I completely disagree. The dance tracks on Off the Wall and Thriller vocally are far superior and thats what makes those 2 albums more classic. Anyone can get a great beat. Just get a popular hip hop producer to handle the beats like Teddy Riley did. What makes your songs catchy are the vocals, melody and for ppl to be able to sing along to it.
But Off the Wall and Thriller up tempo tracks. The vocals are far superior as well as the melodies. The dance tracks are just more catchy. Even the fillers like "Burn This Disco Out" and "Get on the Floor" on the Off the Wall album. Compare the vocals and how catch and easy it is to sing along with those songs compared to "She Drives Me Wild" , "Cant Let her Get Away" , " Jam". You can barely understand what MJ is saying on some of those Dangerous up tempo tracks. He's not really singing. With the excepton of Remember the Time.
Where's that Human Nature, Lady in My life on Dangerous. I dont consider Keep the Faith a love jam
Beats aren't everything. Ever heard a tremendous beat only for the singer/rapper/whomever to totally kill the vibe with their singing, lyrics or lack thereof? Likewise, ever heard someone with a good voice who just can't find the right songs to stand out and separate themselves? It's not as simple as hiring a good hip-hop producer. Plus, MJ wrote some of those songs on his own, and he's heavily involved in the producing and writing of tracks himself.
Also, MJ's phrasing and the way he pronounces words are a trademark and only helped set him apart and make him more famous.
"He's not really singing".
That really couldn't be more further from the truth. Remember, everything he does on a track has to be on key, in tune and in pitch, regardless whether he's quietly singing, singing loudly, or really throwing his voice hard. Go ahead and try to ad-lib to "Who Is It" very loudly and stay in tune and in pitch and see how you sound. On "Black Or White", he has a lot of melody in his background vocals (which he does himself). On "Can't Let Her Get Away", what about the lead-in to the chorus where he sings in falsetto? That's not singing? The chorus of "She Drives Me Wild". How many people can hit those notes? Listen to the chorus, the background vocals and how MJ sings and has his voice layered to sound like a complete choir... that most certainly is "singing". And even in the parts where he's not singing what you or I probably consider "traditional singing", he's still very much singing... it's just a different kind of singing.
I think this really boils down to what genre of music and vocal style you like more. I actually love R&B/Soul more than any other genre, yet "Dangerous" is my favorite album by MJ because of how unique it was: it was almost like a culmination of his entire career coming together.
