Bad (Michael Jackson song) version of the music video for "Bad" was released in August 1987, and broadcast as a CBS prime time special. It was directed by Martin Scorsese and co-starred Wesley Snipes in one of his first appearances. The video, inspired in part by the film "West Side Story", which shows Jackson and a group of gangsters portraying a street gang dancing in a subway station. Michael Jackson wrote and recorded Bad in 1986. It was co-produced by Jackson and Quincy Jones, and was included on his seventh studio album of the same name. "Bad" was originally intended to be a duet
Thriller (Michael Jackson album) sings about an obsessive fan who alleges he fathered her child; in "Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'" he argues against media gossip. For "Billie Jean", Jones had Jackson sing overdubs through a six-foot cardboard tube and brought in jazz saxophonist Tom Scott to play the lyricon, a wind-controlled synthesizer. Bassist Louis Johnson ran through his part on a Yamaha bass guitar. The song opens with a long bass-and-drums introduction. "Thriller" includes sound effects such as creaking doors, thunder, footsteps, wind, and howling dogs. The anti-gang-violence "Beat It" became a homage to "West Side Story" and was Jackson's first successful rock cross-over