April 30, 2026
Michael Jackson Top 5: Favorite Songs from 1979 to 1991
Michael Jackson’s solo career from 1979 to 1991 redefined the global pop landscape, but with four back-to-back masterpiece albums, picking the absolute best tracks is a nearly impossible task for any music fan.
In this episode of Top 5, hosts Garrett Gonzales and Mike Joseph take on the challenge. They deep dive into the Quincy Jones trilogy—Off The Wall, Thriller, and Bad—before exploring the New Jack Swing evolution of Dangerous. From the disco-funk grooves of "Rock With You" to the soul-stirring "Human Nature" and the raw power of "Billie Jean," the duo debates which five songs truly represent the peak of the King of Pop’s powers.
Whether you’re a lifelong moonwalker or a casual listener, you’ll gain a new perspective on the production, vocal arrangements, and cultural impact of these legendary records. Tune in to see if your favorite deep cuts like "Lady In My Life" or "Tell Me I'm Not Dreaming" made the final cut.
Episode Highlights:
- The evolution of the "MJ Sound" from 1979’s Off The Wall to 1991’s Dangerous.
- Breakdowns of essential hits: "Billie Jean," "Human Nature," and "Rock With You."
- Deep cut appreciation: Is "Lady In My Life" MJ’s best vocal performance?
- The transition from Quincy Jones to the Teddy Riley era.
Find 50 For 50:
- Website: https://www.50for50.net/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@50_For_50
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/50-for-50-life-music-friendship/id1857746432
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0ADmN7bp4fXQzAZsnSuFQj?si=a283674c59b44be2
- Contact at: GG@BSPNMedia.com
WEBVTT
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[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We're wrapping it up with our week of Michael Jackson podcast.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We did our review on the Michael movie earlier this week.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We also did our 50 for 50 deep dive into off the wall and now we're talking our top five Michael Jackson songs from off the wall through Dangerous.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So 1979 through
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[SPEAKER_01]: So before we get to the actual top five list, I have some questions.
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[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about this a little bit in the 50 for 50 deep dive.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a fan of it's the falling in love and girlfriend necessarily.
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[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned the girl is mine being one of those songs for you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you also said that heal the world is one of your least favorite songs.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is our rock with it stop with its segment here.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Where are you on keep the faith?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Good song.
01:09.454 --> 01:09.916
[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with it.
01:10.618 --> 01:11.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Shout out, Jimmy's Wilson.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I rock with it too.
01:16.508 --> 01:32.560
[SPEAKER_01]: The production itself is solid, but I think his vocals on that song are some of the most soulful vocals that he has on that entire album on Dembers.
01:32.540 --> 01:35.567
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that song is basically man in the mirror part two.
01:35.648 --> 01:40.339
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the same people actually wrote both songs, Glenn Ballard and Said to Garrett.
01:41.723 --> 01:44.690
[SPEAKER_00]: But Michael singing on that song is incredible.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like he just, he is feeling it.
01:47.542 --> 01:48.744
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is amazing.
01:50.426 --> 01:59.119
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have too many more rock with its stop with it because I, you know, there are, like we can do a whole hour of rock with its stop we did on Michael Jackson.
01:59.359 --> 02:04.507
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I think I already know the answer on some of that stuff for you.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, let's do, let's do, where are you with black or white these days?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, stop, stop.
02:17.630 --> 02:28.883
[SPEAKER_00]: That's another one of I just I can't I didn't like this on then I don't like it now okay what did you not like about it when it came out is corny it's just kind of like it's silly and very basic.
02:33.048 --> 02:41.578
[SPEAKER_01]: I I don't dislike it I mean I understand what you're saying in a time when we were.
02:43.162 --> 02:52.015
[SPEAKER_01]: We had seen so much Michael Jackson and by the early 90s, he wasn't the coolest thing on the block anymore.
02:52.035 --> 02:54.759
[SPEAKER_01]: No, he was not from an image of image standpoint.
02:54.959 --> 02:55.480
[SPEAKER_01]: It was not.
02:55.981 --> 03:00.668
[SPEAKER_01]: So he could have picked a better first single to come out with from that perspective.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But from his worldly perspective, that song was a giant hit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But if you were a long time Michael Jackson fan, that is not necessarily the type of music that you were wanting from him to come out.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Not, and you know, it's really interesting to think about, right?
03:17.297 --> 03:19.761
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, so danger is comes out with you and me.
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[SPEAKER_00]: We're at high school.
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[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and
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[SPEAKER_00]: I think the general consensus, at least, you know, speaking specifically to like my high school in New York City in the early 90s, like we talked about Michael a lot, but when we talked about Michael Jackson, at least from like I caught so much shit for being a Michael Jackson fan at that time, it was not cool as a teenager to like Michael Jackson.
03:45.708 --> 03:52.656
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we talked about them, because you know, there'd be the video premiere on Fox and people would all talk about the videos today after,
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was more from a standpoint of like, yo, what is wrong with this dude?
03:56.460 --> 04:00.063
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, you know, oh, yeah, we're really checking for that new Michael Jackson record.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He was, it still, I thought, you know, having a McColle Culkin in that video.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Now, maybe one side of the fandom is like, the home alone kid, like why there are many other kids that you could be friends with or that you could watch your video.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Another bad creation was in that video too.
04:22.437 --> 04:22.717
[SPEAKER_01]: True.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: The Bart Simpson thing was there, right?
04:30.424 --> 04:37.831
[SPEAKER_01]: Bart Simpson and the Simpsons going kind of soon to be going ahead up with the Cosby show around that time.
04:39.473 --> 04:49.322
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that I think the one faux paw with this song though is, and this goes back to, I think we talked about this
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[SPEAKER_01]: the manipulation of the Michael Jackson narrative because when Black or White came out, the joke was, oh, he's making a joke about himself.
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[SPEAKER_01]: He has no black or white.
05:04.983 --> 05:05.945
[SPEAKER_01]: He has no black or white.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And he had to know that people were going to make that joke because by the time dangerous comes out, he's much lighter and distinguishly looks different for, if you look at Thriller from 82 to dangerous in 91, two different human beings.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So he had to know that that was going to be part of the conversation about that song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Right, he had to know.
05:34.628 --> 05:49.431
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's leaning into it in a way, which I'm not sure, I mean, maybe if you and so this would be a thing for for those of us who are real big fans of his is like, we wanted to know like what was going on.
05:50.272 --> 06:06.795
[SPEAKER_01]: you know he he almost leaned into the stories and then would not really explain it truthfully about what was going on until much later you know when he was going through some troubles then then he would be a little bit more honest with some of these stories but like that was also part of it was like
06:07.332 --> 06:21.972
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this guy insane or not like is he crazy and do we want to rock with this guy who may not be all there right still talented is all hell, but like that was also part of it for us.
06:22.033 --> 06:26.198
[SPEAKER_00]: I think yeah, he just did there was no related ability to him at all.
06:27.761 --> 06:31.686
[SPEAKER_01]: And that started also to become some of his music in the.
06:31.919 --> 06:37.986
[SPEAKER_01]: No, not a little bit in date, you can start to see the seeds of it in dangerous, but post-dangerous.
06:38.067 --> 06:39.533
[SPEAKER_01]: It was all.
06:39.935 --> 06:57.351
[SPEAKER_01]: the, you know, him leaning into the rumors and shouting out at the tabloids and, right, you know, just making songs that were kind of like odd subject matter and who's, who's a dumb sheldon like who the were you yelling at like we don't even know who this person is.
06:57.411 --> 07:09.942
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's doing all of these things kind of in secret and he's not like you're saying like he's not relatable at,
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[SPEAKER_01]: because this was not a single from what I remember, but the title track of Dangerous.
07:16.128 --> 07:17.009
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, rock with it.
07:17.029 --> 07:19.071
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a, I love that song.
07:20.072 --> 07:20.272
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
07:21.493 --> 07:23.695
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he should have done more with it.
07:23.735 --> 07:38.730
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why I say that is because when he does his VMAs performance, which would come out, I think during the history time, part of this performance,
07:39.031 --> 07:40.854
[SPEAKER_01]: is he does a little bit of dangerous.
07:41.154 --> 07:44.579
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, just the album before he straight up performed.
07:46.121 --> 07:49.386
[SPEAKER_00]: He did dangerous on the American musical words like just did the whole song.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like it was a single it wasn't it wasn't ever a single right.
07:53.232 --> 07:57.418
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think they they were plans to release it as a single at some point.
07:57.498 --> 08:01.404
[SPEAKER_00]: It just never happened, um, but I mean, that song is incredible.
08:02.986 --> 08:08.194
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, this has been bothering me since you said it when you said another bad creation.
08:08.782 --> 08:10.084
[SPEAKER_01]: you make crisscross.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Ha, no, another bad creation.
08:13.289 --> 08:14.811
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in the black or white video.
08:14.851 --> 08:20.119
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in the black or white video on the stoop with Michael Jackson and McCalley during the rap part.
08:20.139 --> 08:21.401
[SPEAKER_00]: ABC is in the video.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Crisscross is in the jam video.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Jam video, that's what I'm thinking of.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
08:26.228 --> 08:28.531
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't I don't remember met another bad creation being in there.
08:28.551 --> 08:29.433
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they're in there.
08:29.453 --> 08:30.054
[SPEAKER_01]: You know why?
08:30.154 --> 08:33.919
[SPEAKER_01]: I probably don't remember because I would have just assumed that Biv was there with them.
08:34.620 --> 08:37.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Ha, I can imagine that phone call.
08:38.245 --> 08:42.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Biff is my person.
08:42.110 --> 08:44.172
[SPEAKER_01]: Poor Biff should have been in that video, man.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Seriously, don't be beaty up in that video.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, all right, let's just dig into the top five here.
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[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll go first and the the back hat, the the four and five were probably where I kind of question myself a little bit.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you the song that I knocked off
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[SPEAKER_01]: for this list, we'll get to it when we get there.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But I knocked off a dangerous song for another dangerous song.
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[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I was struggling with.
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[SPEAKER_01]: But let's go, I'll start my number five with Lady in my life.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Great song.
09:27.079 --> 09:29.262
[SPEAKER_01]: If you think of, she's out of my life.
09:30.524 --> 09:54.743
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the ballad or that same kind of style of song on thriller, it just sounds like a grown adult version of that song like, you know, this is the teenage young 20s version and here's like a guy who maybe has done some more some more things like he just sings it again, I'll use the word softly again, there's just a little bit more.
09:56.613 --> 10:03.506
[SPEAKER_01]: adult to his voice based to his voice like experience to his voice, I think, and I think that's why I like it so much.
10:03.987 --> 10:14.566
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, she's out of my life is very like a puppy love kind of song, whereas the lady in my life is like as my man Tommy would say Mike GTD.
10:16.470 --> 10:17.211
[SPEAKER_01]: Getting the draws.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's right.
10:20.542 --> 10:21.483
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, what's five for you?
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[SPEAKER_00]: So first of all, my top five has no songs from bad or dangerous.
10:27.751 --> 10:30.054
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay, that's fine.
10:30.454 --> 10:33.058
[SPEAKER_00]: And my number five song actually is not on a Michael Jackson album.
10:33.078 --> 10:38.604
[SPEAKER_00]: It all, it's tell me I'm not dreaming, which is Jermaine Jackson featuring Michael Jackson.
10:38.624 --> 10:39.786
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's such a good idea.
10:40.166 --> 10:46.074
[SPEAKER_00]: It's such a great song and Jermaine and Michael sound so perfect together, like Michael's bringing his A game.
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[SPEAKER_00]: And you could always tell when
10:49.786 --> 10:56.476
[SPEAKER_00]: We're like he had, you know, he was feeling himself and had competition because he sings your main out that entire song.
10:56.576 --> 11:17.667
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was thinking about this a little bit when they, you know, when watching the movie, Joseph as portrayed by Coleman Domingo, everything is about the brothers because I think in his mind, the second Michael goes so low, they're just left at the dust.
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[SPEAKER_01]: managerial spot, too.
11:20.365 --> 11:37.022
[SPEAKER_01]: But I wonder if the move would have been to have, once your main comes back into the fold, because he stays on Motown for a while, because he's married to a very good starter.
11:38.200 --> 11:51.893
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if getting Michael and Germaine to do stuff together would have been a move because you have a song like this and there's other songs where Michael's just singing background randomly and you're like, isn't this due like the biggest pop star in the world?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Why is he just randomly singing background on some of these songs?
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, the period between off the wall and thriller, like Michael was on everybody's record.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Like Kenny's on the audience record, he's on a mini-ripperton record, he's on.
12:07.107 --> 12:14.115
[SPEAKER_00]: Crap, Stevie Wonder, all I do is think, all I do is think, yeah, you, um, he's doing all this stuff.
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[SPEAKER_00]: He's just like, I feel like Mike just pulled up to the studio.
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[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, maybe, and, you know, people would be like, hell, yes, I want Michael Jackson on my record, but yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he just be like, hey, you know, but I mean, the answer to that, I think, is that Michael, the brother, the other brothers and Motown were in litigation,
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[SPEAKER_00]: He would not, although Stevie Wonder was on Motown.
12:40.495 --> 12:41.699
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's on his record.
12:41.940 --> 12:43.465
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, I hadn't talking out of my ass.
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[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what that did happen.
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[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it would have been cool to hear more stuff with both of those guys together.
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[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, now here's where I flip-flopped.
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[SPEAKER_01]: As I was saying, I'm like, I'm just going heart.
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[SPEAKER_01]: There's just songs that when they come on, I'm ready to sing.
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[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like the idea of watching a movie that you've seen a thousand times and you don't get sick of it.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
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[SPEAKER_01]: Remember the time was on this list at number four.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And then, as I listen more closely to Dangerous,
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[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, if I'm being honest with myself, the song I'm more excited to hear from Dangerous is actually who is it?
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[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
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[SPEAKER_01]: And I think some of that is because when I kind of did my rebirth of being a Michael Jackson fan so, you know, around the time that history comes out, you know, I still like his stuff,
13:45.185 --> 13:54.279
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in the zone of hip hop, more so, listen it early, hip hop, and then 95 when history comes out.
13:54.980 --> 14:03.953
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, you know what, like, this is, in a sense, this is something from my youth that I really want to pay attention to.
14:03.993 --> 14:05.776
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I want to get back into the swing of things.
14:05.816 --> 14:13.487
[SPEAKER_01]: So then, I kind of, like, went back to dangerous and I was like, I need to just re-listen to this album.
14:13.923 --> 14:21.182
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you remember a lot of the momentum coming out of history, obviously with
14:21.652 --> 14:25.618
[SPEAKER_01]: history being too discs, it was a greatest hits to album and the new stuff.
14:25.978 --> 14:31.025
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was a lean towards, you know, here's all of the stuff that I was doing.
