Quincy Jones on Michael Jackson and Xscape 

I agree with you comment. and I think that Quincy was also JEALOUSE about MJ and some other artist in a musicc industry. they never even say that MJ WAS a musical genius. except for Bruce who really love MJ and he was very special.

If the music was not good the video would not save it. The video caught the eye of the people. The music was there. You can explain it how you see fit. The artist did his job period… the explanation minimizes the raw talent and the magic of Michael Jackson. Dead 10 yrs. Still in people mouth. Hmmm go figure… this generation music is trash. 92% of it won’t withstand time.

@@scottjohnson3101 yes, the music was excellent but that video had way more impact because NOBODY had done anything like that before, so he set a new standard.

Your math is way off

Michael also funded the thriller short film.

While it is true that Michael Jackson songs, performance & his music videos (Billie Jean & Beat It) really helped Thriller take off, it was NOT the Thriller music video that "put the album on the map". Thriller was the SEVENTH single from that album. It came 2 years after the album was released. The previous 6 hit songs, including 2 #1's are what put the Thriller album on the map.

U know, I was only 5 when Thriller came out BUT I did witness on TV watching thriller mini movie, the song and as well as Beat It and Billie Jean, of course I didn’t know that the album itself is also called THRILLER, but I know that that mini movie was a hit. 🙃 And the moonwalk.

Triskele33 Love Facts

perhaps they outgrew each other but riley was a little heavy on the beats instead of the song as a whole.

daveheel I agree, some songs like ”She drives me wild” and ”Can’t let her get away” are more anout the beat than the classic MICHAEL JACKSON melodies. But man, the best on Who Is It is just insane and the electric guitars on Give In To Me and Black Or White...it’s something else

Yeah, but IMO, not even close to the albums MJ an QJ worked on together

Lol Dangerous is crap compared to Off The Wall, much less Thriller.

Spoony i agree, basically thriller was a dream team set up, everyone involved deserves a ton of credit

Absolutely!!!!! Bruce made his music rock....

That is so true, even MJ didn't thank Bruce for the many hours he worked on great sounds...when MJ was crying. True story..😂

I'm not even a producer but I want to read sweidens books, those albums sound so good

Spoony PREACH! 🙏

83jdc1 yes 35 million and history sold another 25 million

And Dangerous was just as good as Bad too.

he was referring to the albums that were released after Mike's death I think

@@PeerHond69 maybe

@PensiveCzar Dangerous not being good is entirely your opinion. I love Dangerous and the new sound, I think it is the most unique of all of his albums but I can see how a person coming from Thriller and Bad could not care for Dangerous. No Dangerous didn't sell as good as Bad or Thriller but I think that's am unfair comparison since at the time Dangerous was released Thriller and Bad were the best and second best selling albums of all time(thriller of course still is). Dangerous sold 370,000 copies in it's first week and went on to be one of the best selling albums of all time selling over 32 million copies. If you look at sale projections for Dangerous I really think it would have outsold Bad if he never faced the charges in 93 because that media tour (as well as the actual Dangerous tour) worked, Dangerous was selling well. Even with the allegations Dangerous still only sold a few million less then Bad and is Michaels 3rd best selling album.

yeah he had that juggernaut "machine" ( sony)behind him. back in the 80s albums charted a long time

@@adriangreen9785 Because people bought music! They didn't steal it like they have done for twenty years now!

Naw his peak was probably HIStory

It was an entirely different world...

Thanks for saying that b/c I get sick of everyone acting like Michael was nothing without him. None of it would have been possible without Michael himself and his incredible talent which the world ALREADY knew about, Q didn't discover him. Billie Jean was the brain child of Michael Jackson and him alone...he wrote and composed it and brought it in as a fully developed demo, same with all of his songs on Off The Wall as well...Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, Wanna Be Startin' Something, Working Day and Night and everything else he wrote. Give Michael his due as well...

