Why did Michael release so few Studio albums?

[Graf]

First, this is not a criticism of Michael whatsoever, because he was very much a perfectionist in his music. Just an observation

I've been listening to a lot non-studio album songs and have been wondering something...Why didn't Michael take songs from The Ultimate Collection, Bad Sessions, Dangerous sessions etc. and release them on more proper studio albums? All the songs we got the 'The Ultimate Collection' alone would have made an incredible album. I think a lot of other great songs get overlooked (not usually by fans) because they don't stand on their unique own album.

Was it because he would have felt pressure to tour for each album he released?...Did he not feel the songs were up to his standard? What do you think the reason(s) is?

 

[KOPV]

The ultimate Collection was more so released to fulfill his Sony contract... I see it as more so his way of doing what he has to - to get out... NOT to make an official release.. at the time I believe Michael did not want to do a studio album with them so things were being released just to appease Sony and get out.. which is part of the reason there was a delay in a release after Invincible... THAT along with allegations, and his common search for perfection...

 

[Graf]

The ultimate Collection was more so released to fulfill his Sony contract... I see it as more so his way of doing what he has to - to get out... NOT to make an official release.. at the time I believe Michael did not want to do a studio album with them so things were being released just to appease Sony and get out.. which is part of the reason there was a delay in a release after Invincible... THAT along with allegations, and his common search for perfection...

Thanks for the information about trying to fulfill the Sony contract, I did not know about that...It still would have been nice to have those songs on a proper studio album because I think non-album songs can often get overlooked.

 

[Doggone]

The ultimate Collection was more so released to fulfill his Sony contract... I see it as more so his way of doing what he has to - to get out... NOT to make an official release.. at the time I believe Michael did not want to do a studio album with them so things were being released just to appease Sony and get out.. which is part of the reason there was a delay in a release after Invincible... THAT along with allegations, and his common search for perfection...

I wonder if Michael would have released a new album after Invincible if the allegations didn't happen. Because Michael looked great between 2006-2007. Especially during the World Music Awards 2006.

 

[FullLipsDotNose]

I wonder if Michael would have released a new album after Invincible if the allegations didn't happen. Because Michael looked great between 2006-2007. Especially during the World Music Awards 2006.

Yes, there was planned an album called Resurrection, I think it was scheduled for 2003 or 2004 release.

 

[Ms. BlueGangsta]

Quality>Quantity
While I do have some songs that I wish could've gotten some shine I'm happy with what we have.

 

[HIStoric]

Yes, there was planned an album called Resurrection, I think it was scheduled for 2003 or 2004 release.

Any more info on this? I've always wondered if it was just fan-talk or substantiated rumours of some sort hehe

 

[mj_frenzy]

First, this is not a criticism of Michael whatsoever, because he was very much a perfectionist in his music. Just an observation

I've been listening to a lot non-studio album songs and have been wondering something...Why didn't Michael take songs from The Ultimate Collection, Bad Sessions, Dangerous sessions etc. and release them on more proper studio albums? All the songs we got the 'The Ultimate Collection' alone would have made an incredible album. I think a lot of other great songs get overlooked (not usually by fans) because they don't stand on their unique own album.

Was it because he would have felt pressure to tour for each album he released?...Did he not feel the songs were up to his standard? What do you think the reason(s) is?

MJ believed a lot in the power of mystery & how it keeps the public interested. The number five triggers, according to him, the greatest mystery & particularly the fifth door:

“I do love the power of mystery, I really do. I think it’s very powerful… There’s six doors, you can open any of these doors. But the fifth door, don’t open it. Don’t open the fifth door, no matter what... I only do an album every five years. Other artists do an album every year and my albums outlast and outsell all the other artists. And people wait for it. There’s like, you know, a whole pulse going on about this album...” (Michael Jackson, The MJ Tapes)

Yes, there was planned an album called Resurrection, I think it was scheduled for 2003 or 2004 release.

