Daniel.San
Proud Member
Over the span of Michael's career (his entire life) it's natural that his voice sounds different from album to album, but as of late, i've tried listening to different albums and eras and tried grouping them into sort of similar categories of vocal styles.
Anyone who has been a fan of Michael's for a long time can tell his voice from imitators and copy cats, and some can even give you a rough estimate on the year something was recorded, be it unreleased or a demo. So I thought i'd give my take on his changes, mainly focusing on his solo years (OTW onwards).
Generally I would categorize Michael's voice as follows:
Off The Wall/Thriller > Bad > Dangerous/HIStory/BOTDF > Invincible.
The first one is OTW and Thriller... where I think Michael's voice was softer and generally smoother. He sounds very youthful in both albums and doesn't have that gravelly rawness when he "screams" like in later eras. Basically I segregated these albums because there are certain songs like "The Girl Is Mine", "Carousel", "Rock With You" and "Off The Wall" that could never be mistaken for recordings from the Bad era if you were a non-fan or if they were unreleased tracks.
The Bad era to me is like a transition period with Michael's vocal style, much like Forever, Michael showcased Michael's change from young kid to teenager. Michael uses a rougher, raw tone a lot on the album (Dirty Diana, Bad, TWYMMF) which he didn't really use before. The only song comparable in earlier albums is the song Thriller, and personally, the difference is night and day. There are softer songs on the album that also show how his voice was maturing and getting SLIGHTLY deeper. Liberian Girl has a smoothness to it that shows this maturity developing. It has roughly the same pacing to Human Nature, but if you listen to the two songs one after the other, you'll see what I mean.
The next period to me expands on Bad even more. During Dangerous/HIStory/BOTDF his voice is at it's "screaming" best. There is a heavier use of the "roughness" in Michael's voice in all these albums. No longer do we have the crooning adolescent sounds of Thriller, but it is replaced by a deeper, audibly mature sounding Michael that would not have sounded the same if recorded in his late 20's. You get the height of the "rough" sounds in songs like Scream, Jam, Who Is It, They Dont Care About Us, Blood on The Dance Floor and Morphine and the smooth maturity in songs like You Are Not Alone and For All Time (listen to this at night with a good pair of headphones and you'll see what I mean!). Dangerous and HIStory both showcase the drastic difference between his vocal styles between the songs on them. He really lets loose on Black Or White, where you can REALLY hear his excitement in his singing, and then you also have Will You Be There, which reveal his mature silky voice.
Finally you have Invincible, which oddly enough sounds totally different from all albums that came before it in terms of vocal styling. It's clearly a deeper voice, with both the gravelly "yelling" on songs like Unbreakable, to the deeper ballads, i.e You Are My Life showing a much more mature Michael Jackson. Anything recorded during this era is usually picked out by fans right away if it is leaked or a demo. It's a sound hardly ever mixed up with eras that came before it.
So really all i'm asking is, do you feel the same? If you were to close your eyes and try imagining Michael of 1982 singing Black or White, could you do it? The same goes for Michael of 1991 singing Rock With You...
Anyone who has been a fan of Michael's for a long time can tell his voice from imitators and copy cats, and some can even give you a rough estimate on the year something was recorded, be it unreleased or a demo. So I thought i'd give my take on his changes, mainly focusing on his solo years (OTW onwards).
Generally I would categorize Michael's voice as follows:
Off The Wall/Thriller > Bad > Dangerous/HIStory/BOTDF > Invincible.
The first one is OTW and Thriller... where I think Michael's voice was softer and generally smoother. He sounds very youthful in both albums and doesn't have that gravelly rawness when he "screams" like in later eras. Basically I segregated these albums because there are certain songs like "The Girl Is Mine", "Carousel", "Rock With You" and "Off The Wall" that could never be mistaken for recordings from the Bad era if you were a non-fan or if they were unreleased tracks.
The Bad era to me is like a transition period with Michael's vocal style, much like Forever, Michael showcased Michael's change from young kid to teenager. Michael uses a rougher, raw tone a lot on the album (Dirty Diana, Bad, TWYMMF) which he didn't really use before. The only song comparable in earlier albums is the song Thriller, and personally, the difference is night and day. There are softer songs on the album that also show how his voice was maturing and getting SLIGHTLY deeper. Liberian Girl has a smoothness to it that shows this maturity developing. It has roughly the same pacing to Human Nature, but if you listen to the two songs one after the other, you'll see what I mean.
The next period to me expands on Bad even more. During Dangerous/HIStory/BOTDF his voice is at it's "screaming" best. There is a heavier use of the "roughness" in Michael's voice in all these albums. No longer do we have the crooning adolescent sounds of Thriller, but it is replaced by a deeper, audibly mature sounding Michael that would not have sounded the same if recorded in his late 20's. You get the height of the "rough" sounds in songs like Scream, Jam, Who Is It, They Dont Care About Us, Blood on The Dance Floor and Morphine and the smooth maturity in songs like You Are Not Alone and For All Time (listen to this at night with a good pair of headphones and you'll see what I mean!). Dangerous and HIStory both showcase the drastic difference between his vocal styles between the songs on them. He really lets loose on Black Or White, where you can REALLY hear his excitement in his singing, and then you also have Will You Be There, which reveal his mature silky voice.
Finally you have Invincible, which oddly enough sounds totally different from all albums that came before it in terms of vocal styling. It's clearly a deeper voice, with both the gravelly "yelling" on songs like Unbreakable, to the deeper ballads, i.e You Are My Life showing a much more mature Michael Jackson. Anything recorded during this era is usually picked out by fans right away if it is leaked or a demo. It's a sound hardly ever mixed up with eras that came before it.
So really all i'm asking is, do you feel the same? If you were to close your eyes and try imagining Michael of 1982 singing Black or White, could you do it? The same goes for Michael of 1991 singing Rock With You...