14:31.045 --> 14:34.750
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they would put out all these, you know, video cassettes.
14:34.810 --> 14:39.417
[SPEAKER_01]: There was like a history volume one and then there was like a history volume two video.
14:39.457 --> 14:43.963
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was this lean into like, here's the stuff you may have missed.
14:44.146 --> 14:47.650
[SPEAKER_01]: while we're trying to get you back up to speed on this stuff with history.
14:48.011 --> 14:55.961
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I would go back into Dangerous and I think who is it was like one of those songs I was like, man, how did I miss this one and in my first listen?
14:56.422 --> 15:02.730
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just became one of those songs given to me is another very similar one for that same reason.
15:02.750 --> 15:06.434
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, you know, and this is a different mic, right?
15:06.614 --> 15:10.980
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of Dangerous is him thinking cinematically,
15:11.787 --> 15:16.138
[SPEAKER_01]: on how can I make this video of this fictionalized event?
15:16.238 --> 15:24.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Or maybe it's not a fictionalized event, but he's making it bigger, you know, thinking about it cinematically, how can I make this video?
15:24.780 --> 15:25.642
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, who is it?
15:26.244 --> 15:28.429
[SPEAKER_01]: It just feels like
15:28.409 --> 15:30.634
[SPEAKER_01]: it was like a little movie waiting to happen.
15:30.815 --> 15:32.399
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the way that he performs it.
15:32.499 --> 15:38.914
[SPEAKER_01]: So that song has stuck with me, you know, when I did kind of did my re-investigation into MJ.
15:39.395 --> 15:41.159
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, my memories of who is it.
15:41.961 --> 15:44.167
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, first of all, it comes after Black or White.
15:44.989 --> 15:46.452
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so,
15:46.820 --> 15:47.903
[SPEAKER_00]: By that point, I'm ready.
15:48.043 --> 15:59.531
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually healed the world in black or white or back to back on dangerous, which is like subject strategically, I understand why, but it's also like the bottom drops out of the album, like right in the middle.
16:00.032 --> 16:02.398
[SPEAKER_01]: He created a whole foundation out of that song.
16:02.378 --> 16:02.719
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
16:03.460 --> 16:06.545
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he good for him, good for the kids that he helped to you.
16:07.426 --> 16:08.388
[SPEAKER_00]: Not good for my ears.
16:09.710 --> 16:13.596
[SPEAKER_00]: But who is it kind of like starts the album like going back up a little bit?
16:14.898 --> 16:18.143
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing I remember is when he did the special opera.
16:18.798 --> 16:22.245
[SPEAKER_00]: He's saying who is an aquapella and like beatboxed it.
16:23.086 --> 16:26.153
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the shit that really just like blue people's minds.
16:26.874 --> 16:30.541
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were going to release given to me as in the next single.
16:30.561 --> 16:34.649
[SPEAKER_00]: And then after the Oprah special, they switched and they released who is it.
16:35.070 --> 16:37.515
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other thing I remember about who is this is that I had two videos.
16:38.542 --> 16:47.393
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it had one, which kind of matches up to the plot a little bit, and then the other one was just like a compilation of clips from like every other Michael Jackson.
16:47.413 --> 16:47.593
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:47.613 --> 16:47.793
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:47.853 --> 16:48.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.053 --> 16:48.174
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.194 --> 16:48.354
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.374 --> 16:48.514
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.634 --> 16:48.774
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.794 --> 16:48.894
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.914 --> 16:49.035
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.055 --> 16:49.155
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.175 --> 16:49.275
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.295 --> 16:49.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.475 --> 16:50.436
[SPEAKER_01]: I definitely remember that.
16:50.837 --> 16:51.598
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:51.618 --> 16:51.838
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
16:51.878 --> 17:02.811
[SPEAKER_00]: What's number four for you number four for me is human nature, um, just again super, I mean, I don't know about smooth smooth, but it's also very like, um,
17:04.833 --> 17:07.818
[SPEAKER_00]: like reflective kind of, kind of sad a little bit.
17:09.480 --> 17:23.561
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, I think, literally very cinematic, like you can actually kind of see this song as it's happening, shout out to Teddy Ryleen, SWV for giving that song a second life and to NOS for giving that song a third life.
17:24.022 --> 17:24.643
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:24.884 --> 17:29.170
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, you know, it's lasted all of these years.
17:30.112 --> 17:30.693
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man.
17:30.793 --> 17:33.957
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, and he's, you know, Michael singing is incredible.
17:34.458 --> 17:35.359
[SPEAKER_00]: It's number three for me.
17:35.880 --> 17:36.200
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
17:36.320 --> 17:37.281
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, good segue.
17:37.862 --> 17:44.030
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and you know, what I also really like about that song is his live version of that song.
17:44.090 --> 17:46.574
[SPEAKER_01]: He sings it a little differently on certain lines.
17:46.674 --> 17:53.863
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he'll accentuate different things and a lot of it is him striking a pose at a specific time.
17:53.903 --> 17:55.806
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm dramatic about that song too.
17:56.026 --> 17:56.727
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:56.707 --> 17:57.348
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:57.368 --> 17:57.568
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
17:57.588 --> 17:58.269
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your number three?
17:58.990 --> 18:00.652
[SPEAKER_00]: My number three is I can't help it.
18:01.493 --> 18:15.171
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael and Stevie, I wish that Michael and Stevie had made like an entire album together back in like the late 70s or early 80s when both of them were kind of like peaking.
18:16.513 --> 18:18.876
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it would have been like a great, great record.
18:19.296 --> 18:21.499
[SPEAKER_00]: Where are you with just good friends?
18:21.800 --> 18:23.365
[SPEAKER_00]: stop with it.
18:23.385 --> 18:31.489
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's funny because Michael is also on a song on Stevie's album called Get It, Get It is like 50 times better than just good friends.
18:31.850 --> 18:32.812
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:33.635 --> 18:34.698
[SPEAKER_00]: But man, I can't help it.
18:34.718 --> 18:36.062
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just so like
18:36.616 --> 18:54.625
[SPEAKER_00]: dreamy and you know, it like puts you in a mood and it's got a little bit of like jazz elements to it and it's just like I think Michael is like a song stylist is like an interpreter just like that to me is his best record.
18:54.892 --> 18:55.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love that song.
18:55.996 --> 18:56.437
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
18:56.457 --> 18:59.748
[SPEAKER_01]: It would have been on the next few songs on my list, too.
19:00.891 --> 19:01.754
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
19:01.995 --> 19:03.219
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two for me.
19:03.540 --> 19:06.509
[SPEAKER_01]: We kind of tease this out already on our full episode.
19:06.569 --> 19:07.753
[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with you.
19:08.257 --> 19:09.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Also my number two.
19:09.759 --> 19:11.963
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like I said, it's like it's perfect.
19:11.983 --> 19:14.788
[SPEAKER_01]: There's like nothing wrong with this song whatsoever.
19:15.369 --> 19:24.123
[SPEAKER_01]: It is my cardio can go to and they only song above it for me is Billy Jane, but that's just because it's one of my favorite songs of all time.
19:24.143 --> 19:26.927
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I would say Billy Jean is my favorite song.
19:26.947 --> 19:31.615
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, I'd have to think about that for sure, but
19:32.810 --> 19:35.735
[SPEAKER_01]: man, like, that song is amazing.
19:35.755 --> 19:42.546
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, I know this is part of the generation, but when you hear it, then you think about the video.
