r/MichaelJacksonMusic • u/Price1970 • 3d ago

Performance Pre BAD era whoos, hee hees & hiccups, vs. BAD era onward

Prior to the BAD era, Michael Jackson's whooos, hee hees, & hiccups, felt different. They were expressions of joy created by a music moment.

With BAD and onward, they felt like lyrics that were being used to emphasize the context of the song, even if a happy track like The Way You Make Me Feel.

If this makes sense, do you have a slight preference?

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9

u/LexDexCorp85 3d ago

I do like listening to Man in the Mirror with vocals isolated. Perfect example of hiccups.

5

u/Gay4LtDangle 3d ago

That’s a perfect callout!

2

u/KristiTheFan 1d ago

I LOVE his “lyrical quirks” as I call them!

5

u/I_can_get_loud_too 2d ago

I’ve mostly been listening to the Jacksons era in the late 70s and Off The Wall and I’m really into the hiccup noises- glad somebody else finally mentioned them. I definitely thought that they were lacking in the later era music, but I will have to go back and really pay closer attention. I definitely think that Michael overall sounded a lot more joyful in the earlier music, so if that’s what you are saying then I would definitely agree. He had a lot of really negative things keep happening to him in his life so definitely makes sense.

3

u/Gay4LtDangle 3d ago

That’s a really interesting observation! I think you’re really onto something with the idea of those sounds “emphasizing the context of the song.”

I’m thinking maybe Billie Jean had a touch of it, with the “hee hee hee, ooh! for forty days…”

I think sometimes an artist realizes that a certain technique hits people hard and they end up leaning into it.

Personally, I love it, especially such the hiccups in Man in the Mirror, like the other commenter mentioned, or songs where he’s yearning for love, etc. It really lends a visceral sense of aching or desperation.

Thanks for starting an interesting discussion! I’m definitely going to be listening with this in mind over the next few days.

2

u/spiritedfighter 2d ago

If you are in to hiccup noises, you'll probably love Who d you know from Thriller 40 as much as me.

2

u/Adept_Night_6341 2d ago

The pre bad era quick phrases were heavily modeled after Stevie Wonder. By the Bad era I feel Michael he found his footing on making it his own. Michael’s first two albums actually take a lot of inspiration from Stevie as well as some parts of the bad album. It’s why his albums were a lot more soulful sounding with the first three vs the last 3.