Rolling Stone put together an amazing retrospective on the life and music of Michael Jackson. But one thing that didn't make it into our special issue was our interview with Glen Ballard, who co-wrote with Siedah Garrett one of MJ's most stunning tracks, "Man In the Mirror," from Bad.
(Look back at photos from Michael Jackson's remarkable career.)
While MJ and Quincy Jones were working on Thriller, Ballard -- who'd worked with Jones before -- presented them a song called "Nightline." "I thought it would be great for Michael," Ballard remembers. "So Quincy played this scratchy little demo for Michael, and he liked it." Ballard and MJ then went to L.A.'s Westlake Audio, and in one afternoon they recorded a more polished demo. "Michael and I just styled the vocal and he did one take," says Ballard. "We were going to develop it, but the very next week Michael brought in 'Billie Jean' and 'Beat It.'" Hanging around the studio, Ballard witnessed the birth of "Billie Jean". "I got to see [songwriter] Rod Temperton and Quincy bring 'Billie Jean' to life," Ballard remembers. "It was a magical thing. In the end, I was disappointed not to get my song on Thriller, but I never thought once that 'Nightline' deserved to be on there in place of 'Billie Jean' or 'Beat It.' It's like playing basketball against Kobe Bryant -- you know he's going to win." The Pointer Sisters ended up recording "Nightline" and had a hit. "On the next album, Siedah and I wrote a song called 'Man In the Mirror,'" he says. "It was a much better song than 'Nightline.'"
SS: Did you write "Man In the Mirror" for Michael?
GB: Absolutely. Siedah and I wrote it for him directly. It was near the end of the recording for Bad -- it was the last weekend before they wrapped up Bad -- and think I had written something for the album but it didn't get accepted. Quincy called me and said, "Don't you have anything else for us?" He thought we were idiots not to try again, and Siedah had an idea, and we got together on a Saturday night, met at my house in Encino, and we just wrote it on the spot. It was really simple, we just wrote it on a Fender Rhodes, and did a quick demo with Siedah singing. It felt really good, but you never know. And we didn't have time to dress it up, so I didn't feel like it had a chance.
SS: When did Quincy hear it?
GB: The next day, Sunday, Siedah drove over and played it for Quincy, and he loved it. Michael heard it on Monday, and he said, "Make a track." So we started building this track, and it was magic. There were all these strange intervals in the vocal harmonies we'd written, and Michael totally got it, and he was able to sing it exactly the way I heard it. It was easy for him.
SS: When you worked side by side with Michael, did it feel like you were in the presence of greatness?
GB: Sort of. I just felt like I was with somebody who got it. He felt music at it's core. He was always dancing when we were in the studio. He danced for a couple of hours ever day, relentlessly. He was like a Fred Astaire perfectionist. It was wonderful to see him working the moves out. And one thing that I think is overlooked about this guy, but you can hear it from when he was five years old, is that not only is he nailing the vocals, but he sings with so much understanding. He was so soulful and rhythmically sophisticated. He never had any angst about the vocal. Most singers, all their neuroses come through the vocal cords, but he was not that guy. He knew how to sing flawlessly.
SS: In the last two minutes of "Man In the Mirror," the choir comes in and Michael starts scatting the lyrics. It may have been your song, but Michael owned it in the end.
GB: There's no question. He just started doing some sort of incantation. We didn't write any of that stuff, he went there on his own. He took it way beyond with the with the "Shamons" and "Yeahs." He was stretching the limits. All I can say is that when you get one of those big fish in the boat, hopefully you can make it to shore and have something to show for it. And we got one, I knew we got that one.
SS: It's bigger than a song.
GB: Michael was not in it to go halfway. He was always thinking about his legacy, about great music that would last forever. In those years with Quincy, it was so amazing, you can't hear anything wrong with it. It's this indelible portrait. And it's unbelievable to be a part of it. He's gone, but the music is still amazing. All that other stuff that people associate with Michael, the music will shout it all down. I knew the man for a long time, in the studio, and he was a sweetheart. He was so nice to everybody, he didn't have an unkind bone in his body. I'm glad people are listening to the music now and going, "Oh my God, that's right, he was so fucking great."
(Click here for all of Rolling Stone's essential MIchael Jackson coverage.)
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D | July 30, 2009 8:07 PM
To 'with all due respect',
If you knew what the Brill Building was back in the fifties & sixties, there were songwriters who write songs for the biggest stars back in the era before The Beatles & Dylan came along. The Brill Building had some talented artists like Carole King, Neil Diamond, Burt Bacharach, Leiber & Stoller, Doc Pomus, Phil Spector, Laura Nyro & Barry Mann("We Gotta Get Out Of Place" & "You Lost That Loving Feeling"). Producers & record excutives used to go to the Brill Building and see if anyone had a good song, either a hit or dud. So if you think Quincy Jones or any record excutive would grab a song like ordering a pizza, well that the way it was done back in the days. So songwriters from The Brill Building was surely serving some pizza I mean songs back in those days compare to the trash we hearing now like "I Kissed A Girl" & anything from Miley or The Jonas Brothers. Again will anything from Miley, The Jonas & Katey Perry will be remembered 25 years later like "Man In The Mirror"? I don't think so. Hell even "Hit Me Baby One More Time"(which is ten years old) will be remembered more than the garbage Miley & Jonas are passing for these suckered tweens.
