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thriller poll: could ‘baby be mine’ & ‘the lady in my life’ have been hit singles?

thriller poll: could ‘baby be mine’ & ‘the lady in my life’ have been hit singles?

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83magic

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based on the snippet from the ‘thriller 40’ documentary, Michael wanted every song from the album to be released as a single.

there’s no doubt that the ‘thriller’ short film extended the life and sales of the album. what impact do you think ‘baby be mine’ and ‘the lady in my life’ would have had, if any?

would they have benefited from visuals or performances? or were they strong enough in their own right to thrive on radio play alone? was nine singles overexposure? or could Michael release any and everything during his peak?

let me know what you think 🙂
 
I think he should've released 2 more videos. Lady in my life & definitely pyt! They were definitely big hits & still gets alot of requests
 
Back then it would have been hits for sure. As singles 8 and 9 they probably wouldn’t breach top 10 but top 20 for sure. With videos or with a cool performance at an award show higher peaks could have been reached.
I wish the album got extended into 1985 but perhaps sales started dropping (dramatically) so the idea was dropped.

But remember even thriller with the most iconic video in history wasn’t able to go nr 1 because it was the last single release. Without a video I think the song would be top 20 only. That is how it works.
Still no 7th single in history equalled thriller’s succes ( it was top 5 in the US and top 10 all over Europe) this bever happened before or after.

If thriller had been released after beat it it would have been his 3rd straight nr 1 hit, no doubt.

Say say say got to nr 1 because it wasn’t on the thriller album, tell me I’m not dreaming was a massive radio hit but the record company didn’t release it as a single. It would have cracked the top 10 too, who knows how high…. And of course state of shock became the Jacksons biggest hit since dancing machine. The hunger for MJ was unprecedented around 1983-1985
 
A live, televised performance of The Lady in my Life would have ushered millions of teenage girls through puberty overnight. I wasn't even born yet, but I'm quite sure the spiritual possibility of me at the time would agree.
 
I think The Lady In My Life could have been a top 10 hit, if it had a music video. I think Baby Be Mine could have been a top 20 hit.

I so wish Michael released all the songs on Thriller as single as he wanted to. Both TLINL and BBM are bangers from Thriller that go under the radar.
 
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filmandmusic said:
Never heard it on the radio. I did hear baby be mine this week though which was a first!
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R&B radio played both songs then and now. The Lady In My Life has also been a long time staple on the Quiet Storm radio program. There was a similar sounding song to Baby Be Mine by Manhattan Transfer called Spice Of Life, which was a single and Stevie Wonder plays harmonica on it. Spice Of Life had a remix too.
filmandmusic said:
Second thought. It would be difficulty to cut a radio edit for TLIML as it would most certainly mean cutting away the outro which is its selling point imo
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During the 1970s & 1980s R&B radio would play long songs, they even played the full 15 minutes of Rapper's Delight. It was Top 40 that would usually only play the short versions of songs, which was the version on the 45 single. R&B stations would play the album version or a remix.
 
@DuranDuran I'm obviously talking about regular radio, not specialized genre radios. Also in Europe there isn't really anything like r&b radio or adult contemporary it is usually all very broad. These days there are online genre radios for sure but their reach is limited.
Spice of life rocks! Love that sound, also love the brothers Johnson albums who sound a lot like off the wall.

@staywild23 agreed if this had happened I might have turned gay
 
filmandmusic said:
@DuranDuran I'm obviously talking about regular radio, not specialized genre radios. Also in Europe there isn't really anything like r&b radio or adult contemporary it is usually all very broad. These days there are online genre radios for sure but their reach is limited.
Spice of life rocks! Love that sound, also love the brothers Johnson albums who sound a lot like off the wall.

@staywild23 agreed if this had happened I might have turned gay
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What is regular radio? Every station is different genres. I'm from America so idk how European radio works so that might be why it's confusing
 
I don’t think they have the star power that the other tracks on the album do. They’re the very definition of filler material (which is definitely an unpopular opinion, but they have the least replay value).
 
wonderouzmj said:
What is regular radio? Every station is different genres. I'm from America so idk how European radio works so that might be why it's confusing
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Right now, my local stations (not subscription or internet radio) include Top 40 pop, country classics, contemporary country, Tejano, Spanish pop, salsa/tropical, Indian music (not Native American, but like Bollywood), gospel, talk radio (on AM), sports, soul oldies, Top 40 oldies (1970s to early 2000s), contemporary Christian, Christian sermons, Mexican gospel, hip hop/R&B, Adult R&B, alternative rock, Radio Disney, classic rock, Vietnamese music/talk, Chinese music, all news, etc. The adult contemporary station only plays Christmas songs 24/7 during November & December of every year.
 
wonderouzmj said:
What is regular radio? Every station is different genres. I'm from America so idk how European radio works so that might be why it's confusing
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In Belgium we have about 7 or 8 main radio stations. These are the radios you hear in supermarkets, on the work floor, in the car etc. They are all quite broad. Radio 1 gives lots of news and interviews and ignores current hits and opt for a more alternative public, radio 2 is the most popular and plays classics and new hits and all the others are basically a variation of radio 2 (some play more new hits, some play older hits, some play slightly more alternative pop).
We don't have an r&b station, we do have one classical station but nobody listens to that and a station for really old people who enjoy the music that was popular during and in between the wars and there is a station that plays house and trance music.
These last 3 are the only "specialized" stations we have.