Any more info on this? I've always wondered if it was just fan-talk or substantiated rumours of some sort hehe

The story about an album called ‘Resurrection’ is a complete fabrication. Not even once have I heard anything official about it. Besides, its title sounds too fan-made to be taken the whole story seriously!

 

[PurdyYungThang84]

First, this is not a criticism of Michael whatsoever, because he was very much a perfectionist in his music. Just an observation

I've been listening to a lot non-studio album songs and have been wondering something...Why didn't Michael take songs from The Ultimate Collection, Bad Sessions, Dangerous sessions etc. and release them on more proper studio albums? All the songs we got the 'The Ultimate Collection' alone would have made an incredible album. I think a lot of other great songs get overlooked (not usually by fans) because they don't stand on their unique own album.

Was it because he would have felt pressure to tour for each album he released?...Did he not feel the songs were up to his standard? What do you think the reason(s) is?

With every project Michael was swimming in demos and song ideas. Some stuff he wanted to finish but he never circled back to them because of involvement in other projects. Others maybe he decided to not go with his initial idea and change direction? No one will ever know but him of course. But I do know that all those compilation albums were to fulfill the terms of his Sony contract, just a means to an end...

 

[ChrisC]

I do think MJ wanted his albums to become large events - and that meant he couldn't be putting them out constantly.

But when you look at it, did MJ have much time off between 1980 and 1993? I wouldn't say so. As Michael himself said in 1993, "there has to be that closeness in order to do the kind of work that I want to do." Michael devoted all of his resources to each of his projects - like it would be the last he would do. His music videos were like movie productions, his concert tours ran for years, his humanitarian efforts increased substantially through the 80s. Any 'down' time he had he was back in the studio conceiving of the next album, and as we all know was a complete perfectionist. So, sure, when you look at those years 1982 Thriller, 1987 Bad, 1991 Dangerous, it doesn't look like much but when you think of what he put into each of those projects it's difficult to imagine him doing more.

What I will say though is, I often wonder why MJ didn't utilise the B-side more in his career. Perhaps that goes back to my original point about event albums. I do wish he had though.

 

[Graf]

You all make great points...He really did put his everything into every project he ever did.

It would be really interesting to hear about any of Michael's 'planned' or 'unreleased' albums...but we really haven't heard much about that, other than some rumors.

 

[SmoothCriminal1995]

Short answer, he was a perfectionist.

Long answer, he was tactical genius. He knew that his stock in the music industry rose with every new release. He had the knowledge to know that sometimes it's the anticipation that sells the album. He also trusted in his ability as an artist, in that the public would not "forget" him when he stepped out the spotlight to perfect his next masterpiece.

 

[KOPV]

We know Michael was working on music in 2003, and did so again in 2006.. There were a lot of rumours as mentioned earlier resurrection was a title thrown around 777 was another...

But what we do know is Michael was working on music, before and after the trial... We did see him in the studio doing 'Beautiful Girl' during but who knows if that was staged for cameras..

 

[Graf]

We know Michael was working on music in 2003, and did so again in 2006.. There were a lot of rumours as mentioned earlier resurrection was a title thrown around 777 was another...

But what we do know is Michael was working on music, before and after the trial... We did see him in the studio doing 'Beautiful Girl' during but who knows if that was staged for cameras..

Yep, I remember hearing about that 777 title as well...

Although I knew it was not good timing for him, it would have been quite something if he released an album during the trial. It would have been a real 'Screw them!' to all the fools against him at the time. I can bet it would be one angry sounding album!

 

[KOPV]

Michael definitely planned to release music... A formal album I am not sure, Will.i.am mentioned that he was thinking of how it is a Single market now.. not big on album sales.. That did fit the mentionings that Michael had the idea of releasing songs while on This It It!

 

[FullLipsDotNose]

Any more info on this? I've always wondered if it was just fan-talk or substantiated rumours of some sort hehe

The title is likely a rumour, but I've always thought that he would release something in 2003 or 2004, with One More Chance as a leading single...

