Bad (Michael Jackson song) Bad (Michael Jackson song) "Bad" is a song by American recording artist Michael Jackson. It was released by Epic Records on September 7, 1987 as the second single from Jackson's third major-label and seventh studio album of the same name. The song was written and composed by Jackson, and produced by Quincy Jones and Jackson. Jackson stated 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. "Bad" received positive reviews, with some critics noting
Thriller (Michael Jackson album) one hundred and sixty six thousand copies, just fourteen thousand short of reaching the number one position. It was ineligible for the "Billboard" 200 chart as a re-release but entered the Pop Catalog Charts at number one (where it stayed for ten non-consecutive weeks), with the best sales on that chart since December 1996. With the arrival of Halloween that November, "Thriller 25" spent an eleventh non-consecutive week atop the US catalog chart. This brought US sales of the album to 688,000 copies, making it the best-selling catalog album of 2008. This was Jackson's best launch since "Invincible" in 2001,