Michael Jackson performs at the Grammys in 1988
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MJ remains the best-selling solo artist of all time and Thriller is still untouchably the biggest album in history. Its certified sales of almost 50 million dwarf his nearest competitor, AC/DC’s Back In Black on 29.5 million. So, it’s no surprise that the album also yielded The King of Pop’s top solo single. Billie Jean has shifted over ten million copies and remains as iconic today as ever. Yet, the star confessed he had lifted the most important part from another artist’s song.
Billie Jean is instantly recognisable from the very first and iconic opening bars. A standard drum beat and hi-hat (two cymbal and pedal) are joined by a shaker and then a repetitive looping bassline.
Jackson has described how when he was first writing the song in his head while he was in his car, he was so swept away that he didn’t realise the vehicle was on fire until a motorcyclist alerted him.
However, the star admitted that the iconic shuffling intro and through-beat came to him from another classic song.
Daryl Hall, from Hall & Oates, described how he was at the all-star recording session for charity single We Are The World, the US version of Feed The World. Surrounded by everyone from Diana Ross and Tina Turner to Bruce Springsteen and Billy Joel, Jackson came up to Hall.
In a new interview with Q1043 New York, Hall was asked about the rumours that MJ had lifted something from one of his own songs.
He said: “Yeah, that was true… That happened at the We Are the World session. You know, he came up and he said: ‘Hey man, I hope you’re okay with that… I stole No Can Do for Billie Jean.”
LISTEN TO BOTH TRACKS BELOW – AND ANOTHER ONE THAT BILLY JEAN PRODUCER QUINCY JONES SAID THEY TOOK THE RIFF FROM
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Zi_XLOBDo_Yhttps://www.youtube.com/embed/ccenFp_3kq8
Billie Jean and I Can’t Go For That (No Can Do) certainly have similarities, but Hall did not feel in any way offended.
He recalled: “And I said: ‘It doesn’t sound like No Can Do to me, sure, no problem!’ But he was really nice about it.”
In fact, Billie Jean producer Quincy Jones told Jon & Vangelis’ Jon Anderson that the song also borrowed from one of their tracks.
Anderson said: “There’s my classic story of how we inspired Michael Jackson’s Thriller. Quincy Jones told me that he and Michael had been listening to our album, The Friends Of Mr Cairo. They took the riff and made it funky for Billie Jean.”
https://www.youtube.com/embed/pjyFydbgBG4
Whatever the influences, Billie Jean was an instant hit and an instant classic. Jackson’s genius, of course, extended beyond the music to the accompanying video, directed by Steve Bannon.
From the solo-stepping along an illuminated pavement to leading off the exhilarating group formations among the gang members, it confirmed MJ as the greatest singer-songwriter-dancer of all time.
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