 

[Daryll748]

I thought this was such an intriguing question that it inspired my latest Blog. Here's an 'excerpt' from it :

#TopicOfToday ponders over the burning question of
an MJJC member who just happens to wonder
"why MJ did so little Studio work? "
Yeash, MJ only did 7 Studio albums as in
Off the Wall/Thriller/BAD/ Dangerous/ History/ BOTDF/ Invincible.
Yeash, the pure 'technical' answer could be
he signed up for 7 albums so that is what we got but
that is a bit dull isn't it?
As we all know Michael is a true Perfectionist and
he wrote so many demos for every album so that
he could chose the BEST Killer tracks that would put us on cloud 9.
Always a combination of hard and soft songs to please every fan.
I would say that Michael only did 7 in his short 'lifespan' that
was granted here on earth simply cause
he wanted the BEST for us, the fans.
It's like he wanted every song to be an anthem or a song that
would hold you throught the night.
He carefully selected each song, I'm sure.
I'm really Grateful and Blessed to have 'grown' up with
MJ's Music keeping me sweet night and day.
Of course, MJ could have made more albums like regular artists but
then again, he wasn't one.
He is the King Of POP.
The pioneer with the hottest tunes and the ground breaking videos.
There will only be one and that is MICHAEL JACKSON.​

​

Taken from: http://www.mjjcommunity.com/blog/the-studio-in-mj

 

[mjprince1976]

Very easy, save you guys the polemic

Michael was all about quality over quantity. Every album to him, had to outdo the last, every song had to be a blinder, every note and every line had to mean something. Michael loved his fans so much, he needed to give his best all the time and he did.

 

[mjprince1976]

MJ believed a lot in the power of mystery & how it keeps the public interested. The number five triggers, according to him, the greatest mystery & particularly the fifth door:

“I do love the power of mystery, I really do. I think it’s very powerful… There’s six doors, you can open any of these doors. But the fifth door, don’t open it. Don’t open the fifth door, no matter what... I only do an album every five years. Other artists do an album every year and my albums outlast and outsell all the other artists. And people wait for it. There’s like, you know, a whole pulse going on about this album...” (Michael Jackson, The MJ Tapes)





The story about an album called ‘Resurrection’ is a complete fabrication. Not even once have I heard anything official about it. Besides, its title sounds too fan-made to be taken the whole story seriously!

This is so true, he was a notorious perfectionist, he would records dozens of songs over time and choose the best to work with and Xscape proved the quality of some of these songs that missed the cut. Bad25's 2nd disc has some of the most incredible music I have ever heard, yet this was Michael's chaff, which is better than most other artists wheat.

I also read in some book, that Michael had recorded at least 60 songs for Bad between late 1985 and early 1987 and from these he chose the 11 that went on the album. Prince on the other hand, my favourite artist released 39 official albums between 1978 and 2015, yet of those albums, only 10 or so were at MJ level and even these had the occasional filler, his worst albums were all filler with maybe one or two decent songs (Newpowersoul, Rave un 2 the joy fantastic etc) and most albums had filler and songs Michael would not think twice over. In my opinion at least, there is NO filler on OTW, THRILLER, BAD OR DANGEROUS and History and Invincible also lack filler, BODF has fillery mixes, but the 5 new songs are dope and typical of his high standards.

I mean Michael and Prince have an equal number of excellent songs, yet Michael needed 1/5 as many albums to get his excellent quota than Prince did. MJ's only quality misteps were remixes turned over to other people (The remixes on BODF and Thriller25) and some of the rubbish on Michael, an album made after his death so he had no involvement in choosing what went on it.

It seems for every 5 songs Michael wrote, 3 got recorded, 2 got fully produced and readied for release or album inclusion and only one of those made an album. Prince on the other hand threw all 5 songs on the album , added some overdubs, burped and added a 6 fillery song on the same album.

 

[KOPV]

If It was not for Mikes conflicts with Sony, the allegations we for sure would have gotten more releases.. I'd guess 1 to 2 albums worth of music.. Now this would also o into IF the allegations never happened, could Mike still be here today. The whole thing from 2003-2009 would have been different... This Is It may have never even been a thought in the sense that we know it..

