The Years 1987 to 1989
At last, on 31 August 1987, the album «Bad» was released to the world. [With the exception of England, where this day is a public holiday]. Music sales were emptying the shelves faster than officials could refill them with copies of the album «Bad».
The Tower Records store in London sold two hundred copies of it in the first hour after the release of the album «Bad». CBS [Epic] also estimated that by the end of the first day, one hundred and fifty thousand copies had been sold.
From the East (New York) to the West (Los Angeles) of America, people were lining up in front of the stores, and the stores hired more employees so they could serve them.
«Bad» topped the pop and Black artists album charts for six and eighteen weeks, respectively, and remained on the pop singles chart for eighty-seven weeks, with thirty-eight of those weeks placing it among the top five albums. And in this way, Michael broke the record of the Eagles group , who had held the top ranks from first to fifth for twenty-six weeks with the album «Hotel California».
In Britain, the album «Bad» took the number one spot for five weeks and continued to stay on the chart for one hundred and nine consecutive weeks.
The album «Bad» was considered a tremendous success, and yes... Michael once again set a new record in the history of world music: «Bad» was the second best-selling album, at that time.
[The number one spot was also held by his own album «Thriller»]
Michael: ”When you feel like you’re racing against yourself, making an album becomes very difficult. It doesn’t matter how you look at it yourself; people will always compare the album «Bad» with «Thriller». You can always tell them, ”Forget «Thriller»,” but nobody will do it.“
On 12 September 1987, Michael began his first solo tour with a concert performance at the Korakuen Stadium [known as Tokyo Dome] in Tokyo _ Japan.
[Bad Tour]
Michael had invited two of the magicians, ”Siegfried and Roy“, to perform on his tour for their blindfold act. In return, he presented them with a song titled «Mind Is The Magic» for the opening ceremony of their show at the Mirage Hotel in Las Vegas.
[Roy — Michael — Siegfried]
Siegfried and Roy are considered Las Vegas’ number one attraction. And since the opening of their show in 1981, not even a single empty seat has remained in the theater.
On 1 March 1988, four new Pepsi commercials featuring Michael were shown at a press conference arranged for that purpose. The next day, during the broadcast of the 30th annual Grammy ceremony on television, Pepsi’s creative commercials featuring Michael were aired for the first time.
These commercials gained a great deal of popularity. And especially the Soviet television network requested permission to air them .
These commercials were the first American commercials to be broadcast by the Soviet television network. It was estimated that one hundred and fifty million people in the Soviet Union watched these commercials.
On 20 April 1988, Michael Jackson’s autobiography, written by himself—something he had promised for a long time—was published by Doubleday. The editing of the book Moon Walk was handled by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.
[Moon Walk book]
Reading this book is a memorable journey, into the depths of the feelings and inner life of a modern music genius. At the age of twenty-nine, Michael looks back on twenty-four years of performing on stage.
With sales of seventy thousand copies for the first printing, in just two weeks Moon Walk became the best-selling book in Britain. The book was reprinted for a second time in twelve thousand five hundred copies. And one week later, the third printing of the book was released to the market in thirty thousand five hundred copies.