+kartoonisWorld One listen to Michael's demo of Billie Jean clears up any misunderstanding of Michael's contribution to the production of that song. Frankly, I was amazed when I heard it on Thriller 25, because for years, Michael had been dismissed as a singer/dancer who waited for Quincy Jones to tell him what to do. Any of Michael's demos for that matter, like Don't Stop Till You Get Enough, totally change the narrative that has been perpetrated to throttle Michael's skill, intelligence, and talent for songwriting, arrangement, and production.

kartoonisWorld fun fact q John didn't want Billie jean on the album but Michael fought to be own it and Michael made the beat and lyrics john just arranged and master the song any other producer could have done that in other words john is to full of him self thinking it was all him no it take a special artist who write his own song too

On top of the talent, they both had something that if you don't have, talent is no good: Commitment, professionalism and HARD work...People keep saying how talented MJ was (which is correct) but he was so professional and dedicated..He was a complete artist

McQueenPress I agree..

Pasadena Murdock when you sell 100 million records, it may be very hard to be humble

playaflywill27 I dunno MJ seemed to manage it

Pasadena Murdock mj was very private and was NOT a very humble person.

playaflywill27 every interview I ever saw he came across humble

That's how he "came across" to YOU!!!! Doesn't mean that's what he was. I'm born and raised in Gary, IN. TRUST ME!!! There's definitely more to it than YOU see!! RIP to him tho

Artists are prickly people, but make no mistake. Mj would NEVER have the career he had without Quincy

@@jacobjorgenson9285 Not taking anything away from Quincy, but Michael was great before Quincy. From the days of the Jackson 5, he had the "It Factor". A star in the making. Meeting Quincy only made him reach depths that he would probably still reach but maybe at a later time. Don't forget Michael was a producer himself, he had an ear for sound.

@@JDede you should perhaps look at Quincy's volume of work before MJ

@@JDede Michael was not near the international phenomenon that he would later become after the releases of Off The Wall and Thriller. Michael was smart enough to know his limitations and he knew what Quincy Jones brought to the table. Michael saw what Quincy was about while working on the The Wiz movie. Quincy put together some of the best session musicians, engineers, and songs that suited Michael best to help create masterpieces. MJ was a great artist with incredible talent and vision but his fullest potential wouldn’t been realized without the help of Quincy Jones and other great musicians and creative talent that contributed to those albums.

​@@austinstyles6393 I 100% agree

Imagine going through 800 songs to get Thriller!

Yeah !!! Patsy D

Ron P: Yeah, that song was horrible!!!! 😱😰

Absolutely agree. FACT!

VTP 😂😂😂

Exactly

Except Michael Jackson

@@nishantmaurya9338 not mj you are right 🤗🙂

dh

Henning Martinsen God the Father of Jesus Christ doesnt blessed satanist.

@@mzkokoismyname7630 Michael was not a satanist,he actually believed in God,so stop spreading lies about Michael

Ale B Wasn’t MJ a jehovah witness?

@@galaxygrl4466 *☪️ Muslim☪️

And Steve Porcaro wrote Human Nature. Steve Lukather played the guitars on Beat It, sans the Eddie Van Halen solo.

Yass!! Thats my favorite off of Thriller 25 and "For all time". I could imagine MJ smiling while recording that song. Eventhough I love "Human Nature" I love Carousel. Its beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time.

ZaheedaNaheedya i thought the same, carousel is definitely one of the stronger tracks for me

there is only so much room on a LP.

MM For all time is actually from the Dangerous album sessions and the version of carousel on Thriller 25 is shortened.

See, in the thriller sessions it was a fight between human nature and carousel. And human nature won

Mrn Gkn this is just how I feel thank you it breaks my heart I look into those beautiful eyes he had and always saw sadness his heart as to kind for this world his with the lord now I can’t stand when people whom knew him and were blessed enough to even be in his presence speak ill of him it makes me so made he’s the reason I even started singing only man I’ve ever been in love with seriously , RIH my love 👼😍😍😘

Michael got killed because he had a big mouth that is one reason he isn't here to defend himself but he has his family who has done it for years so it's not poor MICHAEL......grow up

Chris Tucker wasn't two faced with Michael Jackson.

