Songoftheday 8/27/15 - Your butt is mine gonna tell you right, just show your face In broad daylight...

"Bad" - Michael Jackson
from the album Bad (1987)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 11

Today's SOTD is by the King of Pop himself, Michael Jackson, who previewed his seventh solo studio album Bad with the soft ballad "I Just Can't Stop Loving You". Although that song raced to the top of the pop charts, interest faded quickly in favor of the just-released title track, which was much more upbeat and in-your-face in attitude. And in true Jackson fashion the music video was a spectacle, with the original 15 minute mini-movie directed by Martin Scorcese (whose full-length film The Color of Money came out that year as well) and featuring Wesley Snipes condensed for repeated MTV play...

"Bad" climbed to the #1 spot in America in October of 1987, earning Michael his seventh pop chart-topper. The single also went to the top of the R&B chart in Billboard magazine, while the extended remix did the same on their Dance Club Play list. It even crossed over to the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart at #33. Internationally, the record went to #1 in Ireland, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, while topping out at #3 in the UK, #4 in France, Germany, and Australia, and #5 in Canada. The single returned to the top-20 in England in 2006, and went to #40 after Michael's death in 2009.

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Here's part one of the full 18 minute epic clip for "Bad", which puts a backstory to the dancing in the subway madness. And since this was the first video released from the album, Michael's dramatic appearance change was striking...

...and part 2....

This is the extended version that topped Billboard's dance charts in November of  '87...

 
 And here's Michael performing "Bad" on the tour behind the album in 1987...

  In 1988, parody king "Weird Al" Yankovic released his take-off on the song as "Fat", which slipped in at #100 on the Hot 100...

Glee went "Bad" as part of their Jackson tribute episode, and the song sold enough to make the Hot 100 at #80 in 2012 (and #90 in Canada)...

That same year, for Bad's 25th anniversary, DJ's Buddha and Afrojack along with rapper Pitbull reworked "Bad" for new club versions, which climbed to #18 on the dance chart...

 Up tomorrow: the mall queen digs up an old hit for her breakthrough debut.