And yes Michael defenitely belong on the same list with Elvis & The Beatles. The record sales & his songs still getting airplay is the proof of evidence.
Oh yes I been Rolling Stone magazine since 1980, so I know what's great music & what sucks. O.K.
Rosana | July 30, 2009 3:24 PM
Michael at the end of this song has a very typical pose of an Angel, the language of this gesture is what Mahatma Gandhi often said: "One in all and all in One."
Song : Man In the Mirror
And also great Mahatma Ganndhi( also shown in above video of MJ)said:"Be the change you want to see."
The Truth | July 30, 2009 5:24 AM
order of greatness....
1. Michael Jackson
2. The Beatles
3. Elvis
4. John Lennon
With all due respect. | July 30, 2009 1:52 AM
Hey D (or whatever your name is) you got my point right:
"And if someone walk in his studio wth a song, Q can tell if it's a hit or a dud"
QJ and company are a calculated factory of music, they order hit songs like if music were pizzas, no respect for art, just $, go back to read some all Rolling Stone magazines and you will find out how many critics (with track record) belive that Thriller ruined the 80's.
By the way if you think that to compare MJ to any Pop artist of today is a insult, that's your problem, MJ compare himself many times to Elvis, Lennon and even GOD, so your idol insulted so many people, and guess what? That's their problem.
Grow up and read a book.
K | July 29, 2009 11:47 PM
It's beyond belief that Man in the Mirror lost out on a Grammy to Don't worry be happy! And that Dangerous wasn't nominated at all.
Surely the Recording Academy needs to do something to right both those wrongs!
D | July 29, 2009 7:17 PM
Hey Really(or whatever your name is),
Comaparing Michael to The Jonas Brothers is an insult. And you talking about Quincy Jones here & he has a track record. Quincy may have retired from producing records but I would trust his instincts than The Jonas Brothers. And if someone walk in his studio wth a song, Q can tell if it's a hit or a dud and Ballad with Siedah just ended up with the right song that became a classic. The Jonas Brothers write trash that no one will ever recognize in the next 20 years like we do with "Main In The Mirror", "Billie Jean" or any track that MJ recorded in his lifetime.
Trampoline | July 29, 2009 5:04 PM
The latest cover is the saddest picture I've seen. MJ is an American tragedy and thats whats written all over his face. Not caucasian enough, not thin enough, not truly satisfied with his natural god-given talents. What a sad,sad man. Why would anyone feel like he/she has to recreate his inward and outward self in order "sell" and guarantee his own celebrity? Its a shameful way to exploit oneself.
dr.winston o'boogie | July 29, 2009 3:50 PM
yeah we're gonna be discussing classics like man in the mirror,abc and ben for decades to come like beatle music.
roy | July 29, 2009 3:48 PM
cant decide which song i like better man in the mirror or ben. 2 classics.
bob | July 29, 2009 3:47 PM
I thaught joe jackson wrote that song.
Rosana | July 29, 2009 3:02 PM
Rolling Stones magazine, thank you for this magic experience of this eternal song
Man in the mirrow. Angelic voice and perfect mastery, nobody can sing it like that.
Well this song, being so unique with strong message can also make very angry some people who have very big issues with their mental health.
suz | July 29, 2009 2:11 PM
Armakendon - that's Glen Hansard, not Glen Ballard.
Armakendon | July 29, 2009 1:53 PM
I didn't know that the Irish dude from The Frames and Swell Season cowrote this song with Mike. Cool!
Pslightly Psycho | July 29, 2009 1:51 PM
Jesus moonwalking Christ, RS!!!! Enough with the Wacko Jacko coverage. Next you are going to report what Jackson's bowel movements were shaped like. (Suggested headline: "The King Of Poop"?)
Really? | July 29, 2009 1:23 PM
"in the presence of greatness?"
I mean here's this production team (QJ and crew) making phone calls to request songs as if they are ordering pizzas from Domino's, MJ said "make a track", he din't even ask for a specific topic or concept, you know, just like "peperoni!, I like it".
Then he make it personal with the "Shamons" and "Yeahs."?? He was stretching the limits??? Poetry, right?
Next thing you know The Jonas Brothers will took it way beyond with their Aaahs! and Whoo-hoos! Wait, the Jonas Bros write their own lyrics and play their own instruments. Nevermind.
BK | July 29, 2009 12:37 PM
Man in the Mirror is my favorite MJ song. Anyone who listens to that song cannot deny the message. The song is universal.
Q | July 27, 2009 11:21 PM
When are you going to update the song list.
I 've been looking at the same hot tracks for a year.