O really! then why Michael Jackson collaborated with him? Why he decided to choose Quincy to produce his first solo album "Off the wall"? And what about Thriller, common Quincy Jones was also equally responsible for its success not just Michael Jackson. Don't be hypocrite and judgemental because though Michael Jackson was phenomenal, an angel like figure to all of us but still he did certain mistakes, you admit or not its upto you, he fired Quincy after Bad, didn't wanted anything to do with him. Quincy Jones was not responsible as he got betrayal in the hand of Michael. And hello not everyone in the industry are not sycophants or greedy. Don't add Quincy Jones in the list of those real sycophants who eventually took MJ'S life forever. Show some respect he has nothing to do with Michael Jackson's money, Got it! 😡

Dianna brown stfu you scrub

Alot

@@Turtlegongzilla it's sad because it's been over ten years and all we got was the Escape album. They did the same thing to Prince. He has like a thousand songs of unreleased music in his vault and they don't want to release it because it showed a different side to him. The woke rebellious side.

It could be 800 songs from Quincy’s “library”.

​@@musictheory4u153 * MJ'S library Mj have 150 tracks , 3 hard drives , 3 mac books that contain unreleased music guess it starts from the 90s , guess sm1 needs to break into the estate's building and rob them again 😂

+Vic Jones I agree!....and "a place with no name" is killa, my favorite!!

Yess

I

is that the real reason? i'm doubtful. his work with quincy was his best. sure, he had hits before and after and mj would be a star without quincy but there's no way he would become such a legend without quincy imo.

Reminder Michael didn't write that many songs he did in off the wall but like thrillers he didnt, he wrote bad but couldn't repeat it...like thriller...most songs wrote were average...

@@diannabrown275 but the songs he wrote were hits still

@@daveheel Dangerous

As a producer and mixing engineer I call bs, Michael didn't even have 800 songs in his whole catalog including The Jackson 5. I highly doubt you could write, learn and play 800 songs for a single album. That's a whole life of work man. Even 80 would be a stretch but sounds more reasonable.

@@rockboy360 probably meant it as in different versions of songs. Billie Jean I believe had 82 different versions before Quincy and Bruce Swedien decided to pick the 2nd version, likely the same case for every song in the album and maybe a couple extra songs not included on the album that had different mixes

@@rockboy360I am all in that MJ was a good composer. Q said about 800 songs but they only had to choose 9 right? What is he yapping about MJ stole songs?! He knew about the 800 songs, only had to pick 9 for the album and yet accusing MJ, he stole A LOT OF SONGS! Seriously, Quincy? So, this made him an accomplice of some sort for allowing it to happen- he was aware that MJ stole songs?????? I don’t understand his mouth 🤦‍♀️😒

Dangerous is not getting enough love tbh

His fame is in one album Thriller....with Quincy and bruce.....others just faltered....never anything big.....

Thriller is not his best album. It's great. It's a 10/10 album but it's not his best album.

Dianna Brown You are talking as if BAD and dangerous didn’t sell over 30 million copies. Don’t be stupid.

@@BooneLuleyo Thriller is his best album, no daubt.

Can you tell me what he did??

@@poojatyagi8072 *You need to search more about, but he said Michael would be nothing without him, something like this. He wanted to be grand, higher than him. And Michael ALWAYS was grateful everytime he speaked on a awards stage*

+zerocool1ist So right

Very few fans regard Dangerous as his best work. It's a very good album, but the new jack swing sound has not aged as well as the sounds on Off The Wall and Thriller.

Not the point. That's a matter of opinion. The point is QJ taking too much credit for someone he WORKED WITH; not MAKE.

Dangerous in my own opinion also represents the 'coming together ' of Michael's creative force, both within the album and then on the accompanying world tour. When I close my eyes and think of Michael Jackson, I see images from the Dangerous era. Thriller may have sold more, but I somewhat feel that Dangerous defines his artistry.

