Quote:
Originally Posted by Shape Shifter
A lot of what goes into a Michael Jackson song is not Michael Jackson. Someone needs to arrange the music -- decide which instruments should be used where, how loud, what sound, etc. And the person who decided that on the albums that made Michael Jackson the pop icon he is was Quincy Jones.
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If we narrow Shifter's point to: Michael Jackson would have never reached the commercial and critical success he earned without his collaboration with Quincy Jones, then I'll agree. Michael Jackson was a singular talent. He could sing, he could dance, he could act. (He could do the first two far better than the last one, but he was a complete entertainer.)
He was also a world-class eccentric, with a host of personal problems and demons that likely drove him to excellence and later ruined him as a creative person. Quincy Jones masterfully harnessed Jackson's eccentricities to make groundbreaking pop music in "Off The Wall" and "Thriller." Quincy Jones was responsible for helping Michael achieve an adult sound and to shed his bubblegum past. By selecting bassist Louis Johnson and drummer John Robinson, he brought a hardcore funk rhythm section to "Off The Wall" that shouldn't be shortchanged. But as anyone who has heard the commentary from Quincy Jones on the expanded editions of those records or has heard Michael Jackson's efforts on some of the demos, Michael brought not just songs, but ideas to the table on those records.
I personally don't care about much Michael Jackson did after "Thriller." I was thrilled when Nirvana kicked Michael Jackson off the top of the charts back in 1991. But Michael Jackson was not the empty vessel that Britney Spears is.
Having said all that, Qunicy Jones also deserves credit for another one of his productions:
