Joe Vogel: The story of “Don’t Be Messin’ 'Round”

Joe Vogel, author of the book “Man in Music,” recently published an article online about a newly unveiled Michael Jackson song.

The song is called Don’t Be Messin’ 'Round. Originally, it was recorded for the Bad album in the late 1980s. The song has recently entered the music market as a single together with a popular track from the Bad album titled I Just Can't Stop Loving You, and it has reached the top of the sales charts.

In an article titled “The story behind the addictive and newly released Michael Jackson song,” Vogel writes:

Don’t Be Messin’ 'Round, one of several unreleased tracks from the Bad album, gives us a glimpse into the process of Michael Jackson’s work and production.

It has been 25 years since the day Michael Jackson was busy in Westlake Studios in Los Angeles with the final details of Bad—his classic 1987 album.

Today, when Sony once again places the first single from that album— I Can't Just Stop Loving You—on Walmart shelves, an unheard demo from that era will finally find its audience.

The B-side of this disc is a rhythmic, addictive demo called Don’t Be Messin’ 'Round, presenting to us a picture of Jackson’s creative workplace and his limitless excess as a songwriter.

Jackson had the habit of creating many new songs for each new album; this especially peaked during the making of Bad, one of the most productive periods of his career. As a result of the many songs he had written, it even crossed his mind to release an album with three discs (triple-disc). So it’s no surprise that this fall, Sony Music and the Jackson Foundation will put out an album of unreleased Bad-era material.

Although the final track list hasn’t been determined yet—and it won’t be revealed at least until September 18—more than 20 unheard demos from that period have been selected for inclusion on this album. Among these pieces, there are some priceless gems that even the most die-hard Jackson fans have never heard of.

A group consisting of Jackson’s collaborators and assistants, along with the foundation’s supervisors, John Doelp (Sony’s first vice president), producer Al Quaglieri (who in 2004 was the supervisor of the excellent Michael Jackson collection: The Ultimate Collection), and recording engineer Matt Forger (Michael’s former longtime collaborator) went through Michael’s song vaults and sorted through the pieces to find those suitable for adding to the “Bad 25” collection.

The selection criteria were simple: the song had to have been created during the Bad album era (1985–1987) and be worked on to the point where it could be considered a completed track.

This time, the Michael Jackson Foundation and Sony Legacy (Sony Music’s publishing rights company) are not doing what they did for the controversial 2010 album “MICHAEL.” Instead, they are putting Michael’s works out as they are—raw and unchanged. For this reason, although these tracks are less polished, they are more reliable, more authentic, and closer to what remains of Michael.

Just like the acclaimed 2009 documentary “This Is It,” the goal of this recent album is to present the artist’s existential elements. The album takes the listener into the studio where Michael Jackson is working on his first album since the release of the best-selling album in history (Thriller).

Don’t Be Messin fulfills that expectation. In this song, you can hear how Jackson sets the working method, makes different instruments sound through his own voice, draws a roadmap for the words and the rhythmic hits, and improvises the rest of the still-unfinished song lyrics.

Matt Forger, the recording engineer and longtime friend and collaborator of Jackson, says: “One of our main intentions is to show that these works were in progress. We wanted to pull back the curtain and see Michael in his natural working environment—see how he directs, what kind of sense of humor he has, and how focused he is on his work.”

The final product here is intentionally left unfinished and spontaneous.

Forger says: “In the song, you can hear the pleasure he gets from working. His spirit and feeling are flowing through this piece. He knew the demo didn’t have to be something complete, so he didn’t make it difficult—he improvised, sang, produced sounds with his mouth and fingers, or clapped. In this song, you can hear the joy that comes from his work, and you can feel that he’s enjoying what he’s doing.”

Jackson first wrote and recorded Don’t Be Messin during the making of the Thriller album, with the help of recording engineer Brent Averill. At that time, he was working on many ideas, including the demos of P.V.T. and Billie Jean.

In Don’t Be Messin, he plays the piano, and Forger says that his ability in this area was beyond what people were allowed to see. He also handled producing, arranging, and leading the musical instruments, including Jonathan Moxie’s piano in the bridge section and David Williams’ guitar.

Finally, because Don’t Be Messin was not completed and there were other powerful songs ready for Thriller, Jackson decided to save this piece and use it for the next album.

Forger says: “That was Michael’s way of working. He let the song come to fruition at the right time. Sometimes the song wasn’t finished, or it didn’t fit the album, so it was saved until later when he would bring it back into the flow at a specific time.”

Don’t Be Messin was pulled out again in 1986 during the first stages of making the Bad album. Jackson initially worked on it with the help of recording engineer Matt Forger and Bill Bottrell in the lab—an alias for Jackson’s repaired home recording studio, called Henehurst. As was typical for Jackson’s rhythmic songs, the track was initially long—about 8 minutes.

Forger says: “Michael likes songs to be long, because he wants to dance to them—which is important. When Michael feels that his song makes you want to dance, it means he has the intention in his hands.”

But Jackson’s dance-inducing rhythms were unusual in that they lacked the repeating, predictable elements of dance music; instead, they used strange, surprising beats.

Forger says: “Some versions of Don’t Be Messin are very interesting and enjoyable because each one has differences within its own sections compared to the other versions. Their length isn’t boring because the song’s elements will be pleasant for you, and listening to the rhythm will satisfy you.”

Cutting down the song was ruthless for Jackson—especially if the cut section was the intro or outro. Jackson tried to reduce the length of the Thriller and Bad album songs to 4 or 5 minutes, and for that reason Don’t Be Messin was remixed.

Jackson continued working on this track in his home studio and in Westlake Studios until 1986, but when Quincy Jones (producer of Thriller and Bad) arrived, serious work began and Don’t Be Messin was left behind again.

Michael then revisited this song for Dangerous and History, refreshed its sound, and added new elements. It’s clear he was interested in it. But in the end, it didn’t find a home.

The version mixed by Matt Forger is the one Michael worked on for the last time in 1986. Forger believes this version is the purest and, emotionally, the most satisfying version of the song available.

“This version reflects Michael’s desire at that time, and you can clearly hear Michael’s voice saying, ‘It should be like this.’”

The 1986 demo isn’t a groundbreaking song. The vocals have a certain power, the lyrics are unfinished, and the song isn’t even close to what would come out of Jackson and Quincy Jones. Still, it’s a pure piece from his growing collection of (deleted) Bad-era outtakes. (The list also includes tracks such as: Streetwalker, Fly Away, Cheater.)

Forger says: “This song has a strong, catchy melodic hook, and its rhythmic feel works in a pleasing way with more emphasis (syncopation—syncope).”

[By “hook,” we mean the impactful part of music that can be a memorable line, verse, chorus, or a repeating, returnable section of the piece. The term “syncopation” in music is used when a weaker beat is played with more emphasis.]

Bruce Swedien, the legendary recording engineer, in a 2009 interview referred to this song as one of his chosen pieces among Jackson’s unreleased works. He said:

“It’s truly beautiful. Oh my God, I’ve never heard anything like this.”

Like most of Jackson’s works, this one—a fusion of Latin music, jazz, and pop—can’t easily be placed into a single specific genre. With its gentle Bossa Nova rhythm and layers of interwoven hooks (to capture the listener’s attention), it quickly imprints itself in your mind and awakens the desire to dance in your body. At the same time, if you listen to it repeatedly, it will treat you with advanced syncopations and complex rhythmic arrangement. Jackson once said: “Music is like a carpet—it has different layers, woven back and forth. And if you pay attention to its layers, you’ll understand it better.”

For Forger, working on this song was a reminder of simpler days from Jackson’s turbulent career:

“It brought back all the old feelings from those days. Michael was infinitely happy. He wanted to challenge the world and create great, unique music.”

What was Forger’s goal in reviving this track?

“To give it official recognition—to give the song that Michael enjoyed listening to and was proud of creating. This song contains his spell and energy. If people do justice to this song and get excited by hearing it, I’ll feel an incredible sense of satisfaction. All I want is for people to enjoy this song for what it is.”

Source: eMJey.com / The Atlantic