 

[analogue]

If It was not for Mikes conflicts with Sony, the allegations we for sure would have gotten more releases.. I'd guess 1 to 2 albums worth of music.. Now this would also o into IF the allegations never happened, could Mike still be here today. The whole thing from 2003-2009 would have been different... This Is It may have never even been a thought in the sense that we know it..

I wonder what would have happened if the 1993 false allegations never happened. HIStory would have been a completely different album, and may not have been called HIStory. Songs like Money and Stranger In Moscow never would have existed

 

[Moviefan2k4]

In my opinion, Michael's constant desire for "perfection" was the biggest factor with his somewhat sparse library. I'm reminded of the title character from Eddie and the Cruisers, who tells one of his bandmates "if we can't be great, there's no sense in ever making music again". Artists are generally perfectionistic by nature, and musicians in particular. Just read Michael's own biography Moonwalk, where he mentions his own crew doubting "Thriller" would outsell "Off the Wall". He realized early on, that no one believed in his vision as much as he did. If more had supported him without ulterior motives, I think he'd have placed less pressure on himself.

 

[PurpleThriller]

This is so true, he was a notorious perfectionist, he would records dozens of songs over time and choose the best to work with and Xscape proved the quality of some of these songs that missed the cut. Bad25's 2nd disc has some of the most incredible music I have ever heard, yet this was Michael's chaff, which is better than most other artists wheat.

I also read in some book, that Michael had recorded at least 60 songs for Bad between late 1985 and early 1987 and from these he chose the 11 that went on the album. Prince on the other hand, my favourite artist released 39 official albums between 1978 and 2015, yet of those albums, only 10 or so were at MJ level and even these had the occasional filler, his worst albums were all filler with maybe one or two decent songs (Newpowersoul, Rave un 2 the joy fantastic etc) and most albums had filler and songs Michael would not think twice over. In my opinion at least, there is NO filler on OTW, THRILLER, BAD OR DANGEROUS and History and Invincible also lack filler, BODF has fillery mixes, but the 5 new songs are dope and typical of his high standards.

I mean Michael and Prince have an equal number of excellent songs, yet Michael needed 1/5 as many albums to get his excellent quota than Prince did. MJ's only quality misteps were remixes turned over to other people (The remixes on BODF and Thriller25) and some of the rubbish on Michael, an album made after his death so he had no involvement in choosing what went on it.

It seems for every 5 songs Michael wrote, 3 got recorded, 2 got fully produced and readied for release or album inclusion and only one of those made an album. Prince on the other hand threw all 5 songs on the album , added some overdubs, burped and added a 6 fillery song on the same album.

Dangerous has filler :Can't Let Her Get Away is for sure filller,just as She drives me wild. She drives me wild is at least decent.
Bad has a filler:Just Good Friends (even Quincy said it was a mistake).Still good song.
History has filler. Its own title track does nothing for me(at least for me). This Time Around and 2Bad are good ,maybe great songs,but they dont have the greatness of Scream ,Stranger in Moscow,They dont care about us,Earth Song(basically even Little Susie is better than those).
You cant count Blood on the dance floor at all. It has only 5 new songs,its hard to put out a filler if you release only 5 new songs. That being said,those 5 songs are great.The remixes(the better majority of them) are horrible.
And Invincible is all over the place. Invincible(the entire album) is a filler itself.
And even Off the wall has a filler or two("Its the falling in love " imao)
Off the wall has one or two filler. Bad has one filler. Dangerous has some fillers. History has filler . Invincible is all over the place imao.
Dont get me wrong,all these albums(except Invincible) are great,but they obviously have some filler tracks. None of them are perfect.
The only perfect Michael Jackson album is Thriller. This is his only album with no actual filler.(saying this while Thriller its not even my fave album from Mike)

 

[filmandmusic]

I don't understand why so many fans dislike can't let her get away and she drives me wild. I love them both very much.
"Black jeans and a turtleneck sweater, I know the girl is faking cause I've seen her looking better" I love that line!
Can' t let her get away is really funky, love the vocals here. A few years ago there was some teasing for an extended version, I'd love to hear that.
There is not a single song I would leave of Dangerous.