Ayo Adene I agree. Thriller was the most profitable because it was released during a period I call the "MTV Revolution". Music Videos were a new thing, and no one showcased themselves in videos like MJ. All of the extra elements he had to offer beyond music were displayed in those videos for Thriller. Other acts were not dancing and being so cinematic with their product like he was. That initial excitement of being introduced to his style is what excited people all over the world at the same time, and subsequently made Thriller the biggest seller. In spite of all that, Bad and Dangerous are both more intense musically. They have more imaginative songs on them. Some of his hardest bangers like "Smooth Criminal", "Dirty Diana", "Jam", "Who is It", and "Leave Me Alone" ALL came from those two albums. The songs were grittier and further cemented his unique vocal and musical style.

wm young Way too arrogant? He made the damn record. Kids won't bring up Quincy Jones when someone asks them about Thriller, so Quincy has every right in the world to stand up and say 'I worked on that'? Quincy was the one who directed MIchael to Teddy Riley too. I fucking adore Michael, but some of you stans are so far up his ass and would even shade people who were essential to developing Michael's sound, like child bye.

exactly that's what I'm thinking

@@adriangreen9785 the estate bruh

He apologized after what he said on Twitter also about what he said about the beatles and marlon brando , he was a mess

Would you say the humanitarianism was trying to account for his dark side or his dark side the inevitable release of maintaining a constant image of charity?

Thank you for your question! To answer; I feel that Michael's altruism stemmed from the same place of guilt we all share. Two major differences he was positioned in was scale, and responsibilities to be kind publicly. That said?. No human is born with hatred. Perhaps this is why he so focused on wilful ignore of youth?

@@takenbystorm I guess we'll truly never know the depths of his private life but I don't know that our culture is in a place to realize that those depths don't destroy the heights those same people achieved

@@chacecrowell3638 History is written by the winners. Good and bad is subjective. Much like the American dream....

Nahhhh.. there are just really pure kind-hearted people.. Very few but there are people God created that way.. And yet people need to justify that there's "evil" in every humans heart. Being a human, you could get angry, upset or retaliate. But it's different from being "evil-hearted".. Majority of Mj's friends and those who really know him personally, not because he can be a "cash cow" in their eyes.. says he's the kindest and has the purest heart they've seen. A man who wears his heart on his sleeves..

are you serious? you know NOTHING about music

officialgstarr you know NOTHING about me to make that statement..i know plenty about thriller..rod temperton, michael jackson and steve porcaro wrote the songs, toto and other genius session musicians played the music and bruce swedien mixed and engineered it.. what did quincy do apart from being related to george bush as Fox news reported. thats why he is credited for the success of thriller biatch. shiitt, quincy didnt even compose or play a note on his own albums ffs.

I agree well said even though I do like QJ

ShallahJupiter7XL You do realize a producers job is to bring those great people TOGETHER and sail the ship of creating the song.....its not his job to play the music or write the music....but to make sure it comes together as a perfect song. Sometimes a producer can play one or more of the roles involved

fede4real i'm talking about musical genius' here not people who had a connect to them. who bought greg phillinganes? stevie wonder did..who brought and put together all those wonderful musicians? those cats had already been put together on previous albums by different producers-it was a tried and tested formula.Quincy asked mj to sing in a lower key on a song? wow he really made thriller then!.these hundred of tips? were YOU there then? who chose the key of the song? the song writers when they 1st composed the songs and blah blah man my point was Quincy shouldnt be given as much credit as he has. who gives a fuck if he made a phone call here, or got genius' to write songs.he did not write them himself, or play on them. I have a few books by quincy and about him, i have all of his own albums (which he didnt play or compose on any of them-and these are HIS albums) as well as the ones he's produced for cats, the more info i found out on him (as i started as a fan blinded by his 'acolades' like you) the more i found out he actually didnt really do shit.. Questions for you..who asked 2pac to have sex with him? who set up hollywood sex rings? who did FOX news say is a blood relative to prince charles and george bush?

I think he meant he knew the story behind it, like what MJ was talking about in the song.