19:42.947 --> 19:46.633
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you hear it, you think about the Motions 25 years.
19:46.653 --> 19:52.202
[SPEAKER_01]: And so all of those things just hit you like a wave when that song comes on.
19:52.283 --> 20:04.205
[SPEAKER_01]: So do you remember Motown 25 it all or was I didn't watch it, but what I had was my next or neighbor had recorded it on video cassette.
20:05.087 --> 20:06.850
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got to see it.
20:07.015 --> 20:37.022
[SPEAKER_01]: after it had happened and you know and it was probably post like I don't know how much later after it happened but yeah I mean I had access to it and you know I told you my thriller story already where my cousin like took me to somebody's house to watch it and he didn't tell me what it was because back then it was on schedule whenever you could see the thriller video
20:37.002 --> 20:37.728
[SPEAKER_01]: video.
20:37.808 --> 20:40.752
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I remember being at a, um,
20:41.120 --> 21:03.380
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, like a pizza parlor or something, and they were playing MTV, and then I just remember, and probably because video games at that point were just going insane, and there was a game called Cuber, were you to use a little guy, and he would jump on spaces, and those spaces would light up when you touch them.
21:03.880 --> 21:11.127
[SPEAKER_01]: And so then I remember seeing the Billie Jean video and goes, oh, he's lighting up the spaces as he just likes the light.
21:11.107 --> 21:21.722
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, yeah, man, I got to watch that on TV when everybody else saw it and it was incredible.
21:22.122 --> 21:30.013
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time I watch that performance like I tear up, it's just so like, do something I've seen like a million times.
21:30.113 --> 21:39.426
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually one story I'll tell, you know, I worked in record stories for a number of years and there was a period.
21:40.486 --> 22:03.760
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe early maybe like spring 2002 so it's New York City it's maybe like five six months after nine eleven like the mood in New York City is still kind of like weird and invincible would have been out for a couple of months and you know it's an electronics record store similar to like a Best Buy Circuit City.
22:03.740 --> 22:08.330
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are screens all over the place that are showing movies or whatever it is.
22:08.831 --> 22:16.687
[SPEAKER_00]: And at this particular point in time, it's middle afternoon, we're showing one of Michael's DVDs, you know, of his videos and all that stuff.
22:17.388 --> 22:19.433
[SPEAKER_00]: Motown 25 performance comes on Billy Jean.
22:20.074 --> 22:22.018
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody that is shopping stops.
22:24.108 --> 22:26.030
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just like looking at the screen.
22:26.051 --> 22:27.873
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is 20 years later.
22:27.913 --> 22:29.074
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
22:29.094 --> 22:40.529
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the power that that man had over people, the power that his music and his performances had over people like no, I don't care.
22:40.549 --> 22:49.761
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Beyonce, not usher, not Prince, not Elvis, not the Beatles, like nobody had the power to just like,
22:50.247 --> 22:58.176
[SPEAKER_00]: take people out their day to just like watch someone perform or here's somebody seeing the way Michael Jackson did.
22:58.196 --> 22:58.837
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's incredible.
22:58.957 --> 23:00.099
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, I looked it up.
23:01.060 --> 23:04.884
[SPEAKER_01]: Cuberte came out one month and 10 days before thriller did.
23:05.425 --> 23:06.266
[SPEAKER_01]: That's hilarious.
23:07.247 --> 23:08.989
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like great minds thinking alike.
23:09.410 --> 23:12.854
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's how my brain like remembered those two things together.
23:12.894 --> 23:14.095
[SPEAKER_00]: After that, about Cuberte.
23:15.087 --> 23:25.138
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, we got through this one and, you know, the next, the next one that we, we will have an episode next week.
23:25.178 --> 23:33.386
[SPEAKER_01]: I can actually say this because we were to record a day our episode on Neo on year the gentleman will be next week.
23:33.406 --> 23:33.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
23:33.547 --> 23:35.669
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that will put us into May.
23:36.410 --> 23:39.593
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, this is a year-long project for us.
23:39.573 --> 23:54.714
[SPEAKER_01]: So to be four months and some change through this work, we're a third of the way through and lots of really cool albums left to go so, you know, just to get this far has been pretty tremendous because it's put, you know, you and I've put in hours and hours on this thing.
23:54.774 --> 23:55.355
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we have.
23:55.895 --> 23:57.818
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been, but it's been a blast, like I love it.
23:58.038 --> 24:09.394
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I'm always looking forward to what the next thing is and it's setting up how I listen to music and what I'm listening to and my schedule of listening and how I need to get through this before we record.
24:09.374 --> 24:09.937
[SPEAKER_01]: Good deal.
24:10.118 --> 24:10.379
[SPEAKER_01]: Same.
24:11.405 --> 24:11.807
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
24:12.008 --> 24:13.597
[SPEAKER_01]: That is it from here for Mike.
24:13.617 --> 24:15.085
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm double G. See you next week.
24:15.386 --> 24:16.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Peace out.
00:10.409 --> 00:10.689
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
00:10.709 --> 00:14.594
[SPEAKER_01]: We're wrapping it up with our week of Michael Jackson podcast.
00:15.374 --> 00:18.338
[SPEAKER_01]: We did our review on the Michael movie earlier this week.
00:18.858 --> 00:29.150
[SPEAKER_01]: We also did our 50 for 50 deep dive into off the wall and now we're talking our top five Michael Jackson songs from off the wall through Dangerous.
00:29.390 --> 00:35.877
[SPEAKER_01]: So 1979 through
00:36.532 --> 00:41.338
[SPEAKER_01]: So before we get to the actual top five list, I have some questions.
00:41.378 --> 00:44.643
[SPEAKER_01]: We talked about this a little bit in the 50 for 50 deep dive.
00:45.704 --> 00:51.071
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm not a fan of it's the falling in love and girlfriend necessarily.
00:51.111 --> 00:54.816
[SPEAKER_01]: You mentioned the girl is mine being one of those songs for you.
00:54.836 --> 01:00.304
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, you also said that heal the world is one of your least favorite songs.
01:00.604 --> 01:01.425
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes.
01:01.709 --> 01:04.859
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, this is our rock with it stop with its segment here.
01:05.602 --> 01:07.769
[SPEAKER_01]: Where are you on keep the faith?
01:08.331 --> 01:09.434
[SPEAKER_01]: Good song.
01:09.454 --> 01:09.916
[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with it.
01:10.618 --> 01:11.682
[SPEAKER_01]: Shout out, Jimmy's Wilson.
01:12.906 --> 01:14.250
[SPEAKER_01]: I rock with it too.
01:16.508 --> 01:32.560
[SPEAKER_01]: The production itself is solid, but I think his vocals on that song are some of the most soulful vocals that he has on that entire album on Dembers.
01:32.540 --> 01:35.567
[SPEAKER_00]: You know, that song is basically man in the mirror part two.
01:35.648 --> 01:40.339
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the same people actually wrote both songs, Glenn Ballard and Said to Garrett.
01:41.723 --> 01:44.690
[SPEAKER_00]: But Michael singing on that song is incredible.
01:44.870 --> 01:46.735
[SPEAKER_00]: Like he just, he is feeling it.
01:47.542 --> 01:48.744
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it is amazing.
01:50.426 --> 01:59.119
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't have too many more rock with its stop with it because I, you know, there are, like we can do a whole hour of rock with its stop we did on Michael Jackson.
01:59.359 --> 02:04.507
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, but I think I already know the answer on some of that stuff for you.
02:04.527 --> 02:13.620
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, let's do, let's do, where are you with black or white these days?
