Post here if you worked on Michael Jackson's DANGEROUS album

[charles maynes]

MJ's talent was really something- thanks for sharing about how he was in private.


and yes, GS could use more threads like this- I just hope it doesnt take people dying to facilitate it.

[drmmrboy]

Big thumbsup thumbsup's up for this thread!!

[Wiggum, Ralph]

Rob & John thank you very much for sharing your stories of Michael with the rest of us. RIP Michael Jackson.

[Ace_TX]

man, great thread

[Johnny Favorite]

Downward spiral? I love it, but I`d never guess. Thanks, guys, I bet he was proud to work with you.

[bexarametric]

What a great thread

[celticrogues]

This is so amazing - thank you both for sharing!

He will definitely be missed.

-Mike

[gorillainthemix]

wow...fantastic stories.

I hope the idiots on here who blindly go by what the media reports about him are reading this too. The last couple of days I've read some disgusting things on GS about him by people who obviously have NO 1st-hand experience with the man, but they're convinced he's a pedophile. Screw them, they should be ashamed of themselves.


Keep it coming John/Rob

[meymia]

Thanks for sharing!

[Prime NL]

Great stories ....tx for sharing them with us....

[IM WHO YOU THINK]

Many Many thanks guys.

Damn this is beautiful.

[thedoner]

Huge thanks to Rob and John for sharing your amazing personal stories so generously. Clearly you've touched a lot of us, and importantly, provided some true insight into who he really was. Of all the MJ threads on GS in the past few days, this is the one that really matters. RIP Michael!
-GD

[MooWahmBah]

Thanks to Rob and John for stepping up and sharing .

Even after life without Michael I`m afraid we`ll still see mudslinging and lawsuits and the beautiful testimony here will be an antidote to the pettiness.
I only hope this side of the story will find it`s way to the masses.
I have to admit to being influenced by so much bad press and am happy to hear these stories . As tragic as his life turned ,,,,he did experience joy through the music and wasn`t just a tool of the fame machine.

I`m surprised to hear he was so much of an arranger/composer/producer in his own right based on the "hands on" experience he had with the music as told here.

If I may .... could you fill us in on just where all that brilliant writing and arranging came from on the collaborations with Quincy?

I too was blown away by those records but being a bit of a jazz snob at the time, assumed that the greatness of the musical architecture of those songs was due to Quincy`s talent and experience as an arranger since Count Base and beyond.

After reading this great thread ....I`m left wondering ..Did Michael play a part in the hornlines,basslines,breakdowns ....all those great modal keyboard/vocal ideas ...etc.?

It`s really very jazz oriented if you take away the sonics. Almost has a Gil Evans vibe

And if MJ did indeed help to construct the songs in this way ... Did he choose not to do this any more after Quincy .?..because at least I (superficially I admit) don`t feel the same musical flavor of "depth" ( at the risk of being judgemental) in later stuff ...
"Black or White" for example.

Without speculation, I thought some of the people who witnessed and/or participated
in the process could shed some light on this ...thanks, Paul

[henryrobinett]

Thanks so much for sharing Rob and John. Amazing. I'm especially impressed by his ability to dictate al the parts like that. I only witnessed one other person who could do that, -- Charles Mingus no less. I know other who can do it, but I had no idea MJ did it too.

He was music all the way. And that is inspirational. Thank you so much!

[living sounds]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

Thanks so much for sharing Rob and John. Amazing. I'm especially impressed by his ability to dictate al the parts like that. I only witnessed one other person who could do that, -- Charles Mingus no less. I know other who can do it, but I had no idea MJ did it too.

He was music all the way. And that is inspirational. Thank you so much!

I think Mozart could do it. :-)

[Tom H]

Beautiful thread! Thank u Sqye for starting it!

Respect to Robmix and Resonator for sharing your stories, would love to read more.

[rectifier]

Thanks Rob and Res!

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by living sounds

I think Mozart could do it. :-)

LOL. I meant people I knew PERSONALLY.

[mamm7215]

Awesome share! Thank you.

[jkung]

i must say i never thought a gearslutz post would ever MOVE me. i sent this thread to my girlfriend who is very young and trying to make it as a recording artist. i told her whenever you feel like you have worked too much or are burned out, read this. she cried.

great post and thank you for sharing. if there are any more stories, i would love to hear them

[living sounds]

Originally Posted by henryrobinett

LOL. I meant people I knew PERSONALLY.