I also have a soft sport for girlfriend btw, Fantastic vocal delivery and just a good , simple feel good tune. It makes me happy, it is the baby be mine of off the wall. Both are great.

HIStory does have a lot of filler but when he hits the mark there he really hits it good. HIStory would have reached Dangerous' level if he had used the BOTDF songs for the album. Come together, this time around, 2bad, you are not alone and D.S. would be axed by me. They would be good enough as B sides

 

[AlwaysThere]

Quality > quantity.

I’d rather have an MJ catalog (i.e., short and sweet, borderline perfect) than a Prince catalog (i.e., full of music, mostly mediocre).

 

[filmandmusic]

@AlwaysThere
Well a bit more in between both would be good. 3 albums in 20 years from dangerous to 2009 is a very poor return. Ideally an album every 2 years is enough.
The problem also is that most MJ fans don’t consider the albums he did with his brothers as his music. If these albums get counted he had a really big recording career. With an album every year (almost) from 1970 till 1984.

Michael couldn’t let go, he wanted to make a 2nd thriller in terms of critical and commercial success turning his albums into something formulaic. A rock song, a humanitarian song, a duet and some personal songs. He never thought out of the box, rusted in his own little world.

Anyway Let’s not kid ourselves we would be ecstatic if Michael had a vault with 1000s of unreleased music in it.

 

[AlwaysThere]

@filmandmusic

As I said before, quality > quantity. MJ certainly had enough material to churn out a new album every few years, but doing so would’ve run the risk of diluting his discography, as is the case with nearly every artist that releases music that often. Think about the early Dangerous session outtakes; they’re good, but if Michael tried to cut together an album using only 1989 tracks, it wouldn’t measure up to Bad or Dangerous in the slightest. Short but sweet is always preferable to long and inconsistent.

I would absolutely be ecstatic if the vault was bottomless, but unfortunately Michael’s creative process was a curse as much as a blessing.

 

[lubyss]

@filmandmusic

As I said before, quality > quantity. MJ certainly had enough material to churn out a new album every few years, but doing so would’ve run the risk of diluting his discography, as is the case with nearly every artist that releases music that often. Think about the early Dangerous session outtakes; they’re good, but if Michael tried to cut together an album using only 1989 tracks, it wouldn’t measure up to Bad or Dangerous in the slightest. Short but sweet is always preferable to long and inconsistent.

I would absolutely be ecstatic if the vault was bottomless, but unfortunately Michael’s creative process was a curse as much as a blessing.

I have to talk about this line with my husband

 

[filmandmusic]

@AlwaysThere

I understand what you're trying to say and I'm sure it it is logical for the wider public and critics but we are die hard fans. For me this means I love the vast majority of his recordings. If this means we get an album every 2 years and we still get about 4 top tracks on there I would take instead of 1 album every 4 years.

If he had churned out more albums I would have found a lot to love, of all the vault tracks that I have heard there are not many that I don't like...

 

[DuranDuran]

I'd say it was because after Thriller, Mike was rich enough to not have to do anything all the time. Same for Sade who puts out an album every 10 years. Billy Joel hasn't released an album since 1993, but still tours. Also because Mike would milk one album for 2 years. The blockbuster album didn't really start happening until the mid 1970s with acts like Pink Floyd & Boston. From the early 1970s and before that, the average act released 2 or 3 albums a year, and in some cases non-album singles added to that. That is what the labels generally required then.

Look at a band like Toto. They not only put out their own records, but they played on a lot of other acts albums as session guys. That is also what they were doing before they became a group themselves. I would guess counting all of the records they played on, Toto have way more albums than Prince released. Same for others like Booker T & The MGs, the Funk Brothers from Motown, and the Wrecking Crew. Then there was Phil Collins who released solo albums and albums with Genesis & Brand X. Phil also played drums on other acts songs like Robert Plant