Should MJ have re-recorded Billie Jean with Slash for history album

dancemasterman

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For years I had two ideas that I wish MJ had done for the History album and I wanted to share em with you guys.

MJ and Slash should have rerecorded Billie Jean. MJ's voice had changed a lot since Billie Jean was recorded. Imagine the adlybs, the back up vocals, the beat boxing, and the awesome 1995 mtv video music awards guitar solo by Slash being recorded in the studio. I always imagined the video taking place in the street showcasing a lot of popping. A lot of people who have seen a lot of his videos have never seen much of his live peforming. Many have not actually seen how incredible his robot was during the 90's.

He could have even written new verses and come up with new melodies for the verses.

My other idea is I'll be there. The short commercial with him as a child and himself as an adult was really good. It should have been a whole song and video on the History album.

Both of these would have worked really well with the overall theme of History, because they both would be very entertaining reflections on his-story.
 
i don't understand exactly where you are coming from on this, because Kanye West did a version of the song, and, of course MJ always extended the song, in concert.. but i think that Michael giving the spirit that the original is fine the way it is, was the best thing he did. it shows that he had confidence in his songwriting ability.
 
Darn I meant to put a poll. If any mods see this can you add a poll? for optins just put yes, no, and not sure.
 
i don't understand exactly where you are coming from on this, because Kanye West did a version of the song, and, of course MJ always extended the song, in concert.. but i think that Michael giving the spirit that the original is fine the way it is, was the best thing he did. it shows that he had confidence in his songwriting ability.

Yeah I understand he extended Billie Jean on the History tour, but most of it was lyp synched, because he had problems with his lungs. But in the studio where he has plenty of time to catch his breathe or take a drink of water he could have really snapped with those adlybs. He could be using his girly vocals for the back up vocals during the chorus, while he's just screaming and snarling on top of it. He could even have the beat break down towards the end, and utilize his beat boxing skills right before the chorus takes off again.

I imagined for the verse he could do something different and use a raspier voice like he does in say why you wanna trip on me. Or perhaps do the first verse very simmillair to the original, using his deeper Who is it voice. And then for the second verse completely reinvent the vocal melody and use a raspier voice.

For the bridge he could use his screaming voice.

And of course the song would be a rock and roll version. Not too hard of a rock song. They could have a new baseline or use the same one. Or perhaps the melody used for the baseline in the original would then be played on the guitar by Slash.

I think they could have come up with something really great.
 
No. Michael already created Billie Jean in absolute perfection for the Thriller era. Can't make it more perfect than it already is. Just like Thriller, Human Nature, and many others.
 
No. Michael already created Billie Jean in absolute perfection for the Thriller era. Can't make it more perfect than it already is. Just like Thriller, Human Nature, and many others.

I'm not saying he could make it more perfect. It could still be different and perfect though.
 
In the 1995 MTV awards when Slash didn't leave the stage, he kept playing while Billie Jean was starting up. I thought it sounded awesome. It would have been cool to have a mix of some sort with the two of them for that song.

The "I'll be there" Pepsi commercial was beautiful! I too would have loved to see that in a long video version.
 
I think Billie Jean is fine as it is. :) It's perfect.

I agree about the I'll Be There pepsi commercial though. I think that's such a lovely commercial and it made me cry when I first saw it. That version sounded really good and I hate that it is so short because it is on my ipod. lol. It would have been nice if there was a full version recorded.
 
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