Curious Spectator i agree with you

I know this is a late reply. But listen to Hall and Oates "I can't go for that" then listen to billie jean. You'll hear where MJ got the idea.

Daryl Allman Let me guess are talking about in the beginning of the song before Hall & Oats start singing, like a break beat?

+Mac-HD Exactly

Tee Darif Who is trying to figure him out ? Where ?

Yes, I thought the song loving you, love never felt so good and Xscape were good but the rest were awful. And I like the way you love me is the only good song on Michael... The rest were so shit

Ahmed Etemadi you didn't like Chicago and slave to the rhythm?

Ahmed Etemadi slave to the rhythm was the best one by far

Y’all didn’t like “Behind The Mask”?

@@supersmashmaster43 I loved both, amazing sound and the second one has so much meaning in it. Michael has always been so diverse in his music. He is beyond one genre. He is the genre :-) This is why you listen to his stuff and you do not get tired like with most other artists.

ok, sometimes less is more, the album version it´s perfect for the lp, but the 12inch version with even more ad libs is wonderful. quincy, he is the man if you want to create an album. if you want to fill a cd with music tracks, that´s something else. we have dangerous, history and invincble with close to 75 minutes of music, and i hate to say this, but michael used weak songs to fill those cds.

but on the other hand we still want more.

jerro19711971 We fans don't want bad quality. The songs that Michael didn't finish, he didn't finish them for a reason. If they didn't make it to the albums, it means Michael didn't think they were good enough. And now they are being changed and re-mixed by random people in the way that they like. For instance, if Michael wanted to release Love Never Felt So Good, it would have sounded differently than the "duet" with Timberlake. Nobody can guess what ideas MJ had in mind with his demos.

Michael didn’t even write Thriller. Rod Temperton did.

In another interview he says Michael stole it

He a lier

The papers where MJ wrote it exists on the internet look it up

Exactly what I've thought for years. Michael Jackson in his solo career was just as much a creation of Quincy Jones as himself. And I thought that while Michael Jackson was still alive, actually...

you forget michael picked jones as his producer, epic did not want him he was to jazz for there liking. But mj saw the greatness of jones and convinced the label, this was a true master stroke because no mj no thriller or off the wall because jones would not have had the chance. Makes me laugh when people say jones made mj as though jones could sing like mj write songs like mj even lol without mj whos gonna make a song with bad lyrics such as Thriller a hit? Is jones gonna make the video the greatest ever? I think not, jones did a brillient job, but mj was the selling point pure and simple he was the talent. And like a great football manager picks great players, mj picked jones and co and fought for that, he was the visionary! So of course mj must get most of the credit he made jones slightly more than jones made him, after all it his work with mj thats most cherished.

martin kenna True-Quincy himself says "what am I going to learn from Michael Jackson?" "Am I going to be a singer-am I going to be a dancer"? No. Sounds like there was a lot at stake, though. And this was back in the days of...VINYL!! Thriller was a vinyl LP and CD! Amazing when you think about it now...

You don't know much about Quincy if you think he is humble, it is Michael Jackson who is truly humble and always showed him respect over the years, unlike Quincy. I disagree with Michael being a creation of Quincy, what nonsense that is. Have you forgotten he was already a star and had written and produced some great stuff as the "Jacksons"? With Thriller he went supernova and Quincy reaped all the benefits of that as well. It was, according to Quincy himself, Q who wanted to produce Michael on the set of the "Wiz", and it is true that Walter Yetnikoff didn't want any of it, said he was too "jazzy" and Michael did fight for him to get the job. Why you all want to give all the credit to Quincy is irritating and not fair. Not discounting Q's contribution but he also gained a lot too from that collaboration, don't get it twisted. He was not a household name prior to that, although he was very well respected and known in the industry. And he has not been as gracious as Michael Jackson over the years. I have heard him say negative things about him before and after his death...he did the same with Ray Charles...who he was supposedly dear friends with. During Michael's hard times, Q acted like he was just another musician he worked with, nobody special...he went so far to say this. When he died, he went between saying a bunch of ignorant stuff to saying he had just lost "his little brother". I have been paying attention over the years and I can't get on the bandwagon of what a great guy he is or that he should get all the credit for Michael's success. I would never say he isn't great in his own right, because he is but let's not forget the sonic wonders Micheal wrote & composed all by himself...that he brought demos he had made at home that were much like the finished product, the hits that he insisted on including that Q didn't want to. MJ is after all, in the Songwriters Hall of Fame, a distinction given to only around 400 musicians to date. None of any of it would have been possible without the tremendous vocals and talent of Michael Jackson himself. Try to remember that while you are gushing over Quincy Jones and complaining about the credit given to Michael. Btw, Q is a bit of a hypocrite here talking about "money grabbers" because he is suing Michael Jackson's estate right now and it's all about money.