02:13.800 --> 02:17.025
[SPEAKER_00]: Hey, stop, stop.
02:17.630 --> 02:28.883
[SPEAKER_00]: That's another one of I just I can't I didn't like this on then I don't like it now okay what did you not like about it when it came out is corny it's just kind of like it's silly and very basic.
02:33.048 --> 02:41.578
[SPEAKER_01]: I I don't dislike it I mean I understand what you're saying in a time when we were.
02:43.162 --> 02:52.015
[SPEAKER_01]: We had seen so much Michael Jackson and by the early 90s, he wasn't the coolest thing on the block anymore.
02:52.035 --> 02:54.759
[SPEAKER_01]: No, he was not from an image of image standpoint.
02:54.959 --> 02:55.480
[SPEAKER_01]: It was not.
02:55.981 --> 03:00.668
[SPEAKER_01]: So he could have picked a better first single to come out with from that perspective.
03:00.808 --> 03:06.216
[SPEAKER_01]: But from his worldly perspective, that song was a giant hit.
03:06.398 --> 03:14.352
[SPEAKER_01]: But if you were a long time Michael Jackson fan, that is not necessarily the type of music that you were wanting from him to come out.
03:14.873 --> 03:17.197
[SPEAKER_00]: Not, and you know, it's really interesting to think about, right?
03:17.297 --> 03:19.761
[SPEAKER_00]: Like, so danger is comes out with you and me.
03:19.801 --> 03:20.563
[SPEAKER_00]: We're at high school.
03:21.004 --> 03:21.184
[SPEAKER_02]: Yep.
03:21.524 --> 03:23.007
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, and
03:24.202 --> 03:45.447
[SPEAKER_00]: I think the general consensus, at least, you know, speaking specifically to like my high school in New York City in the early 90s, like we talked about Michael a lot, but when we talked about Michael Jackson, at least from like I caught so much shit for being a Michael Jackson fan at that time, it was not cool as a teenager to like Michael Jackson.
03:45.708 --> 03:52.656
[SPEAKER_00]: So when we talked about them, because you know, there'd be the video premiere on Fox and people would all talk about the videos today after,
03:52.636 --> 03:55.819
[SPEAKER_00]: It was more from a standpoint of like, yo, what is wrong with this dude?
03:56.460 --> 04:00.063
[SPEAKER_00]: Then, you know, oh, yeah, we're really checking for that new Michael Jackson record.
04:02.045 --> 04:07.410
[SPEAKER_01]: He was, it still, I thought, you know, having a McColle Culkin in that video.
04:08.431 --> 04:18.380
[SPEAKER_01]: Now, maybe one side of the fandom is like, the home alone kid, like why there are many other kids that you could be friends with or that you could watch your video.
04:18.400 --> 04:21.563
[SPEAKER_00]: Another bad creation was in that video too.
04:22.437 --> 04:22.717
[SPEAKER_01]: True.
04:23.178 --> 04:24.059
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
04:25.220 --> 04:28.683
[SPEAKER_01]: The Bart Simpson thing was there, right?
04:30.424 --> 04:37.831
[SPEAKER_01]: Bart Simpson and the Simpsons going kind of soon to be going ahead up with the Cosby show around that time.
04:39.473 --> 04:49.322
[SPEAKER_01]: I think that I think the one faux paw with this song though is, and this goes back to, I think we talked about this
04:49.724 --> 05:03.439
[SPEAKER_01]: the manipulation of the Michael Jackson narrative because when Black or White came out, the joke was, oh, he's making a joke about himself.
05:04.060 --> 05:04.903
[SPEAKER_01]: He has no black or white.
05:04.983 --> 05:05.945
[SPEAKER_01]: He has no black or white.
05:06.306 --> 05:06.687
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
05:07.578 --> 05:25.987
[SPEAKER_01]: And he had to know that people were going to make that joke because by the time dangerous comes out, he's much lighter and distinguishly looks different for, if you look at Thriller from 82 to dangerous in 91, two different human beings.
05:27.449 --> 05:32.317
[SPEAKER_01]: So he had to know that that was going to be part of the conversation about that song.
05:32.798 --> 05:34.260
[SPEAKER_01]: Right, he had to know.
05:34.628 --> 05:49.431
[SPEAKER_01]: And so he's leaning into it in a way, which I'm not sure, I mean, maybe if you and so this would be a thing for for those of us who are real big fans of his is like, we wanted to know like what was going on.
05:50.272 --> 06:06.795
[SPEAKER_01]: you know he he almost leaned into the stories and then would not really explain it truthfully about what was going on until much later you know when he was going through some troubles then then he would be a little bit more honest with some of these stories but like that was also part of it was like
06:07.332 --> 06:21.972
[SPEAKER_01]: Is this guy insane or not like is he crazy and do we want to rock with this guy who may not be all there right still talented is all hell, but like that was also part of it for us.
06:22.033 --> 06:26.198
[SPEAKER_00]: I think yeah, he just did there was no related ability to him at all.
06:27.761 --> 06:31.686
[SPEAKER_01]: And that started also to become some of his music in the.
06:31.919 --> 06:37.986
[SPEAKER_01]: No, not a little bit in date, you can start to see the seeds of it in dangerous, but post-dangerous.
06:38.067 --> 06:39.533
[SPEAKER_01]: It was all.
06:39.935 --> 06:57.351
[SPEAKER_01]: the, you know, him leaning into the rumors and shouting out at the tabloids and, right, you know, just making songs that were kind of like odd subject matter and who's, who's a dumb sheldon like who the were you yelling at like we don't even know who this person is.
06:57.411 --> 07:09.942
[SPEAKER_01]: So he's doing all of these things kind of in secret and he's not like you're saying like he's not relatable at,
07:09.922 --> 07:15.147
[SPEAKER_01]: because this was not a single from what I remember, but the title track of Dangerous.
07:16.128 --> 07:17.009
[SPEAKER_00]: Oh, rock with it.
07:17.029 --> 07:19.071
[SPEAKER_01]: That's a, I love that song.
07:20.072 --> 07:20.272
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
07:21.493 --> 07:23.695
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think he should have done more with it.
07:23.735 --> 07:38.730
[SPEAKER_01]: And the reason why I say that is because when he does his VMAs performance, which would come out, I think during the history time, part of this performance,
07:39.031 --> 07:40.854
[SPEAKER_01]: is he does a little bit of dangerous.
07:41.154 --> 07:44.579
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, just the album before he straight up performed.
07:46.121 --> 07:49.386
[SPEAKER_00]: He did dangerous on the American musical words like just did the whole song.
07:49.807 --> 07:52.972
[SPEAKER_00]: Like it was a single it wasn't it wasn't ever a single right.
07:53.232 --> 07:57.418
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, I think they they were plans to release it as a single at some point.
07:57.498 --> 08:01.404
[SPEAKER_00]: It just never happened, um, but I mean, that song is incredible.
08:02.986 --> 08:08.194
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, this has been bothering me since you said it when you said another bad creation.
08:08.782 --> 08:10.084
[SPEAKER_01]: you make crisscross.
08:11.065 --> 08:13.269
[SPEAKER_00]: Ha, no, another bad creation.
08:13.289 --> 08:14.811
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in the black or white video.
08:14.851 --> 08:20.119
[SPEAKER_00]: They're in the black or white video on the stoop with Michael Jackson and McCalley during the rap part.
08:20.139 --> 08:21.401
[SPEAKER_00]: ABC is in the video.
