You have to pity poor Michael Jackson. As if an early death (at 50, in 2009) wasn't probably already in the cards for the eternal child star, the King of Pop had the daunting task of following up his bazillion-selling Thriller album. While 1987's Bad fell short of what came before it, including Jackson's previous Quincy Jones collaborations Off the Wall (1979) and Thriller (1982), it wasn't half-bad. The newly reissued deluxe (3 CD/1 DVD) 25th anniversary edition of Bad (MJJ Productions/Epic/Legacy) consists of a remastered version of the original album, a disc of rare and unreleased tracks (French and Spanish versions of "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," and the bizarre and controversial "Song Groove, aka Abortion Papers"), the live CD/DVD from Jackson's July 1988 Wembley concert, a pair of booklets, a sticker and a poster.
Bad opens with the title track, retaining the MJ-as-tough-guy spirit of "Beat It" from Thriller. "The Way You Make Me Feel," a well-deserved hit single, is a triumph, but "Speed Demon" hints at the hiccup-singing style that Jackson unfortunately mined until his death. While "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" also ranks among his best (listen to him sing!), the inexplicably popular "Man in the Mirror" was Jackson at his most manipulative. Frankly, Jackson was a man who desperately needed to take a look in the mirror, not just sing about pretending to do so. "Leave Me Alone," the final track, originally a CD-only bonus cut (back when Bad was originally released on vinyl, too), is the strongest song on the disc, and one of the best he ever wrote. Pissed off and rocking, it's the declaration of independence Jackson always needed to make.
If Michael Jackson was the King of Pop, then R.E.M. were the Kings of College Radio (later known as alternative music). In a career spanning 30 years, Athens, Georgia's R.E.M., led by queer frontman Michael Stipe, defined modern rock. On their early recordings, from the exposed jangle-pop roots of beloved recordings such as Murmur and Reckoning to the dark folk of Fables of the Reconstruction to the beginnings of their mainstream pop breakthrough on Life's Rich Pageant, R.E.M. paved the way for themselves and the multitude of imitators grabbing at their crown, who arrived in their wake. It was probably unintentional, but Document (I.R.S./Capitol), R.E.M.'s fifth album, released in 1987 (the last one before they relocated to Warner Brothers), could easily be the soundtrack for 2012. That works out well for the re-released, expanded, double-CD, 25th anniversary edition of Document. As prescient as anything in R.E.M.'s oeuvre, Stipe sings about signs of the times in the aptly titled "Exhuming McCarthy," including being "loyal to the Bank of America" as well as "vested interest united ties, landed gentry rationalize."
If that isn't enough, the list of cheerily delivered catastrophes in "It's the End of the World As We Know It (and I Feel Fine)," including the eerie line "don't get caught in foreign towers" indicates that there may have been a crystal ball present. An innovative disc in its own right, Document also featured the modest hit "The One I Love" and a blistering electric edge beginning with "Finest Worksong" and concluding with "Oddfellows Local 151." The attractively packaged anniversary set includes a 20-track live disc recorded in Holland, a large poster, booklet and postcards.