Bad 25

Release

Announced in May 2012 by the Michael Jackson Company LLC, various formats of Bad 25 were released simultaneously on September 18, 2012. The album, a two-disc set, includes the original album, as well as unreleased material recorded during the Bad sessions. The material includes early demo versions of songs from the album, demos of songs not included on the final album, and remixes. A DVD of Jackson's July 16, 1988 performance in Wembley Stadium, London, was also released.

The deluxe edition of the album, which is a box set, includes: both the two-discs along with a CD and DVD of the performance on July 16, 1988 at Wembley Stadium in London, a booklet with photos from the making of the Bad album and behind the scenes photos from the short films for Bad, a two-sided poster and a Bad 25 sticker. A vinyl version of the original 1987 release (which does not include "Leave Me Alone") will also be released. Three songs, "Streetwalker", "Fly Away" and "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tú" (the Spanish version of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You") appeared on Bad: Special Edition in 2001. The Japanese edition includes "Bad (Live at Yokohama Stadium September 1987)". This track was also included on the unofficial live album One Night in Japan in 2009.

Bad 25 is the tenth album released by Sony and Motown since Michael Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.

Marketing and promotion

To implement a new "Live for Now" campaign, Pepsi planned to promote the 25th anniversary of Bad by printing one billion Pepsi cans with a photo of Michael Jackson from the "Smooth Criminal" video (which is not to be included on the CD or DVD itself). Limited edition 16 ounce (450 ml) cans were produced and distributed worldwide.

Film director Spike Lee announced that he will produce and direct a documentary aiming on the 25th anniversary of Bad, and the date for the release has been announced and was be shown at the 69th Venice International Film Festival. The documentary titled Bad 25, will include behind the scenes of music clips of songs from the Bad album like "The Way You Make Me Feel" and many others. It will also include guests to talk about the album who were with Jackson producing, acting or starring in any of Jackson's Bad singles and music videos like Sheryl Crow who was the duet partner with Jackson on the Bad world tour for "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". Siedah Garrett, the original duet artist, will also be on the documentary to talk about her experience with Jackson and many others. There will be influenced entertainers and artists to talk about the Bad album like Cee Lo Green and many others. Lee said the documentary will show a more personal side of Jackson, and said "He had a great sense of humor, and he was funny — so you'll see a lot of that stuff!". The documentary was shown at the 69th Venice International Film Festival from August 29 to September 8, 2012, and premiered on ABC on November 22, 2012.

On September 18, 2012, Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson in partnership with BET broadcast a two-hour TV special titled Bad 25: The Short Films of Michael Jackson, which shows the short films from Bad, which like Thriller revolutionized the industry, and also features interviews with fans, journalists and critics.

Singles

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You", the original debut single from Bad, was re-released as a CD single in the United States on June 5, 2012 as a Walmart exclusive. An unreleased demo, titled "Don't Be Messin' 'Round", is featured as the single's B-side. The song has been called a "beautiful solo piano and vocal piece" by Jackson's longtime engineer Bruce Swedien. The single, which has not been available as a digital download, has also been released on vinyl (the vinyl will include the original B-side, "Baby Be Mine" from Thriller, rather than "Don't Be Messin' 'Round"). The re-released single debuted atop Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart, which ranks the top-selling physical singles according to Nielsen SoundScan. The new release of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" debuted at No. 1 with 5,000 copies sold.

"Bad (Afrojack Remix) (DJ Buddha Edit)" featuring Pitbull was released on August 14, 2012. As a digital single prior to the album release, the single appeared on several countries' music charts. It debuted at Number 52 on Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart as the title "Bad 2012" on the week of September 15, 2012, and peaked at Number 6 several weeks later. It also appeared on US Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Chart with Number 45 for one week on September 1, 2012. On the week of September 29, 2012, it debuted on Hot Dance Club Songs chart at Number 42, and peaked at Number 18. It also appeared on Austrian Singles Chart at Number 45.

"I'm So Blue" impacted Italian radio on October 1, 2012, and was also released to some Polish and Chinese stations in December.

Commercial performance

The album opened in the United Kingdom at number six with sales of 11,475 copies, but for the second week, it fell to number thirty-eight with a severe buffeting of 3,365 copies sales. In Japan, 190,753 CD copies of this album had been sold during the first week of its release as number ten on Oricon album chart, the sales fell to 5,307 copies as number twenty-four for the second week. In the United States, as Billboard's rule, 2 CD standard version of Bad 25 is regarded as the same album of Bad, and re-entered Billboard 200 at #23, while the deluxe edition which is regarded as a new album release debuted at #46, The album sold a combined total of about 47,000 copies in the first week in the US, spending 3 consecutive weeks atop Top Pop Catalog Albums chart, although, the album sales were being beaten by Nicki Minaj's Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded - The Re-Up which sold no more than 33,000 copies in its first week. Bad 25 sold more than 1 million albums in more than 25 countries within its first week of release. Spike Lee's Bad 25 documentary aired on ABC Thanksgiving (November 22) in the United States in a 60-minute edited version while the full 123 minute version was broadcast in the UK and Ireland on BBC2 on December 1. The documentary received widespread acclaim and currently holds a 90% rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes. The standalone version of Jackson's Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 DVD debuted at the top of DVD sales charts of several countries including the United States, Italy, France, Sweden, Austria and Norway. It debuted at number 2 in Ireland, the UK, Spain, Switzerland and Australia. Parts of the Wembley show were seen through the Bad 25 special.

Critical reception

The album received mixed reviews. Ray Rahman from Entertainment Weekly grades the album "A", and reminds the box set is "a potent reminder of just how much Bad's pulsing pop holds up", and the previously unreleased songs are "real treasures". Mike Diver from BBC said, it is "an awesome, evergreen and essential pop masterpiece". Chaz Lipp from The Morton Report reviews the album "a terrific set". The Los Angeles Times, reacted positively to the product, however were averse to the new remixes especially collaboration with Nero, Pitbull and Afrojack.

Randall Roberts said "these are terrible commercial house tracks, and are an insult to MJ's memory because they do it so ungracefully". Evan Sawdey gave the release 7/10, criticising Afrojack as "outright trash", and saying of Speed Demon: "it ends up sounding more like a Nero song with MJ’s vocals than it does a genuine Michael Jackson remix". Supajam simply referred to the song as a disgrace, while Michael Cragg said "the world's worst rapper, Pitbull. He lazily croaks his way through two verses, spouting such lines as "I'm so out of this planet I speak a third language called that moon talk, in four years catch me with a billion doing that moonwalk". Just after he says billion he nearly manages to soil the trademark "hee hee", which only just masks the distant sound of Jackson spinning in his grave."

Formats

Track listing

All songs written, composed and co-produced by Michael Jackson, except where noted.

Charts and certifications

NOTES:
¹ In Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Bad 25 and Bad are regarded as the same album.
² In the United States, the standard version of Bad 25 is regarded as a re-issue of Bad, but the deluxe edition is counted as a new album.