08:21.641 --> 08:23.183
[SPEAKER_00]: Crisscross is in the jam video.
08:23.264 --> 08:25.447
[SPEAKER_01]: Jam video, that's what I'm thinking of.
08:26.108 --> 08:26.208
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
08:26.228 --> 08:28.531
[SPEAKER_01]: I don't I don't remember met another bad creation being in there.
08:28.551 --> 08:29.433
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, they're in there.
08:29.453 --> 08:30.054
[SPEAKER_01]: You know why?
08:30.154 --> 08:33.919
[SPEAKER_01]: I probably don't remember because I would have just assumed that Biv was there with them.
08:34.620 --> 08:37.084
[SPEAKER_00]: Ha, I can imagine that phone call.
08:38.245 --> 08:42.090
[SPEAKER_00]: Mike Biff is my person.
08:42.110 --> 08:44.172
[SPEAKER_01]: Poor Biff should have been in that video, man.
08:44.272 --> 08:46.195
[SPEAKER_00]: Seriously, don't be beaty up in that video.
08:46.575 --> 08:46.775
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
08:47.176 --> 08:50.700
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, all right, let's just dig into the top five here.
08:51.161 --> 09:02.315
[SPEAKER_01]: So I'll go first and the the back hat, the the four and five were probably where I kind of question myself a little bit.
09:03.196 --> 09:06.700
[SPEAKER_01]: And I'll tell you the song that I knocked off
09:07.051 --> 09:13.420
[SPEAKER_01]: for this list, we'll get to it when we get there.
09:13.440 --> 09:16.825
[SPEAKER_01]: But I knocked off a dangerous song for another dangerous song.
09:17.606 --> 09:19.088
[SPEAKER_01]: That's what I was struggling with.
09:19.328 --> 09:23.935
[SPEAKER_01]: But let's go, I'll start my number five with Lady in my life.
09:25.597 --> 09:27.059
[SPEAKER_01]: Great song.
09:27.079 --> 09:29.262
[SPEAKER_01]: If you think of, she's out of my life.
09:30.524 --> 09:54.743
[SPEAKER_01]: And then the ballad or that same kind of style of song on thriller, it just sounds like a grown adult version of that song like, you know, this is the teenage young 20s version and here's like a guy who maybe has done some more some more things like he just sings it again, I'll use the word softly again, there's just a little bit more.
09:56.613 --> 10:03.506
[SPEAKER_01]: adult to his voice based to his voice like experience to his voice, I think, and I think that's why I like it so much.
10:03.987 --> 10:14.566
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, she's out of my life is very like a puppy love kind of song, whereas the lady in my life is like as my man Tommy would say Mike GTD.
10:16.470 --> 10:17.211
[SPEAKER_01]: Getting the draws.
10:17.371 --> 10:18.233
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, that's right.
10:20.542 --> 10:21.483
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, what's five for you?
10:22.024 --> 10:26.850
[SPEAKER_00]: So first of all, my top five has no songs from bad or dangerous.
10:27.751 --> 10:30.054
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, okay, that's fine.
10:30.454 --> 10:33.058
[SPEAKER_00]: And my number five song actually is not on a Michael Jackson album.
10:33.078 --> 10:38.604
[SPEAKER_00]: It all, it's tell me I'm not dreaming, which is Jermaine Jackson featuring Michael Jackson.
10:38.624 --> 10:39.786
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, that's such a good idea.
10:40.166 --> 10:46.074
[SPEAKER_00]: It's such a great song and Jermaine and Michael sound so perfect together, like Michael's bringing his A game.
10:46.354 --> 10:47.916
[SPEAKER_00]: And you could always tell when
10:49.786 --> 10:56.476
[SPEAKER_00]: We're like he had, you know, he was feeling himself and had competition because he sings your main out that entire song.
10:56.576 --> 11:17.667
[SPEAKER_01]: So I was thinking about this a little bit when they, you know, when watching the movie, Joseph as portrayed by Coleman Domingo, everything is about the brothers because I think in his mind, the second Michael goes so low, they're just left at the dust.
11:17.900 --> 11:19.343
[SPEAKER_01]: managerial spot, too.
11:20.365 --> 11:37.022
[SPEAKER_01]: But I wonder if the move would have been to have, once your main comes back into the fold, because he stays on Motown for a while, because he's married to a very good starter.
11:38.200 --> 11:51.893
[SPEAKER_01]: I wonder if getting Michael and Germaine to do stuff together would have been a move because you have a song like this and there's other songs where Michael's just singing background randomly and you're like, isn't this due like the biggest pop star in the world?
11:51.933 --> 11:54.936
[SPEAKER_01]: Why is he just randomly singing background on some of these songs?
11:55.676 --> 12:00.621
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, the period between off the wall and thriller, like Michael was on everybody's record.
12:00.641 --> 12:07.127
[SPEAKER_00]: Like Kenny's on the audience record, he's on a mini-ripperton record, he's on.
12:07.107 --> 12:14.115
[SPEAKER_00]: Crap, Stevie Wonder, all I do is think, all I do is think, yeah, you, um, he's doing all this stuff.
12:14.135 --> 12:16.358
[SPEAKER_00]: He's just like, I feel like Mike just pulled up to the studio.
12:16.378 --> 12:36.321
[SPEAKER_00]: It was like, maybe, and, you know, people would be like, hell, yes, I want Michael Jackson on my record, but yeah, I mean, why wouldn't he just be like, hey, you know, but I mean, the answer to that, I think, is that Michael, the brother, the other brothers and Motown were in litigation,
12:37.364 --> 12:39.812
[SPEAKER_00]: He would not, although Stevie Wonder was on Motown.
12:40.495 --> 12:41.699
[SPEAKER_00]: And he's on his record.
12:41.940 --> 12:43.465
[SPEAKER_00]: So I don't know, I hadn't talking out of my ass.
12:43.485 --> 12:45.492
[SPEAKER_00]: I don't know what that did happen.
12:45.512 --> 12:48.883
[SPEAKER_01]: I just think it would have been cool to hear more stuff with both of those guys together.
12:48.903 --> 12:49.686
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I agree.
12:50.662 --> 12:52.725
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay, now here's where I flip-flopped.
12:53.546 --> 12:55.569
[SPEAKER_01]: As I was saying, I'm like, I'm just going heart.
12:56.170 --> 12:59.615
[SPEAKER_01]: There's just songs that when they come on, I'm ready to sing.
12:59.695 --> 13:04.863
[SPEAKER_01]: It's kind of like the idea of watching a movie that you've seen a thousand times and you don't get sick of it.
13:05.223 --> 13:05.444
[SPEAKER_01]: Sure.
13:06.505 --> 13:10.050
[SPEAKER_01]: Remember the time was on this list at number four.
13:10.551 --> 13:14.577
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, as I listen more closely to Dangerous,
13:15.350 --> 13:23.400
[SPEAKER_01]: I was like, if I'm being honest with myself, the song I'm more excited to hear from Dangerous is actually who is it?
13:25.243 --> 13:25.483
[SPEAKER_01]: Wow.
13:25.603 --> 13:44.007
[SPEAKER_01]: And I think some of that is because when I kind of did my rebirth of being a Michael Jackson fan so, you know, around the time that history comes out, you know, I still like his stuff,
13:45.185 --> 13:54.279
[SPEAKER_01]: I was in the zone of hip hop, more so, listen it early, hip hop, and then 95 when history comes out.
13:54.980 --> 14:03.953
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm like, you know what, like, this is, in a sense, this is something from my youth that I really want to pay attention to.
