Bad 25


Bad 25 is the 25th anniversary edition reissue of American singer Michael Jackson's seventh studio album Bad. This is the second album by Jackson re-released on its 25th anniversary, the first being Thriller 25. Bad has sold 35 million copies worldwide, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time. Bad 25 was released on September 18, 2012 with co-operation with Epic, Legacy Recordings and MJJ Productions. Along with the original album, Bad 25 contains demo recordings recorded during the Bad era, with the deluxe edition also containing a live CD and DVD of Live at Wembley July 16, 1988, Jackson's performance at Wembley Stadium during his Bad world tour.
To implement a new "Live for Now" campaign, Pepsi promoted the 25th anniversary of Bad by printing one billion Pepsi cans with a photo of Jackson from the "Smooth Criminal" video. Limited edition 16 ounce cans were produced and distributed worldwide. On September 18, 2012, Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson in partnership with BET broadcast a two-hour TV special titled Bad 25: The Short Films of Michael Jackson, which shows the short films from Bad. Bad 25 debuted at number one on the Billboard Top Pop Catalog Albums chart and in Italy. The album received globally positive reviews, with criticism however directed at the production and features on the album.

Release

Announced in May 2012 by the Michael Jackson Company LLC, various formats of Bad 25 were released simultaneously on September 18, 2012. The album, a two-disc set, includes the original album, as well as unreleased material recorded during the Bad sessions. The material includes early demo versions of songs from the album, demos of songs not included on the final album, and remixes.
The deluxe edition of the album, which is a box set, includes: both the two-discs along with a CD and DVD of the performance on July 16, 1988 at Wembley Stadium in London, a booklet with photos from the making of the Bad album and behind the scenes photos from the short films for Bad, a two-sided poster and a Bad 25 sticker. A vinyl version of the original 1987 release was also be released. Three songs, "Streetwalker", "Fly Away" and "Todo Mi Amor Eres Tú" appeared on Bad: Special Edition in 2001. The Japanese edition includes "Bad".
Bad 25 is the ninth album released by Sony and Motown since Michael Jackson's death on June 25, 2009.

Marketing and promotion

To implement a new "Live for Now" campaign, Pepsi planned to promote the 25th anniversary of Bad by printing one billion Pepsi cans with a photo of Michael Jackson from the "Smooth Criminal" video. Limited edition 16 ounce cans were produced and distributed worldwide.
The documentary was shown at the 69th Venice International Film Festival from August 29 to September 8, 2012, and premiered on ABC on November 22, 2012.
On September 18, 2012, Sony Music and the Estate of Michael Jackson in partnership with BET broadcast a two-hour TV special titled Bad 25: The Short Films of Michael Jackson, which shows the short films from Bad, which like Thriller revolutionized the industry, and also features interviews with fans, journalists and critics.

Singles

"I Just Can't Stop Loving You", the original debut single from Bad, was re-released as a CD single in the United States on June 5, 2012 as a Walmart exclusive. An unreleased demo, titled "Don't Be Messin' 'Round", is featured as the single's B-side. The song has been called a "beautiful solo piano and vocal piece" by Jackson's longtime engineer Bruce Swedien. The single, which has not been available as a digital download, has also been released on vinyl. The re-released single debuted atop Billboard's Hot Singles Sales chart, which ranks the top-selling physical singles according to Nielsen SoundScan. The new release of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" debuted at No. 1 with 5,000 copies sold.
"Bad " featuring Pitbull was released on August 14, 2012. As a digital single prior to the album release, the single appeared on several countries' music charts. It debuted at Number 52 on Billboard Japan Hot 100 chart as the title "Bad 2012" on the week of September 15, 2012, and peaked at Number 6 several weeks later. It also appeared on US Billboard Dance/Electronic Digital Songs Chart with Number 45 for one week on September 1, 2012. On the week of September 29, 2012, it debuted on Hot Dance Club Songs chart at Number 42, and peaked at Number 18. It also appeared on Austrian Singles Chart at Number 45.
"I'm So Blue" impacted Italian radio on October 1, 2012, and was also released to some Polish and Chinese stations in December.

Commercial performance

The album opened in the United Kingdom at number six with sales of 11,475 copies, but for the second week, it fell to number thirty-eight with a severe buffeting of 3,365 copies sales. In Japan, 190,753 CD copies of this album had been sold during the first week of its release as number ten on Oricon album chart, the sales fell to 5,307 copies as number twenty-four for the second week. In the United States, as Billboards rule, 2 CD standard version of Bad 25 is regarded as the same album of Bad, and re-entered Billboard 200 at #23, while the deluxe edition which is regarded as a new album release debuted at #46, The album sold a combined total of about 47,000 copies in the first week in the US, spending 3 consecutive weeks atop Top Pop Catalog Albums chart. Bad 25 sold more than 1 million albums in more than 25 countries within its first week of release. Spike Lee's Bad 25 documentary aired on ABC Thanksgiving in the United States in a 60-minute edited version while the full 123 minute version was broadcast in the UK and Ireland on BBC2 on December 1. The documentary received widespread acclaim and currently holds a 90% rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes. The standalone version of Jackson's Live at Wembley July 16, 1988 DVD debuted at the top of DVD sales charts of several countries including the United States, Italy, France, Sweden, Austria and Norway. It debuted at number 2 in Ireland, the UK, Spain, Switzerland and Australia. Parts of the Wembley show were seen through the Bad 25 special.

Critical reception

The album received positive reviews. Ray Rahman from Entertainment Weekly grades the album "A", and reminds the box set is "a potent reminder of just how much Bad's pulsing pop holds up", and the previously unreleased songs are "real treasures". Mike Diver from BBC said, it is "an awesome, evergreen and essential pop masterpiece". Chaz Lipp from The Morton Report reviews the album "a terrific set". The Los Angeles Times reacted positively to the product; however, they were averse to the new remixes, especially collaboration with Nero, Pitbull and Afrojack.
Randall Roberts said "these are terrible commercial house tracks, and are an insult to MJ's memory because they do it so ungracefully". Evan Sawdey gave the release 7/10, criticizing Afrojack as "outright trash", and saying of Speed Demon: "it ends up sounding more like a Nero song with MJ's vocals than it does a genuine Michael Jackson remix". Supajam simply referred to the song as a disgrace, while Michael Cragg said "the world's worst rapper, Pitbull. He lazily croaks his way through two verses, spouting such lines as "I'm so out of this planet I speak a third language called that moon talk, in four years catch me with a billion doing that moonwalk". Just after he says billion he nearly manages to soil the trademark "hee hee", which only just masks the distant sound of Jackson spinning in his grave."

Formats

;Standard edition
;Deluxe edition
;Deluxe collector's edition
;Three 180 gram vinyl LP set
;Picture vinyl
;Wal-Mart exclusive
;Target exclusive
;iTunes exclusive
;HMV UK exclusive
;Japan exclusive
All songs written, composed and co-produced by Michael Jackson.

Charts

Peak positions

Certifications

NOTES:

1 In Australia, Switzerland and the United Kingdom, Bad 25 and Bad are regarded as the same album.

2 In the United States, the standard version of Bad 25 is regarded as a re-issue of Bad, but the deluxe edition is counted as a new album.

Release history