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Following the triumph of Thriller, Michael Jackson unfortunately faced a Grammy Awards snub for his subsequent album. Jackson’s relationship with the esteemed award ceremony has always been complicated. He was outraged when his album Off The Wall missed out on the Grammys’ Album of The Year. That year, he only garnered a single award for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance for “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough.”
Jackson was disheartened by being limited to only R&B categories due to his identity as a Black artist. This unfair treatment prompted him to totally transform himself into the King of Pop, culminating in his best-selling album, Thriller. Unfortunately, the Grammy accolades for Thriller didn’t extend to his next album, Bad.
Michael Jackson Only Won 1 Grammy For Bad
Jackson Lost All Other Categories
Regrettably, Michael Jackson’s 1987 album Bad secured only one Grammy. In 1990, he won the Best Short Form Music Video award for “Leave Me Alone,” which occurred two years after Bad had been nominated for most of its awards, as “Leave Me Alone” was released in 1989. During the 1988 ceremony, Jackson received four Grammy nominations, including Album of The Year, yet did not win any. The following year, he was also nominated for Record of The Year for the single “Man In The Mirror” but lost that as well.
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While the Grammys have faced critiques of bias against certain genres, in 1988, the Academy broke longstanding tradition with their Album of the Year selection.
What makes these losses particularly astounding is that Bad marked Jackson as the first artist to achieve five #1 singles from a single album. This record would only be equaled 23 years later by Katy Perry, with no one else having done it since. Interestingly, Perry never received Grammys for her album Teenage Dream, which matched Jackson’s achievement. Nonetheless, with iconic tracks like “Smooth Criminal,” “The Way You Make Me Feel,” and the title track “Bad,”it’s astonishing that Jackson did not receive adequate recognition for this album.
As The Follow-Up To The Historic Thriller, Bad’s Grammys Snub Was Hurtful
The Grammys Did A Complete 180 At The 1988 Ceremony
In 1984, when Michael Jackson attended the Grammys, he was undeniably the star of the evening. After feeling slighted by the Grammy Awards in the past, Thriller represented his comeback. The singer won an unprecedented eight Grammys that night, including the fiercely sought-after Album of The Year. Over the next few years, Jackson secured additional Grammys, making his losses for Bad all the more surprising.
Although Thriller is the best-selling album ever, Bad also achieved remarkable success. Witnessing Jackson transition from the most-awarded artist in 1984 to leaving empty-handed in 1988 felt like an affront from the Academy. Online speculation suggests that he appeared visibly disheartened in the audience post-loss that evening.
The shift from being the most-awarded artist of the night in 1984 to receiving no awards at all in 1988 felt like a significant slight from the Academy.
However, the clearest indicator of Michael Jackson’s disappointment is that he ceased attending major award ceremonies unless he was to receive a special honor.After 1988, he was absent from the 1990 Grammy Awards despite winning for “Leave Me Alone” and only returned in 1993 to receive the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.
Jackson’s Bad Album Proves The Grammys Aren’t Always Right
The Grammys Often Make Mistakes When Choosing Winners
Despite the Grammys being a highly regarded award show in the music industry, their decisions are not infallible. For instance, it took them 25 years to finally award Beyoncé Album of The Year, and notable artists like Prince never claimed the trophy.Even though Thriller was justly recognized in 1984, their choices for 1988 remain perplexing.
It’s conceivable that Thriller‘s success played a role in Bad‘s snubbing, as the Grammys occasionally overlook artists post significant success. For example, after winning in 2016, Taylor Swift didn’t score another Grammy until 2020.
Speculation also exists regarding race in Jackson’s case, suggesting that the Academy may have sought to temper the recognition of a Black artist who won so much. Regardless of the reason, Bad continues to be an exceptional album, with or without the Grammys’ acknowledgment, and Michael Jackson went on to create groundbreaking work throughout the rest of his career.
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