Essential Compilation - Disc 1

Essential Compilation is a Michael Jackson greatest hits album compiled by C.Syde65. It is not an official Michael Jackson album and thus can not be bought.

This 2-disc greatest hits album includes many of Michael Jackson's greatest hits with Epic Records, though it also includes a couple of songs from Michael Jackson's early years with Motown Records.

Most of these songs are considered to be hits, though a few of them were included as part of this compilation simply because they were on my personal Michael Jackson favourites list.

While most of these songs were recorded by Michael Jackson as a solo artist, occasionally featuring another artist such as Paul McCartney, a couple of songs with The Jackson 5/The Jacksons also found their way onto this compilation.

The album includes a total of 22 tracks that were recorded between 1970 - January 1997. Here is the track listing for the first of the two discs. The track listing for the second disc can be found here. This tracklist was originally compiled on the 7th January 2018, though it would originally have had only 15 tracks on one disc.

On the 26th January 2019, I intended to add 3 additional tracks. But since those 3 additional tracks combined with the 15 tracks that were already included exceeded 80 minutes, I was forced to make it into a 2-disc compilation, and add an extra 4 tracks to fill up some of the space on both discs.

All the songs on the first disc are in approximate recording and/or release order. The first disc contains various songs from the albums Thriller, Bad, and Dangerous. "Come Together" was originally going to be on the first disc as the 10th track before "Black or White".

But I decided to move "Come Together" to the second disc and add "Dangerous" as the closing track of the first disc. I did this because I wanted all the songs from Dangerous to be on the same disc. Upon doing this, I decided to have "The Way You Make Me Feel" and "Smooth Criminal" swap places on the tracklist because I felt that it fitted better.

I'm used to having "The Way You Make Me Feel" as the track directly before "Black or White". And in any case, I felt that "Smooth Criminal" fitted better as the track before "Man in the Mirror" and "The Way You Make Me Feel", instead of as the track directly after.

Wanna Be Startin' Somethin'

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 30th November 1982
 * Recorded: 14th April - 8th November 1982, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:06:02
 * Genre: Funk Music, Post-Disco
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

The Girl is Mine

 * Artist: Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney
 * Released: 18th October 1982
 * Recorded: 14th - 16th April 1982, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:03:41
 * Genre: Pop Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Thriller

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 30th November 1982
 * Recorded: 14th April - 8th November 1982, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:05:57
 * Genre: Disco Music, Funk Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Rod Temperton
 * Producer: Quincy Jones

Beat It

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 30th November 1982
 * Recorded: 14th April - 8th November 1982, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:18
 * Genre: Dance-Rock
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Billie Jean

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 30th November 1982
 * Recorded: 14th April - 8th November 1982, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:53
 * Genre: Dance-Pop, Funk Music, Post-Disco, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Bad

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 31st August 1987
 * Recorded: October - December 1986, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:08
 * Genre: Dance-Pop, Funk Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Smooth Criminal

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 31st August 1987
 * Recorded: November 1986 - April 1987, Westlake Recording Studios (Studio D), Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:20
 * Genre: Funk Music, Pop Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Man in the Mirror

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 31st August 1987
 * Recorded: May 1987, Westlake Recording Studios, Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:05:21
 * Genre: Gospel Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Glen Ballard, Siedah Garrett
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

The Way You Make Me Feel

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 31st August 1987
 * Recorded: 1987, Westlake Recording Studios (Studio D), Los Angeles, California
 * Duration: 0:04:59
 * Genre: Pop Music, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Columbia Records, Epic Records
 * Author: Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Quincy Jones

Black or White

 * Artist: Michael Jackson, L.T.B.
 * Released: 11th November 1991
 * Recorded: 1990, Ocean Way Studios, Record One Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, Larrabee Sound Studios
 * Duration: 0:03:21
 * Genre: New Jack Swing, Pop Rock, Rhythm and Blues Music
 * Label: Epic Records
 * Author: Bill Bottrell, Michael Jackson
 * Producer: Bill Bottrell, Michael Jackson

Dangerous

 * Artist: Michael Jackson
 * Released: 26th November 1991
 * Recorded: September 1990 - February 1991, 22nd August and 29th October 1991, Ocean Way Studios, Record One Studios, Westlake Recording Studios, Larrabee Sound Studios
 * Duration: 0:06:57
 * Genre: Industrial Music, New Jack Swing
 * Label: Epic Records
 * Author: Bill Bottrell, Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley
 * Producer: Michael Jackson, Teddy Riley