Of course on the internet there are tons more stations. for example a 60s station, a 70s station etc. I have no clue if a lot of people listen to those.

Those 6 or 7 regular stations have a reach of over 90% of the population and the difference between them is minimal.

So our radio landscape is completely different than the American one.
 
Something tells me people's opinions on a lot of songs would be different if they had opted for example for a BBM single instead of a PYT single.
All songs on the album are worthy singles and they would all receive a lot of airplay.
If PYT wasn't a single lots of people would call it filler as well.

Songs like Chicago were not even picked for any album yet it is now streaming very well while MJ probably didn't deem it good enough.

Maybe in the 50s and 60s filler tracks were common as singles releases were bigger sellers than albums but especially since thriller there is no such thing as "filler" anymore. All tracks are carefully picked, especially in Michael's case because if it was up to him he's release very track as a single.

I never understood the concept of a filler song. As if an artist is content with releasing a half arsed song.
 
Fuzball said:
How often have you heard this one this xmas season?😁
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I haven't really listened to it this year other than flipping through the stations, and maybe stopping if it's something I like. Some stores will have the station playing though. But in past few years they usually play the Ariana Grande version more than Wham!'s, but they play the original too.
filmandmusic said:
I never understood the concept of a filler song.
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A "filler" song was something from when 33 RPM LP albums first came out, which was around 1949. Before that, there were no albums, everything was 78s, which is basically a single. 78s broke real easily, because they were made from shellac or something. I think radio people or the press came up with the "filler" label. Most acts in the early days of the LP still did not get a full album, it was mainly singles only. If a single or 2 or 3 happened to get really popular, the label would have the act record a bunch of songs really quickly to get an album out there to capitalize on the success. The album was built around the single. The extra tracks were said to be songs just to fill up space. Other than maybe jazz, soundtrack, & classical albums, until around Sgt. Pepper by The Beatles, what people consider an "album" today was not really a thing as far as mainstream popular music went, like having a theme. It was usually just a collection of songs. Or they were built around some kind of craze like The Twist, surf rock, or Beatle soundalike bands. Many acts during that era (and before) recorded the same songs, later often called "standards" or "Great American Songbook" or "Tin Pan Alley". I think Yesterday by The Beatles has over 2,000 different cover recordings. I Heard It Through The Grapevine was a hit for Gladys Knight & The Pips and then a year later by Marvin Gaye. The longer version by CCR was popular around the same time too, but it was never released as a single. Also in the USA, The Beatles albums were mostly different from the original British versions and they also had albums that were exclusive to the US like Hey Jude. Capitol Records just put random Beatles songs together and made an album out of them.
 
The Lady in My Life is his best ballad. Period.

And Baby Be Mine is secretly as good as Rock With You and the best of Off The Wall.

So basically, yes, absolutely to both.
 
83magic said:
based on the snippet from the ‘thriller 40’ documentary, Michael wanted every song from the album to be released as a single.

there’s no doubt that the ‘thriller’ short film extended the life and sales of the album. what impact do you think ‘baby be mine’ and ‘the lady in my life’ would have had, if any?

would they have benefited from visuals or performances? or were they strong enough in their own right to thrive on radio play alone? was nine singles overexposure? or could Michael release any and everything during his peak?

let me know what you think 🙂
Click to expand...
I think that Baby Be Mine would have done wonderfully if it was a single. Because it's such a catchy tone and I really like it!
For The Lady In My Life, would have done well but not as much as Baby Be Mine because it's a slow song but some slow songs are really big hits. I personally LOVE The Lady In My Life (it's my fav track) because the felling you get from that song is amazing.
 
When you consider they listened to hundreds of demos to come to just 9 songs they surely saw potential in those songs. Baby be mine sounds vocally different compared to any other MJ track and I love it.
I agree with @Mister_Jay_Tee the lady in my life is his best ballad, it is not my fave ballad but it is the best, if that makes any sense.

I wonder why the thriller promotion stopped, perhaps 2 extra singles were possible, it is just 6 extra months, they made tons of money, there was room for 2 extra videos. Especially since it took 2 and a half years for a new MJ song on the charts after thriller. I think if Victory did not exist all 9 songs would have been hits. It would have been awesome the first and only studio album ever that could later be marketed as a greatest hits album lol
 
If we're honest, in the 80s, anything from the Thriller album would have been a hit, regardless of what song.