14:03.993 --> 14:05.776
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, I want to get back into the swing of things.
14:05.816 --> 14:13.487
[SPEAKER_01]: So then, I kind of, like, went back to dangerous and I was like, I need to just re-listen to this album.
14:13.923 --> 14:21.182
[SPEAKER_01]: And if you remember a lot of the momentum coming out of history, obviously with
14:21.652 --> 14:25.618
[SPEAKER_01]: history being too discs, it was a greatest hits to album and the new stuff.
14:25.978 --> 14:31.025
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was a lean towards, you know, here's all of the stuff that I was doing.
14:31.045 --> 14:34.750
[SPEAKER_01]: And so they would put out all these, you know, video cassettes.
14:34.810 --> 14:39.417
[SPEAKER_01]: There was like a history volume one and then there was like a history volume two video.
14:39.457 --> 14:43.963
[SPEAKER_01]: So there was this lean into like, here's the stuff you may have missed.
14:44.146 --> 14:47.650
[SPEAKER_01]: while we're trying to get you back up to speed on this stuff with history.
14:48.011 --> 14:55.961
[SPEAKER_01]: And so I would go back into Dangerous and I think who is it was like one of those songs I was like, man, how did I miss this one and in my first listen?
14:56.422 --> 15:02.730
[SPEAKER_01]: And it just became one of those songs given to me is another very similar one for that same reason.
15:02.750 --> 15:06.434
[SPEAKER_01]: It was like, you know, and this is a different mic, right?
15:06.614 --> 15:10.980
[SPEAKER_01]: I think a lot of Dangerous is him thinking cinematically,
15:11.787 --> 15:16.138
[SPEAKER_01]: on how can I make this video of this fictionalized event?
15:16.238 --> 15:24.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Or maybe it's not a fictionalized event, but he's making it bigger, you know, thinking about it cinematically, how can I make this video?
15:24.780 --> 15:25.642
[SPEAKER_01]: Like, who is it?
15:26.244 --> 15:28.429
[SPEAKER_01]: It just feels like
15:28.409 --> 15:30.634
[SPEAKER_01]: it was like a little movie waiting to happen.
15:30.815 --> 15:32.399
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, the way that he performs it.
15:32.499 --> 15:38.914
[SPEAKER_01]: So that song has stuck with me, you know, when I did kind of did my re-investigation into MJ.
15:39.395 --> 15:41.159
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, I mean, my memories of who is it.
15:41.961 --> 15:44.167
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, first of all, it comes after Black or White.
15:44.989 --> 15:46.452
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, so,
15:46.820 --> 15:47.903
[SPEAKER_00]: By that point, I'm ready.
15:48.043 --> 15:59.531
[SPEAKER_00]: It actually healed the world in black or white or back to back on dangerous, which is like subject strategically, I understand why, but it's also like the bottom drops out of the album, like right in the middle.
16:00.032 --> 16:02.398
[SPEAKER_01]: He created a whole foundation out of that song.
16:02.378 --> 16:02.719
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
16:03.460 --> 16:06.545
[SPEAKER_00]: Well, he good for him, good for the kids that he helped to you.
16:07.426 --> 16:08.388
[SPEAKER_00]: Not good for my ears.
16:09.710 --> 16:13.596
[SPEAKER_00]: But who is it kind of like starts the album like going back up a little bit?
16:14.898 --> 16:18.143
[SPEAKER_00]: The other thing I remember is when he did the special opera.
16:18.798 --> 16:22.245
[SPEAKER_00]: He's saying who is an aquapella and like beatboxed it.
16:23.086 --> 16:26.153
[SPEAKER_00]: And that was the shit that really just like blue people's minds.
16:26.874 --> 16:30.541
[SPEAKER_00]: And they were going to release given to me as in the next single.
16:30.561 --> 16:34.649
[SPEAKER_00]: And then after the Oprah special, they switched and they released who is it.
16:35.070 --> 16:37.515
[SPEAKER_00]: And the other thing I remember about who is this is that I had two videos.
16:38.542 --> 16:47.393
[SPEAKER_00]: Um, it had one, which kind of matches up to the plot a little bit, and then the other one was just like a compilation of clips from like every other Michael Jackson.
16:47.413 --> 16:47.593
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:47.613 --> 16:47.793
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:47.853 --> 16:48.033
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.053 --> 16:48.174
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.194 --> 16:48.354
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.374 --> 16:48.514
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.634 --> 16:48.774
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.794 --> 16:48.894
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:48.914 --> 16:49.035
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.055 --> 16:49.155
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.175 --> 16:49.275
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.295 --> 16:49.455
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:49.475 --> 16:50.436
[SPEAKER_01]: I definitely remember that.
16:50.837 --> 16:51.598
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
16:51.618 --> 16:51.838
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
16:51.878 --> 17:02.811
[SPEAKER_00]: What's number four for you number four for me is human nature, um, just again super, I mean, I don't know about smooth smooth, but it's also very like, um,
17:04.833 --> 17:07.818
[SPEAKER_00]: like reflective kind of, kind of sad a little bit.
17:09.480 --> 17:23.561
[SPEAKER_00]: Very, I think, literally very cinematic, like you can actually kind of see this song as it's happening, shout out to Teddy Ryleen, SWV for giving that song a second life and to NOS for giving that song a third life.
17:24.022 --> 17:24.643
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
17:24.884 --> 17:29.170
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, you know, it's lasted all of these years.
17:30.112 --> 17:30.693
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah, man.
17:30.793 --> 17:33.957
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just, and he's, you know, Michael singing is incredible.
17:34.458 --> 17:35.359
[SPEAKER_00]: It's number three for me.
17:35.880 --> 17:36.200
[SPEAKER_01]: Okay.
17:36.320 --> 17:37.281
[SPEAKER_01]: Oh, good segue.
17:37.862 --> 17:44.030
[SPEAKER_01]: And, and you know, what I also really like about that song is his live version of that song.
17:44.090 --> 17:46.574
[SPEAKER_01]: He sings it a little differently on certain lines.
17:46.674 --> 17:53.863
[SPEAKER_01]: You know, he'll accentuate different things and a lot of it is him striking a pose at a specific time.
17:53.903 --> 17:55.806
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I'm dramatic about that song too.
17:56.026 --> 17:56.727
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:56.707 --> 17:57.348
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah.
17:57.368 --> 17:57.568
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
17:57.588 --> 17:58.269
[SPEAKER_01]: What's your number three?
17:58.990 --> 18:00.652
[SPEAKER_00]: My number three is I can't help it.
18:01.493 --> 18:15.171
[SPEAKER_00]: Michael and Stevie, I wish that Michael and Stevie had made like an entire album together back in like the late 70s or early 80s when both of them were kind of like peaking.
18:16.513 --> 18:18.876
[SPEAKER_00]: I think it would have been like a great, great record.
18:19.296 --> 18:21.499
[SPEAKER_00]: Where are you with just good friends?
18:21.800 --> 18:23.365
[SPEAKER_00]: stop with it.
18:23.385 --> 18:31.489
[SPEAKER_00]: But it's funny because Michael is also on a song on Stevie's album called Get It, Get It is like 50 times better than just good friends.
18:31.850 --> 18:32.812
[SPEAKER_00]: Yeah.
18:33.635 --> 18:34.698
[SPEAKER_00]: But man, I can't help it.
18:34.718 --> 18:36.062
[SPEAKER_00]: It's just so like
18:36.616 --> 18:54.625
[SPEAKER_00]: dreamy and you know, it like puts you in a mood and it's got a little bit of like jazz elements to it and it's just like I think Michael is like a song stylist is like an interpreter just like that to me is his best record.
18:54.892 --> 18:55.855
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, I love that song.
18:55.996 --> 18:56.437
[SPEAKER_01]: I love it.
18:56.457 --> 18:59.748
[SPEAKER_01]: It would have been on the next few songs on my list, too.
19:00.891 --> 19:01.754
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
19:01.995 --> 19:03.219
[SPEAKER_01]: Number two for me.
19:03.540 --> 19:06.509
[SPEAKER_01]: We kind of tease this out already on our full episode.
19:06.569 --> 19:07.753
[SPEAKER_01]: Rock with you.
19:08.257 --> 19:09.138
[SPEAKER_01]: Also my number two.
19:09.759 --> 19:11.963
[SPEAKER_01]: It's like I said, it's like it's perfect.
19:11.983 --> 19:14.788
[SPEAKER_01]: There's like nothing wrong with this song whatsoever.
19:15.369 --> 19:24.123
[SPEAKER_01]: It is my cardio can go to and they only song above it for me is Billy Jane, but that's just because it's one of my favorite songs of all time.
19:24.143 --> 19:26.927
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I would say Billy Jean is my favorite song.
19:26.947 --> 19:31.615
[SPEAKER_01]: I mean, you know, I'd have to think about that for sure, but
19:32.810 --> 19:35.735
[SPEAKER_01]: man, like, that song is amazing.
19:35.755 --> 19:42.546
[SPEAKER_01]: And then, you know, I know this is part of the generation, but when you hear it, then you think about the video.
19:42.947 --> 19:46.633
[SPEAKER_01]: And then when you hear it, you think about the Motions 25 years.
19:46.653 --> 19:52.202
[SPEAKER_01]: And so all of those things just hit you like a wave when that song comes on.
19:52.283 --> 20:04.205
[SPEAKER_01]: So do you remember Motown 25 it all or was I didn't watch it, but what I had was my next or neighbor had recorded it on video cassette.
20:05.087 --> 20:06.850
[SPEAKER_01]: So I got to see it.
20:07.015 --> 20:37.022
[SPEAKER_01]: after it had happened and you know and it was probably post like I don't know how much later after it happened but yeah I mean I had access to it and you know I told you my thriller story already where my cousin like took me to somebody's house to watch it and he didn't tell me what it was because back then it was on schedule whenever you could see the thriller video
20:37.002 --> 20:37.728
[SPEAKER_01]: video.
20:37.808 --> 20:40.752
[SPEAKER_01]: Like I remember being at a, um,
20:41.120 --> 21:03.380
[SPEAKER_01]: Honestly, like a pizza parlor or something, and they were playing MTV, and then I just remember, and probably because video games at that point were just going insane, and there was a game called Cuber, were you to use a little guy, and he would jump on spaces, and those spaces would light up when you touch them.
21:03.880 --> 21:11.127
[SPEAKER_01]: And so then I remember seeing the Billie Jean video and goes, oh, he's lighting up the spaces as he just likes the light.
21:11.107 --> 21:21.722
[SPEAKER_00]: Wow, yeah, man, I got to watch that on TV when everybody else saw it and it was incredible.
21:22.122 --> 21:30.013
[SPEAKER_00]: Every time I watch that performance like I tear up, it's just so like, do something I've seen like a million times.
21:30.113 --> 21:39.426
[SPEAKER_00]: And actually one story I'll tell, you know, I worked in record stories for a number of years and there was a period.
21:40.486 --> 22:03.760
[SPEAKER_00]: Maybe early maybe like spring 2002 so it's New York City it's maybe like five six months after nine eleven like the mood in New York City is still kind of like weird and invincible would have been out for a couple of months and you know it's an electronics record store similar to like a Best Buy Circuit City.
22:03.740 --> 22:08.330
[SPEAKER_00]: So there are screens all over the place that are showing movies or whatever it is.
22:08.831 --> 22:16.687
[SPEAKER_00]: And at this particular point in time, it's middle afternoon, we're showing one of Michael's DVDs, you know, of his videos and all that stuff.
22:17.388 --> 22:19.433
[SPEAKER_00]: Motown 25 performance comes on Billy Jean.
22:20.074 --> 22:22.018
[SPEAKER_00]: Everybody that is shopping stops.
22:24.108 --> 22:26.030
[SPEAKER_00]: And it's just like looking at the screen.
22:26.051 --> 22:27.873
[SPEAKER_00]: And this is 20 years later.
22:27.913 --> 22:29.074
[SPEAKER_02]: Yeah.
22:29.094 --> 22:40.529
[SPEAKER_00]: Like the power that that man had over people, the power that his music and his performances had over people like no, I don't care.
22:40.549 --> 22:49.761
[SPEAKER_00]: It's not Beyonce, not usher, not Prince, not Elvis, not the Beatles, like nobody had the power to just like,
22:50.247 --> 22:58.176
[SPEAKER_00]: take people out their day to just like watch someone perform or here's somebody seeing the way Michael Jackson did.
22:58.196 --> 22:58.837
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, it's incredible.
22:58.957 --> 23:00.099
[SPEAKER_01]: By the way, I looked it up.
23:01.060 --> 23:04.884
[SPEAKER_01]: Cuberte came out one month and 10 days before thriller did.
23:05.425 --> 23:06.266
[SPEAKER_01]: That's hilarious.
23:07.247 --> 23:08.989
[SPEAKER_01]: That's like great minds thinking alike.
23:09.410 --> 23:12.854
[SPEAKER_01]: Yeah, that's how my brain like remembered those two things together.
23:12.894 --> 23:14.095
[SPEAKER_00]: After that, about Cuberte.
23:15.087 --> 23:25.138
[SPEAKER_01]: All right, we got through this one and, you know, the next, the next one that we, we will have an episode next week.
23:25.178 --> 23:33.386
[SPEAKER_01]: I can actually say this because we were to record a day our episode on Neo on year the gentleman will be next week.
23:33.406 --> 23:33.527
[SPEAKER_01]: Right.
23:33.547 --> 23:35.669
[SPEAKER_01]: And then that will put us into May.
23:36.410 --> 23:39.593
[SPEAKER_01]: So, you know, this is a year-long project for us.
23:39.573 --> 23:54.714
[SPEAKER_01]: So to be four months and some change through this work, we're a third of the way through and lots of really cool albums left to go so, you know, just to get this far has been pretty tremendous because it's put, you know, you and I've put in hours and hours on this thing.
23:54.774 --> 23:55.355
[SPEAKER_01]: Yes, we have.
23:55.895 --> 23:57.818
[SPEAKER_01]: It's been, but it's been a blast, like I love it.
23:58.038 --> 24:09.394
[SPEAKER_01]: I, you know, I'm always looking forward to what the next thing is and it's setting up how I listen to music and what I'm listening to and my schedule of listening and how I need to get through this before we record.
24:09.374 --> 24:09.937
[SPEAKER_01]: Good deal.
24:10.118 --> 24:10.379
[SPEAKER_01]: Same.
24:11.405 --> 24:11.807
[SPEAKER_01]: All right.
24:12.008 --> 24:13.597
[SPEAKER_01]: That is it from here for Mike.
24:13.617 --> 24:15.085
[SPEAKER_01]: I'm double G. See you next week.
24:15.386 --> 24:16.633
[SPEAKER_01]: Peace out.