Michael Jackson 2001: You Rock My World
 Bad was a 1987 hit recording by American singer Michael Jackson. The song which has become one of his signature songs, was the second of five Billboard Hot 100 number-one hit singles from the album Bad, and was his seventh number-one single overall.
The song was originally intended as a duet with longtime rival Prince. Quincy Jones, in an interview included in the Special Edition of Bad, said that Prince told Jackson and him that he hadn't wanted to participate because it would be a hit without (him).
In his 1988 autobiography Moonwalk, Jackson wrote: Bad is a song about the street. It's about this kid from a bad neighbourhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighbourhood when he's on a break from school and the kids from the neighbourhood start giving him trouble. He sings, I'm bad, you're bad, who's bad, who's the best? He's saying when you're strong and good, then you're bad.
In 2006, the single, as well as the video, was re-released as part of the Visionary - The Video Singles package.
Music video
The full music video for Bad is an eighteen-minute-long short film directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Michael Jackson. Jackson portrays a boy named Daryl who has just completed a successful term at an expensive private school. He returns to the city by coach and then subway, arriving in a derelict neighbourhood. Daryl arrives to find his house empty (his mother is played by Roberta Flack, albeit in voiceover), but is greeted by his old friends, led by Mini Max (an emerging Wesley Snipes) and spends an evening with them. At first relations are friendly, if slightly awkward, but the situation deteriorates once the rest of the gang realise how much Daryl has changed, and in particular how uncomfortable he has become with their tendencies towards petty crime. After a would-be mugging goes awry, Mini Max berates Daryl and tells him that he's no longer 'bad'. Enraged, Daryl takes the gang to a subway station where he attempts to mug an elderly man but bottles out at the last minute. After more abuse from Mini Max, the video jumps from black and white to colour and Daryl, now dressed head to foot in leather and joined by a crowd of dancing punks, sings Bad (it's at this point that the video generally starts when it is played on television). His insistence that Max is headed for a fall are nearly his undoing, but eventually his friend accepts that that's the way it goes down, and, after a final handshake, heads off with his gang. The scene shifts back to black and white as Daryl, alone and back in his tracksuit, watches them leave.
The never-before-seen 18-minute-long version of the video for Bad first appeared on the DVD version of Video Greatest Hits: HIStory in 2001.
Charts
Bad was the second consecutive #1 single from Jackson's Bad album, after I Just Can't Stop Loving You. Bad appeared on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 singles chart the week of September 19, 1987, the same week I Just Can't Stop Loving You advanced to the #1 spot. Like its predecessor, Bad soared to the #1 spot, this time within six weeks, arriving at #1 the week of October 24, 1987. Bad remained in the top spot for two consecutive weeks, keeping Madonna's Causing a Commotion out of the penthouse.
Live performances
Bad was generally the closing act for concerts on the Bad World Tour, and less often in Dangerous World Tour concerts, usually performed live[citation needed] as opposed to being lip-synced to a prerecorded track. Michael Jackson would often perform Bad with an extended version of the ending which is apparently his preferred version.[citation needed]
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