Eventhough it's been overplayed to death lol, it remains one of my fave, if not my fave Michael song ever. "Billie Jean" is Michael's most successful single, his signature song, the highlight of his concerts and has been voted on countless listsn in magazines and elsewhere as being one of the greatest pop songs ever. The song and video also helped to break down color barriers on radio and MTV. I love everything about it tho, the lyrics are great and very cleaver. It's a very dark and mysterious song, as is the video. The video couldn't have been better, it fits with the song so well.
I can't tell you how many times i've been out at parties or department stores though and no matter what people are doing, they will stop when that song comes on. When I used to work at a record store and the song would come on, i'd see people bopping their heads and tapping their feet in the aisles, everyone would just be humming the song. The bassline in it is just something else though, everyone knows it. This reminds me of just yesterday though when I was driving in the car with my dad and "Billie Jean" came on the radio and my dad, who used to be a big MJ fan but doesn't mention him too much these days, was saying how great of a song "Billie Jean" is after all these years and I agree, it really is a brilliant song. Even Michael said in "Moonwalker" that he had knew the song would be a hit, here's an excerpt from the book:
"A musician knows hit material. It has to feel right. Everything has to feel in place. It fulfills you and it makes you feel good. You know it when you hear it. That's how I felt about 'Billie Jean.' I knew it was going to be big while I was writing it. I was really absorbed in that song. One day during a break in a recording session I was riding down the Ventura Freeway with Nelson Hayes, who was working with me at the time. 'Billie Jean' was going around in my head and that's all I was thinking about. We were getting off the freeway when a kid on a motorcycle pulls up to us and says, 'Your car's on fire.' Suddenly we noticed the smoke and pulled over and the whole bottom of the Rolls-Royce was on fire. That kid probably saved our lives. If the car had exploded, we could have been killed. But I was so absorbed by this tune floating in my head that I didn't even focus on the awful possibilities until later."
"Billie Jean" is just perfection in every sense of the word. No matter how many times I hear the song or see the video, I still get goosebumps everytime. The feeling I get when I hear the song or watch the video is indescribable, but I have never gotten that or experienced that with any other artist. That song alone is one of the reasons why I truly think Michael is the greatest.