Yeah, I know, but it's true about Mozart, and I think it's the class of musician MJ belongs.

[henryrobinett]

Originally Posted by living sounds

Yeah, I know, but it's true about Mozart, and I think it's the class of musician MJ belongs.

Ah, . . no.

[RTR]

I just played the Thriller album for the first time since the year it came out..wow, what a masterpiece..I wounder...did MJ rite mos of his songs/hits or did someone else?

It is nice of everyone to KEEP thanking rob but lets try not to get this thread 20 pages long with "thank yous"..that way we don't have to sort through all of that to get to the great information being shared..just a thought

[Sqye]

.

good point, RTR....thanks so much for that..............seriously, tho - i hear ya!

...however, i feel many people here (like me) needed a place to celebrate MJ - as well...

yes, i'd LOVE to hear more stories, too!..thumbsup

...although, i see there are over 50 viewers at Bruce Swedien's thread now...

here: http://www.gearslutz.com/board/bruce-swedien/


.

[jeremyglover]

Originally Posted by drBill

Threads like this one are perhaps the #1 reason to peruse Gearslutz.

[idylldon]

Originally Posted by RTR

I just played the Thriller album for the first time since the year it came out..wow, what a masterpiece..I wounder...did MJ rite mos of his songs/hits or did someone else?

Michael wrote four of the songs:

"Billie Jean"
"Beat It"
"Wanna Be Startin' Something"
"The Girl Is Mine"

Cheers,
--
Don

[AntillesSound]

What a cool and VERY special thread.

[robmix]

Originally Posted by MooWahmBah

I`m surprised to hear he was so much of an arranger/composer/producer in his own right based on the "hands on" experience he had with the music as told here.

If I may .... could you fill us in on just where all that brilliant writing and arranging came from on the collaborations with Quincy?

I too was blown away by those records but being a bit of a jazz snob at the time, assumed that the greatness of the musical architecture of those songs was due to Quincy`s talent and experience as an arranger since Count Base and beyond.

After reading this great thread ....I`m left wondering ..Did Michael play a part in the hornlines,basslines,breakdowns ....all those great modal keyboard/vocal ideas ...etc.?

It`s really very jazz oriented if you take away the sonics. Almost has a Gil Evans vibe

And if MJ did indeed help to construct the songs in this way ... Did he choose not to do this any more after Quincy .?..because at least I (superficially I admit) don`t feel the same musical flavor of "depth" ( at the risk of being judgemental) in later stuff ...
"Black or White" for example.

Without speculation, I thought some of the people who witnessed and/or participated
in the process could shed some light on this ...thanks, Paul

I can't speak to Thriller as I was just 12 then

But I did get to work with Quincy and Rod Temperton a bit on "Q's Jook Joint" so it was interesting to study their musicality and MJ's separately and try to put the puzzle together. I would ask them and Bruce questions all the time. Hopefully John will have some input. Quincy and Rod are obviously seriously talented. Put the 4 of them together and its the dream team.

During History MJ did indeed come up with many of the arrangements for his songs. Sometimes the producer would present a track to Michael, like Scream or Too Bad. It might be a groove, or a pretty finished track. Scream was a relatively finished track, music only. This Time Around was also pretty finished musically but Bruce added a bridge too it. You Are Not Alone was kind of a basic R&B groove with a verse and chorus. The rest of the arrangement came from MJ, and lots of overdubs by Steve Porcaro with programming by Andrew Scheps. I like to think R. Kelly's subsequent success with ballads came from watching what MJ did with his initial track idea.

If you listen to the bridge of Too Bad, the entire horn thing was Michael's idea. He had Jerry Hey come in, and sang him all the parts. Jerry went away, arranged it, and came back a bit later to track it. Rene asked me to make it less "real", so I processed it through various filters (the minimoog for one), and sampled it on the MPC, then layered that over the top of the original horns.

I think very few people realized how deeply MJ was involved in his records. He had an incredible music vocabulary - from showtunes to jazz, and whatever was on the radio. He studied, and I think you can hear it in his music. There's lots of speculation as to why he didn't work with Quincy after Bad, but I can't really offer anything new there.

[doug hazelrigg]

What a wonderful thread, one that celebrates MJ instead of trashing him like the other thread did. Thank you, guys

[gorillainthemix]

or in the words of the great late George Carlin: