much together by the time recording began, however Michael's demo's tend to be 8:00 long and very groove oriented.
* In between takes, most singers will try to stay in character in order to prevent the mood from changing, Michael included. At Westlake Michael had his own little private room upstairs with a window that looked out into the tracking room. If he needed to get away during times he really wasn't needed, he often went to this room, where he would trash it with pop corn all over the place, he was really quite messy, as he probably is used to having someone pick up after him, this was usually me !!!
* "Smooth Criminal" .vs "Street Walker" this was toward the end of the record, as Epic was putting pressure on us to finish, we were using Westlake Studio "C" for "Street Walker" and Studio "D" for "Smooth Criminal" it was like a big shoot out which song would make the winning spot on the album. Smooth Criminal won, and was the most complex song on the record, requiring 2-Mitsubishi X-850 32 trk machines to be also locked w/ a Studer 800 and a MCI 2"-16trk machine.
* Re Recording in bed under the sheets: we did have a twin bed set up against the wall of the main tracking room the duration of BAD. During recording the room was dark, we don't know what Michael did in that bed, but I don't remember any recording in it. Well maybe I do, I think the spoken intro to "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" may have been recorded there??? I never cared for the spoken intro, and I'm glad it was taken off for the Special Edition version.
* "Just Good Friends" is one of my fondest memories. I was standing in the control room right next to Stevie as he laid down the most ripping keyboard solo, and watched Stevie tell Bruce to burn the 1st take, that he'd give him a better one, and that's what happened. How could Bruce go wrong with Stevie Wonder at the keys to make him look good.
When we recorded the vocals, it was duet style w/ Michael & Stevie singing together facing each other. This was the one song on the album that was recorded with the lights ON, I'm sure that was more for Michael, than for Stevie's benefit. However right in the middle of a take, we noticed that a homeless guy had heard music coming from a Studio cartage door which had apparently be left unlocked, and he wandered into the tracking room, crapped his pants probably, but remained quiet up against the wall. I remember this like yesterday, once he was discovered and escorted back outside. How's that for a story ???
* BAD was the 1st song started on the album and the video was being shot before we were finished working on the song, the last song recorded ...hmmm might be "Another Part of Me" ??? Bruce ???
* "Hot Fever" was a working title for "The Way You Make Me Feel," "Groove of Midnight" was another working title, which one, I don't remember (don't tell Bruce I lost my notes on that one). As far as other out takes, it's already been discussed on previous pages, there really weren't that many out takes, only songs discarded by Quincy during pre-production.
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