I’m here to tell you about one of the most celebrated musical relationships of all time—the pairing of Quincy Jones, a noted composer, arranger, and producer for jazz and R&B acts, and Michael Jackson, the child star looking for a breakout sound.
Their work together over three albums—”Off”the Wall,” “Thriller,” and “Bad”—transformed pop music in the 1980s. Jones first met Jackson in the early 1970s, but their second meeting at the end of that decade proved to be more pivotal.
Jackson secured a role as Scarecrow in “The Wiz,” while Jones secured a position as the film’s music supervisor. What came next cemented their storied partnership. In show business history, this kid is one of the most talented. Michael was very observant and detail-oriented,” Jones said in a 2012 interview. “You put that together with my background of big-band arranging and composing; we had no limitations.”
In 1979, Jackson’s solo debut, “Off the Wall,” showcased his extensive network of studio musicians and collaborators. The album went platinum that year and established the polished disco grooves that would define Jackson’s sound.
But Jones and Jackson weren’t satisfied. They went back to the studio with a renewed mission to better their previous effort. “Why can’t every song be so great that people would want to buy it if you could release it as a single?” Jackson said in a 2007 interview. “That was my purpose for the next album. That was the whole idea.”
The intense recording process for “Thriller” (1982) would strain the relationship between the pair. A first listen of the rock-infused album was so terrible that it brought Jackson to tears, Jones wrote in a 2009 essay. But they worked tirelessly to reshape it, mixing one song a day.
The result was nothing short of historic. “Thriller” went on to become the best-selling record of all time and earned a record eight Grammy Awards. Jackson’s televised performances and pioneering music videos for the album’s singles made it an inescapable pop staple.
The critic Jon Pareles wrote in The New York Times in 1984, “‘Thriller’ now plays on rock radio stations that cater largely to young white listeners as well as on urban dance-music stations that appeal largely to Blacks.” “Before ‘Thriller,’ few entertainers were able to cross that subtle color line.”
The album’s success ultimately alienated Jackson, who distanced himself from past mentors, including Jones, in its wake. By the mid-1980s, when Jones and Jackson reunited to create “Bad,” the dynamic had shifted. Jackson wrote nine of the 11 songs on the LP and co-produced it with Jones.
“There was a lot of tension because we felt we were competing with ourselves,” Jackson said about the making of “Bad.” Creating something when you feel like you’re competing with yourself is hard because people will always compare ‘Bad’ to ‘Thriller.’
Still, “Bad” was another chart-topping success. Both men went on to make more music but never again achieved the commercial heights of their three landmark collaborations. After Jackson’s death at 50 in 2009, interest in his music surged, complicating the business impact for the other artists involved in its creation.
In 2018, Jones criticized several musicians, including Jackson, in a meandering interview. He later apologized, but previously had described the legacy of their work together, writing that Jackson and he “shared the ’80s, achieving heights that I can humbly say may never be reached again.” “People will write a lot about what happened next in Michael’s life, but for me, all of that is just noise,” Jones continued. “In 50, 75, or 100 years, the music will be the lasting memory.”