Michael Jackson – Bad (1987)
At the prime of his career, Bad was released by Epic Records in September as the second single from his third major-label and a seventh studio album.
Despite the mixed reviews it got, Jackson revealed that the song was influenced by a real-life story he had read about, of a young man who tried to escape poverty by attending private school but ended up being killed when he returned home.
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He told Ebony and Jet magazine, ”Bad is a song about the street. It’s about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighborhood when he’s on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood 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.”