These days, LIML would be a hit, but probably not BBM. Really, it amazes me neither of these two were singles from T25 or T40. They should have at least tried to change that statistic of 7 hit singles.
 
i honestly think that seven singles from one album was stretching it enough. ‘human nature’ didn’t get a uk release (unfortunately), and ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing)’ peaked just outside the top ten at number 11, as the final release from the album.

I think it’s wasteful to spend 18-24 months releasing singles from the same album. the only way that I could justify that would be if they all had b sides of previously unheard songs (such as ‘hot street’), or if those singles existed individually without an album.

it’s possible that ‘the lady in my life’ could have been successful had it been performed at the grammy’s in ‘84. michael could have wowed the audience with his vocals as opposed to his dancing this time, in his first (full length) performance since motown 25.

still, I think ‘the lady in my life’ and especially ‘baby be mine’ are the weakest songs on the album 🫣with ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing’ and ‘the girl is mine’ being a step above them. the real classic centrepiece(s) are; ‘billie jean’, ‘beat it’, ‘wanna be startin’ somethin’, ‘human nature’ and ‘thriller’. each of those songs were unique in their own right, whilst establishing michael’s signature sound at the same time. it was new territory lyrically, musically and vocally. different from what michael had done before, and from what any other artist was doing at the time. they’re a large part of what made him a legend.

‘baby be mine’ and ‘the lady in my life’ could have been moderately successful, and even then they would need something (a video/performance/b-sides) to give them that extra boost. especially coming at the very end of the campaign. I doubt they could match the big 5 though..
 
83magic said:
i honestly think that seven singles from one album was stretching it enough. ‘human nature’ didn’t get a uk release (unfortunately), and ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing)’ peaked just outside the top ten at number 11, as the final release from the album.

I think it’s wasteful to spend 18-24 months releasing singles from the same album. the only way that I could justify that would be if they all had b sides of previously unheard songs (such as ‘hot street’), or if those singles existed individually without an album.

it’s possible that ‘the lady in my life’ could have been successful had it been performed at the grammy’s in ‘84. michael could have wowed the audience with his vocals as opposed to his dancing this time, in his first (full length) performance since motown 25.

still, I think ‘the lady in my life’ and especially ‘baby be mine’ are the weakest songs on the album 🫣with ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing’ and ‘the girl is mine’ being a step above them. the real classic centrepiece(s) are; ‘billie jean’, ‘beat it’, ‘wanna be startin’ somethin’, ‘human nature’ and ‘thriller’. each of those songs were unique in their own right, whilst establishing michael’s signature sound at the same time. it was new territory lyrically, musically and vocally. different from what michael had done before, and from what any other artist was doing at the time. they’re a large part of what made him a legend.

‘baby be mine’ and ‘the lady in my life’ could have been moderately successful, and even then they would need something (a video/performance/b-sides) to give them that extra boost. especially coming at the very end of the campaign. I doubt they could match the big 5 though..
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I can't believe you think liml is a weak track.... ain't no way in hell you just said that!
 
83magic said:
they would need something (a video/performance/b-sides) to give them that extra boost
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Yeah, agreed. I think it's a really big shame MJ hardly ever did B-sides. If you don't like remixes, there's virtually no reason to get the singles. Even a live song is better than a random album track.

Kinda ironic that MJ's worst song would actually be on the best single (as an actual value package). The CD for Cry had proper B-sides in the form of Shout and Streetwalker, plus it's the only CD-single to have a video. I would imagine he'd have had more chart success if every single had the video and at least one previously unreleased track.
 
Baby Be Mine is like a sequel to the very successful RWY, so yes it could've been a hit single.
Lady in my Life was also a missed opportunity, it's such a essential love song.
 
I think more than anything it depends on timing. 1984/1985 is like wholly different, sonically. Rod Temperton wasn't quite the same force as he had been in the height of post disco. Plus overlap with Victory and other tunes.
 
not that every song has to be groundbreaking, but ‘baby be mine’ follows the formula for ‘rock with you’ too closely. even down to the intro and key change later on.

it wants to be smooth, but there are harsh elements that prevent it from being so (michael’s strained vocals, the synth stabs). it all clashes and doesn’t flow easily.

it doesn’t help that we have to wait until the very end for the complete chorus with all the background vocals (which is an improvement). as one of the shorter songs on the album, it’s the biggest chore to get through for me.

the lyrics are also cliche and could have been written by anyone. it’s a huge letdown after my favourite song ‘wanna be startin’ somethin’. I actually think both songs with ‘mine’ in the title that follow it are🫣in fact, I usually skip them and stop the album after ‘p.y.t (pretty young thing)’.
 
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