Oh well, I didn't expect to initiate a flame war with MJ fans. And I didn't expect to respond any comment since I rarely do, but given all the negative comments, and the fact that Google is sending me notifications all the time, I'll throw my 2 cents. First of all, if you read my post, you'll see that I never said anything against Michael. I only praised Q's job as a producer. Because I think his contribution to this album is usually overlooked, especially among young people. Michael didn't make those albums by himself, you know? He'd have never done it. Thriller is a monumental work of art and only a great collaboration of musicians and sound engineers could pull it off. Music is about COLLABORATION. If you do your research, you will find that this guy has worked with some of the best musicians in the world, and has done some of the best albums. He's not only a "jazzy" musician. He is one of the most versatile and complete producers in America. This includes every aspect of producing: composing, arranging, sound design, selecting songs and musicians, and a long etc.., His works include jazz, pop, rock, r&b, ethnic, classical music, soundtracks, etc. Michael was a great performer. Probably the best of all time. With great talent for singing, dancing, image management, etc. But you cannot compare his musical knowledge to Quincy's. No way. Please don't tell me to do my research. I know perfectly MJ's history, as well as Q's. I am 40. I was there in the late 70s and 80s when Michael was at his peak, working his magic. When I was a kid, other kids would make fun of me because I used to wear my pants with short hems, just like Michael did. And I didn't care. I have his albums (and the J5's) in different formats, and lots of dvds (done by myself!). I still consider myself a fan of THAT Michael. Unfortunately I stopped following him by the early 90s, when his music started to fade.. Since then, I grew up, studied music (15 years in a Conservatory), and have learned to see things from more than one angle. Have you considered that his best albums were 1) when he was with the J5 when their music was controlled by Berry Gordy and the Motown (a.k.a. The Corporation) and 2) the 3 albums he made with Q? THAT is the difference that a great producer makes: take a talented artist and turn him into GOLD. Regarding the lawsuit: I believe he has the right to do it. This new album includes samples and master recordings of music he worked on years ago. So, partially it's his work. There have been many more works related to those albums (i.e. This is it, Cirque du Soleil, etc), and he believes he hasn't been properly compensated. He doesn't want to be related to this project because he thinks it doesn't stand to the quality standards of the previous albums. Also, Michael didn't approve these albums. There are good reasons why these songs never saw the light of the day when he was alive. If you want to look for worthy MJ albums (posthumous), look at the recent "Come and get it: rare pearls", or the compilation "MJ: Hello World". Those albums were done with respect and are true tributes to him. Finally, I don't intend to respond any more comments because I know I'm not going to change your minds, just like you're not going to change mine. I respect your opinions but I do not share them. Instead I invite you to reflect on something you should learn from Michael: be tolerant with other people's opinions. I'm tired to see that everytime somebody in internet posts something "unpleasant" to MJ fans, you label him as a "hater". Fanaticism is a dangerous thing. It blinds us. That's why I'm no longer fan of anyone. But I consider myself "admirer" of many talented musicians. Be happy!

wow some sense I'm impressed lol

Why do u think he is bitter? He’s talking about the process of choosing songs that he and other pro songwriters, producers, and instrumentalists made.

BOTH of them speak Farsi! Amazing! And both of them ARE amazing!!